Which versions of Office are approved on the server OS?
As we mentioned last year, Windows Server 2008 can be used as a very stable and fast workstation operating system – it’s certainly more stable than Windows Vista in many situations. In addition, Office can run on Windows Server and used by many people using Terminal Server features.
However it’s only on 30 April 2009 that Microsoft has released a list of Office versions that are supported on Windows Server 2008 directly or as part of a terminal server host:
- Office 2007 with Service Pack 1 or above.
- Microsoft says that Office 2007 was extensively tested and optimized for use with Windows Server 2008.
- Office 2003
- Office XP
Office 2000 and before are not supported. Office Watch suggests using a virtual machine (Virtual PC/Server or VMWare workstation) if you need to run earlier version of Office on a recent Windows operating system.
Using Windows Server 2008 as a workstation was our regular desktop OS until Windows 7 came along. It is still an alternative for people who don’t want to use beta software but need something better than Vista. Making Windows Server into a workstation alternative is a time-honored trick of developers and power users – including staff at Microsoft.
Windows Server 2008 with Microsoft Office will need the ‘Desktop Experience’ feature installed.
