Outlook 2003 any good?

[Martin Euredjian]

Office XP Pro was a total waste of time and money for me. I don't care to
repeat that experience ... I have far too much work to do.

Back when Windows XP came out I also purchased the upgrade to Office XP and
upgraded both the OS (from 2K Pro to XP Pro) and Office (from 2K Pro to XP
Pro). Outlook XP was unreliable at best and caused all sorts of problems
not worth recounting here. I removed Office XP Pro, went back to Office 2K
Pro and all has been wonderful for about two years.

Now I see Office 2003 and find myself wondering whether or not I should give
it another try. I'm very interested in the business contact management
features of Outlook 2003 and that's nearly the only reason I currently have
to want to update.

The question is, does anyone have any horror stories about 2003? Any
reasons to stay away from it? Any online reviews worth reading?
Also, did they fix the account setup dialogs in 2003 so that they are not
retarded and condescending as in XP?


Thanks,


--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Martin Euredjian

To send private email:
(e-mail address removed)
where
"0_0_0_0_" = "martineu"

 

[Martin Euredjian]

Also, is 2003 able to cleanly import accounts AND rules from 2000?

-Martin

 

[Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]]

Why don;t you get the 30 day trial and decide for yourself? Since you do not
detail the reasons that XP was a complete waste of time, trying the new
version will give you the chance to see if the myriad complaints that you
have are solved. No one else can decide this for you.

PS - I used Outlook 2002 and did not have any of the complaints that you
appear to have.


--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact.


After searching google.groups.com and finding no answer:
Martin Euredjian <[email protected]> asked:
| Office XP Pro was a total waste of time and money for me. I don't
| care to repeat that experience ... I have far too much work to do.
|
| Back when Windows XP came out I also purchased the upgrade to Office
| XP and upgraded both the OS (from 2K Pro to XP Pro) and Office (from
| 2K Pro to XP Pro). Outlook XP was unreliable at best and caused all
| sorts of problems not worth recounting here. I removed Office XP
| Pro, went back to Office 2K Pro and all has been wonderful for about
| two years.
|
| Now I see Office 2003 and find myself wondering whether or not I
| should give it another try. I'm very interested in the business
| contact management features of Outlook 2003 and that's nearly the
| only reason I currently have to want to update.
|
| The question is, does anyone have any horror stories about 2003? Any
| reasons to stay away from it? Any online reviews worth reading?
| Also, did they fix the account setup dialogs in 2003 so that they are
| not retarded and condescending as in XP?
|
|
| Thanks,

 

[Martin Euredjian]

Trial versions are nice, however, money is not the problem here, time is. I
just don't have the time to engage in yet another MS experiment that burns a
whole day (or more).

In terms of the problems I had, well, you name them: not being able to send
email; unreliable reception of email; pst corruption; unreliable startup;
freezing or hanging and probably more that I can't remember. In general
terms, in the context of trying to do work in a busy business environment it
was a lot simple to simply remove Office XP Pro and go back to 2K Pro. Same
machine, no changes whatsoever, it worked right after installation without
any problems at all.

Before resorting to this I did spend one hour+ on the phone with MS (the
first time I do this in my life) to see if they could figure it out. Their
solution was "rebuild the whole system", which, of course, I had just done.
This was a fresh Win XP Pro install on an Pentium IV Intel motherboard that
had been running Windows 2K Pro for a year without any issues whatsoever.
What I'm trying to get to here is that there was nothing I could have done
differently during the installation and configuration of either the OS or
Win XP Pro to affect change ... pop in the CD, click through the dialog
boxes, register, move on.


--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Martin Euredjian

To send private email:
(e-mail address removed)
where
"0_0_0_0_" = "martineu"




"Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]"

Why don;t you get the 30 day trial and decide for yourself? Since you do not
detail the reasons that XP was a complete waste of time, trying the new
version will give you the chance to see if the myriad complaints that you
have are solved. No one else can decide this for you.

PS - I used Outlook 2002 and did not have any of the complaints that you
appear to have.


--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact.


After searching google.groups.com and finding no answer:
Martin Euredjian <[email protected]> asked:
| Office XP Pro was a total waste of time and money for me. I don't
| care to repeat that experience ... I have far too much work to do.
|
| Back when Windows XP came out I also purchased the upgrade to Office
| XP and upgraded both the OS (from 2K Pro to XP Pro) and Office (from
| 2K Pro to XP Pro). Outlook XP was unreliable at best and caused all
| sorts of problems not worth recounting here. I removed Office XP
| Pro, went back to Office 2K Pro and all has been wonderful for about
| two years.
|
| Now I see Office 2003 and find myself wondering whether or not I
| should give it another try. I'm very interested in the business
| contact management features of Outlook 2003 and that's nearly the
| only reason I currently have to want to update.
|
| The question is, does anyone have any horror stories about 2003? Any
| reasons to stay away from it? Any online reviews worth reading?
| Also, did they fix the account setup dialogs in 2003 so that they are
| not retarded and condescending as in XP?
|
|
| Thanks,

 

[Martin Euredjian]

BTW, I see a series of current posts with some of the same issues I saw with
XP. I'll be looking out for the answers provided to these.

-Martin



"Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]"

 

[astracat]

I've had my Office 2003 for over a month now and am still
trying to get the thing to work right. I had office 2000
professional edition and loved it. Worked like a charm.
Have had problems with missing data (2003 has erased
numerous home addresses and changed mailing addresses), I
can't mail merge even with all sorts of troubleshooting,
can't seem to send pictures in email (which seems to be
similar to the problem I'm having with mail merge). I'd
stick with 2000 until MS works the kinks out of 2003.
I'm about to install the virus I put my 2000 back on.

 

[Martin Euredjian]

In general terms, the quality of commercial software across various fields
of application is absolutely deplorable. All you have to do is look through
several of these newsgroups to get a sense of how bad things are. Here we
are, roughly twenty years after the start of the PC revolution and, instead
of progress and stability we get billion dollar companies producing and
selling junk. It's just mind-boggling. No words to describe it. This, by
the way, does not apply to MS alone, not by a longshot. The problem exists
across the board. An absolute mess. And I don't see anyone doing anything
to improve upon the situation. Oh, well.

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Martin Euredjian

To send private email:
(e-mail address removed)
where
"0_0_0_0_" = "martineu"

 

[Terri]

I am using Outlook 2003 with bCM and have had several
problems. The main issue is it is still so new, all the
kinks haven't been worked out and finding technical
support for it is difficult.

 

[Martin Euredjian]

I've had my Office 2003 for over a month now and am still
trying to get the thing to work right. I had office 2000
professional edition and loved it. Worked like a charm.

I've been monitoring messages on this list for just a few days and the
conclusion is simple:

If are a student or hobbyist and have the time to burn dealing with software
problems, giving '03 a try might be an interesting adventure. Otherwise, if
you have real work to do and what you have works, stay away from '03 (and
maybe even '02/XP for that matter).

MS controls the OS, the hardware platform (via PCxx standards) and the
application ... why are some of these problems even happening?

We need to start demanding higher quality software, not just taking whatever
is put on shelves for us to consume.

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Martin Euredjian

To send private email:
(e-mail address removed)
where
"0_0_0_0_" = "martineu"

 

[Mike]

I have been using 2003 (off and on) since Beta 1. There are a number of
features I really like, but there are a few things that were removed that
defy explanation. For example, try clicking on the folder name (the white
text on the gray banner); in ALL previous versions of Outlook this provided
a drop down list of all your folders. And being able to select multiple
addresses & add them to your blocked senders list is gone as well.

The other major complaint I have is the complete lack of customization of
their one Big New Feature, the navigation pane. If I could manipulate this
even a *little* bit (other than being able to rearrange a FIXED set of
folders), I would be a lot happier with this feature. Why does the split
STOP at the half way point? Why can't I create a new group (not simply a
new shortcut group)? And on and on.

I'd give it a shakey thumbs up.

Mike

 

[Rob Schneider]

Trial versions are nice, however, money is not the problem here, time is. I
just don't have the time to engage in yet another MS experiment that burns a
whole day (or more).

In terms of the problems I had, well, you name them: not being able to send
email; unreliable reception of email; pst corruption; unreliable startup;
freezing or hanging and probably more that I can't remember. In general
terms, in the context of trying to do work in a busy business environment it
was a lot simple to simply remove Office XP Pro and go back to 2K Pro. Same
machine, no changes whatsoever, it worked right after installation without
any problems at all.

Before resorting to this I did spend one hour+ on the phone with MS (the
first time I do this in my life) to see if they could figure it out. Their
solution was "rebuild the whole system", which, of course, I had just done.
This was a fresh Win XP Pro install on an Pentium IV Intel motherboard that
had been running Windows 2K Pro for a year without any issues whatsoever.
What I'm trying to get to here is that there was nothing I could have done
differently during the installation and configuration of either the OS or
Win XP Pro to affect change ... pop in the CD, click through the dialog
boxes, register, move on.

Martin,

I've been using Outlook 2003 since it came out. My experience on the
problems you're intersted in:

not being able to send email
- have not yet seen this problem. I SMTP to my own server running
Linux/Sendmail which is then forwarded on-word. What your problem with
the ISP?

unreliable reception of email
- have not yet seen this problem. Getting mail from an IMAP server on
Linux with "fetchmail" gathering it from a dozen email servers at
various ISP's.

freezing or hanging
- have not yet seen this problem

I've also had no problems with XP pro.

 

[Martin Euredjian]

I've been using Outlook 2003 since it came out. My experience on the
problems you're intersted in:

<snip>

The major issue I have with some of these "new and improved" versions is
very simple: The old version worked fine. Same machine, same OS. No
problems whatsoever. None. The new version should work better, not worst!
I shouldn't have to spend hours upon hours troubleshooting after having
spent $500 to upgrade (Win XP Pro + Office XP Pro).

Installation of the new version (either clean or as upgrade) is done in
pushbutton fashion, in other words: stick the disk in and click go. No
creative thinking there at all. Configuration consists of bringing back the
old "pst" and importing/setting-up email accounts. A no brainer, I've done
it a million times with both desktop and notebook systems.

Why the problems then? And, judging from other posts on this NG, problems
seem frequent enough.

There's nothing I can do differently other than go and buy a new computer.
But, wait, I've done that too! I own about fifteen PC systems. Most using
Win2K Pro/Office 2K Pro. No problems with any of them. However, my Win XP
desktop and brand new Compaq notebook (with XP as well) have been, well,
interesting. What could be simpler than buying a pre-loaded notebook (three
months old) and doing a pushbutton installation of Office XP Pro on it?
Having ANY problems whatsoever in this context is simply unacceptable in
this day and age.

As another sad story, I just spent a week with the aforementioned notebook
trying to get a working USB to SERIAL + PARALLEL converter. So far I've
gone through four different brands and models (not cheap either, I've paid
up to $130). For one reason or another each one of them didn't work: bad
drivers; partially recognized hardware; partial operation (serial works but
parallel doesn't); everything loads but nothing works; conflicts with other
devices (remember, this is a stock high-end notebook). Simply amazing. I
finally settled on a device where the serial port works but the parallel
doesn't. I can do without the parallel port for now. I can't burn any more
time. This isn't a hobby.

Again, what's clear to me is that, in general terms, software quality has
much to be desired. I'm a hardware developer that also has to provide
software with the products we do (both embedded and Win). If my hardware,
firmware and software performed as badly as some of this PC
hardware/software does I'd be out of business in a flash.

I wish there was another strong choice. If the engineering software and
other tools I need were available for Mac's or Linux I'd switch in a second.
Not because they are devoid of problems, but, if anything, to be able to
send a message.


--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Martin Euredjian

To send private email:
(e-mail address removed)
where
"0_0_0_0_" = "martineu"

 

[Rob Schneider]

I suspect that "sending a message" was the whole point of your posting.
Illogical and malformed. Suggest you focus on your hardware. Software
not a forte.

- If you like the old versions, use them. Don't change.
- remember this NG is like a hospital. Everyone is sick here. However,
that being said, very few people in the world are in hospitals.
- your hardware (USB to serial to parallel converter) has nothing to do
with XP.
- you have choices.

 

[Martin Euredjian]

I suspect that "sending a message" was the whole point of your posting.
Illogical and malformed. Suggest you focus on your hardware. Software
not a forte.

Rob, that's kind of rude, don't you think?


--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Martin Euredjian

To send private email:
(e-mail address removed)
where
"0_0_0_0_" = "martineu"

 

[Martin Euredjian]

- If you like the old versions, use them. Don't change.

Precisely what I'm doing.

- remember this NG is like a hospital. Everyone is sick here. However,
that being said, very few people in the world are in hospitals.

The real question, however, might be, what percentage of those not using
NG's have these problems? And, of that bunch, how many are fleeced by the
installed base of paid support options. This comes in many forms: local
computer guys/stores; local computer chains; local/national retailers and
the software manufacturers themselves. I wonder how much money MS makes
from people who resort to paid phone support?

- your hardware (USB to serial to parallel converter) has nothing to do
with XP.

How do you know that? All devices I tested worked just fine on Windows 2K.
One didn't work at all on XP. The others worked partially (some ports did,
others didn't).

Several of the devices I tried had more than just a serial port. The most
complex of them was a Targus Port Replicator with serial, parallel, USB,
sound, keyboard and mouse ports. All other devices where much simpler but
most had more than one port.

As an indication of XP having issues we can look at those devices having
integrated USB hubs. The installation, on both XP and 2K relied on MS
drivers shipped with the OS. All devices worked fine under 2K. All.
However, under XP, in half the devices, the USB hub generated errors and
listed the USB hubs as "unknown" USB devices.

The same was true on devices that had parallel ports.

Not to go to far. I have a mouse (relatively new) that works fine on 2K and
has a "personality" under XP. Same machine. Same exact hardware. Latest
bios, etc. The mouse worked fine under 2K. I had to switch to a different
mouse under XP. The funny thing is ... it's a Microsoft mouse!

It floors me to thing that folks out there might think that this is "OK" and
part and parcel of the whole computing experience.

- you have choices.

Not really. That's an illusion. Maybe for a student or hobbyist or to
brows the WWW at home or for occasional use. Not in "real life".

I cannot run my $$,$$$ electronics CAD package on anything other than a PC
running W2K or later. The same is true of a wide variety of programs. It
is also a myth that Linux can be used for word processing, etc. There are
file compatibility issues that will eventually cost you. Mac's are neat,
but the same issue exists: a lot of the software is not available for that
platform.

I've been a die-hard MS fan and customer for twenty years. With the advent
of XP (OS and Office) I started to change my impression of both the company
and their products. Now I wish for a bright kid in a school somewhere to
come up with a great idea and kick their butts in a big way.

None to slim, I know...


--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Martin Euredjian

To send private email:
(e-mail address removed)
where
"0_0_0_0_" = "martineu"

 

[Guest]

I am presently running two seperate networks, all in all about 100 XP Pro Desktops running XP Office
Our end users have not experienced many issues to date in this past year with the exception of lack of know how and knowledge. Mind you they are far from the power users as well

One issue that is driving me bonkers, is that on Outlook XP on a few clients, has a long time delay in contacting our Exchange servers, thus leaving the end user in a state of freezing for sometimes as long as 30 seconds. This happens internally while connected already to Exchange via Outlook. I have done searches adn searches on a solution but to no avail
Servers NT 4.0, Exh 5.5. Any other users experience this or find a solution please reply

Thanks
Dean