MS Offfice 2000 vs. 2003

[eboyjones]

I have MS Offfice 2000 Premium full edition with WinXP Pro sp-2. Works great and has more features than I really even use. Had Office 97 full version before and was happy with it to.

Question is there any good reason to upgrade to Office 2003 Professional? I have a small home business as I am semi retired and like to keep up, but is the cost worth the $449.00 for the full version?

http://shop.microsoft.com/special/office03/

[NooNoo]

Do you use access?

[Ya_know]

I'm going to shoot from the hip and say no, you don't need it. But then I don't know what 2003 offers over and above 2000, so I would suggest that you find a comparison chart or something (I am sure MS will have one on their site) so that you know what features you are missing, and can decide from that...

[kato2274]

Do you use access?

what's new in access 2003 Noo?

[NooNoo]

another new file format

the good news is powerpoint has much better animation though - which of course, does not work in powerpoint 2000 which I discovered by chance when showing my wonderful ppt at college

brief details here

[TechZ]

a few small touches are nice, cant list them now, not at home I use Office 2K still on my home pc, and all is good, so save the money!

[Duke of Rezin]

Order a Trial cd; http://www.microsoft.com/office/edit...nfo/trial.mspx. I'm using the Student and Teacher Eddition but also have Office 2000SBE. I like it but I wouldn't say its worth an extra $449.

[NetScum]

I have MS Offfice 2000 Premium full edition with WinXP Pro sp-2. Works great and has more features than I really even use. Had Office 97 full version before and was happy with it to.

Question is there any good reason to upgrade to Office 2003 Professional? I have a small home business as I am semi retired and like to keep up, but is the cost worth the $449.00 for the full version?

http://shop.microsoft.com/special/office03/

If all you want to use is Word, Excel, Outlook & Powerpoint you may want to look into Office 2003 Student & Teacher editions... they run $109-$129 at Staples/Office Depot/Fry's stores and I have never had a problem buying these versions even though I'm not either of the two. I have told others about it and they didn't either. From what I can tell MS looks the other way on the sale of the S&T versions.

As for the "is it worth it" question... 2003 is more evolutionary than revolutionary. Office 2000 worked great for me I did the upgrade because it was cheap. Outlook 2003 doesn't sync with my Dell Axim as well as Outlook 2000/2002 and that is a bummer. Plus just like how XP got all the fluff off W2k it is the same for 2003... it is more shiney for the shiney crowd.

If you are happy with 2000 stick with it unless buying the cheaper version is OK for you... even then you could save by not going there at all.

[eboyjones]

Do you use access?

I mainly use Word, Excel and Small Business Tools. Sometimes Powerpoint and very little Photo Draw.

[NooNoo]

photodraw is no longer available I don't think....

[hudsonsmith]

If you own 2000, you qualify for the upgrade rather than the full version. Cost is $329 from ms, $275 elsewhere http://www.buy.com/retail/product.as...4&loc=105&sp=1.

I recently decided to upgrade from office 97 to 2003 ($125 for the student and teacher edition), but I don't think there's as much to gain if you have 2000.

[jitBob]

If all you want to use is Word, Excel, Outlook & Powerpoint you may want to look into Office 2003 Student & Teacher editions... they run $109-$129 at Staples/Office Depot/Fry's stores and I have never had a problem buying these versions even though I'm not either of the two. I have told others about it and they didn't either. From what I can tell MS looks the other way on the sale of the S&T versions.

As for the "is it worth it" question... 2003 is more evolutionary than revolutionary. Office 2000 worked great for me I did the upgrade because it was cheap. Outlook 2003 doesn't sync with my Dell Axim as well as Outlook 2000/2002 and that is a bummer. Plus just like how XP got all the fluff off W2k it is the same for 2003... it is more shiney for the shiney crowd.

If you are happy with 2000 stick with it unless buying the cheaper version is OK for you... even then you could save by not going there at all.

The Access as Noo said and some improvements to the Outlook client. The only drawback to the student edition is that it is not upgradable. Costco also sells it.