If you were a large corporation with numerous sites...

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bob Ostwald
  • Start date Start date
B

Bob Ostwald

....and were about to upgrade everyone from Office/PowerPoint 2000, would you
migrate to Office 2002 or to Office 2003?

Speaking strictly about PowerPoint here, and given that there are no new
animations in PPT2003, I am wondering which is the "safer" decision. PPT2002
has been street-tested for two years now and has been upgraded with a
service pack or two. I assume that PPT2003 would be as robust as an upgraded
("service-packed") version of PPT2002, but new software often introduces new
problems.

So, my question to those of you who have worked with PPT2002 and have now
used PPT2003 for a while: what's your gut feeling about which version to
standardize on. Program stability is paramount. Please understand that if
our company chooses to go with PPT2002, we'll not see PPT2003 for a very
long time if ever. If there is something particularly wonderful about
PPT2003 that we shouldn't miss out on, I'd like to know that.

Also, does the currently shipping version of PPT2003 contain the hotfix as
part of the program or must it be applied to each installation?

Thank you so much,
Bob Ostwald
 
Bob,

Forgetting "powerpoint" for a moment.

My personal choice....whatever the program (thinking large apps here), is to
go for the older one. For the simple reason...it's been around longer...had
more people using it...more time to be patched/fixed. Unless there is some
amazing/fantastic reason that overides this practical thinking ;)

Cheers
TAJ Simmons
microsoft powerpoint mvp

awesome - powerpoint backgrounds,
free sample templates, tutorials, hints and tips etc
http://www.powerpointbackgrounds.com
 
TAJ,

That is my inclination too. I just want to make sure there are no
overwhelming reasons to leapfrog 2002 and go straight to 2003. Not that it's
my decision to make, mind you.

Thanks,
Bob
 
I would say upgrade to PowerPoint 2003. It's very solid and has the Package
for CD and the research/thesaurus features. Glen covered the new features
at PowerPoint Live, so you can check the outline in the guide.
 
Bob,
PowerPoint only: If there is any chance that you will need to package
presentations to share, upgrade.
Remainder of Office: Outlook's changes make it worth the cost. The spam and
junk mail handling save me over an hour each day. The improved interface for
rules makes them much easier. The rest of Outlook is also useful. Finally,
OneNote is quite useful. Once you start using it, you may never stop.

The whole of Office System 2003 seems quite stable.

--
Kathryn Jacobs, Microsoft PPT MVP
If this helped you, please take the time to rate the value of this post:
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Get PowerPoint answers at http://www.powerpointanswers.com
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Kathy is a trainer, writer, Girl Scout, and whatever else there is time for
I believe life is meant to be lived. But:
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Thanks, guys.

My own software includes Office 2000 and Office XP Professional Special
Edition (which I think meant the package included an optical mouse). I will
no doubt upgrade to Office 2003 when I find a good deal somewhere. I like to
play with the latest toys. Based on what I've heard about Outlook 2003, I am
pretty sure the company I now work for will go with that. I don't know if
that means they will choose the rest of that suite as well. I can make a
strong argument for the Package for CD feature. Thank you.

Cheers,
Bob
 
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