Rating: 
Summary: Word 2002 ... You can't beat that!
Review: The new version of MS Works, designed for the SoHo market, includes Word 2002, the word processor included in Office XP. ... Works 2002 also includes Money 2002..., Encarta 2002, Picture It! Photo 2002... and Works 6... Put it all toghether and you wil see that this is a very good price for all these products.
Rating: 
Summary: Great bang for the buck; don't believe the side of the box
Review: The side of this box has caused me much confusion. It says--as does Microsoft's own product page--that this is an UPGRADE, and that you must have a previous copy of Works or Word to run it. Not true. It runs fine as a stand-alone,...As for the product itself, you get MS Word, Works, and several other programs for ... well, Amazon.com never lets you talk about price on their web site, but let's just say it was a two-digit figure, and a low one at that. Why pay more for a stand-alone of Word that's exactly the same, a program whose cost is well in the three-digit range? Makes no sense to me. I'm tempted to say Bill Gates has no business sense, only he's a billionaire and I'm not. Anyway, I consider the other programs to be mostly gravy, but I must say Picture It! is about as useless as they come and if you are serious about tweaking your scans and online photos I'd recommend a more heavy-duty program like PhotoShop or CorelPaint. This program was designed for someone with a triple-lobotomy. Dumbed-down doesn't begin to describe it. Street & Trips seems like it'd be useful for planning a vacation by car, so I'll undoubtedly give that a try this summer. By registering online you become eligible for updates, so I'm *assuming* they'd update roads and maps as they change. That would make sense anyway. Don't really have much use for the money program. Haven't tried the encyclopedia yet...Again I'd assume it is updated online every so often. Would be the main way a computer encyclopedia would be more useful than a book one, at least.As for the whiney review below me that stated he had to download a bunch of useless stuff on his computer just to get word, he neglected to mention (or was too stupid to follow the directions to learn that) you can customize the install, and only download the programs you want, so he could have just downloaded Word if that's all he wanted. And getting a full-blown version of Word for [that very reasonable two-digit price again] is well worth it. They just could have given us such a better Picture Editing program, if they wanted. They should be ashamed of what they include here, with its headache-inducing, nerve-jangling Flash animations and loud, popping sound effects. There is a way to turn them off and bypass all the silly childish animation, but they don't tell you how; you have to poke around yourself. (In the animation screen itself, right-click and uncheck the animation boxes that are chosen by default. Next time you fire up the program, no obnoxious animations. Repeat this right-click technique for every annoying animation screen you come across as you use the program.)
Rating: 
Summary: Yuck...
Review: This came pre-installed on my computer, so I gave it a shot. I was sorely disappointed. As a college student, I use spreadsheet and word processors quite frequently. I found that Word 2002 was cumbersome, ugly, and not as simple to use as previous editions (Word '97 was the best); and the spreadsheet was hard to manipulate and often did not operate the way I wanted it to. Making a graph with the proper axes proved quite difficult. To top this all off, this comes with Money 2002, Streets and Trips, and Picture It! Photo... features I doubt I'll ever use. In fact, Encarta may be the only program I might use in the near future. For all others, I'm sticking to Lotus Smart Suite.
Rating:
Summary: Yuck...
Review: This came pre-installed on my computer, so I gave it a shot. I was sorely disappointed. As a college student, I use spreadsheet and word processors quite frequently. I found that Word 2002 was cumbersome, ugly, and not as simple to use as previous editions (Word '97 was the best); and the spreadsheet was hard to manipulate and often did not operate the way I wanted it to. Making a graph with the proper axes proved quite difficult. To top this all off, this comes with Money 2002, Streets and Trips, and Picture It! Photo... features I doubt I'll ever use. In fact, Encarta may be the only program I might use in the near future. For all others, I'm sticking to Lotus Smart Suite.
Rating: 
Summary: Bloated but OKAY
Review: This is a bloated program that contains hundreds of features that most people will not use. Nevertheless, after spending several hours trying to figure it out, I am generally pleased with it. I previously used Works 4.0 (a truly great program, fast, simple, easy) but was forced to upgrade to Works 6.0 due to my new operating system (Windows 2000). The word processor (Word 2000) has a nice look and contains lots of good features when you finally figure it out. My initial impression of this product was unfavorable -- too many features, too complicated -- but I have warmed up to it and feel that our good buddies at Microsoft have done their best to provide a versatile product. It's not an easy program to learn, but if you have the patience to work your way through it, you will probably like it. Bloated but OKAY.
Rating:
Summary: Microsoft Works Suite 2002 (It really works!)
Review: This is a great collection of easy to use software that appreciates the budget of the user, from a powerful word processor to easy photo-editing solution. Included in works is Microsoft Word version 2002! Now come on, this product sells individually at an outrageous price of $300 plus dollars. You are able to create professional looking documents, memo's and resumes, included with this version of Word, are speech recognition technologies, Send for Review, Document recovery and a slew of other powerful features. The other productivity applications such as the Works spreadsheet and database are not as powerful as Microsoft Excel and Access, but they do get the job done. This product really is worth the five stars. If you are looking for robust applications for computing and other powerful features, start thinking about saving for Microsoft Office. Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 2002 standard is also included and trust me I used version 2001 and this version is even more powerful and amazing with concise, articulated information. So for students who want assistance with their reports and essays, Encarta is the one-stop reference material for all your information. Every OEM manufacturer should offer MS Works as a part of their computer package. Software like Lotus doesn't really meet the needs of users anymore, Lotus is like a low-end version of Works, not much functionality. Other great software includes Picture It! Photo Express, which is great for fixing up your photos, removing red eyes and it also creates great art and craft materials. Streets and Trips is a handy geographic solution when it comes to planning your travels, so for those people who like to go on vacation, this is a good opportunity to purchase. Money is always useful when it comes to organizing and preparing you financial data, so you don't have to worry about calculating and managing your frustrating financial taxes. With insightful tutorials and easy to use wizards, Money is a smart solution when it comes to handling your "money". Remember if you are looking for robust software that takes software computing to a different level, think about Microsoft Office. But for those people who need only the essentials, Works is the way to go!
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