Microsoft Office Standard 2007

Pros: overall better look, lots of bug fixes

Cons: least customizable office ever

Summary: I was involved in the office beta, and found there were some very strong likes and dislikes that just didn't change much with time using the software. The overall look is great. Outlook is great. But the major complaint about all of the programs is the silly premise that Microsoft knows how you need the program set up to be the most efficient. While the ribbon toolbars are slick to look at, you can't rearrange the buttons at all. You're stuck with Microsofts layout. I don't know about anyone else, but I've absolutely NEVER stuck with the stock layout on any version of Office I have used, whether at home or at work. You are only given one option for a custom toolbar- a tiny bar that I mounted under the stock ribbon configuration. The worst part is, there are only so many features that you can put on it, because of space, and because a lot of features just aren't available for the custom bar. The ribbon bar, while nice to look at, is huge. I might have missed it, but I couldn't find a way to reduce the size so that I had more available workspace for my documents, spreadsheets, and e-mail. All in all, it could have been a great upgrade if they had just left me the option to make it look the way I wanted, so that it was the most efficient for me. I don't care how hard they try, some of the features will never be used by many users, so you should be able to customize your layout so that it works best for you, not some design engineer in Redmond.