A very minor upgrade (MS Office XP)

Member Name: Asylum

Product:	MS Office XP
Date:	29/04/02 (88 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: all the usual features, files can be passed on to Office 2000 users

Disadvantages: minimal upgrade

I am a great admirer of Microsoft Office and consider that the 3 core programs of Word, Excel and Outlook are a must for anyone using a computer seriously.
After several years of using Office 97 I upgraded to the acclaimed Office 2000, which was an excellent move to make. The versatility and functions were quite an improvement on the previous version, particularly so with Outlook.
However, I recently decided to move ahead onto Office XP. Judging by the previous level of improvements I expected an office suite of far superior standard and could hardly wait to try it out. Much to my disappointment there is not a great deal of difference between 2000 and XP. I was even disappointed with the clip art available, which is less attractive in my opinion and does not differentiate between static and animated gifs unless you try them first.
Microsoft Office is such a feature rich system that there could be numerous new functions and enhancements that I have simply not encountered, but if there are then I obviously don't seem to have found any use for them.
An unusual fact about XP is that a Word or Excel file created in Office XP can be opened and modified with Office 2000, while no previous version could ever be read by an earlier version than itself.
I would still recommend this suite to anyone who is thinking of upgrading from Office 97 or earlier because the upgrade would be very worthwhile, but if you have Office 2000 then save your hard earned cash for some future release.

Summary: