Get a FREE fully-working copy of Steganos Security Suite 7 (worth £49.99) when you sign up to the Practical PC Newsletter. Review: Office XP Professional - Part 1
New enhancements and a simpler to use interface are just some of the reasons why Dave Cook is opting for the Microsoft eXPerience
| Product | Office XP Professional |
|---|---|
| Company | Microsoft |
| Web | www.microsoft.com/office/xp |
| Price | £519 inc VAT |
| We like | Almost everyone uses it. Better integration between applications. |
| We don't like | Product Activation is inconvenient. Expensive. |
| Rating | 9/10 |
| Requirements |
Office XP is Microsoft's latest suite of office applications, replacing the highly successful Office 2000. Office XP includes a number of innovations, of which one in particular is somewhat controversial. But more of that later...
The Professional edition reviewed here consists of Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint (also included in the Standard edition: £429), plus Access the database module. A Professional Special Upgrade edition (£319) can be purchased, which includes Publisher, FrontPage, and Intellimouse Explorer; there's also a Developer edition available (£749) that's full of essential building tools.
Microsoft recommends installing Office XP on a Pentium III system with 128MB of RAM, around 250MB of hard disk space, and Windows 2000. It will, however, run on a PC with a Pentium 133MHz or higher processor, running Windows 98, Me, NT, or 2000. Sadly, anyone stuck with Windows 95 will need to consider upgrading the operating system first.
Activation
As part of Microsoft's battle against piracy, Office XP relies on a license activation strategy that requires you to register online (or via telephone) with your product ID code in order to unlock the software's features. You can, however, run Office XP up to 50 times before activation for a specific machine.
In its defence, Microsoft has stated that a couple of activations, a PC and a Notebook installation, for example, are permitted for each single user licence. It's also claimed there will be no problem if users have to reactivate the same machine a number of times - apparently, upgrading some of the computer's hardware may result in Office XP having to be reactivated. Nor is it essential that users provide any personal contact information to Microsoft during activation.
Even so, many folk will find the process of activation inconvenient, especially users who like to format their hard drive on a fairly regular basis. Hence, the introduction of product activation could deter many of Microsoft's loyal followers from upgrading to Office XP... and Microsoft will have only itself to blame.
Playing Tag
But enough of licensing issues. As you might expect, Office XP sports a number of new features, of which Smart Tags and Task Panes are among the most notable. A Smart Tag is a basically a button that pops up when you point the mouse at certain types of data. In Word, for example, a Smart Tag appears when pasting text. It offers options on whether to keep the copied text as it is, to match the format of the text you're pasting into, to keep it as text only, or to apply new style or formatting options.
Task Panes are also useful. The Task Pane is a type of 'command centre' that appears on the right side of the screen. It provides a number of useful commands in one area, collecting and making available all the options for which previously you would have needed to access via the File menu.
More Goodies
In addition, Office XP includes a number of ways to safeguard files in the event of a crash. For example, the AutoRecover feature has been extended to other applications. It's also much easier to revert back to the last saved version through the Document Recovery taskbar. Alternatively, if you attempt to open a corrupt document, Word and Excel will automatically invoke the Repair and Recovery procedure.
In tests, the handwriting recognition software proved very accurate, converting handwritten text (using a graphic tablet and pen) into normal text with ease. There's also a Write Anywhere option, which - you've guessed it - lets you scribble anywhere on the screen.
Some fairly accurate voice recognition software has also been included, there's a compressed pictures feature for compressing images within Office XP files, as well as the ability to create digitally signed documents.
Next Time
Well, that's just a few of Office XP's many enhancements covered. Coming up next time, we'll be checking out the five killer applications that collectively make up the core modules of Office XP Professional.
Read Part 2 of this review
