You might have some old PC which isn't able of running Office XP or 2003. So... 2000 is IMHO the 'best' solution: it is quite backwards-compatible with XP/2003 documents, and not as cheap as 97. On this site I found some interesting stuff on patching and some how-to's to slipstream MS patches. Basicly, I did this: 1. Perform an administrative install (setup /a) 2. Download the right admin servicepacks for Office 2000 @ http://www.microsoft.com/office/ork/update...000/default.htm 3. This is: SP1a (~50 mb), and SP3 (two files, one ~40 MB and the other ~130 MB) 4. Extract the .MSP files using Total Commander (select the file, CTRL_Pagedown, and yada yada, there you go!) 5. Apply the patch using msiexec /p C:\Office2KSP\source.msp /a C:\Office2000\destination.msp shortfilenames=true /qb 6. Repeat step 3-4-5 for SP3, if necessary 7. Slipstreaming: done And for silent install, just use: msiexec /i data1pro.msi /qb This will install using the default setup. Haven't had time to set up proper settings, but as with Office 2003, I suppose this should be done by using the Office 2000 resource kit.