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| Microsoft Office Professional 2003 [OLD VERSION] | ![Microsoft Office Professional 2003 [OLD VERSION]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51MKGY964ML._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | From: Microsoft Software
Category: Software
List Price: $499.99
Buy New: $105.00
You Save: $394.99 (79%)
New (25) Used (5) from $75.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  76 reviews
Sales Rank: 18
Format: Cd-rom
Platforms: Windows Xp, Windows 2000
Media: CD-ROM
Edition: Professional
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Number Of Items: 1
Batteries Included: No
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3
Dimensions (in): 11.2 x 9.8 x 2
MPN: 269-06738
Model: 269-06738
UPC: 805529627529
EAN: 0805529627529
ASIN: B0000AZJVC
Release Date: October 21, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Don't even think about upgrading September 15, 2005
18 out of 25 found this review helpful
You need to get out more. Just the fact that you are looking at this page and are thinking of upgrading your Microsoft Office makes it clear that you have a problem. Don't believe the Microsoft advertisement featuring dinosaurs to announce "Microsoft Office Has Evolved." It hasn't. This is a mature product. It doesn't matter if you use Office 1997, 2000 or 2003. They are all the same. The good, the bad and the ugly. It is all still here. Maybe a few bugs have been fixed. Most haven't, and there are always new bugs. If Microsoft took the time to really improve the software, that would be one thing. But they don't.
Here is an example. You are in Outlook. You call up a contact and want to send that person a letter. You need to print an envelope, but there is no command to do so. There is no button to click. You can't right click anywhere to print an envelope. I am not making this up. Outlook has been out for almost ten years and multiple upgrades, and Microsoft still hasn't gotten around to implementing functionality to print a single envelope. Your only option (the on-line support confirms this) is to perform a mail merge. This is an elaborate process that is designed for printing thousands of envelopes for a bulk mailing. It involves opening multiple windows and setting all sorts of settings. You have to go through the ENTIRE PROCESS just to print a single envelope! What is more, the mail merge feature has bugs in it. It leaves blank lines in addresses that look atrocious, and it drops country names from addresses. It gives you options as to how you want country names treated in addresses, but these all do nothing. Whatever option you select, Outlook leaves countries out of addresses when it prints envelopes.
I could go on, but I won't. If you are using Office 2000 or even Office 1997, you aren't missing out on anything. There is absolutely no reason to shell out $400 for new software that does all the same things in all the same ways with mostly the same bugs.
 Only if you're serious July 11, 2005
12 out of 14 found this review helpful
I have been using Microsoft Office for at least 10 years, pretty much day in and day out at work. Some computer geek in a store convinced me that Open Office on my home computer would do everthing for me that MS did, and it was free. Well, I'm all about "free," so I gave it a shot. Maybe if all you do is type letters and balance your checkbook, Open Office will do the trick. But if you are a serious office product user, Open Office does not touch the functionality of MS. And believe me, I WANTED it to work. I had $500 riding on it! But I finally gave in. Yep, they've got me. I hated to drop the cash, but there's no real competition. So I guess it depends upon how much functionality you really need. I will probably load Open Office onto the other computers for "incidental" use, but I doubt I will ever wean off of MS.
Simply Awful April 28, 2005
12 out of 37 found this review helpful
Office 2003 is quite simply the worst pile of bloated crapware I have ever had the misfortune of installing on my computer. Its slow, costs too much, eats up way too much precious hard drive space, and is difficult and unintuitive to use. Absolutely the worst experience I personally have ever had with "productivity" software. Do yourself a favor, go to openoffice.org, download their suite and use it. You won't be disappointed. Sometimes, I truly wish there were a "zero star" option from Amazon in rating a product. If anything deserves it, this garbage does.
Dear XMLers... April 28, 2005
I am primarily an Excel user; this review is intended for those who primarily use Excel...
If you work with a development team that has the ability to produce XML files, and you want to get away from using gigantic flat databases for references, Office 2003 is your solution. Copying and pasting will be no longer necessary; just query a URL. It's proven to be an indispensible tool for us.
So, if you're in the serious business of producing reports, and you have a development staff that can produce dynamic XML pages, this is the product for you. With the previous version, you could Web Query; XML provides so many more possibilities --especially if you're coding. The code is much simpler.
Other than that, the program is not much different from 2002. Many other features that people want were still not implemented, such as extending the columns beyond 256 and the rows beyond 65K+. Word still has the same ole quirks (you know what they are if work with it often), and Access is just about the same. For the latter two programs, the only noticeable difference is the 'feel,' or the look of them.
The latest version January 31, 2005
33 out of 34 found this review helpful
Perhaps I am jaded but again it seems that Microsoft has cranked out another product that looks and acts so much like its predecessor that you wonder at first if you loaded it onto your computer properly.
Office 2003 gives you what you already have in Office XP (and a few earlier versions) so learning how to use it is never going to be a problem. In virtually every way the program looks and feels like the previous Office versions.
There are improvements although I am not sure how much a home user will need the XML functionality. It may be a god-send one day but today it is still not a major factor and certainly does not demand a major update. The RESEARCH option is something to contend with and could be quite useful - it is almost like having Encarta loaded on your machine as well. I found it a bit limiting though; it is good as a thesaurus but there is no world atlas, quotation source, etc. Many people have applauded the new look and feel of Outlook. Again, it behaves just the same as previous versions of Outlook did.
Microsoft chose to retire the Office bar and that is a big mistake. They are trying to push the Quick Launch bar but most businesses and almost all Office users preferred the Office bar.
Don't get me wrong: Office 2003 works very well and with Word, Outlook, Excel, Access and Publisher you can literally do anything! It also preforms very well. But, again, unless Microsoft starts making major changes, these releases should not be heralded as new. If anything, they should be upgrades that former users should be able to download if they registered the original product - the cost is too prohibitive to justify upgrading. And, as your Office 97 or XP works just as well, you should think seriously before spending the money.
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