Rating: 
Summary: Shying away from Microsoft
Review: After being a hardcore Microsoft user for years and years, I've recently discovered a whole new world through the GNU/Linux platform. Windows users -- go to www.openoffice.org. Download the FREE software, which is fully compatible with Microsoft formats, and if this doesn't do the job, then you can shell out $300+ for the traditional product.
Rating: 
Summary: A mixed bag...nice features, but seems to bug laden
Review: As far as features, I agree with much of what's been covered in the other reviews. There's much to like in this program; however, I've installed the upgrade on two different machines (the Small Business version on a Dell Dimension 8200 desktop, and the Professional version on an IBM T40 Thinkpad); upon intallation IE6 immediately began generating run-time errors. I've been using IE since it was first introduced and never had experienced a single run-time error; now I get them constantly. In checking the Microsoft support sites for both Office and IE, I found I'm not alone in experiencing this phenomena. It's extremely annoying, and the standard response from MS is: "it's probably due to spyware". Well, I've been running Spybot and AdAware for over a year, and my machines report no spyware (the Thinkpad is only a week old), but the problem persists (and didn't exist until I installed this upgrade). I can only conclude that any spyware causing these problems must be embeded in the upgrade!So, beware of the potential for IE6 run-time errors if you install Office 2003. Also, if you use Act! (or a similar program) that runs on top of Outlook, you'll find that a supposed new security feature in Outlook requires you to manually permit Act to retrieve e-mail from Outlook every time new mail arrrives. It's a real pain!!! To summarize, there's not enough in this upgrade to justify putting up with these problems (or features, in Microsoft parlance), and I wouldn't have upgraded had I known what I was in for.
Rating: 
Summary: A couple of features...but not worth the upgrade price.
Review: Good: Organizes your email better than Office XP
Cool looking interface.
Bad: Crashes often, especially if you are using the business
contacts account software.
Not enough new features to make it worth upgrading
Rating:
Summary: A couple of features...but not worth the upgrade price.
Review: Good: Organizes your email better than Office XP
Cool looking interface.
Bad: Crashes often, especially if you are using the business
contacts account software.
Not enough new features to make it worth upgrading
Rating: 
Summary: Of all Microsoft Office Products Released - This one's great
Review: Highly recommend this product for anyone who is running an office or simply to run your business and various uses for this software product. This version seems to integrate the different modules (Word, Excel, Power Point, Access, Publisher and of course Outlook) better. So far, I haven't seen any bugs or anything to scream about as with previous upgrades. Definitely upgrade to 2003! Sincerely, Heather
Assistant For You!
http://www.assistantforyou.com
Rating:
Summary: Best of Class
Review: I am using Microsoft Office 2003 Professional Enterprise edition, obtained through an MSDN subscription.
Microsoft Office System 2003 will prove to be the best in its class. The Microsoft Office Family has been revamped to provide industry standard XML and .NET support. Files can be easily shared between applications in the Office System family. Microsoft Office now includes a new research tool that allows you to easily search for information. You can search research books (thesaurus, dictionaries) and web resources. Third party developers are creating even more sources (like Google) that will make this an essential tool for anyone writing reports. Microsoft Outlook has been revamped with a new and improved interface. It is now easy to categorize messages, calendar items, contacts and more. These items can then be sorted by category! Outlook 2003 is easier to use than any previous version. Microsoft Office 2003 is a complete solution for the home and business user alike. It is an essential tool for students and developers. The wave of the future is XML and Microsoft is beginning to shape that future today. If you are new to Microsoft Office this is an essential product. This is a nice upgrade from Office 2000 or XP, but mostly for developers and businesses. If you want to harness the power of XML or .NET this is for you. Microsoft Office System 2003 will only run on systems with Windows 2000 or XP installed.
Rating: 
Summary: Offcie XP Pro - Praise & Frustration
Review: I am writing with reference to Office 2003 Standard in both Upgrade and Full (non upgrade) versions. The upgrade CD would not accept the 25 alpha numeric `product ID' key. It would take 4 characters then jump to the next box. It would not allow you to return to the previous box and back fill the missing letter or number. In short, you could not ever enter the correct product ID. I can't say more about this version as I could not get past this point. The Full (non upgrade) version seemed more stable. It accepted the `product ID' key at least but that is where the problems began. The first problem I had was that in PowerPoint there was no preview. Sure enough, less than 30 days out and there was a critical upgrade to fix this problem. I went to the Microsoft Update page to download it. It failed several times. I then contacted Microsoft Technical support. This is a known problem and you must download (at least for now) all updated to your local hard drive and install from there. If they don't solve this problem, its going to be a major problem when there are more than a few updates for Office 2003 available. I also started to receive `run time error messages' when I used Microsoft Internet Explorer. Microsoft technical support says this is not an Office 2003 issue, but an Operating System issue. Sure it is! I did not have this problem before I installed Office 2003. The resolution was to disable all Third Party devices (such as the Google tool bar), and remove some other things as well. The new Outlook interface looks great, but what good is a great looking interface if it does not work? For some reason, email sent using Outlook 2003 is identified as `Spam' by several spam filtering programs, including Spam Assassin. I found this out when some people I was sending email to did not reply. I telephoned one of them and said they had not received any email form me. They then checked and found it in the `spam' folder. Here is the error message that Outlook 2003 generated: > Content analysis details: (5.70 points, 5 required)
> FORGED_YAHOO_RCVD (2.7 points) 'From' yahoo.com does not match 'Received'
> headers
> MSG_ID_ADDED_BY_MTA_2 (0.8 points) 'Message-Id' was added by a relay
> (2) FORGED_MUA_OUTLOOK (2.2 points) Forged mail pretending to be from
> MS Outlook MISSING_OUTLOOK_NAME (0.0 points) Message looks like
> Outlook, but isn't This is also a known problem to Microsoft Technical Support. The fix is to turn off all firewall and virus protection and to remove some networking package updates. I tried this but it still did not solve the problem. It remains unresolved. I had more problems but I think this illustrates the point that this product was just released to soon. If you enjoy `bleeding edge' technology, this is for you. If you are looking for something that works without `bleeding edge' features (bugs or problems) then take to heart the advice I was given by Microsoft Technical Support; ". . . I usually wait 6 months after a release before I upgrade. By then most of the major problems have been resolved." Sage Advice! As for me, I am returning to an earlier edition of Office at least for a while. Here is the phone number for Microsoft Technical Support. If you buy this product right now, you are going to need it: 1-888-346-5229 Martina
Rating:
Summary: Office 2003 upgrade at the best price!
Review: I had my first look at Office 2003 while it was still in Beta - which was kind of buggy (mostly Outlook) - but the production release of Office 2003 is well worth the money, and seems very stable. I upgraded from Office 2000 sp4, and find that Office 2003 has tighter integration, more functionality, better filters and rules in Outlook, and incredible prospects with the XML function set that enables easy exchange of information with other platforms and systems. The Business Contact Manager in Outlook makes keeping track of your suppliers and customers easier than ever! Just register the contact as a business in Outlook, and all documentation created through Outlook is automatically attached to their business profile - basically creating a one stop data pool for each registered business client. I use SQL, mySQL, and Access as data tools, and find the XML functionality in Access is great for moving data from one format to another. It's also very useful for creating data driven XML documents for use in front ends built with Flash MX. While Word and Excel are pretty much the same, with a few added bells and whistles, the newer functionalities in Outlook and Access make my life easier and definitely pay for the upgrade in saved time. Amazon offers the lowest price out there (beleive me when I tell I've looked around) on the upgrade. Add the availability of rebate offers through Amazon, and you really can't go wrong. Happy computing!
Boc
Get a Life Style!
http://www.getalifestyle.org
Rating:
Summary: Office 2003 upgrade at the best price!
Review: I had my first look at Office 2003 while it was still in Beta - which was kind of buggy (mostly Outlook) - but the production release of Office 2003 is well worth the money, and seems very stable. I upgraded from Office 2000 sp4, and find that Office 2003 has tighter integration, more functionality, better filters and rules in Outlook, and incredible prospects with the XML function set that enables easy exchange of information with other platforms and systems. The Business Contact Manager in Outlook makes keeping track of your suppliers and customers easier than ever! Just register the contact as a business in Outlook, and all documentation created through Outlook is automatically attached to their business profile - basically creating a one stop data pool for each registered business client. I use SQL, mySQL, and Access as data tools, and find the XML functionality in Access is great for moving data from one format to another. It's also very useful for creating data driven XML documents for use in front ends built with Flash MX. While Word and Excel are pretty much the same, with a few added bells and whistles, the newer functionalities in Outlook and Access make my life easier and definitely pay for the upgrade in saved time. Amazon offers the lowest price out there (beleive me when I tell I've looked around) on the upgrade. Add the availability of rebate offers through Amazon, and you really can't go wrong. Happy computing!
Boc
Get a Life Style!
http://www.getalifestyle.org
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely great!
Review: I have been using office since 1992 and frankly I was getting a little tired of the same look and feel. Well, after win xp came out I knew it was only a matter of time before Microsoft made office look and feel more lively. Well, as soon as the beta version became available in June I purchased my copy of the 2003 Office and the whole bundle of the other products. I was a little reluctant to use the beta version for safety and stability reasons but I have to say that except for FrontPage 2003, ALL other software is 100% stable as a beta version. This only goes to show that the product really was programmed well. Not a lot of change in the word and excel except for a few new things. However, outlook now looks fantastic and is incredibly productive. What a wonderful change... The look and feel of outlook is finally modernized and it is very useful in the office. I am CEO of a small company and we always struggled to keep a good track of our customers. With outlook 2003' contact manager that is now a snap. For example, every time you send an email to a client that you have previously registered in outlook as a customer, the email automatically becomes attached to that account. So, tomorrow you can just go the customers account and you will see all the emails they sent you and the ones you sent them all in one place. I love that!
PowerPoint has also gotten nicer. Many more transitions and themes. All around PowerPoint has always been a good piece of software and you can't fix something if it ain't broken.
Access looks great too. I think outlook and access both got a lot of things changed. I must say we use mysql for our company but if you are an access person, you will like the changes.
All and all I would absolutely recommend a change if you have a 2000 or older version of office. BUT if you are happy with your office xp now, really don't waste your money in this poor economy.
Hope this helps!
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