Analysts advise existing Office users to examine their business
requirements and systems compatibility before they upgrade to
Office XP.
The software giant's latest offering will require up-to-date
hardware and operating systems before Office XP will run, which
could result in a costly IT revamp. There may also be serious
application compatibility issues with Excel and PowerPoint.
"Microsoft is gradually changing the database structure behind
Excel and that will, over time, have compatibility issues," warned
Ashim Pal, vice president of analyst organisation Meta Group.
Pal said there could be similar problems PowerPoint, "because new
transaction capabilities will impact on backwards and forwards
compatibility".
Microsoft claims Office XP is a much simpler, more intuitive,
function-rich offering but most users are likely to question how
far it moves beyond Office 2000. Analysts expect existing Office 97
users will be keen to upgrade, but those using Office 2000 are
likely to hold off for the foreseeable future.
"A month ago this was a relatively simple IT decision," said Pal.
"If you're on Office 2000 there's very little to compel you to go
to XP, with the exception of a couple of management functions.
However, people need to consider XP to take advantage of the
licensing changes that come in to force on October 1."
Microsoft has taken the decision effectively to phase out Windows
95. The application package will only be compatible with Windows 98
upwards. The entry level version of Office XP will require at least
a Pentium 133Mhz processor, 24Mbytes of RAM, plus a further 8Mbytes
for each simultaneously running application. If users opt for the
professional version, Microsoft is recommending 120Mbytes of RAM
plus 200Mbytes of available disc space.
"Office XP is likely to ride the wave of OS upgrades in the next
year, because a joint upgrade process will ease the upgrade burden
and lower costs when Office XP and Windows XP are bundled
together," predicted Ken Smiley, analyst at Giga Information
Group.
Small companies and home users are most likely to be affected by
these requirements, and Microsoft admits that many will need new
hardware.
"If people at home are still using Windows 95, then it's likely
that the PC they're using isn't capable of running Office XP," said
Stephanie Thorn, Microsoft Office product marketing manager. "If
they want to upgrade they are potentially going to have to go out
and look at new PCs."
However, Marc Silvester, corporate technology officer at ICL, the
IT services company, said that Office XP has a facility that
enables users to only install those parts of the product they will
actually use. This feature is new to Office.
Silvester believes the system will not have an impact on enterprise
users, who, generally, have higher-powered machines.
Microsoft recommends that users undergo Office XP training, in
order to maximise its full functionality.
"If users want to get the most out of any software application, the
more training you go on, the more you will discover," said Thorn.
However, Silvester who has overseen the roll-out of 800 copies of
the application package and been involved with numerous customer
trials believes most users will not need to bother with training,
arguing that it is more intuitive than previous Microsoft offering.
Meta's Pal believes there is no convincing reason for existing
Office 2000 users to upgrade to XP. "If you're on 2000 I'd suggest
you buy XP [for licensing reasons], but don't deploy it," he said.
Emma Nash