Office 2003 (New Build # 5207)

[Big Booger]

Recent emails for those on the Office 2003 beta testing team have added a number of other betas while Office 2003 seemed to just meander along like a leaf in a quite eddy on a molasses-paced river...

While the beta 2 refresh build number remains a mystery except in the R&D labs in Redmond, build 5207 leaked and very well could be the refresh, despite what others out of the loop may say.

This new build should have a lot of new features and changes, in terms of bugs and updates, to the Office suite, since Beta 2 build #4950. Some of the obvious changes are the icons themselves taking on more of the XP-ish look.

View the Screenshots:Image 1 (http://www.winbeta.org/images/excel2k3.gif) | Image 2 (http://www.winbeta.org/images/outlook2k3.gif) | Image 3 (http://www.winbeta.org/images/outlook2k32.gif) | Image 4 (http://www.winbeta.org/images/word2k3.gif)

Stay tuned for the final refresh release that should come up in the next couple of weeks.

Source:
Winbeta (http://www.winbeta.org)

[Dehcbad25]

If Only office suites where cheaper, it would make more sense for people to upgrade

[Big Booger]

MS Office is an over priced product that is not worth the 400+ US dollars that the entire suite costs.

There are other alternatives, open office being one of the best. Star Office is also a nice cheaper alternative, and Abi-word is another great application.

[Dehcbad25]

Well SAID BB!!!!:D
Anyways, who buys MS Office suite for home ;)
Unfortunately corporations preffer office since users are familiar with the interface. Think about the cost of it. 10 licenses are 4500 dollars. With that I could make a nice EIDE RAID back up server :D

[Big Booger]

Just imagine if they switched to a freebie alternative, or even a cheaper alternative. Over a 10 year period they could save around 300-400 thousand dollars. It's a no brainer for me.. offer a quick course in Open Office to all employees and make the switch permanently.

I'd do the same thing about windows.. go to a Linux distribution. I mean as powerful as Linux has become, and it is getting more desktop friendly, I suspect it wouldn't be that difficult to setup for office applications.

I wonder why more corporations do not deploy free or even cheaper alternatives.. is microsoft products that much more superior?

[Dehcbad25]

I think that the point is that too many users have growth familiar with Windows, or think that they are.
You would be surprised how many users are in my network that know nothing about computers and just work with them by repetition. Some users, don't even have the ability to adapt to a change in the PC, or lack interest or self confidence to even try something new. I get a lot of answer "I don't understand anything about computers, so please don't make it harder" It is like they don't want to even learn. Not like me that I adventure in new stuff all the time:p

[Big Booger]

Good point DEHC,
but if I took $400,000 out of their salaries in a 10 year period to fund windows, that might change their tune :D
hehehe

[Dehcbad25]

I will take that much of their salary and share it with people that really work (I can count them with one hand, out of hundreds)
Plus I could surely give myself and the rest of the TS department a well earned raise, since we are underpaid :D :D :D :D :D

[Big Booger]

you'd be surprised at how similar open office, star office, and Office XP really are. Aside from the bloat in Office XP, there really is not much of a difference. Hell even Corel Word Perfect is a much better choice over Office XP. I have Corel Word 8.0 and am in the process of obtaining 11. I like it because it works just as well as Office XP, and is much cheaper.

[Dehcbad25]

I think I will be getting some of those to try them out ;)

[Sunday Silence]

I think you be surprised how entrenched star office is entrenched in the Security Brokerage Clearing departments here in the stares. These departments run on super thin budgets and its not even a choice really you use star or open office and you like it.

[SupaStar]

Originally posted by Big Booger
you'd be surprised at how similar open office, star office, and Office XP really are.

Open Office isn't that hard to use if you've used any type of word processor before...and it's free. BB you said it..."NO BRAINER" :p The choice should be easy for company's wanting to save.

[Dehcbad25]

I forgot about this post already :p
I instaled Open Office finally, and it even is loaded as the default.
You knwo what is good about it?? If you format your computer, or move the folder (I did both) you can just run the setup file there, so it register itself and it works flawlessly. No need to re-install it. Try to do that with M$ Office and it will give you thousand errors ;)
I already tried.
So open office is a great option. I still have Installed Office XP (it came with the PC) just in case a file is not the same, but haven't had that problem yet (I do use Outlook thought)

[cash_site]

I agree that switching to a Free Office Alternative would be a "No Brainer", but its still a business with TAX incentives ;) They can claim the HUGE M$ cost against their profits ;) And besides the fact that 'everyone' knows M$ Office. I dont see other apps coming close to it. We all hear people saying if it was a little cheaper I would buy M$, so if a competitor comes, then the price will drop - flood the market... again... then put prices up :mad:

Thank goodness for the WWW ;)

[Big Booger]

well you take the tax incentives and you subtract that from the money they'd save by just switching to a free alternative, and I'm sure the free alternative will still prove more economical. I use open office on my laptop and if my wife would get used to it, I would uninstall MS office completely. The only thing I like is the ability to type in Japanese and spell check in Japanese etc..

I believe open office comes with an online support manual. I'd make that readily available in a hardcopy format as well as online for all employees. :D

And DEHC, you can use EUDORA the same as you can use Outlook. Eudora is free AFAIK in sponsored mode.

Microsoft want us to remain with Office, that is their money horse. They want us to use it, and remain familiar. They don't want us choosing free alternatives. They have bloated Office too much. Putting crap in that is relatively useless..

I wonder if there are any online comparisons between the different office applications?

[SupaStar]

Originally posted by Big Booger
I wonder if there are any online comparisons between the different office applications?

Well...now that you ask...

OpenOffice/StarOffice 6 vs Microsoft Office (http://pcgroup.nwark.com/hreha-13.htm) and A freebie vs. Microsoft (http://www.gazettearchives.com/cyberspace2002/_disc4/000000ff.htm) are 2 such online comparisons :p

Or you could try and get the gist of this: Onderwerp: Open Office vs MS Office (http://fora.kennisnet.nl/viewthread.php?tid=2996)

[Big Booger]

Thanks senor,
that cleared up quite a bit. I think I'll install it on all of my PCs.

[hao2lian]

I, like most people, use Office 2000 because it's from a company CD. My dad copied and burnt the Office 2000 installation on a CD from the original CD at work. But if I ever had to actually use a office program that was to be out of pocket, I'd try OpenOffice first.

[Bee-Jay]

Still making good points I see BIG.

Interesting reading, I agree with the M$ being over priced bit.

BJ;)

[Big Booger]

Well low and behold, it's Bee-Jay. Long time no see :D

[Bee-Jay]

yeah, been made redundant had to sell the house and looking at moving to Australia.....kinda busy really.

Good to see that you are still around, Techzonez new look is cool.

I will try and make more of an effort.

What about Blackwar, Conan and Tinker are they still around?

[Tinker]

Hey Bee Jay, good to see ya..

I am still here, just in stealth mode....:lurk:

[Bee-Jay]

Nice, good to see.

[cash_site]

Originally posted by Bee-Jay
yeah, been made redundant had to sell the house and looking at moving to Australia.....kinda busy really.

Good to see that you are still around, Techzonez new look is cool.

I will try and make more of an effort.

What about Blackwar, Conan and Tinker are they still around?

G'Day Bro, sorry to hear about no work, but coming to Australia would be great. Its so nice and clean, and people are great and fun loving. You would have a ball. Also with the exchange rate, you would be very well-off ;)

Of course I'm not too biased for Melbourne, Australia ;) It was voted most livable city in the world :biggrin:

[SupaStar]

Originally posted by cash_site

Of course I'm not too biased for Melbourne, Australia ;) It was voted most livable city in the world :biggrin:

Is that a fact? I never knew. :cool:

[Big Booger]

Watch out for Bogans! :D

[cash_site]

Originally posted by Big Booger
Watch out for Bogans! :D

Bogans! Where did you get that from? They only live out in the boonies in the South East of the State. Hillbillies!!

Supa@ Yeah Melbourne came equal first with Vancouver, would have won outright, but we get 4 seasons in a day LOL