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Should you buy the 2003 Student and Teacher edition now?

Office 2003 Student and Teacher edition seems better value than the Office 2007 equivalent.

There’s an interesting case for buying the Office 2003 Student and Teacher edition now, instead of waiting for the equivalent version for Office 2007 (due out in retail boxes early 2007).

You would think that waiting to get the 2007 edition would make more sense except there’s a key difference between the 2003 and 2007 bundles …

Office 2007 Home and Student Edition does NOT have Outlook .

At present the Office 2003 Student and Teacher Edition comes with Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Outlook. The main four Office apps at a good price. We’ve talked about this Office 2003 offering many times before and reader feedback indicates we’ve saved Office Watch readers a lot of money, just from that one tip.

Office 2007 drops that bundle and name to replace it with a ‘Home and Student edition’ which has Word, Excel, Powerpoint and OneNote.

We like OneNote and, after initial skepticism, have been a booster for this clever addition to the Microsoft Office range.

But it is no replacement for Outlook and most people would prefer to have Outlook over Onenote. Of course, that’s exactly why Microsoft has removed it from this low cost package – to encourage people to go for the more expensive Office Standard 2007 bundle (2007 versions of Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Outlook) at US$399 retail.

Both the Office 2003 Student and Teacher bundle and the coming Office 2007 Home and Student edition retail for US$149 – though you can get it cheaper than that.

There is NO upgrade path from the Office 2003 Student and Teacher edition to the Office 2007 equivalent.

If you want the core Office 2003 programs you might want to consider buying Office 2003 Student and Teacher edition now – before it is withdrawn from sale. It comes with a license for 3 computers (not just one) and has the four main Office programs, including Outlook.

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