Customer Reviews

Microsoft Office XP Standard Upgrade [Old Version]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

When I ran OFFICE XP for the first time a message appeared telling me that I could run OFFICE XP only 49 more times without "activating" the software. Activating involves calling Microsoft and getting a code number to type on my PC. I called them and they explained that each time OFFICE XP is installed I will have to call for a new and different code number. If I replace my old PC and want to install OFFICE XP on my new one, I have to call for a code number. If I want to install it on my notebook as well as my desktop PC, I need 2 code numbers. And 2 code numbers is the limit! After requesting 2 activation codes for the same OFFICE XP CD, you are directed to speak with someone at Microsoft who will hear your case and decide if you have a valid reason for requesting a third code! Also note that OFFICE XP looks at your hardware each time you boot. If it detects a major change (new hard drive, new video board, etc...) it will disable itself and require you to call Microsoft for a new activation code. And remember, you only get two codes before you have to explain yourself.

I worry that Microsoft will stop giving these codes out in three or four years telling their customers instead that OFFICE XP is no longer supported and that they should upgrade to OFFICE 2XXX if they want to continue using the product.

I sent mine back to Microsoft for the 30 day money-back guarantee.

So I decided to get the latest version of Office and here's what I found:

-I get too few improvements to justify the outrageous price. Everything works about the same, and there's no single improvement that will make you much more productive or convince you that your money was well-spent.

-I have to ask for Microsoft's permission to install the software, move it to another computer when I upgrade, or reinstall the software if I have to reformat the hard drive. (And since I made the mistake of buying a computer with Windows ME, that is a real possibility.)

-The system requirements seem designed to help MS's buddies over at Intel move a whole bunch of Pentuim 4 systems that would otherwise gather dust in warehouses. Of course, if you have a lot of time on your hands, you can use your existing system and spend that time waiting for apps to load.

-The software is still unstable. Sure, I'm less likely to lose data after a crash with this version of the software, but am I the only one who thinks maybe the software shouldn't crash at all? I have thought for a long time that instead of adding dozens of new features with each new release, maybe MS should do a release of Office without new features, but with all of the existing features functional.

Don't waste your money on bug-filled software that doesn't make you significantly more productive.

I've been using this software for about three months now and have installed it on seven or eight different machines that I maintain, and honestly, the best I can say is that the actual upgrade process is very smooth--this Office suite comes on one CD instead of two, it scans for previous versions, offers full installation options, and explains very clearly what it is doing. When I upgraded to Office 2000, the software took upwards of an hour; with XP, the upgrades took from ten to forty minutes, depending on the speed of the machine I was upgrading to.
You will first notice how nice everything looks and the new "Smart Pane," which is supposed to be a window with what Office thinks you will want to do. The contents of this pane include your most recently used documents and options to create new documents.
The menus look a lot like the DHTML effects common on many web sites--menu options are "highlighted" when you mouse over them. A few other things have changed, but the changes are mostly cosmetic.
The Smart Pane, which is really more of a "pain" than a "pane," is obtrusive to me--I am what is called a "power user," i.e., I use MS Office for about four hours a day, rely on it, and am very familiar with it. When I open an application, I want wide, open space. I often close the Smart Pane without using its features, instead opening documents the way I have for years-either by opening them from the Work menu I added or by clicking to them. This Smart Pane is supposed to close when you open something, but sometimes it doesn't, meaning I have to click to close it.
Worse, the Smart Pane automatically opens when you want to do something it thinks requires many options. For example, if I want to modify a style in Word, the Smart Pane appears and offers me myriad options for editing my styles. This whole process of opening the Smart Pane slows everything down (I'm running a Pentium III 933 mHz with 128 mb RAM and a 7200 rpm ultra ATA hard drive with relatively few applications installed; got to keep it clean!!).
Editing styles provides a good example of how bloated the software is. You may recall from Office 2000 that all the styles were either built in or created by the user. Now, however, XP creates new styles based on what it finds in your document. For example, if you have a italicized one of your Heading 1s, XP will show the regular Heading 1 style and the Heading 1 style with italics. Imagine how many such styles you might have in your document; with these new additions, XP has easily doubled or tripled the number of styles I must wade through to get the one I want.
XP slows down every machine it's loaded on. My oldest machine, a Dell Pentium 75 running Win 98, was still chugging along quite nicely, even with Office 2000 installed. Now, however, after I've installed XP on it, it moves so slowly that it's almost laughable-clicked buttons bubble up comically. The worst part is that the computer is much, much slower, even if I'm not using any of the XP applications. I guess there's too much XP stuff now running in the background.
I have a few gripes with Word, many related to printing problems, but one is particularly laughable, typical of Microsoft. Now, when Word crashes, it politely tells you that it has done so and offers to send a report of the problem to Bill. It swears that it won't send any personal data. The first few times I saw this, I thought, sure, why not, send it, maybe it'll help. Hah! Each time, without fail, my computer froze! So, instead of having just one program crash, I ended up with a frozen machine. Remember, I'm primarily using a new, major name machine with little other software installed. Learned not to do that real quick!
There is one change I do like in Word. Since I do a lot of editing for a living, I find the new style of showing comments much better than the previous method. In Office 2000, comments were shown as "sticky notes" that appeared when you moused over them. Now, however, the comments appear as neat rounded squares in the margin. They look good on the screen and they print out well for others to read.
Another major reason I upgraded was because of a fatal flaw in FrontPage 2000. I have detailed more of this problem in my review of FP2002, but essentially, FP2000 could not publish my web site because it was too large. I was hoping that the bundled FP2002 would have fixed that bug. It did, but it has other compatibility issues that MS hasn't been able to resolve with most web hosts.
My relatively low rating is for the upgrade, not for the overall quality of the product. The product, which crashes at least as frequently as Office 2000, seems to be no more functional than its predecessor, meaning that the upgrade is necessary only for those who want to have the latest thing. The best news is that I've learned how to take advantage of MS's support discussion groups. The answers and workarounds I found in those groups were a thousand times more helpful than MS's pitiful Help or canned tech support messages. Again: Don't pay for support-go to their support groups for help first.
In short, this is something of a "non-upgrade," and will most likely cause more problems than it will fix.

It's hard to justify the cost for the set of features it delivers. I've waited a long time for this upgrade from Microsoft; I expected more. If the price where more like a Windows Me upgrade,... I'd say it's worth the money, but over twice as much for the standard edition upgrade, I'd say wait as long as you can to upgrade.

Perhaps Microsoft will realize it needs to add more funcationality or start offering large rebates. As much as Microsoft needs the revenue from Office, if it doesn't sell as expected, Microsoft will need to do something.

Ok first i don't know what some people were talking about ms instant messenger (which has nothin to do with the office suite) but office xp provides some new capablities for the power user. For the occasional user that checks their e-mail with outlook, writes a few word documents and maybe a powerpoint presentation DONOT need this upgrade. The new features are very small and you probably won't even know what they are. Basically all the aplications were left untouched but i have actually noticed a little faster start-up time. It does contain a pretty good document imaging utility to scan text documents and edit them in word and a feature to import and export your office settings which i thin kyou can get as an add-on for office 2000

Office XP is not worth a looking at. Plain and simple. This overpriced program adds nothing really big over Office 2000 and also makes Windows 95 useless in the process. Now don't get me started about that product activation bull. You can read an article on CNET on how much trouble that is.

So the rule of thumb is this.. if you can get a copy of Office 2000, go with it. XP is too much of a hassle, not worth an upgrade, and that activation stuff is a true invasion of privacy.

One of the worst MS programs up there with Windows ME.

I think using MS Office is like smoking; OK, not deadly, but you don't realize how much money you're spending every day or year on stuff you don't need. Put together all the money you've spent on MS Office products in your lifetime, and it might be more than is in your 401k depending on how you did in the last couple years of the stock market.

MS Office does work. Yes. Sometimes when I used it I would get the blue screen of death, sometimes not. It had its problems but we used it because we had to use it. Because everyone else used it and we had to, too.

StarOffice does the same stuff, handles the same file formats, costs soooo much less money. OpenOffice.org, ditto, and free. The decision isn't really a hard one about whether MS Office is worth buying. You don't need MS Office to make MS Office files (StarOffice opens and creates Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files).

Get StarOffice or OpenOffice.org and keep your money; Microsoft has enough.

Do you want to slow yoru systems down?
Do you want more bugs?

I upgraded this because I was looking for a better version of Outlook. I've found the Office 95 or Office 97 suite to be more than adequate for my needs and are the best applications for speed and efficiency. I had to wipe my entire disk to get it working and reinstall my older applications to get it workig reliably again.

The one feature hyped here is the way outlook can download email from WEB based HTML systems. Tht can be done with a free patch available from Microsoft for Outlook 2000...

Microsoft creates software applications that crash your older microsoft applications and encourage you to upgrade. Installing a simple upgrade to Internet Explorer or Instant Messenger will [mess] up a beautifully running machine.

My advice is don't use MS Instant Messenger, because it forces you to upgrade or deal with a reoccuring suggestion to upgrade...The net effect is they never really fix any software package to make it bug free. Each new version introduces new bugs and patches not fully tested, or perhaps deliberately [mess]something else up.

The solution is to use software that has been tested together extensively, like Win95 and Office 95. Win98 and Office 97, etc.

Never upgrade only one component of your OS and Office Applications or you will be sorry.

One final point...

Coming from Office 97, I was initially impressed with some of the features of Word and Excel that fixed some of the problems, added some of the features that I wished for in 97.

Words can not express my reaction when I got another computer for my one man office and called Microsoft on how to network the program to both computers. Not only could I not do THAT, I can't install the software on the other computer AT ALL. I was told that the program is installable on one desktop and one laptop. Those that work in small offices but have more than one computer or who want to be able to take work home and have a desktop instead of a laptop are out of luck.

They do not state this out front so BE WARNED....

I installed this product on my Dell computer. It did not try to register itself, but I got the message that installation was complete. I cannot access Word, Excel or PowerPoint. I was not able to uninstall it completely. Windows 98 and Explorer are hardly working. I cannot access my Office 97 or even uninstall it and reinstall. Dell Computer is of absolutely no help.

Office XP is dangerous garbage.