Rating: 
Summary: A [...]company and unknown mystery
Review: Please reconsider again before you decide to buy it.
First of all, this product allows you to install only one time.
You have one desktop and one laptop. Sorry, you have to buy two copies.
You just format your desktop and want to install Office XP back.
Sorry, you have to buy the second copy.
Second of all, several functions are taken away from a normal Office XP package.
Don't believe what the ad. says.
You should buy a standard version.
To me, it's pain in the [...] to buy the version for students and teachers.
Rating: 
Summary: Over the top, but some great benefits and improvements
Review: First, count me among the people pleased with the fact that Microsoft Office - and, in particular, Word - has become the de facto standard for document creation. Does anyone remember what life was like before...when we all wasted copius amounts of time sending and re-sending each other incompatible documents? Why anyone would yearn for those days is beyond me.Feature-wise, I agree that the programs that comprise Office suffer by trying to be all things to all people. In the excellent book 'Microsoft Secrets,' I recall reading that extensive user testing revealed that the typical user of Word only made use of around 10% of its capabilities. So, in general, you're paying for a lot of bloat that you'll never access and never care about. The problem with being Microsoft, of course, is that you've got to appeal to a *very* broad audience. That's because the 10% I use may be completely different than someone else's 10%. So, with that in mind, let me tell you about two great things in XP version of Word that I make use of on a continuous basis that you ought to know about. First, there's the 'Track Changes' capabilities. Yes, this has always been present to some degree, but it got a major overhaul in XP. Now, when you turn the 'Track Changes' mechanisms on, Word shrinks the size of the entire text of the document (temporarily) and reflects all add, change and delete activity in an extensive right-hand margin. What this does for you is that you get all your tracking, while maintaining the flow and readability of the proposed new version of the overall document. You really have to see this in action to appreciate just how much this improves the process. The other feature to point out is the sheer power and scope of Word XP's multi-language capabilities. I write many documents in Spanish and I am frankly blown-away by my ability to set the 'Language' spellcheck option to any a number of regional Spanish settings (e.g., Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, to name just a few of the many options). Then, as I'm writing, Word catches every little nuance for me - it checks all the many verb forms, even when attaching direct and/or indirect pronouns. Every skipped or misplaced accent is flagged for my attention. In short, using Word XP can dramatically improve your secondary language skills. I'll talk about PowerPoint briefly - over the years, Microsoft has made it easier to manipulate and put together compelling presentations. In earlier versions, I always felt like I was locked into not much more than bulletized lists. Now, working in combination with Microsoft's built-in Design Gallery Live (and aided immeasurably by Google's Image search), you can piece together compelling visual scenarios *exactly* as you envision them, with no encumbrance from PowerPoint. One final point is that you should always pair any Office product with a copy of Adobe Acrobat (the PDF *writer*, not just the reader). With Acrobat, you can remove any hint of incompatibility with anyone in the world, regardless of desktop platform, version, etc. Just convert any of your Word, PowerPoint or Excel files into a PDF and you've guaranteed yourself unfettered readability throughout the planet.
Rating:
Summary: Too Many Restrictions
Review: I bought this item only to discover when reading the license agreement that I do not teach enough hours at my local college to qualify. The other Microsoft products that I might use are just too pricy to be a good value, and all this activation translates into aggravation. I'm going to make do with what I already have.
Rating:
Summary: good value, but this version is non-upgradeable
Review: runs well on windows xp, but this version is non-upgradeable. not a big deal when you think that their next office upgrade that'll come out in a year or 2 will probably upgrade from previous versions to this (2000, 98?) no access, frontpage.. just word, powerpoint, excel, outlook too many features yet to explore. works well with xp/pentium4
Rating: 
Summary: Unquestionably and by far the best software I've ever used.
Review: I'm familiar with a variety of office suites, including StarOffice. I can say that no other piece of software in ANY category is better written or more useful than Office XP. It does everything you could possibly want in terms of accounting, desktop publishing, or presentation. I simply don't think any computer should be sold without a copy of Office XP. I've been a faithful Office user since version 4.3, and it has only gotten better and more functional each year. If all you need are "core features" you may as well just use Notepad, but for anyone trying to look professional on paper, insist on Office.
Rating: 
Summary: I wish I had read the reviews.....
Review: Had I read the reviews on this product, I would have reconsidered my purchase. I didn't know that I would not be able to load it onto both of my home computers or even load it at home and on the laptop that my daughter takes with her to college. I'm told that if I want to install onto 2 computers that I have to buy the full version of Office XP Standard and even that will only load on 2 computers. I shouldn't have to buy 2 copies when I have 2 home computers and 2 children in college at the same time.
Rating:
Summary: Way overpriced
Review: MS Office has certainly become the sort of standard for office suite software, but, it is just too darn expensive! Almost [$$] for the pro edition? No wonder why Microsoft had to start the required key registrations (requires contacting MS with a specific key generated during install and then they provide you with another key to "unlock" their software) - barely any home user can afford it anymore. But we need it because our workplaces use Office. I don't like the way they are sticking it to us. I'm switching to Sun's StarOffice [less$$] which is supposed to be compatible with Word, Excel, and Powerpoint and just as good.
Rating:
Summary: Word is worse....
Review: MS Word's biggest weakness has been style management. In XP, it became even weaker. Word 2000 allowed a user to modify a style after opening a series of dialog boxes. In Word XP, you must first open a side panel that takes almost one third of your screen. Then if you know where to click, you can eventually find the same series of dialog boxes that were in Word 2000. If you created a document in Word 2000, don't expect it to look the same in Word XP. In Microsoft's infinite wisdom, the fonts that are provided with XP are different than Word 2000. XP has some new fonts, but deleted some of the old fonts. It can become frustrating. Unfortunately, MS Office has become the defacto standard with no challengers in sight. So, stick with MS Office 2000. As a general rule, avoid MS products that have revisions as letters, such as "ME" or "XP." Stick to updates that are named after the numbered year (e.g. 98 or 2000) ;)
Rating: 
Summary: Don't pay too much for office productivity
Review: MS Office is great, but it's way too much money. I'm currently migrating to OpenOffice.org 1.0. I've been using the Writer word processing program for several weeks now, and it works fine. I use it to write papers and other documents. I even used OpenOffice.org Writer to write up a summary of our reading for a class study group, converted it to Word, and sent it to about 20 people. No one wrote back to complain. When it comes to office productivity, the best, most affordable choice is OpenOffice.org 1.0. It has the same functionality as StarOffice and has all the core features of Microsoft Office, plus you can covert documents back and forth from Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. It's a fraction of the cost to boot! You can even buy it on CD from Amazon.com through zShops or get this: download it from the Internet if you have the time and understand how to work with zip files. Search for OpenOffice.org on the main Amazon.com site.
Rating:
Summary: You get what you pay for.
Review: This is by far the best office suite ever developed, and has been for years. Relative cost is largely irrelevant if what you do all day is work on documents, spreadsheets, simple databases, e-mail, etc. and you want the best environment available. There is no comparable alternative. Star Office is adequate if you are a programmer with minimal needs who has to work on a Unix platform.
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