Microsoft emphasizes teamwork in latest Office upgrade
The pricey Office 2003 also includes a long-overdue revamp of Outlook to better handle spam.
By DAVE GUSSOW, Times Staff Writer
Published October 20, 2003
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The new Outlook e-mail program in upcoming Office 2003 suite features a new look. The left column lists the mail folders; the center column, in this instance, shows the contents of the Junk E-mail folder; and the right column is the reading pane, which displays the contents of an e-mail.
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In the movie The Untouchables, mobster Al Capone preaches the importance of teamwork to his crime lieutenants. Capone, portrayed by actor Robert De Niro, then clubs one of his inner circle with a baseball bat.
Starting Tuesday, Microsoft (whose critics consider its techniques in the marketplace similarly muscular) will try its own form of persuasion about teamwork, now called collaboration, when its new version of its Office software goes on sale.
The Office 2003 suite, which includes Word for word processing, Excel for spreadsheets, PowerPoint for presentations and Outlook for e-mail, gives Microsoft as much of a monopoly with productivity software as it has with its Windows operating system.
Yet there is only so much one can do to make word processing and spreadsheets sexier and worth shelling out hundreds of dollars for an upgrade. The basic version of Office, with Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, will cost $399 new, $239 for an upgrade from earlier versions. There's a student and teacher version that costs $149.
Microsoft is offering trial versions of individual programs for $7.95 for the first and $4.95 for each additional evaluation kit (www.microsoft.com/office/preview/trial.asp) which expire after 30 or 60 days, depending on the program.
Microsoft has tweaked some of the programs and added some sharing functions aimed at corporate users. In particular, it makes it easier for teams of workers to share common documents, collaborate on changes in real time and communicate more with built-in instant messaging features.
It also features the use of XML (extensible markup language) technology that will help automate some corporate functions, such as filling out expense reports, as well as make it easier to share in different applications.
A new Information Rights Management feature lets users limit access to all or parts of documents, so others can't make unwanted changes. And any modifications can be highlighted so everyone sharing a document can tell what's been done.
Users also can set expiration dates for documents and e-mail, certainly an interesting feature in a period of corporate hijinks.
For the rest of us, Microsoft has improved Office's online help and managed one solid hit with the new Outlook e-mail and personal organizer package.
The new version of Outlook overhauls the much-maligned program. It has improved security - Outlook has been ground zero for numerous virus and security problems - as well as organizing and calendar functions. It also has more oomph in handling spam. It is long overdue.
The first thing users will notice is three vertical columns: The far left has the list of folders, the middle is a Navigation pane with subjects and first lines of messages separated by date or sender, and the right displays the selected message.
A warning: Just like the Preview Pane in the current version of Outlook, the reading pane potentially could trigger viruses embedded in e-mail. It's important to have a current antivirus program, and the pane can be turned off.
The organizing features are enhanced by a search function that saves by category when you look for something. For example, if you search for messages from a family member, it creates a virtual folder with the messages from that person listed.
It also lets you create a list of Favorites folders that are frequently used, and it allows you to tag messages with different colored flags for at-a-glance retrieval.
Outlook takes care of at least some of the spammers' tricks of the trade. It automatically blocks graphics embedded in messages that can plant spyware in your computer or take you to Web sites you don't want to visit. (Attachments are not blocked, however.)
The program also includes a spam filter, automatically sending suspicious messages to a Junk folder. In addition, it lets users create a list of spammers whose mail will be sent to the Junk folder or create a list of "safe senders" whose mail can always get through.
The new Outlook can be purchased separately. However, it carries a suggested price tag of $109, with no break for upgraders. That's about the same as the Windows XP Home Edition operating system.
Price may pose the biggest problem for Microsoft, even with its marketing muscle, because the other upgrades in the Office suite are not nearly as dramatic. A few of the other highlights:
- When it comes to support, Microsoft may finally be getting it. A link to Office Online is displayed in the Task Pane of each program. It takes you to a site that is easy to use and, well, helpful. It includes everything from training sessions and how-to items to templates and updates.
- Again turning to the Internet, a new Research function in the Task Pane lets users click on a word or phrase in a document and look it up online in a variety of ways, such as a thesaurus, encyclopedia, dictionary or Web site.
- A new Reading Layout in Word displays documents as if they're on facing pages (and automatically makes the type larger and more reader-friendly). It makes it easy to compare documents.
There's more, but it is not the long laundry list usually associated with Microsoft upgrades. And that's why businesses and consumers should take some time to consider whether the changes are worth the price.
Another consideration is system requirements: Office 2003 works only with Windows 2000 or Windows XP. It may not be a baseball bat, but it is Microsoft's way of encouraging people to upgrade their operating system, too.
- Dave Gussow can be reached at gussow@sptimes.com or 727 771-4328.
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A visit to Office
Microsoft will show off its new Office system for business people, developers and information technology professionals Thursday at the Tampa Convention Center. The free event starts at 9 a.m., and registration is required either online (www.microsoft.com/usa/events/) or by phone toll-free at 1-877-673-8368. Use event code 1032234803.
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