recommended version of office

[sven]

I just bought a new dell laptop, and i really don't want to have to use corel word perfect for all my documents. i'm looking for a good version of office to install on here. my other computer has office 2002, but i'm still debating whether or not to buy an upgrade to office 2003. i'm not interested in office 2007, i've gotten too used to the menus i have in the old versions of office.

thanks

[dirtwarrior]

I use office 2000 and see no need for anything else

[tain]

Except for some newer Outlook features, I thought Office '97 hit the functionality vs. bloat sweet spot.

[EchoNoise]

I agree with TAiN.

[CoffeeFiend]

Personally, I use the new Office 2003 features quit a bit and wouldn't consider going back. If it wasn't v2003, then I'd likely just use OpenOffice instead (mind you I'd miss OneNote and Visio a great deal)

[sven]

humm.. i have 3 different opinions for 3 different versions. i guess i'll test out 2003 at the school before doing any decisions. thanks

[Martin L]

2003 all the way for me

[MGadAllah]

I've tried every release for office 97 ... 2007

for laptop and work... I recommend 2003 typical install, and just install the application you want to use only, do not install every thing, also download the SP2 for 2003 will improve the performance.

I'm used to work in that filed for more then 7 years, I've wrote a lot of documents types. so 2003 is really much better and I did not find any bugs yet.

[Kelsenellenelvian]

2003 Alllll the way baby!

[WolfX2]

i say 2003, but...i think powerpoint was better in 2000

[gamehead200]

2003. But like Wolf said, PPT was way better in 2000 (and I know from experience!), well, apart from the newer transitions in XP and 2003...

[CoffeeFiend]

I'm curious to hear what's really better about the older version. I just can't stop wondering.

There's many improvements to PPT 2003 - and not only backgrounds, animations and transitions (mind you that's already quite nice to have). Things like smart tags, package for CD (no need to have ppt nor the viewer installed on client PC - it makes your presentation 100% self-contained!), better menus and task panes - including new slideshow toolbar (very neat) and reasearch pane, thesaurus (finally), ink support (just give it a try - there's no turning back), sharepoint support (a must for those working in teams), improved viewer, better image support (when exporting or optimizing), better auto layout, the little autofit thing that appears when you paste too much text in a box (offers to autofit text or to split it to another slide automatically - I use it quite often), new media player for those who tend to put some clips on presentations (not uncommon at all) - which is quite improved and supports things like playlists or playing fullscreen, producer 2003, very cool custom animations (you can even use paths - even hand drawn ones! And it has good sequencing too) - I mean, just check these...

Honestly, I've tried very hard, but couldn't think of a single thing that was better in the previous version, yet doing the inverse was trivial.

Powerpoint 2003 is FAR better IMO, they don't even compare. Same applies to every single one of the other apps from the suite.

[CoffeeFiend]

Actually, thinking of it, it can't be too much longer before they release version 2007. One just might be better off waiting and buying that one then.

I hadn't mentionned it as I have not tried it yet, nor had I looked much at it. I wasn't sure of how the new GUI would be and things like that. But i just saw a couple videos and it's looking very very nice.

5 min video using word 2007: create "21st century" documents in word. There's a bunch of other videos too. It looks promising - at least when it comes down to styling stuff and XML support/usage. I'll definitely be upgrading

[neo]

Microsoft Office 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh

really rocks

//Ramesh//

[The Apache]

i would seriously recommend office 2007 to anyone. it's so much simpler to use (thanks to the bar at the top of the window) and the menus are configured differently to your ease. - especially microsoft word and outlook.