Hi,

It's been a longtime since I have been on Answerpool and I'm not sure if you can help. I have been diagnosed with terminal cancer which so far I have managed to outlive so I may just be beating it. By professional I'm a ICT tutor trained back in 2001/2003. I trained in XP Professional Operating System and XP Office Professional. I got a seond hand laptop for Xmas which is working on Windows Vista Home Basic and I'm just returning to work gradually after a long period out though I now live in Northern Ireland so any sort of work is difficult to come by. By the way I married a wondeful man last two years who has looked after me. I have had an offer to do some ICT authoring on work sheets etc for a ICT training company in London on conversion of Office 2003 and Windows XP to Vista. I wrote to them this yesterday morning asking with the updated software as I would not have the money to do this as you know Microsoft Software costs a fortune. I also written to Microsoft to see if they would help an ex and ill former ICT professional and they don't seem to want to help. Do any og you know of anyone who would have copies of both Office 2007 Professional and Vista Ultimate or would loan to me either in return for ICT work or my fees when if I get the work from ICT Trainers.com which is guaranteed if I get access to this software. My cancer treatment has left me dependent on benefits and I am trying whilst I am well enough
to work before I get worse. If anyone can help I would be eternally thankful.

Microsoft rarely gives away software. When they do, it is to drive future sales (student, developer, and 3rd world versions), or it is because you already paid for it.

It is possible to run Windows Vista and Microsoft Office for free for short periods of time - by using the trial modes built into each.

When installing Windows Vista (any Vista DVD will work), simply leave the product-key field blank when installing. You can then pick a version (Basic, Business, Ultimate, etc) to install. Windows Vista will work for 14 days before it will demand a key and activation. (At which point you can just format and reinstall to start another trial period)

Microsoft Office 2007 can be downloaded as a 60-day free trial.

If you need a free OS and office suite that isn't time-bombed, I recommend Ubuntu Linux. Its quite user friendly and includes OpenOffice.org. (I know it isn't Windows, but it fits your budget)

Hope this was helpful!