Microsoft Office 2003 Beta 2

While a lot of work has gone into this release, single or home users don't have much to get excited about in Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Access. So Office 2003 isn't going to be a worthwhile upgrade unless you're tempted by the improvements to Outlook, FrontPage and Publisher, or maybe you'll want the new OneNote app. However, XML support, SharePoint integration and InfoPath will grab the attention of corporate IT departments eager to streamline business processes, and this is what Microsoft is aiming for. Those upgrading from Office 97 or 2000 will get much more than those upgrading from XP, but as Office 2003 will only run on Windows 2000 (with SP 3) or XP, you need to ensure your PC's up to the job too.

Author: Simon Jones