Microsoft hits the mark with Office XP, a substantial improvement to Office 2000. Check out our early take on the software.
With Office XP, Microsoft proves that it gets the message, finally: Users want to decide for themselves how their software works. And they'll be able to do just that with the forthcoming release of Office XP With FrontPage. Tested by PC Labs in a "Corporate Preview" version (shipping price not yet announced), this latest incarnation of the ever-popular Office suite adds dozens of new conveniences, but the best may be the ease with which users can switch off the in-your-face automation features from the previous version.
Features like automatic formatting that inserts headlines where you don't want them, or Web site publishing that uploads a whole site instead of a single page can be axed with the click of your mouse. Even the animated-paperclip help system is switched off by default.
Web integration is another common theme running throughout Office XP. Microsoft's assumption that the Internet is an everyday presence in the lives of professionals is clearly visible in the Web-based additions found in every application included in the suite. However, while many of these enhancements are valuable to users, some are designed solely to bring more traffic to Microsoft's Web sites.
The package we tested included Word 2002, Excel 2002, PowerPoint 2002, Access 2002, Outlook 2002, and FrontPage 2002. Other packages (details and pricing unannounced) will add Publisher 2002 and SharePoint Team Services, a Web-based collaboration tool. Overall, the suite has a new soft, pastel-coloured interface. Task Panes at the right-hand side of each application window offer lists of recently used files, disk and Web searches, Web-based translation services, and access to formatting features. (Unfortunately, the Spelling and Find dialogs still pop up over document windows.) Smart Tag icons offer help and options when you perform complex tasks or when Office applies an automated formatting change like superscripting ordinal numbers. You can click the tag (or press Shift-Alt-F10) to choose possible actions for the affected text or graphic, or to turn off automated changes.
Microsoft soft-pedals high-tech features like handwriting and speech recognition, targeted at users who can't use the keyboard for medical reasons. Proofread the results carefully if you use the speech feature: when I dictated an email to my wife, Office mistook "darling" as "wider one." A more reliable feature is the unobtrusive new built-in OCR software that acquires text from your scanner.
Buyers of retail or academic copies (not those sold to corporations) must validate, over the Web or by phone, or the suite stops functioning after 50 uses. This system, already used in recent retail copies of Office 2000, raises security concerns, but unlike your typical software registration, Microsoft insists that it collects only information regarding the country you live in as well as some physical details of your computer.
As an upgrade, Office XP introduces fewer problems than Office 2000, and corporations that stayed with Office 97 may be attracted by this highly compatible upgrade. As a first-time purchase, Office XP justifies Microsoft's lion's share of the market.
Word
Microsoft knew better than to tinker with Word's file format or basic feature set. A Reveal Formatting Task Pane lets you clear formatting for selected text and see exactly where all formatting effects begin and end. Multiple blocks of text can be selected by holding down the control key when dragging with the mouse. Automated reformatting and bulleted lists are less aggressive than before, so documents won't surprise you with sudden changes in layout. An optional feature displays dotted lines under names, addresses, and telephone numbers and other recognised terms such as stock symbols; an icon lets you easily insert contact information from Outlook, send an email or get more information about the highlighted item. A crash-recovery feature lets you decide whether to open the last saved copy of a file or the version saved during the crash. Despite Microsoft's evident expectation of crashes, Word 2002 is the version users have been waiting for.
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