Microsoft Office 97: Fat And Friendly

Office 95 was the product we all loved to hate. So how does Office 97 fare?

Heres the first in a series of office suite reviews from us.

The office suites hit us in quick succession Microsoft made it first with its much-awaited Office 97, successor to the much-hated and loved Office 95. Office software suites always had to overstretch themselves to get anywhere or face the flak. That was the quandary that Office 95 found itself in. First, there was the sheer size. Then, the seemingly insatiable hunger for system resources. Office 95 or even its excuse for a wordprocessor MS Word could slow down a middle of the road Pentium considerably. So when Microsoft nicely handed over its new kid on our chopping block we, well, decided to chop.

 

Turned out there wasn't much to chop, however. These men already have 80 per cent of the suites software market in India sewn up nicely, and Office 97 doesnt look anything like a damp squib far from it. The Rs 38 crore suite market in India could be peanuts for Microsoft, but then their whole focus in on the long term.

The emphasis in Office 97 is (surprise!) internet and intranet technologies. But then, which new product isnt web-enabled nowadays? But that brings us to the question of advanced technology versus appropriate technology. We have 25,000 subscribers for VSNLs internet service, and that is hardly an appealingly large market. (Microsoft has recently introduced an Office Lite for SOHO users and small companies so maybe that is a better choice?)

The ease of use and feature-rich additions to earlier Office applications will ensure that Microsoft stays King in the office suite markets unless Corel and Lotus have a few aces up their sleeves. Office 97s new features, options, and benefits are both plentiful and well-thought out.

They range from easy-to-use enhancements and updates, to a truly intuitive and easy to observe interface. Then there is the everyday-language help system and a simplified network installation and management tool which are all added bonuses. The overall package is bound to appeal to Office 95 users for an upgrade the price is Rs 14,000 while the new pack costs Rs 19,000. Now, thats the kind of money that appeals to the company, but not the family (Get the hint?).

The package is web-enabled to a fault. Microsofts programmers (or rather its billionaire boss who suddenly woke up one morning to find the Web almost on top of his supercilious software outfit) have understood the implications and future of Web technology. The package includes Web search, hyperlinks, and a powerful HTML formatter. The new Web toolbar provides easy access to all the Net features of the suites applications.

Yes, and it is brainier. Built into every Office 97 application is the IntelliSense technology. This is a sort of machine intelligence that tries to understand what you want to accomplish and allows you to automate repetitive tasks and simplifies complex ones. IntelliSense has been expanded to also detect grammar errors in real-time for documents in Word. Word presents you an Options box with suggestions on how better to write the sentence. In Excel, on the other hand, it lets you write formulae that refer to a cells contents instead of requiring you to define a named range. The Formula Autocorrect feature allows for automatically correcting some fifteen of the most common errors in formula writing in Excel which are usually of incorrect syntax or typographical errors.

Microsoft has also extended the use of artificial intelligence in the Office 97 applications to encompass the role of user assistance in the form of Office Assistant (or Wizard). This has evolved over time. Initially, Help files were supposed to document every feature and its use in a hard copy manual. However, since many people didnt have the time to read that type of huge documentation, Microsoft decided to integrate user assistance into the product. And of course, we shouldnt forget that Help files more often than not confused the user. They have put more information into on-line help, making it easier to access or search for particular topics. Cue Cards, a form of on-line help that stays on-screen while you use it, and the TipWizard assistant, which watches what you do and suggests an easier way to accomplish specific tasks are some of the smarter features.

In Office 97, the Assistant allows users to ask questions in everyday terms, to get assistance. The Office Assistant also unifies all the user assistance provided in Office products. As such, the Office Assistant is in every Office 97 application. The Assistant pops up in a window whenever an application is activated. Get stuck in a menu box which doesnt seem to make any sense or too scared to click anywhere just click on the assistant window and a list of help topics will be displayed. The list will contain topics based on what was last happening in the program. For example, if you click while running a spell check, the menu will have spelling and grammar assistance topics.

There is a very useful grammar check for those always in trouble with the its and its or mismatching singular nouns and plural verbs.

VERDICT:

A worthy upgrade for the Office 95, user. SOHO users, on the other hand, will still be comfortable with their basic packages such as MS Works.