Craz4u3, have you found out what version of Word the other person is using? I finally remembered to ask my IT people about the conversion program. If they are using the newer version of Word (2007), here is the link to download the compatibility pack:
Download details: Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats
If they aren't using a different version, then I don't know what to tell you (unless they aren't using Word at all, and are using Works or some other word processing program).