About MS Office

A brief history of Microsoft Office is available from Wikipedia here. In short the Office
suite of applications was first developed for the Mac OS X and then windows.
Originally the Office suite included Excel, Word and Powerpoint but was extended to
include Publisher, Outlook and Access - to name but a few!

Excel is a spreadsheet application commonly used for completing 'what if' calculations but extensively used for management reporting and any other data calculations. It includes very powerful data analysis tools such as pivot tables and basic database formula.  Basically an absolute godsend for an accountant!! 

A spreadsheet is a computer application that simulates a paper worksheet. Click
here for a product overview for Excel 2007. 

Word is a word processing application that allows the user to create and manage letters as well as other documents (for example formal reports). It also has a mail merge functionality that allows a user to merge name and address details, for example, with a standard letter.

Click here for a product overview for Word 2007.

Powerpoint is a presentation application that facilitates the presentation data to
a captive audience.

Office 2007 for windows was launched in January 2007. The new version includes a 
new user interface and new document extensions. For users still using Office 2003,
free downloads are available which will allow users to convert / view Office 2007 files. These are known as compatibility packs.

The Office suite does not include other very useful office applications such as Project
and Visio. These can be puchased separately. Microsoft Project is a project planning and management application. Microsoft Visio is a process mapping application.

What editions are available and what do they include?

Microsoft Office Basic 2007 includes Word, Excel, Outlook.
Microsoft Office Home & Student 2007 includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote
Microsoft Office Standard 2007 includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook.
Microsoft Office Small Business 2007 includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, 
Outlook with Business Contact Manager, Accounting Express 2008 and Publisher.
Microsoft Office Professional 2007 includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint,
Outlook with Business Contact Manager, Accounting Express 2008, Publisher and Access.
Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007 (new) includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint,
Outlook with Business Contact Manager, Accounting Express 2008, Publisher, Access, InfoPath, Groove and OneNote.
Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2007 includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, 
Publisher, Access, InfoPath and Communicator.

Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007 (new) includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, 
Publisher, Access, InfoPath, Groove, OneNote and Communicator.

All applications are 2007 versions unless otherwise stated.

If you are unsure of which edition you require a good comparison of all the above is available on this Microsoft website

Licence sales and support: