76 of 76 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great Office software for educational users - but sadly no PRO version anymore, 3 Feb 2006
This review is from: Microsoft Office Student & Teacher Edition 2003 (CD-ROM)
This is a superb 'office' productivity package for home and business users. It has a full copies of Word, PowerPoint and Excel (plus Outlook for emails). As mentioned by other reviewers, very annoyingly MS Office Pro Student edition isn't available anymore, so if you also want the superb relational database Access and the very good desktop publisher Publisher you are stuck with the full cost Office Pro. Otherwise anyone who is in full time education (yes even a 5 year old at Primary School) can buy this basic MS Office 2003 package. Main downside is that it is Windows XP or 2000 only. If you think that you only really need Word, have a look at MS Works Suite 2006 which includes a full copy of Word 2002 (not 2003 though), plus MS Works, MS Money, AutoRoute and Encarta standard 2006 - plus this suite also runs on Windows 98SE and ME, except Encarta 2006 (XP, 2000 only). It costs around the same price as MS Office Student at Amazon.
For basic home-office, if you have simple needs (or far more complex), do try out www.OpenOffice.org - it's totally free to download and use from Sun, has basic compatibility with MS Office (it includes Writer, Calc, & DataBase, plus a `PowerPoint' style presenter and a full drawing package) and has all the main functionality of MS Office (you can buy OpenOffice as Star Office for manuals, better support etc. - but then you might well go for this student MS Office 2003 as it's not much more expensive). OpenOffice has complex user interface though, but of course it's free to download, try out and use, plus there is on-line help. There is also the cheap-as-chips Ability Office Pro at £40 from Amazon that is worth a look and includes a good database [see www.ability.com, where you can download a trial version to see if this software suits your needs before buying at Amazon]. These options will also run on Windows 98 SE & ME. However if you need guaranteed MS compatibility for everything and have XP then the choice is really only MS Office.
Note though that the university where I work (University College London) will sell any of their students a full copy of Microsoft Office Professional for £67 (via a Viglen online link) - so prospective students should check this out with their college. Office Pro adds the DataBase Access and the desktop publisher `Publisher'. There are often small discounts for other MS products (e.g. Encarta, Project, XP Pro). Also ask around, Uncle Fred may have a full licensed copy of an older version of MS Office Pro (e.g. 2000 or XP) going spare - I have both.
Nearly everyone, particularly business, expects you to use MS Office, and naturally only that can offer full compatibility with Office. So MS Office [Basic] Student Edition 2003 is highly recommended for top quality office software at a knock down price (I give 3* as no Student Office Pro version is offered any more). But do consider the other options I mention.
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295 of 301 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Can use after studenthood!, 10 Mar 2005
This review is from: Microsoft Office Student & Teacher Edition 2003 (CD-ROM)
I read one of the reviews on here saying that you couldn't use the software after you finished studying so I emailed Microsoft.
This was their answer.
Question:
I will be a student until July 2006, what will happen to my license after this time?
Answer:
I can confirm that you will remain licensed to use it after this date, even if you are no longer a student. This is confirmed on this site, under the "pricing and ordering" section.
And this is the link
http://www.microsoft.com/office/editions/prodinfo/students/faq.mspx
So if you don't mind only having Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint this is great value!
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112 of 115 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great value - includes cheap Access offer too, 21 Mar 2004
By A Customer
This review is from: Microsoft Office Student & Teacher Edition 2003 (CD-ROM)
Having toiled with Office 95 on our home PC - kids moaning because they use 2000/2 at school and me struggling because we use 2002 at work, I decided to invest in the Student and Teacher version of Office 2003. Slightly concerned that there was no Access in the latest version. However, received the product wthin 3 days (even with the free delivery option) and installed it on home PC with no problems. Still allowed 2 more installs, so this will support the family as they grow into their own PCs for homework. Fantastic surprise in the case too - a voucher to claim MS Access for 30Euros - translated to £18.81 when I ordered it form the MS website. When combined with the Access offer, this is a great deal - all the major programmes from MS Office for under £120. Only slight problem, does not seem to have installed clip art in all its detail, but loads of images available on the MS website
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