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 Software : Microsoft Office XP Professional [OLD VERSION] |
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Rating:  - Slower than Office 2000, but still the best
I bought the College Student version of MS Office Professional, which was $... less than this one. I was pleased with all the programs this had (with the exception of not having Front Page, which is a great program itself), and I think that the version that includes Front Page and Project with a free mouse is the best option if you want it all. However, if you are a student or teacher, check your local bookstore or a website that offers software to students so you can pay less for MS Office XP Professional. However, if you want to pay way less for Office XP, but don't plan on upgrading for a while, get the Standard version that is sold in most businesses like Wal-Mart.
Compared to Office 2000, this version is a little slower to operate, yet, it does have some improvements. I like the Task Pane on Office XP. It may be included on Office 2000, I don't remember, but it is very convenient. Also, I like that on Front Page XP (which I purchased separately for $..., thanks MS!) you can change fonts easier. Also, you have one button access to putting your page on a blank internet page.
I am pretty pleased. Not only that it is easy to use, I know that is what my school uses, and it also works VERY WELL with Apple Works.
Rating: - Over the top, but some great benefits and improvements
First, count me among the people pleased with the fact that Microsoft Office - and, in particular, Word - has become the de facto standard for document creation. Does anyone remember what life was like before...when we all wasted copius amounts of time sending and re-sending each other incompatible documents? Why anyone would yearn for those days is beyond me.
Feature-wise, I agree that the programs that comprise Office suffer by trying to be all things to all people. In the excellent book 'Microsoft Secrets,' I recall reading that extensive user testing revealed that the typical user of Word only made use of around 10% of its capabilities. So, in general, you're paying for a lot of bloat that you'll never access and never care about.
The problem with being Microsoft, of course, is that you've got to appeal to a *very* broad audience. That's because the 10% I use may be completely different than someone else's 10%. So, with that in mind, let me tell you about two great things in XP version of Word that I make use of on a continuous basis that you ought to know about.
First, there's the 'Track Changes' capabilities. Yes, this has always been present to some degree, but it got a major overhaul in XP. Now, when you turn the 'Track Changes' mechanisms on, Word shrinks the size of the entire text of the document (temporarily) and reflects all add, change and delete activity in an extensive right-hand margin. What this does for you is that you get all your tracking, while maintaining the flow and readability of the proposed new version of the overall document. You really have to see this in action to appreciate just how much this improves the process.
The other feature to point out is the sheer power and scope of Word XP's multi-language capabilities. I write many documents in Spanish and I am frankly blown-away by my ability to set the 'Language' spellcheck option to any a number of regional Spanish settings (e.g., Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, to name just a few of the many options). Then, as I'm writing, Word catches every little nuance for me - it checks all the many verb forms, even when attaching direct and/or indirect pronouns. Every skipped or misplaced accent is flagged for my attention. In short, using Word XP can dramatically improve your secondary language skills.
I'll talk about PowerPoint briefly - over the years, Microsoft has made it easier to manipulate and put together compelling presentations. In earlier versions, I always felt like I was locked into not much more than bulletized lists. Now, working in combination with Microsoft's built-in Design Gallery Live (and aided immeasurably by Google's Image search), you can piece together compelling visual scenarios *exactly* as you envision them, with no encumbrance from PowerPoint.
One final point is that you should always pair any Office product with a copy of Adobe Acrobat (the PDF *writer*, not just the reader). With Acrobat, you can remove any hint of incompatibility with anyone in the world, regardless of desktop platform, version, etc. Just convert any of your Word, PowerPoint or Excel files into a PDF and you've guaranteed yourself unfettered readability throughout the planet.
Rating:  - Way overpriced
MS Office has certainly become the sort of standard for office suite software, but, it is just too darn expensive! Almost [$$] for the pro edition? No wonder why Microsoft had to start the required key registrations (requires contacting MS with a specific key generated during install and then they provide you with another key to "unlock" their software) - barely any home user can afford it anymore. But we need it because our workplaces use Office. I don't like the way they are sticking it to us. I'm switching to Sun's StarOffice [less$$] which is supposed to be compatible with Word, Excel, and Powerpoint and just as good.
Rating: - Word is worse....
MS Word's biggest weakness has been style management. In XP, it became even weaker. Word 2000 allowed a user to modify a style after opening a series of dialog boxes. In Word XP, you must first open a side panel that takes almost one third of your screen. Then if you know where to click, you can eventually find the same series of dialog boxes that were in Word 2000.
If you created a document in Word 2000, don't expect it to look the same in Word XP. In Microsoft's infinite wisdom, the fonts that are provided with XP are different than Word 2000. XP has some new fonts, but deleted some of the old fonts. It can become frustrating.
Unfortunately, MS Office has become the defacto standard with no challengers in sight. So, stick with MS Office 2000. As a general rule, avoid MS products that have revisions as letters, such as "ME" or "XP." Stick to updates that are named after the numbered year (e.g. 98 or 2000) ;)
Rating:  - Don't pay too much for office productivity
MS Office is great, but it's way too much money.
I'm currently migrating to OpenOffice.org 1.0. I've been using the Writer word processing program for several weeks now, and it works fine. I use it to write papers and other documents. I even used OpenOffice.org Writer to write up a summary of our reading for a class study group, converted it to Word, and sent it to about 20 people. No one wrote back to complain. When it comes to office productivity, the best, most affordable choice is OpenOffice.org 1.0. It has the same functionality as StarOffice and has all the core features of Microsoft Office, plus you can covert documents back and forth from Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. It's a fraction of the cost to boot! You can even buy it on CD from Amazon.com through zShops or get this: download it from the Internet if you have the time and understand how to work with zip files. Search for OpenOffice.org on the main Amazon.com site.
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