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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: Like Bugs? If Yes, Then Buy This!
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 Good Luck, your going to need it!
Rating:
Summary: Like Bugs? If Yes, Then Buy This!
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 Good Luck, your going to need it!
Rating: 
Summary: Webmasters Don't Buy Access 2003
Review: If you use Access 2002 or earlier in your websites, don't buy office 2003 because Access 2003 is not supported by anyone including bCentral, a Microsoft Company. I changed providers to bCentral after being told they did, then found they don't, plus not to mention cannot connect to their servers most of the time. As with any MS product, always errors. It has been a complete nightmare, I uninstalled 2003 and reinstalled 2002 and all my databases that I opened with 2003 are screwed up. It will take me months to fix a 1500 page website that is Access driven. Time I learned PHP or MySQL.
Rating:
Summary: Microsoft Office 2003 ¿ A System of Solutions
Review: This is a justified upgrade for all Office 97, 2000 and some Office XP users. Office has evolved into a system of information gathering tools, a set of solutions for ideas, communication, connecting people and places. Intense XML (extensible markup language) integration for generating solutions that are compatible with today's, tomorrow and future standards. The updated applications integrate with the Windows XP experience featuring a bolder inviting interface. I am disappointed with the default use of the current theme in Windows XP, but with the new tool bar icons, it makes you forget about that. Overall it's a wonderful work experience with Office 2003. The suite offers improved reliability and stability, because of the integration with the supported operating systems. Once the suite is installed, you don't have to restart your computer, just start using the applications, the suite even has its own default programs group (finally), which keeps your programs menu less cluttered. Word 2003 includes development tools that add dynamic features to documents making them powerful than ever. The power beneath all this is XML, allowing the user to embed components for updating data in documents such as stock quotes. Word 2003 offers simple, familiar yet improved features regular users are accustomed to. Majority of the features in Word 2003 are aimed primarily toward businesses and the Enterprise. But are still necessary for the average user because of the control over information across all the Office applications. Tools such as Information Rights Management (IRM), (this controls the flow of information to specific users), persons can be restricted on how they use your Office files; whether it's printing or sharing, very powerful! Reading view is an enhanced mode of print preview; documents are laid out in virtual pages reducing the need to print. The Task Pane is also improved by offering resources to look up information on a particular topic being typed; this is a feature across the core Office applications. Lots of other great features make Word 2003 a worthy upgrade. Excel is a XML mammoth because of the integration with the language. The ability to migrate data between different storage sources and extraction of information to make it flexible in different scenarios. Tables can be transferred back and forth between applications such Word with ease. Excel can continually use the tables from documents as a data source for further expandability. It's the flexibility for data exchange that makes Excel 2003 very powerful. Outlook, is so revamped, this alone is a worthy upgrade. Three panes in Outlook 2003 make e-mail an enjoyable experience. The Mail Pane holds all of the necessary tools found in prior versions of Outlook such as the Outlook Bar, and the different folders such as inbox, calendar, etc. The second pane gives an expanded view of the different items listed in the Mail Pane, like your incoming mail, contacts and calendar, which makes reading these information resources easier on the eye and productive by providing a better view. Reading your e-mail in the third pane (Preview Pane), the user views the message in portrait layout, more content is seen compared to prior versions. Its even better to view e-mails with "Clear Type" turned on for Windows XP users. Other features such as improved Virus and Spam protection makes Outlook 2003 a great upgrade. Outlook is not placed on the desktop by default, it can also be minimized to the system tray in Windows, for users connected to an Exchange Server, this displays all the network settings available. PowerPoint 2003 offers the same features of version 2002, but what makes it an enticing upgrade is the package to CD feature that allows users to save presentations onto CD-ROMS. The PowerPoint Viewer included with each Package to CD allows it to be played on other computer systems even if PowerPoint is not installed. Windows media integration is also in PowerPoint 2003, which makes watching presentations more fun and exciting. The effects are fantastic when combined with these elements. The ability to integrate videos into Presentations to create home movies has long been a request of users, even if they have a DVD burner. For the PowerPoint 2000 user this is a worthy upgrade that provides simple yet Powerful tools to take presentation graphics to a new level. This new version of Access is also XML integrated, enhanced features such as extraction of data from multiple tables, Access 2003 also improves Smart Tag integration. The ability to design solutions within the program makes web services a powerful resource for the enterprise; the flawless integration with Microsoft SQL makes information sharing a productive experience. This makes data storing and retrieval an easy way to control how data is implemented across many scenarios using personalized solutions, allowing your information to have a stronger impact across the Enterprise. Publisher has become a mainstream Office application because of its integration with other Office programs. It connects to product databases; the Mail Merge feature is much improved because it's the same one as Microsoft Word, which offers greater ease of use. The Start Center is awesome, which makes starting publications an organized experience for the user. The interface is less cluttered and more customizable. You can rename pages like Workbooks for better searching, if you are typing large publications. The website features are easier to use; it provides satisfactory integration with FrontPage, for converting websites created in Publisher. With a total of 45 design master sets, users can create attractive e-mails that are fully compatible with many messaging services. The ability to merge data sources using text and images is great. Compatibility goes back to Publisher 2000, which is a draw back for users who might be using Publisher 98 or under. Outlook Business Contact Manager is an application that offers features for Small Businesses for generating customer reports and e-mailing customers. Picture Manager has replaced Photo-Editor; it has better image editing tools, more functionality and ease of use. Office 2003 is a worthy upgrade for many users, especially persons still in an existing Office 97 or 2000 user base. The tools it provides offers a powerful productivity experience that makes information accessible, controllable and connected for you the user. The suite and all the Office 2003 applications are supported only on Windows 2000 Service Pack 3, Windows XP all editions.
Rating:
Summary: Essential tools with powerful enhancements!
Review: Word 2003 includes development tools that add dynamic features to documents making them powerful than ever. The power beneath all this is XML, allowing the user to embed components for updating data in documents such as stock quotes. Word 2003 offers simple, familiar yet improved features regular users are accustomed to. Majority of the features in Word 2003 are aimed primarily toward businesses and the Enterprise. But are still necessary for the average user because of the control over information across all the Office applications. Tools such as Information Rights Management (IRM), (this controls the flow of information to specific users), persons can be restricted on how they use your Office files; whether it's printing or sharing, very powerful! Reading view is an enhanced mode of print preview; documents are laid out in virtual pages reducing the need to print. The Task Pane is also improved by offering resources to look up information on a particular topic being typed; this is a feature across the core Office applications. Lots of other great features make Word 2003 a worthy upgrade. Excel is a XML mammoth because of the integration with the language. The ability to migrate data between different storage sources and extraction of information to make it flexible in different scenarios. Tables can be transferred back and forth between applications such Word with ease. Excel can continually use the tables from documents as a data source for further expandability. It's the flexibility for data exchange that makes Excel 2003 very powerful. Outlook, is so revamped, this alone is a worthy upgrade. Three panes in Outlook 2003 make e-mail an enjoyable experience. The Mail Pane holds all of the necessary tools found in prior versions of Outlook such as the Outlook Bar, and the different folders such as inbox, calendar, etc. The second pane gives an expanded view of the different items listed in the Mail Pane, like your incoming mail, contacts and calendar, which makes reading these information resources easier on the eye and productive by providing a better view. Reading your e-mail in the third pane (Preview Pane), the user views the message in portrait layout, more content is seen compared to prior versions. Its even better to view e-mails with "Clear Type" turned on for Windows XP users. Other features such as improved Virus and Spam protection makes Outlook 2003 a great upgrade. Outlook is not placed on the desktop by default, it can also be minimized to the system tray in Windows, for users connected to an Exchange Server, this displays all the network settings available. PowerPoint 2003 offers the same features of version 2002, but what makes it an enticing upgrade is the package to CD feature that allows users to save presentations onto CD-ROMS. The PowerPoint Viewer included with each Package to CD allows it to be played on other computer systems even if PowerPoint is not installed. Windows media integration is also in PowerPoint 2003, which makes watching presentations more fun and exciting. The effects are fantastic when combined with these elements. The ability to integrate videos into Presentations to create home movies has long been a request of users, even if they have a DVD burner. For the PowerPoint 2000 user this is a worthy upgrade that provides simple yet Powerful tools to take presentation graphics to a new level.
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