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What would be a good motto for Microsoft? "Winning is everything"? "Might makes right"? "Money can't buy you love"?

For the new version of Microsoft Office, which arrives in stores Oct. 21, a better slogan might be, "Be careful what you wish for; you might get it."

For years, Mac and PC fans have faulted Microsoft for its core business model: pile on more features with each software version in hopes of making customers feel that they're no longer current. Inevitably, the critics say, this philosophy ruins what started out as promising software, eventually saddling programs with bloat, sluggishness and complexity. Today's Microsoft Word builds Web pages, queries databases and whitens teeth; it stopped being just a word processor sometime in the Eisenhower administration.
View the NY Times Office 2003 Review