Microsoft Corp. Office suites

The Bottom Line: Office for Mac 2008 may be the best pick for business users, but most people can get by with less costly alternatives.

Specs: 1 PC, Complete package, Apple MacOS X 10.4.9 or later, 500 MHz, DVD-ROM, XGA monitor, 500 MHz, MacOS

The Bottom Line: Office for Mac 2008 may be the best pick for business users, but most people can get by with less costly alternatives.

Specs: 3 PC in one household, Complete package, Apple MacOS X 10.4.9 or later, 500 MHz, DVD-ROM, XGA monitor, 500 MHz, MacOS

The Bottom Line: Office for Mac 2008 may be the best pick for business users, but most people can get by with less costly alternatives.

Specs: 1 PC, Complete package, Apple MacOS X 10.4.9 or later, 500 MHz, DVD-ROM, XGA monitor, 500 MHz, MacOS

The Bottom Line: Overall, Microsoft Office Standard 2007 is a worthy upgrade if you need to make sleeker-looking documents and presentations to share with others, and Outlook is better than ever, but you can stick to your current software if you don't feel that it lacks anything.

The Bottom Line: Overall, Microsoft Office Standard 2007 is a worthy upgrade if you need to make sleeker-looking documents and presentations to share with others, and Outlook is better than ever, but you can stick to your current software if you don't feel that it lacks anything.

Specs: 3 PC in one household, Complete package, Microsoft Windows XP SP2 or later, Microsoft Windows Server 2003 or later, 500 MHz, CD-ROM, SVGA monitor, 500 MHz, Windows

The Bottom Line: Overall, Microsoft Office Standard 2007 is a worthy upgrade if you need to make sleeker-looking documents and presentations to share with others, and Outlook is better than ever, but you can stick to your current software if you don't feel that it lacks anything.

Specs: 1 PC, Complete package, Microsoft Windows XP SP2 or later, Microsoft Windows Server 2003 or later, 500 MHz, CD-ROM, SVGA monitor, 500 MHz, Windows

The Bottom Line: Overall, Microsoft Office Standard 2007 is a worthy upgrade if you need to make sleeker-looking documents and presentations to share with others, and Outlook is better than ever, but you can stick to your current software if you don't feel that it lacks anything.

Specs: 1 PC, Complete package, Microsoft Windows XP SP2 or later, Microsoft Windows Server 2003 SP1 or later, 500 MHz, CD-ROM, XGA monitor, 500 MHz, Windows, Internet Explorer 6.0 or later

The Bottom Line: Microsoft Student 2007 is a friendly, thorough homework resource for middle and high schoolers learning math, foreign languages, literature, and more, but you'll need to buy Office to fully use it, and you'll pay dearly for tech support.

Specs: 1 user, Complete package, Windows

The Bottom Line: If you don't mind standard versions of popular programs, Microsoft Works Suite 2006 is a time-saver for basic home-computing tasks such as organizing photos, budgeting, getting travel directions, and word processing.

Specs: 1 user, License and media, Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows 2000 SP4, Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition, Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition, 700 MHz Intel Pentium, 700 MHz, Modem, Speaker(s), 4x CD-ROM, Sound card, SVGA monitor, Mouse or compatible device, SVGA graphics card with 4MB of memory, 700 MHz Intel Pentium, 700 MHz, Windows, Internet Explorer 6.0

The Bottom Line: Student 2006 is an excellent homework helper for late-elementary, middle, and high-school kids. If you already use Microsoft Office, it's a good buy. If you don't, it's too expensive.

Specs: 1 user, Complete package, Microsoft Windows 98, Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition, Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional SP3, 333 MHz, DVD-ROM, Speaker(s), SVGA monitor, 4MB video memory, 16 bit sound card, Mouse or compatible device, 333 MHz, Windows