Microsoft protects most of its products vigilantly, but at one point a version of MS Word was released online for free. The reason: It needed repairs because of the Y2K issue, and it was simpler and cheaper to distribute the fixed version free to everyone than it would have been to contact each individual user with a means to download and register the program. For those who need MS Word for specific projects, there are other solutions as well. download.microsoft.com/download/word97win/Wd55_be/97/WIN98/EN-US/Wd55_ben.exe Writer Bio
