|
|
|
|
 Software : Microsoft Office Professional 2003 [OLD VERSION] |
|
Rating:  - Good product -- industry standard
I decided to get this office suite after using it recently. I've usually worked on Office 97 and 2000, but the 2003 version has some pretty cool features not found in the older versions. The feature that I really enjoy is the Pivot Report feature in MS Access, which wasn't in MS Access 2000. This is a truly great reporting feature. You can now use Access as a front-end to slice and dice data stored on data warehouses in Oracle, SQL Server, Sybase and other enterprise-type databases. If you're used to creating crosstab reports, you'll definitely like the Pivot Report feature. Crosstabs are limited to 2 dimensions but there's no limitation on the number of dimensions in Pivot Report.
To me, the main drawback is the price. (I did get mine at around $370 at J&R, which is a great price.) I figure I can upgrade this in about 5 years time, which works out to about $70 to $75 per year (assuming that I'll be paying about $370 to upgrade in 5 years time.)
A big positive is that this is the industry standard. So the work you put into learning the multiple new features of Word, Excel, MS Access is not wasted because you can reuse the same skills in another job. Your time will be well spent. Note that the software may seem bloated but the intelligent user is able to choose and pick the most useful and relevant features of each application and ignore the features that are not useful. Different features are useful to different people...
Another positive: Each product in Office Professional is fully programmable using Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) which you can use to build custom programs. This very powerful feature is sometimes overlooked when shopping for Office suites.
Rating:  - getting worse over time
While Microsoft tries very hard to make Office "think ahead of me," they almost always seem to get it wrong. The result is a package that consistently annoys me. It is true that one can turn off the "helpful" hints and otherwise customize the programs so that they are less hindering, however the bloated package will nevertheless usurp your computers resources like nobody's business. In my opinion, Office '97 was an excellent package, and the versions since then have gone steadily downhill. As with many people, I use Office at work because I have no choice. At home I've had good luck with StarOffice from Sun. While not perfect, StarOffice has read and created files compatible with Microsoft Office very consistently in my experience, and it's a whole lot less expensive. I am therefore hesitant to recommend Microsoft Office Professional Edtition 2003 to anyone except those who need the most advanced functions of Excel and/or need to use Access database frequently.
Rating: - Business contacts doesn't work and CAN'T be Shared
I bought this upgrade because I thought it would let me share my contacts. It says so on the box, but it doesn't. It works just like the old contacts which you can't share with others except if you export it. No live sharing. Why couldn't they make it so I could put the file on my server? Or on a secure site? Then all my office can work off one contact list.
50% or more of the time the business contacts can't be found when you search for a contact. It's like the business contacts is an add in that doesn't work with Outlook. Or you add contacts, save it, email to the saved email address and then go to find the contact later and it is gone.
Also, lots of times when you try to SEND, the email won't SEND, it stays in the outbox. And repeatedly you open and hit the SEND button but it won't change to SEND status. Now, if you leave it in the outbox, sometimes that fools the program into letting you send other email. Or sometimes you can FORWARD and SEND.. Geez, what a waste of money this upgrade was. We won't be using it on any of our other computers and we haven't bought it on the new computers we have ordered.
Rating: - STOP! Seriously Consider Star Office 8 Instead!
Before you donate your hard-earned money yet again to Bill Gates' 'Feed the Multi-Billionaire Fund', do yourself and the world a favor and search for 'Star Office 8' on Amazon and read the reviews there. I use MS Office Professional 2003 in the office, and just cannot believe how badly so many businesses and individuals are being ripped off by Microsoft for this BLOAT-ware.
Star Office 8 is under $50 from Amazon and is fully compatible with Microsoft Office, and includes full functionalities of MS Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Visio, and Access. Let me know what MS software I can buy under $100, let alone $50. Hopefully, this is the beginning of the end of the Microsoft Monopoly, and the dawning of the Era of Sanity in computer software.
Rating:  - Good product
This is an upgrade for me. I've used MS Office for years and find it adequate for my needs. There are some automatic features in the newer versions that irritate me and they are not always easy to fix.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Home
