Customer Reviews

Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003 [OLD VERSION]

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Jan.16, 2006

Review Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003.

I Ordered Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003, for my wife's birthday, but they sent Office XP 2002 instead.

Now, getting the run around from one Dept. to another in order to try and get the correct Version, for her.

It would have been nice if they would have sent an E-mail to say that they were out of stock (if that were the case) and would send it as soon as they received more. But they led us to believe that what we ordered is what we were getting.

So until this problem is resolved I can not give a favourable rating at this time.

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.

After using Office 2003 I will never go back to anything else. Ease of use, customization of applications and best of all it works like a charm.

Do NOT be fooled by 1 star reviews, they are not true. I purchased Office 2003 and it has to be the best office suite I have ever used. You will be very pleased.

If you have to use MS Windows, you have a binary choice when it comes to office suites:

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.

O2k3 is Microsoft's latest iteration of their cash cow product, Office, and in some ways fully realizes their previous dreams of integration and utility.

For example, the taskpane that now appears stage-left (screen- right) does more than display a stacked clipboard; if you've been repeating a series of formatting commands, those too appear in the stack for easy access. This is what computers have promised to deliver for some time now. In this and other ways, Microsoft is finally bringing it to users in a usable, intuitive manner.

Previous features such as spellchecking, grammar, integration and smart cut-copy-paste operations are all present. Perhaps the best addition to the suite is Microsoft's OneNote, which promises to capture freeform notes and text in whatever way you like, digitizing tablet handwriting or keyboard entry; the killer app is how it recognizes the handwriting and indexes the text for finding your notes again. Call it system-wide Graffiti for Windows.

Still, this is Office and the usual bloat in disk space, system requirements, and price tag all apply. This is a release most-targeted for businesses that can afford to roll this out to many users under a favorable license. If a company such as GE had to pay $450 a seat, you can bet GE would be using a competitor's product tomorrow. So for an individual, Office is still a four-star player.

For anyone considering Office 2003, let me weigh in with a wet blanket on previous rave reviews: if you have Office 2000/2002/XP, you don't need this release. Honestly. This iteration does not contain a truly compelling feature set that will bring you to spend a few hundred dollars. Microsoft's OneNote is good, maybe even killer, but you've gotten along without it for quite some time now, haven't you?

To put all this in a single paragraph: if you're on Office 97 or earlier, and can score the upgrade, and have the bucks, this is a good release to use. However, if you don't have the bucks, Office 2002 or even Office 2000 are still viable alternatives that provide 95% of the features at 30-70% of the cost.

The CD will not load to any computer I have. You ripped me off. I want my money back. I only gave it one star because I had to to complete the form.

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.

its pirated and it doesn't load and the vendor does not return e-mails

One word I can describe Office 2003 -

AWESOME - this has to be the nicest

software from MS since Windows XP Pro!

I have been in Information Technology for well over 15 years. Having seen several software companies come and go I have to keep an open mind on new releases. My first 'end user' experience with Office 2003 was at work after having my workstation upgraded to Windows XP Professional and Office 2003.

First impressions, Outlook has improved functionality with a preview pane that displays a new email message with the content. Excellent function, I have to say a small item but worth its weight in gold for the end user. Other items in Outlook previews co-workers calenders with yours side by side. Numerous other excellent features as well to many to list.

MS Word also has the preview pane for view docs, works very well and the integration with other applications works extremely well. Excel has new functionality as well as Access is improved as well. There is so many improvements and add-ons that increase productivity I purchased the MS Office 2003 Professional edition and I have to say it was worth every cent.

If you want the best Office Suite then look no further, MS has hit a home run here.