Microsoft Office XP Professional Special Edition Upgrade

After passing on error messages to MS, they told me it was conflicting with my Nvidia graphics software. Upgrade their driver I was told. After that, my Epson 800 printer wouldn't work. The new Nvidia driver conflicted with a Librarydll file. Had to msconfig and turn Nvidia's flashy controls off at startup. Now the printer works. OfficeXP still crashes, but it seems not mid document, usually when exiting or restarting when one or two other programs are running, thus locking up the entire system. Shutting down never seemed the same also - a hanging Win98 screen!

After reinstalling Win98SE and reading several articles, I went to a MS Win98SE patch html page and updated about 7 updates! My computer still crashes, usually daily, probably because Outlook is always running and I need to run two or three other programs. Never had this problem over the years with Outlook Express always running.

OfficeXP hasn't crashed mid-email or mid-Word document (yet) but my computer hardly ever goes a day without crashing.

OfficeXP's Word will not maintain the formatting integrity of my Word 6 or Word97 documents! You can count on boxes and lines being out of alignment with text. Apparently MS changes the formatting in Word for every new version (to force everyone to upgrade?) Doesn't even maintain formatting integrity when you save a document in an older version (just try opening it up with the older version!!!) The whole thing is a nightmare but I now feel locked in. It will be a loooooog time before I upgrade ever again. One day there'll be an alternative to Word that is truly cross-platform and productive.


Mother's Little Helper   April 13, 2003
 0 out of 11 found this review helpful

Bought this for me Mum to go with her birthday laptop. Her emails and photo attachments seem to be getting thru OK, so I guess the books works.


Not a good deal   January 3, 2003
 13 out of 19 found this review helpful

If everyone were still churning out stock options in their sleep and making money every time they went to the coffee machine, it wouldn't be so much of an issue. And if the licensing were less draconian, it wouldn't be so much of an issue.
But since we actually need to work to make a profit these days, it's not really smart to spew all this money at software that you're not even using, most of the time, to create your product.

Have your office sysadmin or techwriter or something try out StarOffice or OpenOffice.org for a couple weeks, then train the rest of the company on how to switch. Using the same software all your professional life isn't in the bill of rights and the smart decision is to switch to something that works, that you can actually afford.

If your employees or co-workers are smart enough to make whatever they're making, they're smart enough to switch to a different spreadsheet.


REAL SLOW   January 3, 2003
 18 out of 24 found this review helpful

I purchased this upgrade, because MS said it was basically 30% faster than Ofc 2000. NOT!... It's more like 30% slower!

I use an Intel PIV 2.4 GHz with 1Gig DDR RAM with twin 80 WD SE drives, and an ATI 9000 Pro 128Meg video. There is not a lot of fluff apps loaded on this machine, because it is my primary business computer. Office XP Pro is amazingly much slower than Office 2000, especially Outlook. Between messages, it seems that it takes forever to load. Word is not used as my editor. Even with all the Service Packs (2) and updates installed. Even the machine performance degraded after installation. Prior to installation, speed wise, the computer would average 1100+ on pc pit stops performance test. Now, it averages 950+. Go figure...

Functionality is basically the same as Office 2000 with one exception, Photo Draw has been removed from Office XP. (One less useable app, more money for Ofc XP). The graphics in each app is improved in Ofc XP, but what does that really provide?

If you already have Office 2000 Pro, do not upgrade to Ofc XP Pro. Office XP Pro is definately not worth the additional $$$.
The only gain apparent is the improved graphic interface, but even that is not much, and not all that.


Excellent   December 24, 2002
 4 out of 16 found this review helpful

All I can say is I have had Win 3.1, Win 95 and Win 98 then went to this upgrade. This is the best Windows yet....very stable and well very stable...it handles crashing programs very well and Windows does NOT crash, I have had WIN XP 2 months now and had it crash 1 time, ok let me repeat 1 time, where it could not recover. I HIGHLY recommend this item and I am very glad I upgraded to it. The most stable Windows ever. Sure I had to pay for it, but still, it is very stable... I highly recommend it, for the home or the professional version. Best windows eve.