Okay what exactly IS Microsoft Office XP Developer? Let me start by listing what tools are included in this suite of software.

Microsoft Word 2002
Microsoft Excel 2002
Microsoft Outlook 2002
Microsoft PowerPoint 2002
Microsoft Access 2002
Microsoft FrontPage 2002
Workflow Designer for SQL Server
Workflow Designer for Exchange 2000 Server
Code Librarian
Microsoft Visual SourceSafe
Developer's Guide

Phew, thats a suite and a half. Microsoft Office XP Developer (MOD) targets developers who want to design and deploy Add-ins, Smart Tags and SQL Server-based or Exchange-based workflow applications. The Code Librarian and SourceSafe let developers and teams stay organized. Rounded out with developer versions of Exchange 2000 and SQL Server 2000, the package provides a rich set of tools for a reasonable cost.

The flow of data is the lifeblood of any company and using MOD, a developer can create SQL Server-based and Exchange-based workflow applications.

Programmers can use the printed developers' guide and an online developers' manual to get going. The online manual presents example code that can be cut and pasted into applications. A large part of the manual describes development that can be done in Office XP without loading up the MOD software. Detailed sections show examples for developing with FrontPage, Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Visio, and Access as well as shared Office components. There is a section on "Writing Solid Code" which can help set style guidelines for any development.

Office Developer requires commitment right from the start. Creating Add-ins or Smart Tags is possible on a single machine but for SQL or Exchange based projects you must have a second test server. MOD comes with SQL Server 2000 and Exchange Server 2000 Developer Editions. If you've never installed Exchange 2000, find some help or read the installation guide thoroughly. Once Exchange is installed, there is a lengthy series of permissions to set, which does take some time. Its fairly well documented so make sure the instructions are read pre-installation.

For ages Microsoft has been trying to get users to pick up on the Digital Dashboard concept that inhabit each user's desktop. With MOD Digital Dashboards can be created in XML, HTML, or VBScript to retrieve and display data at a user's desk. A simple example would be a part that displays the latest company news on an employee's desktop. Dashboard uses either an Exchange server or a SharePoint Portal as a back end.

In summary I would just like to ask the question WHY? What exactly was wrong with Office 2000? To me Office XP doesn't offer much more than eye-candy appeal. I think its a great product but cannot justify the cost of purchase. I would really like to hear your opinions on this one. If you have used Office 2000 and XP would you drop me a line and pinpoint something I might have missed in my review? I'm quite keen to be educated as I do have a bit of a soft spot for Microsoft products (I'm sorry ... I know it is most uncool to admit that in public these days). So I guess I don't give the product a "thumbs-down" I just can't justify the price enough to give it a positive "thumbs-up". Stay tuned though, someone out there may come up with the best reason to buy!!