5 stars (PowerPoint 2003) - I have used PowerPoint quite a bit for presentations at work but I finally purchased PowerPoint 2003 for my home and my wife's business. In an age where PowerPoint is the norm in presentations, the features I learned in the 2003 really bumped up the bar. I have received rave reviews for my presentations and I am not shy in sharing the credit with this software. As a side note, my 2nd grade son is learning PowerPoint in school and now he likes to dabble with the 2003 Edition. On some days, I'll ask him what he is doing. He will answer, "I'm playing PowerPoint!" 2 stars (Not Wallet Compatible) - Let me start by saying that I'm no computer expert (far from it) and that Power Point 2003 is a good program that is already reaping rewards for me. BUT I have to say that this version is too high for me and that one should buy this in a package deal (Microsoft Student Edition) if you don't need all the "extra" features that are basically useless for someone using this stuff at home. Through a series of events (or calamity, as my wallet put it) I ended up buying Microsoft Office Basics 2003 that came with (a) Word 2003 (b) Excel 2003 and (c) Outlook but that didn't have Powerpoint included. So, I thought that I'd be able to get an Upgrade addition to work on my computer because the box lists a series of Office editions that would be upgradeable. When I got it home, however, I found that it didn't work with Office 2003 and that I'd have to get the extended version. It would work if I had an older computer with older software, but newer stuff required a stand alone piece of software if it isn't included in the bundle.
When I went back with this quandary, the price of this program cost more than my bundle pack of software and I found myself a bit unhappy because I could either (a) buy this overpriced thing by forking out almost two hundred bucks or (b) buy a student addition that basically meant repurchasing all the programs I had and forking out hundred + dollars. I opted for the second, not really happy with the choice but needing the presentation power in my hands and not wanting to pay too much, and I kept thinking that this piece of software is wayyy too expensive for the average laptop.
The moral of the story: If you need the extended pack, then you have a specific reason brought to the table. If you don't know a reason you'd have to have a stand-alone version then you probably don't need it, and should buy the compact versions and SHOP WISELY - avoiding oversight.
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