Upgrade to 2003 from 2000?

[SRS]

Greetings.

Keeping in mind the old saying - "if it's not broke, don't fix it", here's a
question...

I have three children (2 in college, one in high school) and all three are
using Office 2000. All three seem happy with what they have and are able to
complete their school work using Office 2000.

But...I use Office 2003 (and can see the difference between the
two...especially in PowerPoint) at work and am thinking of upgrading my kids
to 2003. Looking at the MS website, it says that the Office Standard upgrade
is $239...BUT...I can buy the full "student" version (which can be installed
on up to three computers) for $149. Obviously it makes a ton a sense to buy
the "student" version...unless there's something "missing" on the student
version that I don't know about.

But...if the kids are happy...should I even bother? I'm thinking leave well
enough alone....

Just looking for your thoughts....

Thanks.

 

[Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]]

2 thoughts:

1. Right, not broke, no need for fix - keep Office 2000.

2. Office 2000 unsupported - Office 2003 supported and a major improvement
over the version from 2 versions ago. Try it with a trial version for the
kids and ask them if they want it.


--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
reading.


After furious head-scratching, SRS asked this group:

| Greetings.
|
| Keeping in mind the old saying - "if it's not broke, don't fix it",
| here's a question...
|
| I have three children (2 in college, one in high school) and all
| three are using Office 2000. All three seem happy with what they
| have and are able to complete their school work using Office 2000.
|
| But...I use Office 2003 (and can see the difference between the
| two...especially in PowerPoint) at work and am thinking of upgrading
| my kids to 2003. Looking at the MS website, it says that the Office
| Standard upgrade is $239...BUT...I can buy the full "student" version
| (which can be installed on up to three computers) for $149.
| Obviously it makes a ton a sense to buy the "student"
| version...unless there's something "missing" on the student version
| that I don't know about.
|
| But...if the kids are happy...should I even bother? I'm thinking
| leave well enough alone....
|
| Just looking for your thoughts....
|
| Thanks.

 

[Pat Willener]

My biggest disappointment after upgrading to 2003 was that here is no
more Office Shortcut bar. Now I run Office 2003 with the 2000 shortcut bar.

 

[Gary Smith]

Whether Office 2003 is a major improvement over 2000 depends entirely on
how you use it. For me, the upgrare wasn't worth the effort. I use 2003
as work and 2000 at home, and for me the improvements are outweighed by
the annoyance of pointless differences and hassle of upgrading. Cost
isn't a factor here -- I have a free copy of 2003 sitting unopened in the
box.

Each case is different.

2 thoughts:

 

[Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]]

YMMV - for me, the Outlook upgrade is worth the entire price of upgrading.

--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
reading.


After furious head-scratching, Gary Smith asked this group:

| Whether Office 2003 is a major improvement over 2000 depends entirely
| on
| how you use it. For me, the upgrare wasn't worth the effort. I use
| 2003
| as work and 2000 at home, and for me the improvements are outweighed
| by
| the annoyance of pointless differences and hassle of upgrading. Cost
| isn't a factor here -- I have a free copy of 2003 sitting unopened in
| the
| box.
|
| Each case is different.
|
|
| Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]
|| 2 thoughts:
|
|| 1. Right, not broke, no need for fix - keep Office 2000.
|
|| 2. Office 2000 unsupported - Office 2003 supported and a major
|| improvement over the version from 2 versions ago. Try it with a
|| trial version for the kids and ask them if they want it.

 

[Gary Smith]

Just goes to show you how tastes differ. I *hated* the changes to Outlook
and spent a lot of time trying to make it work as much like 2000 as
possible. Unfortunately, the new version didn't address any of the things
that annoy me, like the inability to configure the views of all message
folders as a group instead of having to do each one individually.

 

[Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]]

You have to customize the Messages view - and for best results, you need to
use the /cleanviews switch to clean out all of the custom and one-off views.
Once all the one-offs are gone, all folders using the Messages view will use
the new customizations.

Start menu, run, type
outlook.exe /cleanviews

--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
reading.


After furious head-scratching, Gary Smith asked this group:

| Just goes to show you how tastes differ. I *hated* the changes to
| Outlook
| and spent a lot of time trying to make it work as much like 2000 as
| possible. Unfortunately, the new version didn't address any of the
| things
| that annoy me, like the inability to configure the views of all
| message
| folders as a group instead of having to do each one individually.
|
|
| Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]
|| YMMV - for me, the Outlook upgrade is worth the entire price of
|| upgrading.

 

[Gary Smith]

Thanks. I'll give that a try.

You have to customize the Messages view - and for best results, you need to
use the /cleanviews switch to clean out all of the custom and one-off views.
Once all the one-offs are gone, all folders using the Messages view will use
the new customizations.