Install Ubuntu and keep Windows XP for MS Word

Solution 1:

I don't know how to answer in a more concise manner as there is quite a few things possible as good answer for you.

High-level options

Have a PC typewriter with MS Word for old documents you use (let it be something old, that you can have real cheap) and have your usual PC run GNU/Linux. Requires obtaining an old machine good enough to run MS Word that you need and display for it. I put this as first since where I am that would be easiest to do (lots of people getting rid of machines good enough for what you described, often for free).
Virtual Machine with Windows and Word (can be created just based on your current setup, provided you have installer discs still) that you may boot from GNU/Linux.
What commenters have said: backup data, test Libre Office, switch completely.

Last option is nicely described in comments, so for brevity I shall write about other things in more detail.

How to test Libre Office

I'd go with Live CD, or took documents that I care for to a friend and played on his computer for 30 minutes - that should be quite enough to see what you get from your docx when they are opened / changed / printed from Libre.

Cheap typing PC

Used store, from a friend, companies also often sell out their old machines quite cheaply, or - if you like, some folks do - buy parts and put them together.

Requires: installers for Windows and Word, time, perhaps some bucks.

VM with Windows

Download VirtualBox (GPLv2 for users and FOSS, has commercial licence for commercial usages) and create your own VM for your host. There are many good tutorials how to do it and I encourage you to try that out. It ain't scary or difficult at all, though for some it sounds intimidating. What you need:

know the system / architecture the VM will be hosted on (probably Ubuntu, only question is whether your architecture is 32 or 64 bit, that should be in your board manual)
know the system you want VM to have.

VM generally emulates computer on a physical computer, so you may have Linux on Linux, or Windows on Linux, or the other way around. That way you will run Windows with Word, but it will be run using Linux. Apology if I'm stating the obvious, I don't know what you know about VMs. :-)

Requires: time, installers, perhaps some learning, VirtualBox. My first VM took me 20 minutes to create plus time for installing it's system and soft I needed there. It's quite like setting up new computer (essentialy, it is).

Update: VM route links

https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads - choose your OS http://ryantrotz.com/2011/11/virtualbox-beginner-tutorial/ - while this describes Windows hosting Ubuntu, the steps are same the other way around https://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch01.html - full manual

Solution 2:

Kingsoft Office seems to be reasonable at taking documents from MS Office 2007 running under XP and editing them as well as creating new documents.