The Features

Microsoft Works Suite 2003 contains six quality Microsoft programs (and the version I am reviewing today all of them on one single DVD-ROM)—Including the full version of Microsoft Word and Streets and Trips 2002—Integrated into one great affordable package. Your whole family will have fun and be more productive accomplishing projects for home, school, and community.

• Redesigned Task Launcher Home Page gives you immediate access to everything you use most—your calendar, "to-do" list, and the applications in Works Suite.
• My Projects Organizer helps you manage any project—big or small. Plan a party or vacation, prepare for the holidays, and organize club or school activities using this helpful tool.
• More than 400 new, professionally designed templates are ready to help make your projects easy and fun. From party invitations and newsletters, to greeting cards and school reports, there is something for everyone.
• Easily take your calendar, address book, finances, and maps on your Pocket PC or Palm-based device.
• $15 U.S./$25 CDN mail-in rebate makes Works Suite 2003 an even greater value!

Six Microsoft products in one box
With Works Suite 2003, you'll pay less than half the cost of buying all these products separately:

• Word 2002 - Use the same premier word processor featured in Microsoft Office XP. Word 2002 features—such as smart tags and task panes, and improved technology for formatting—make it easy to create professional-looking documents. Enhanced reliability ensures that you spend your time working, not re-creating the work you've completed.
• Works 7.0 - Organize your household with spreadsheets, a calendar, an address book, a database, and more. Open and edit documents created with Microsoft Excel and exchange data with your Pocket PC or Palm-based device.
• Picture It!® Photo 7.0 - Use photos from digital cameras, scanners, photo CDs, and e-mail attachments. Organize your photos, correct common photo problems, create great photo projects, and share your photos online.
• Encarta® Encyclopedia Standard 2003 - Access more than 38,000 up-to-date articles, plus photos, illustrations, hundreds of videos, animations, and audio files. Encarta is the ideal multimedia encyclopedia for everyday use.
• Money 2003 Standard - Organize and manage your personal finances quickly and easily. If you're new to personal finance management software, Money Standard is a great way to get started.
• Streets & Trips 2002 (Autoroute 2002 in the UK) - Find maps, points of interest, routes, and driving directions without waiting for an Internet connection. Create and download maps to your Pocket PC.

Installation and Settings

As I mentioned a little earlier, the Works Suite 2003 edition comes on just a single DVD-ROM unless you purchase the CD version in which I believe there are 6 CD's inside the box. There are options from which you can choose what products in the Works Suite that you would like to install, so you can mix and match which parts of the suite you think you will make use of. The bad side of this is that it doesn't do it the easy way, you have to install each suite member one at a time, as the installation doesn't allow you to do a one off install. I have installed the DVD edition on my Laptop.

Working With Works

I guess there is no doubt that most of us home users don't really need the full Microsoft Office Suite to do our work or general letters and documents with, especially with Microsoft Office still being overpriced and out of the reach of a lot of people. The Works Suite tries to combine what Microsoft thinks most home users out there will need, and at a much smaller price than the office pack. Works packs in a word processor, database, spreadsheet, appointment and calendar options all in to one easy to use interface called the Task Launcher. Most of these programs are cut down versions of ones from the Office Suite, like the spreadsheet program is a lesser version of Microsoft Excel, it can open Excel worksheets but not workbooks, but that isn't to say it doesn't do the job, it does and does it well.

The database module offers a number of easy to use features such as "Easy Calc" which helps you learn how to create formulas and how to work with easy to use charts, create worksheets etc you can maintain up to 32,000 database records, enter data with form or list views, and create reports and mailings.

There is also a good Calendar built into Works 2003, where you can copy your Works address book, calendar, and schedule information to your PDA (Pocket PC or Palm-based device). Categorize appointments by person or type on your calendar and set reminders for upcoming appointments on your calendar. The contact list is nothing fancy, but it allows you to use mail merge if you want to.

Encarta has been added to the Work Suite, but I won't go into full detail of the encyclopedia, but if you want to read more about it you can check out my review of the latest version right here. Encarta 2003 is a very easy-to-use reference program, you can access more than 38,000 up-to-date articles, plus photos and illustrations, hundreds of videos, animations, and audios. Encarta Encyclopedia Standard 2003 is an excellent program, especially for family use, so it is the perfect accompaniment to the Works Suite. The only downside of Encarta with the Works Suite is that you have to have the DVD in the drive if you want to view it. The suite also contains Microsoft Picture It Photo 7.0, which provides the home user with some powerful photo-editing tools and built-in wizards that make it easy to improve photos. The program also includes a bunch of templates for photo cards, calendars, labels, flyers, and more. It does just about everything a home user would need a photo program to do.

Next up we have Microsoft Word, this is identical to the one that ships with Office XP, which yet again you can read all about right here. But the downside here is that unlike all of the other suite programs, this isn't downsized, don't get me wrong...Word 2002 is an excellent word processor, probably the best there currently is, but most home users are unlikely to make use of some of the more advanced features that are in Word, and with the interface of Word being quite advanced, this may confuse a number of users. This is even stranger when you consider that Microsoft Works already comes with a useful word processor itself, which is a kind of reduced version of Word, but it is no longer available to use via the suite task launcher. In saying that, if a user gets more advanced or feels they want to delve deeper into word processing, the advanced features are there if they want to use them.

Another annoyance is that it requires you to activate Word, something that seems ridiculous when you consider that no other part of Works needs to be activated, if they are going to add activation, at least require it to be done at the start of the Works installation, not a few days after installing and first loading up Microsoft Word 2002.

Next we have possibly the best part of the whole suite, Microsoft Money 2003 where you can balance your checkbook, pay bills, bank online, create a budget, reduce your debt, manage investments, plan for the future, simplify taxes, and organize your finances—all in one place—while receiving personalized financial guidance.

Final Comments

Works Suite 2003 does just about everything it set out to do, it is a product suite aimed at users who don't want to worry about the advanced features of Office or cannot afford to spend that kind of money on something for their PC. There are a few downsides, Word doesn't need to be here, it should be replaced by the Works word processor and perhaps a better home product such as Publisher would be better suited in its place. If you have the separate programs such as Word or Money 2003 already, then just purchase Works 2003 and not the Suite as there isn't anything here in addition to those that you are likely to need. So overall a good package, with just some small faults but nothing to knock it down.