Office XP itself was a fine upgrade - endlessly configurable (you don't like the clip? Kill the clip! Hate spell-on-the-fly? Turn it off), well-suited to file- and data-sharing, more stable, quicker internet data connections, still more refinements and improvements (like programmable smart tags) to Excel and Word, a much-improved set of add-ons in Project, Publisher, and Visio. And the upgrade process was easy. If you had trouble you either had some horribly complex project to switch or you waded in without paying attention to instructions. It was a very smooth transition.
The Developer version added (still adds, since you can buy it now) added developer editions of SQL Server and Exchange, plus Source Safe, Code Librarian, and various other useful and sometimes well-buried stuff. I'm not sure why Office Developer isn't just folded into a slightly downpriced MSDN Professional, but then Microsoft still hasn't matured on the level of licensing and packaging. The Office suite is, however, a mature product that has been improving enormously since the 2000 release. If only Redmond would lose their fascination with Byzantine licensing and Rubik's Cube bundling (cool! We can sell it this way, and THIS way, and THAT way, and for these people we can probably get them to pay for THIS THAT way ...), people might stop complaining and realize the products are much-improved.
2003 continues the march onward in quality. If you're considering XP Developer, you're likely better off looking at an MSDN package to get the same tools.Get more detail about Microsoft Office XP Developer Edition Upgrade.
No comments:
Post a Comment