A Memory Preserved In a Diary for 50 Years

The Chamber of My Laptop

To make a long diary entry shorter, I removed Microsoft Office a while back because I now use Google Docs almost exclusively.   "Office told me many things… but the means I used to break the Memory Charm upon it were powerful, and when I had extracted all useful information from it, it's mind and body were both damaged beyond repair. It had now served its purpose. I could not possess it. I disposed of it."

Unfortunately, there have been two assignments this semester that require Word.  Argh.  I could just use the school's computer lab, yet I'm really annoyed when I have to adjust my schedule to an arbitrary constraint.

I realized one day that I still had Office 2007 on my most ancient and noble laptop.  Unfortunately, I had erased the install software for it (which I had previously downloaded - and the ability to download it again has expired), and I thought all was lost.

So, last night, I tried to figure out how to install Office on my newer laptop just using the files from my old computer.  Let me tell you, from the Google searches I performed, this possibility is universally rejected by those "in the know."  The requirement is to have an install CD, or take a hike.

"I was as powerless as the weakest creature alive, and without the means to help myself... for I had no Office, and every spell that might have helped me required the use of Word...."

"There was no hope of stealing the old Install Files anymore, for I knew Microsoft would have seen to it that they were destroyed. But I was willing to embrace mortal life again, before chasing immortality. I set my sights lower... I would settle for my old Office back again, and my old strength."

"I knew that to achieve this – it is an old piece of Dark Magic, the potion that revived Office last night – I would need a powerful ingredient. Well, one of them was already at hand, was it not, Word? Backup given by a servant..."


Yep.  I tried the oldest possible backup on my external hard drive, and, sure enough, I found two X16-whatever files and sniffed victory close at hand.


The first file freaked me out because it was Office 2010 beta (which is now worthless, as it's expired).  Thankfully, however, the next X12 file was, in fact Office 2007 ULTIMATE.

I almost choked on my own stomach acid when I saw this screen and remembered how many superfluous programs Office can potentially install.

So, after stripping the "Ultimate" installation down to Word (I only ever really used Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote to begin with - Ultimate has like 40 other programs, as shown above), I'm now good to go for all my law school needs!

Sorry if this diary entry was longer than you expected . . .

"So ends the famous Word holdout," said the CA's distant voice. "Alone in the Chamber of My Laptop, forsaken by its friends, defeated at last by the Dark Student it so unwisely challenged. You'll be back with your dear unused Office soon, Word ... It bought you twelve years of borrowed time... but Lord Abogado got you in the end, as you knew he must."