There are no such compatibility issues between Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007
as both use the Unicode format and read each other's files.
You can also still save your Excel files in the xls-format and there also is
an update for Outlook 2003 that enables you to read in the new xlsx-format.
Access 2007 can also still handle Access 2000 files and even save in that
format.
As for the Office reviews on Amazon, many just like to rant there,
especially about Microsoft products ;-).
Looking at the newsgroups is usually also not a good indication as you won't
find people there for which it all works flawlessly ;-).
Eventually you'll have to decide for yourself where to invest in.
--
Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
Coauthor, Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.howto-outlook.com/
Outlook FAQ, HowTo, Downloads, Add-Ins and more
http://www.msoutlook.info/
Real World Questions, Real World Answers
-----
"ship" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:99c69dbd-97b8-4844-b58e-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi
>
> Is it possible to copy ".PST" files backwards and forward between
> Outlook2003 and Outlook2003?
> i.e. Has the PST file structure changed much?
> If so have Microsoft written any kind of plug-in that lets Outlook2003
> read Outlook2007 files?
>
> Background:
> I have 3 PCs: One at work, one at home and one laptop.
> I need to completely replace the home PC.
> It is tempting to buy a cheap OEM version of msOffice2007.
>
> Synchronisation:
> At the moment do quite a lot of archiving and simply manually copy the
> PST file(s) over whenever I need to synchronise them. (I keep the
> latest PST file down to just the last 2 or 3 months worth of data).
>
> - Any thoughts?
>
>
> Ship
> Shiperton Henethe
>
> P.S. On reflection, another option would be buy a RETAIL copy of
> Outlook2007, which I believe Microsoft allows you to have installed on
> two (or three??) other machines for personal use. Even then apart from
> the hideous financial cost of buying a full retail edition, I would
> need to make sure that my clients/the rest of my company can read my
> excel files etc because the will still be using Outlook2003. In fact
> the company database is still in msAccess2000 format - so editing it
> in Access2007 could be a problem too...
>