Microsoft Office Suite Office 97 Powered by Word 98 (8.5)

1997, June 20

Office 97 Powered by Word 98" (version 8.5) was a unique version of the Microsoft Office suite released in June 1997, specifically for the Japanese and Korean markets.

Key Details

Version Number: It is known as version 8.5.

Target Audience: This edition was released exclusively in Japanese and Korean language versions.

Components: It included applications such as Word 98, and was the first version of Office 97 to feature Outlook 98 in all editions and Publisher 98 in the Small Business Edition.

Compatibility: This specific version was the first edition of Office 97 to officially support the upcoming Windows 98 operating system. The standard Office 97 (version 8.0) was released earlier in November 1996.

Significance: While the main Office 97 release (version 8.0) brought significant new features like command bars and the Office Assistant "Clippy", the "Powered by Word 98" release provided an updated word processor application and newer suite components for its specific regional markets.

It is an outdated and unsupported version of the software, and while it may still function on some older operating systems like Windows 10, it is not officially supported on modern systems like Windows 11 due to compatibility and security risks.