Microsoft Office Word 2003 Complete package

...2003 is part of the Microsoft Office 2003 package which features applications such as: PowerPoint for presentations; Access for databases and Excel for spreadsheets.

Word 2003 is currently the newest version of Word at time of writing, with Word 2007 under development for release later this year / early next year, however does not appear to differ from previous versions in terms of features most people would end up using.

...noticeable difference is the layout. Microsoft have clearly spent a lot of time optimizing their current layout (arguably pointless, as 2007 scraps all these changes) to make it more efficient, faster and just more enjoyable to work with. Word XP introduced the right pane, and Word 2003 has built on this to allow easier and faster access to some of the more commonly used features as well as some of the features previously hidden amongst menus.
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A Word Processor is used in the workplace in just about every single job, and there's only really one product that has control of the market. Word 2003 is part of the Microsoft Office 2003 package which features applications such as: PowerPoint for presentations; Access for databases and Excel for spreadsheets.

Word 2003 is currently the newest version of Word at time of writing, with Word 2007 under development for release later this year / early next year, however does not appear to differ from previous versions in terms of features most people would end up using.

If you've had your head in the sand for the past 20 years, you might not have owned a copy of Word, or even know what it is!
Well, a Word Processor has only really one main purpose. To edit and format text to produce documents - a computerized typewriter if you like - but Word is packed with features to make your documents as attractive as possible, whilst saving time on the way.
Features such as a spellchecker and a grammar-checker mean that small human errors get corrected making the document look a whole lot more professional. Heck, Word almost writes your documents for you!

If you're looking to upgrade an existing version of Word, you might be interested in a comparison of previous versions of Word and Word 2003:

The first noticeable difference is the layout. Microsoft have clearly spent a lot of time optimizing their current layout (arguably pointless, as 2007 scraps all these changes) to make it more efficient, faster and just more enjoyable to work with. Word XP introduced the right pane, and Word 2003 has built on this to allow easier and faster access to some of the more commonly used features as well as some of the features previously hidden amongst menus.
The layout of the new Reading Layout View optimizes the page for viewing online, with such changes as making the text larger, spacing smaller and making the document fit on the screen.
Fonts have been rendered better, making both your document and the Word application look better on TFT monitors.

Word 2003 has introduced features designed for typical office situations. Users have the ability to lock down their documents and create edit restrictions allowing others to edit only parts of the document they're permitted to. A typical example of where this could be useful, is a user manual being created by multiple members of the technical department, each working on a different section. The ability to lock down portions of the document prevents accidental damage.
As well as content modification restrictions, Word 2003 also allows an editor to restrict formatting changes allowing a user to add content, but not change the formatting that has been applied to that section of the document.
The reviewing toolbar has also been optimized to make it easier to analyse changes to a document, and revert them if necessary.

While password protection has been available since Word '97, Word 2003 allows you to encrypt your passwords so that you can be assured that the document you have saved can only be read by yourself. General document security has been improved with the introduction of the Microsoft CryptoAPI standard.

Particularly useful for students is the introduction of the research pane, brining easy access to electronic dictionaries, thesauri, online research sites, and proprietary company information. This can be accessed easily via the use of the right click menu and saves time, eliminating the need for 3rd party software or websites.

Word 2003 is now fully integrated with the Office Online system, enabling updated help topics, clipart and more to be downloaded to the application on request. With this improved integration, it reduces the need to open your web browser. Of cause, any content downloaded from Office Online can be imported instantly in to your document.

Owners of a mobile device can benefit from the changes too. Word 2003 allows you to instantly upload any handwritten documents from your mobile device straight in to Word. It can even convert them to typed characters for you.

For collaboration, Instant Messaging has been seamlessly integrated with Word 2003 meaning you can share with your colleagues via the use of MSN Messenger or Windows Messenger.

Now would be about the time where I'd point out all the bad parts in the package, but I'm really struggling to find anything bad to say about it. If anything, I'd say that it's quite expensive, especially considering there are free alternatives, but the software price has gone down and is likely to go down even more with the arrival of Office 2007.

Word 2003 uses XML to base a lot of the interactivity allowing for integration by developers. The ability to embed such components in to documents allows for unique and often time-saving implements to be used.
As for stability, Word 2003 has been criticised by many for being a bloated and unstable piece of software. Already 2 Office service packs and a bundle of updates have been produced in order to make it a friendly Word Processor.
I can't really see where this idea has sprouted from; I've been using Word 2003 since release, and I haven't yet managed to find one bug or software fault that has prevented me from doing what I wanted.
You'll get people knocking this product and opting in for the alternative of OpenOffice (being the main rival and totally free), but in all honesty, I put this down the Microsoft's reputation. It's almost becoming a trend amongst the more knowledgeable of computer uses to hate Microsoft, whereas in my opinion, this product will save you time and money in the long run.

 

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