Introduction

Following the launch of Microsoft Office XP, which represents the latest incarnation of Microsoft best selling Office suite, the software behemoth has released Visio 2002. Microsoft Visio 2002 is software aimed to help people visualize and communicate ideas, information and systems using diagrams. Visio 2002 is part of the Microsoft Office family so it complements the outstanding tools provided by Microsoft Office enabling business professionals to create information-rich diagrams that complement and extend the work they do in Office programs. Since Microsoft has bought the Visio software from Visio Corp on January 7^th 2000 the software didn’t receive many major updates (except a silent SR1). It  particularly suffered from the lack of homogeneity between Visio and the other Microsoft Office software applications. The 2002 version, however, is clearly a major evolution of the Visio software application.

   Previous Visio versions were available in not less than 4 different editions so Microsoft has also decided to simplify the Visio range by offering only two different editions: the Standard and Professional ones that meet various needs. Visio 2002 Standard provides diagramming solutions that help business professionals such as project managers, sales and marketing professionals, HR personnel, administrative staff, and others whovisualize and share information about the people, projects, and processes they work with every day while Visio 2002 Professional helps technical professionals such asIT, developer, and engineering professionals who visualize existing ideas, information, systems and design new ones. Visio 2002 Professional includes all the solutions previously offered by the Technical edition of Visio 2000. Both editions share a common file format so you can read a file made with Visio 2002 Professional under Visio 2002 Standard. Microsoft has listened to the four million Visio users (worldwide) in making the new 2002 version better. As a result the main focus goals for the development team were to provide an increased visual impact along with a tighter integration of the software with other Office tools as well as a more available and maintainable application.

Setup

If installing Visio 2000 was a real nightmare the setup of Visio 2002 is now a real pleasure thanks to Microsoft! Exit the long and heavy copying process. Microsoft Visio 2002 setup requires around 150 MB of space on your hard disk and can be customized so you can choose which components you want or not to be installed. The installation takes a couple of minutes to complete before prompting you to restart your computer. To illustrate the fact Visio 2002 is more easily maintainable I’ll just take one example: the automatic update utility can scan your Visio installation, recommend necessary updates so you can download and apply them through the web. The setup supports Systems Manager Server (SMS) to simplify deployment procedures. Organizations can create packages for automatic deployment to specified user groups on the local network and at remote sites.

Visio Software (comparable Visio software)