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 Software : Microsoft Office XP Professional Upgrade [Old Version] |
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Rating:  - The Best Operating System I had Ever Used !
Do yourself a Favor, and Upgrade from Windows 2000. Install "Microsoft Office XP Professional Upgrade, by Microsoft," and watch 98% of your computer woes vanish before your eyes ! Do the Updates, and watch the remaining 2% disappear, without a trace.
I did a Format C:, installed Windows 2000, Upgraded to XP Professional & the PC is running Smooth. The Internet runs more smoothly than I have EVER seen, before. The package comes with a Firewall. Games run very, very smoothly. The computer is so quiet, you barely realize you are even online.
I had a hard time getting standard software to run on Windows ME, but XP makes everything EASY, and makes it a joy to work on the PC. No more headaches. No more searching for patches on the internet.
This package has it all. I work in IT and do troubleshooting all day. Now, I do not have to come home and work on MY PC, as well. XP is the answer to most of your PC problems. This software will more than pay for itself, within weeks (or minutes, if you are as frustrated with your O.S. as I was).
Everything flows and runs with Great Ease. Just pick-up a "Windows XP For Dummies" ( ISBN # 0764508938 ) book and you will soon be raving to all your friends and co-workers to Upgrade to XP, ASAP.
* Note: since writing this, I purchased the Windows XP Operating System and Office package, and I like it even better.
I have re-written this review, do to clarification issues. I was in a fun mood when I wrote it and now realize some of it could have been misinterpreted. Also, I have since noticed "issues" with running certain scanners on XP. However, by now, the upgraded drivers should be on the various company websites, to fix that problem.
Rating:  - You'll like it more than you think
I've been a fan of the "Office Philosophy" as long as I've known of it. It's almost like software communism. One set of application to satisfy any and all of your needs, for both personal and professional environments. Everybody's got it, which, instead of meaning that it's "trendy," it means that it's nothing less than practical.
It bridges the idea of operating system platforms. You know what I mean: sending files to a friend or co-worker, only to get a response of "I can't open that. Send it in ---- format." First, chances are, the recipient will have Office. Second, if you receive a non-Office file, your Office software will be able to read it, provided it wasn't created on some software from Mars.
OK, enough argumentum ad populum. Besides being a great idea on a global scheme, it's also a great idea for a stand-alone system and/or stand-alone user. Office integrates your system. For example, consider running WordPerfect, Lotus 1-2-3, dBase, and Netscape for your word-processing, spreadsheet, database, and communication s needs, respectively. While individually, each application is perfectly adequate for its own job, a vast majority of the time one might want to integrate some amount of work done in one program into work done in another program. Good luck, buddy. These programs hate each other; each one believes that it can do the job of all these by itself, and rationality be darned.
Office lets you do it all. Integration runs smoothly and you truly don't have to worry about losing functionality if you decide to switch over from your old program. In addition, the suite is extremely stable, and intelligent: it'll figure out how you - as an individual - like to manage your system, as well as fix any problems that won't come along. For example: try deleting msword.exe. Then go and double-click the Word icon on your desktop. Office will figure out the problem and reinstall the missing file. REMEMBER: you'll need your Office installation disks for any of the auto-fix features in Office.
(My advice: when installing, provided that you have sufficient system resources, select "Run all from my computer" to avoid missing any features you might want to use further down the road.)
As far as ease of use, YOU CAN'T beat Office. The applications not only work well, they also look good. The Help files actually do provide logical, coherent, and practical help for common questions or tie-ups. Office runs smoothly and doesn't use up an extraordinary amount of system resources (although Microsoft's "Minimum Requirements" tend to be a bit under-estimated, or is it over estimated...? Anyway, you need more than they say).
I'm running 256mb RAM with a 1.4 Ghz Pentium 4, and I have no problems. Also, I am running Office XP Professional and Windows XP Home Edition. As far as I know, Windows XP is not a necessary upgrade from 2000 when moving from Office 2000 to XP. There are some licensing restrictions with XP that I'm sure most are aware. So here's my solution: DON'T BREAK THE LAW. You won't have problems then.
Pricing is a bit steep, so save your pennies.
Rating: - Word +, Excel =, Outlook -
ABOUT ME...
MOST USED: Word, Outlook, Excel
SETUP: P4 / 1.3 Gig / 256 RAM
~GENERAL~
SMART TAGS:
I cut and paste a lot between documents, and the "smart tag" approach to pasting is a cut (ba-dum-bum!) above previous Office implementations. No longer do I need to find the (non-macro-friendly) "Paste special" menu option; instead, a helpful icon that appears next to my text lets me choose among my options. This is a real time-saver for me (although it gets in the way in certain environments, e.g. the icon sometimes covers up cells in Excel).
TASK PANE:
I found the new task pane much more convenient and a good use of screen real estate on larger monitors, particularly for Word. The multiple-object clipboard that sometimes occupies this space is nice in theory, but for some reason I never remember to use it, probably because my own brain holds a few objects at a time.
BLOAT?
I have a fairly high-powered desktop running Office XP. I would never think to install Office XP on my P2 233 laptop, where Office 2K resides.
~ WORD ~
Unlike a previous reviewer, I like the new approach to Styles -- by keeping track of what styles are in use, I can hunt down the "rogue" styles that are, er, crimping my style. I also like that I can switch between "Available Formatting," "Formatting in Use," "Available Styles," and "All Styles" -- in Word 2K-, switching to Outline mode filled up your Styles pull-down menu with styles you will never use.
I also prefer the new (XML-friendly) way of handling review notes, footnotes, corrections, etc.
~ OUTLOOK ~
I found Outlook XP disappointing. The Rules (filters, so important in the era of spam) remain clumsy as ever (see Eudora for a much more intuitive interface) and its poor handling of multiple folders (e.g. flagged items in sub-folders do not trigger alerts; address lookup never seems to find contacts in address sub-folders) has not been fixed.
~ OVERALL ~
Flame me all you want, but I generally like Microsoft products. Sure, the product's got security holes like Swiss cheese, but that I will leave to the geeks to debate (I gladly exchange security risks for the ability to create powerful macros in VB/VBA). I appreciate Office XP's UI and think it is a worthwhile upgrade from 2K.
Rating: - Microsoft Does it Again!
If you are a user of any Office Suite product you should consider Microsoft Office Professional XP Edition. Microsoft has made great leaps and bounds with this upgrade. I love the new look in Outlook. Setup is a breese, even if you use this on your home PC.
Rating: - Patience is a virtue!!!
Honestly, I think you should wait a year or two before you upgrade most of the new features are not really relevant to consumers, but are aimed more at businesses. I don't know if they are shipping Office XP with Service release 1, but I think most users who would like to uprgade should at least wait until it is being shipped with the bug fixes. The applications look beautiful. They are easy to use of course, but if you are just typing documents, sending e-mail, adding numbers things like that stick with Office 2000. Because in these rough times you don't want to waste money on something you are actually getting over and over and over again. I'm not saying it's the same applications but for users who are doing simple things in Office it really does not make sense to buy something that is packed up with 90% of features you are not using. Just have a little patience and wait the year or two by that time Microsoft will be releasing Office XP 2005, and trust me they are, I read in an interview, where the Microsoft Office Team manager said the next version of Office XP will be based more on collaboration and services. I am making sure you don't make any regrets, buying this product.
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