December 24 - January 14 2001

Improving Office 2001 by Alessandro Cancian A strange love-hate relationship exists between Microsoft and Apple users. I still remember the astonished faces and whispers of the audience at Macworld when, some years ago, Steve Jobs announced the investment by Bill Gates company in the Cupertino-based rival. Believing that yesterdays "enemy" would soon become one of the most important developers for their platform, was for many almost utopia. One of the focal points of that agreement was a commitment by Microsoft to keep developing its Office package for the next five years. The release of Office 98, the following year, left much to be desired. The software package, although one of the best sellers for Mac, hadnt succeeded in winning the hearts of Apple users, due to some bugs and a Windows-style interface. Apparently criticism worked, and now, almost two years later, Microsoft is proposing a new version, much more in line with Apple users expectations. Office 2001 does not only sport a new interface definitely more pleasant, more Mac-like and user friendly than the previous edition but for the first time in years it also introduces something new. The best surprise is a new entry: Entourage, an e-mail client very similar to Outlook Express. Differently from Outlook (downloadable for free from the Internet), Entourage comes equipped with a Personal Information Manager (PIM) that allows users to organize their contacts, appointments and more. The Address Book is quite complete, and the addition of small details such as the possibility of inserting pictures or driving directions is a touch of quality. Moreover, contacts can be listed under specific categories, such as Work, Family, Friends etc., totally customisable, allowing an immediate sort of incoming mail. This is especially useful to people who, like myself, get high quantities of e-mail every day. For Palm users, Entourage represents a pleasant novelty, in consideration of the perfect synchronization between e-mail client and handheld in exchanging contacts, calendar entries and miscellaneous notes. I was perfectly able to download contacts from my Palm V without any glitches. The software is perfectly integrated in the Office suite and shares some features with other parts of the package like spell-checking from Word 2001. Of all the available features, my interest was most stimulated by the possibility of linking different documents and e-mail addresses with the calendar, so that they would be automatically recalled at the right moment. Word 2001 did not change much, but it was cleaned of the bugs afflicting the previous version. In addition to a decidedly more Mac-like interface, novelties include a floating Formatting Palette through which it is now possible to access and modify a great deal of information concerning documents, with no need to search for a specific command among the various menu entries. A sure plus is the compatibility of documents saved by Word 2001 with the various Windows versions, especially for people who work in multi-platform environments. In general, performance is still not at its maximum, particularly in situations where many fonts are active. But the old Word is very far from this new version, which gives control even on colour calibration for photos inset in documents. Excel 2001 underwent small but meaningful modifications, from the possibility of converting spreadsheets into html pages to integration of several keyboard shortcuts; a must feature for Apple users. The most evident new addition is List Manager, a new feature, which recognizes when someone is trying to create a simple list and proposes formats based on templates. I did, however, have some small problems using Excel; it was in some way incompatible with my Microsoft Explorer mouse, and I had to replace it with a Macally one. The last package included in the suite is the presentation software PowerPoint. Also in this case, no revolution but a sure improvement over the 98 version. Theres ease of slide creation and browsing, ability to export a presentation in html format, ready to be published on the Web, or in QuickTime format for e-mailing and vision by people who havent access to PowerPoint. The various applications in Office 2001 share the incredible number of templates in the "Project Gallery," which turns preparing a professional-looking letterhead, spreadsheet, or presentation into childs play. The strong points of Office 2001 are its care for details and some truly good additions. Although there are things still missing, such as the possibility of sharing meeting schedules and contacts with Outlook for Windows. Hey guys, were working in a dual platform world! This version sets a new standard also for a completely new styling, beginning with the box. The least positive note is maybe the lack of documentation. Office 2001, in fact, comes with neither a printed manual nor a printable file. This is a rather significant problem, considering the price, not exactly a Boxing Day bargain. After two months of intense use, Office 2001 makes my Windows version look outdated. My hope is that the next version for Windows will also become more Mac-like. For further information please visit www.microsoft.com/mac

 

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