Microsoft's Office XP: Is it a compelling upgrade?

By Zatni Arbi

JAKARTA (JP): You must have heard a lot about it already: Microsoft has just launched the latest version of its Office productivity suite.

Instead of giving it the name of Office 2002, the software maker everybody loves and hates at the same time has chosen the two letters XP to distinguish it from the earlier versions, Office 97 and Office 2000. The name XP, according to Microsoft, stands for experience -- a smarter work experience.

There are two important things that need to be underscored here. First and foremost, Office XP is meant as a vehicle that will take users closer to Microsoft.NET, which is the gospel of networking and computing according to Microsoft. As you may have also heard, this company includes providing its software as utility that users have to pay for based on usage as part of its future plans.

Secondly, Office XP is the road opener to the introduction of Microsoft's next generation Windows XP, slated for an October launch.

Courtesy of PT Microsoft Indonesia, I was able to test run a "Release Candidate 2" copy of Office XP. The installation ran well, although I had to click on the Ignore button quite a few times as the files -- most of which were images and templates -- were still unavailable on the Installation CD.

The first thing that struck me was the leaner and cleaner interface. Office XP does not have the gray 3-D effects that we have come to expect from any Windows program. Personally, I like the new face. The menu structure, however, remained more or less the same.

One of the most significant new features of Office XP, as you must have heard, is the Smart Tags. This feature actually adds more functionality in Office's applications by allowing us to do a lot of things to an individual object, including a word, a title, a date, an address, someone's name and other proper names.

Let us say we type in someone's name on the document we are working on. If it recognizes it, Word will automatically add the Smart Tag, which will be indicated by the purple dotted underline. Place the mouse cursor over the object with the Smart Tag, and a square with the "i" inside will appear. Click on the button, and we will get the optional menu.

Using the menu, we can check the person's data such as phone number, e-mail address and perhaps home address. Or, we can call up our e-mail client software, which will then open a blank e- mail form with his e-mail address already inserted. Or, we can click on another menu item that will launch Internet Explorer, which will then go straight to the Web site that provides all the information about the person. In a way, Smart Tags consolidate many of Office's more intrusive commands and menus into a more accessible menu, allowing us to link a word in our Word document to information resources both on the same computer, on the intranet and on the Internet.

Another example of the smart use of Smart Tag is when we type in "INTC" in Excel. Based on the option that we have chosen, the Smart Tag will connect to Microsoft MoneyCentral Web site and then pull out the latest stock price of Intel Corporation. If you happen to be curious about it, INTC is the chipmaker's stock symbol.

Certainly, there have been pros and cons about this powerful feature of the new Office, which will later become even more powerful when Windows XP has been rolled out. I guess we will not be surprised to see the arguments will erupt into allegations that Microsoft is, once again, trying to control the Web, as Smart Tags are also seen as the extension of its previous effort when it bundled the Internet Explorer browser into the operating system.

Proponents of the Smart Tags argue that we can disable Smart Tags at any time if we choose and we can write our own.

Other important new features include the speech and writing recognition capabilities. I have not yet tested them out, as I was not testing a complete version. Reports that I have read so far, however, generally have lukewarm reception of Office XP's speech capability. Still, it is a step in the right direction.

The new Task Panes also makes it easier for us to see what actions we can take when using an Office application. Document recovery has also been improved, so chances of losing our work should the power suddenly go out have been further minimized.

Office XP also features some welcome capabilities in the collaborative environment. Users can place their documents in Web sites that support Microsoft's new SharePoint Team Services technology for document and activities sharing. This will enhance teamwork as team members work on their projects.

If you think Office XP is for you, you will have to check your machine first. Unfortunately, Office XP will run only on Windows 98 or later.

I ran the Office XP on an IBM Netvista X40i, which came preinstalled with Windows Me and had 64 MB of RAM. A much longer time will be required before we can draw the final conclusion about Office XP. We certainly wish that there were competition in the Office and Suite arena.

In other words, we would like very much to see WordPerfect and WordPro improved and enriched in such a way as to provide us with feasible alternatives. However, for now, it still seems that XP is, indeed, a must-have, particularly if you already use Microsoft Office. (zatni@cbn.net.id)