Rating: 
Summary: You'll like it more than you think
Review: 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: 
Summary: So What?
Review: I upgraded from Office 2000 to Office XP about three months ago. I would not call myself a power user, but I give Outlook and Word a good workout every day. I also use Excel and Access a lot. My reaction to this "upgrade" is 'ummm...OK...well...so what?' I have noticed a *few* "improvements," but not enough to justify the price tag. It seems Microsoft only rearranged the furniture, painted the walls a different color and called it an upgrade. If you're an ordinary user like me and you already have Office 2000, you're happy with it and you don't really need the bug fixes office XP provides, then why bother upgrading?
Rating: 
Summary: WARNING: Obnoxious "activation" required
Review: In keeping with Microsoft's total lack of concern for consumers, they have fixed this version so the purchaser must do a minimal registration via the web or phone in order to use the product. This means it is locked to your computer. This is an effort to prevent piracy. Preventing piracy is an honorable and important goal. However, there's more to it. If you upgrade or replace your computer, you'll have to call them on the phone and explain your story and if they think you're telling the truth, then maybe you can install the program you bought on your new computer. This also means that if you have two computers on your desk, you have to buy two copies, one for each computer. Also, this is Microsoft's first step toward forcing consumers to lease software instead of buying it. This move would likely force consumers to upgrade to the latest bloated version, even if they are happy with the old one. Office XP is a decent set of applications, but there are at least two good alternatives that don't come with the obnoxious features. Check out either StarOffice or WordPerfect Office 2002. Both are excellent office suites and both are available on Amazon. Both are totally compatible with Microsoft Office file formats. So, before dropping a ton of money on another Microsoft marketing scheme, consider the alternatives.
Rating: 
Summary: Word +, Excel =, Outlook -
Review: 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:
Summary: Some new things but....
Review: Ok first i don't know what some people were talking about ms instant messenger (which has nothin to do with the office suite) but office xp provides some new capablities for the power user. For the occasional user that checks their e-mail with outlook, writes a few word documents and maybe a powerpoint presentation DONOT need this upgrade. The new features are very small and you probably won't even know what they are. Basically all the aplications were left untouched but i have actually noticed a little faster start-up time. It does contain a pretty good document imaging utility to scan text documents and edit them in word and a feature to import and export your office settings which i thin kyou can get as an add-on for office 2000
Rating:
Summary: office xp
Review: I have been using this program for a long time and I find nothing wrong with the XP office suite. I have the full version. It's faster than it's previous versions. It loads in half the time that the previous versions do. Those having problems with it let me make a suggestion. Buy a copy of Norton's SystemWorks 2002. It will fix any problems with your computer. The problems some of you are having are probably Windows related (broken shotcuts, invalid links etc.) I love Windows ME and XP Office 2002 - they work great together. billy
Rating:
Summary: Microsoft Does it Again!
Review: 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:
Summary: Latest if FATware from Microsoft
Review: Do you want to slow yoru systems down?
Do you want more bugs? I upgraded this because I was looking for a better version of Outlook. I've found the Office 95 or Office 97 suite to be more than adequate for my needs and are the best applications for speed and efficiency. I had to wipe my entire disk to get it working and reinstall my older applications to get it workig reliably again. The one feature hyped here is the way outlook can download email from WEB based HTML systems. Tht can be done with a free patch available from Microsoft for Outlook 2000... Microsoft creates software applications that crash your older microsoft applications and encourage you to upgrade. Installing a simple upgrade to Internet Explorer or Instant Messenger will [mess] up a beautifully running machine. My advice is don't use MS Instant Messenger, because it forces you to upgrade or deal with a reoccuring suggestion to upgrade...The net effect is they never really fix any software package to make it bug free. Each new version introduces new bugs and patches not fully tested, or perhaps deliberately [mess]something else up. The solution is to use software that has been tested together extensively, like Win95 and Office 95. Win98 and Office 97, etc. Never upgrade only one component of your OS and Office Applications or you will be sorry. One final point...
Rating:
Summary: Computer Fools
Review: Do not be discouraged by the other fools' reviews. XP does use product activation, but you do not have to worry about Bill Gates dropping down your chimney and invading your privacy. It is only a precaution to cut down on piracy (although there are still numerous ways around it). I am currently running Windows XP Professional, and love it. It is true that Office XP is not that much different than 2000, or 97 for that matter, but I would recommend it to somebody who doesn't have Office at all. As for those people who think that Microsoft is an oppressive monopoly, why not use something else? I also run RedHat Linux and BeOS, they are both extremely capable operating systems. RedHat is packaged with StarOffice which is a very robust office suite. The reason why you don't choose non-Microsoft products is because, bottom line, they make the best software. Nothing comes close to the compatibility and functionality of the new Microsoft products. XP is just the beginning of more great products from Microsoft.
Rating:
Summary: Comprehensively Useful
Review: There is no other product which compares to the Microsoft Office suite. "Microsoft Office XP Standard" is the place to to get started. And it is the place you'll probably stay. You do need Word and Excel, and occassionally, PowerPoint. Learn basic word processing and spreadsheet usage. Shine in meetings with PowerPoint. It lacks Access, but most people don't need the database strength of it, and will survive nicely with just Excel. For e-mailing documents and files to coworkers, you can be confident they'll easily open Office files... there is a good chance they use it themselves. Outlook is one of those highly underrated, but enormously useful applications to help you organize your contacts, schedule and tasks easily. You can use it as an e-mail reader as well, though that feature has been vulnerable to viruses. Word is a huge program which can do far more than you'll need, but it will allow you versaility and simplicity that WordPerfect has yet to pull off. Excel is a basic spreadsheet with incredible math functionality. I don't need most of the math tools, other than minor budgets and such. I find it handy for tracking my poetry submissions; I can see which magazine I sent which piece to when, and how and when they replied. PowerPoint makes those cool slideshows with the text that can be animated on the screen. With the templates, you can look good without requiring a graphic design degree. I fully recommend "Microsoft Office XP Standard." It is the business and home office standard. You need it, it is easy to learn, and the price is right. Anthony Trendl
| 
