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$431.99 $414.99 $95.99

Sales Rank: 21 Microsoft Released: 21 October, 2003

Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Catalog: Software --> Explore similar items
Media: CD-ROM(1)
Platforms: Windows 2000 Windows XP

• Adobe Acrobat 6.0 Standard Edition
• Microsoft FrontPage 2003
• Office 2003 for Dummies
• Microsoft Window XP Professional Upgrade
• Microsoft Project 2003 Standard

• CD
• Analyze and manage business information using Access databases
• Exchange data with other systems using enhanced XML technology
• Control information sharing rules with enhanced IRM technology
• Easy-to-use wizards to create e-mail newsletters and printed marketing materials
• More than 20 preformatted business reports

1. Open/StarOffice
2. MS Office

The first one is great, but is way too slow and its *.doc and *.xls converter is not perfect.

The second is really fast -- Word 2003 on P4 1.5G 1G RAM loads in two seconds. But... the professional edition, which is what you want/need/desire costs way too much. I was able to buy it only because I am a student so I get 50% discount on software.

In other words, why would anyone pay $500 for an office suite? And if you have four computers at your home (like me), then you can't even install it on all of them (actually, you can install office on your desktop and laptop for non concurent use only). Thanks God I use Linux at home, so I have no other alternative than to use free software ;-)

But... if you do use MS Windows at home and you have money to pay for it and it does not really bother you, then you are getting a really good piece of software. I have been using it for a while and it runs smoothly even on XP inside a VM.

However, I would like to see MS adding OneNote and FrontPage to the professional edition, so you feel that spending $500 was worth it.

I give it only three stars not because of the software quality, which is really good, but because of the price, which for people like me is just to high, and licensing.


Best Office so far, ignore the price for just one minute....
Office 2003 is well worth upgrading to, without a doubt. Unlike other software like Norton 2004, which is a nightmare to upgrade to...... aaaaaanyway, I got Office 2003 for free, professional, and it was the enterprise edition, as I work at a university which provides software. The features may not be entirely new, but everything is much easier to use, and the programs themselves look different from 2000 or 2002/XP. WARNING: ONLY WORKS ON WINDOWS 2000 AND XP. Also, it has some form of product activation on the CD, so you can only install on one computer. If you've got the money, then I would buy Office 2003... if you can get it from a friend for $25 instead of $500, definitely do that. I personally don't think Office is worth $500, but it IS a very good piece of software.


New and improved
Attempt to use voice dictation has been removed. Internet access is available instantly for templates and clipart. It upgrades readily. In many other respects other than a blue color. I cannot see it differs much from previous versions. For a beginner, it is somewhat difficult to use.