Office XP - the good news and the bad news

Microsoft's Office XP hit the ground running today. In fact, it launched at a go-karting track somewhere in the East End of London. Picture three hours of product demonstrations, a few sarnies and a quick spin around the track.

Flash back to the launch of Office and Windows 2000. The masses flocked to Olympia, a Star Trek party and lots of freebies and plenty of booze.

You can almost hear the Microsoft marketeers calling the debut of Office XP "low key". It looks like the marketing team sat down and weighed up spending money on a fancy launch alongside actually investing those pounds (or should we say euros?) making the product work.

Have they succeeded? For one thing, that annoying paperclip has been banished to the cyber junkyard and hours of work should no longer disappear if a PC crashes. (An occurrence not even Microsoft denies happens.)

Users should also rest assured that 'autosave' now saves up to the last keystroke, XML-based features allow users to create Smart Tags to locate information more easily, and Sharepoint lets even more users simultaneously work on documents.

But - and there is always a but - there's the not so small issue of product activation and new Microsoft licence agreements.

Product activation is that pesky must-do that proves to Microsoft a user paid for the licence and so is allowed to use the software. However, by activating the desktop environment, hardware details are sent to the vendor over the internet. This means every time a system is updated and software reinstalled a user must call Microsoft and ask permission to do so. Too many reinstalls and a user is locked out.

As for the licences, those who don't upgrade by October will be forced to pay a higher price. Those who upgrade software regularly will see a decline in costs but those who prefer the perpetual user model will see a slow but steady hike.

Microsoft remains master of workaday desktop applications - and that supremacy continues to place it in the firing line. It will take more than getting rid of the paperclip to appease many users.