FRANKFURT, Germany – In my household, we don’t use our laptops for anything too complex – typing letters, copying recipes and storing photos of our baby boy and our trips to European capitals.
My wife and I have been relying on several programs – some Web-based, some free, a hodgepodge that includes a separate word processor application, online map services and Google Inc.’s free Picasa photo organizer. Oh, and we use Quicken to try to make sense of our finances from three banks in three countries in three different currencies.
So we figured we were ideal candidates to ditch our normal software for a run at Microsoft Works Suite 2006, a six-applications-in-one package that blends word processing, maps, photos and other tools.
The program retails for about $100, though after rebates and discounts at online retailers, the price can drop below $60. That makes Works Suite far cheaper than Microsoft Corp.’s Office software suite, which retails for $149 to $499, but of course, still pricier than free, open-source alternatives such as OpenOffice.
After nearly three months, Works Suite 2006 has mostly worked just fine. It’s ideal for new users who want to manage their home life without getting into the nitty gritty of individual programs.
Microsoft’s Money, for instance, works just as well as Quicken from Intuit Inc., and I liked the feature that let me pay several bills from several different accounts in one fell swoop.
But I did have some complaints.
One is the spreadsheet. I don’t use Excel often, but now and then I need to look at an Excel file, if only to see my work schedule. And yet Works Suite 2006 wouldn’t let me open files in Excel’s “.xls” format at all, meaning I had to wait until I got to work to use Microsoft Office.
The calendar, meanwhile, works much like the one found in Outlook Express or even Outlook 2003, so the familiarity was a plus. But I’m a big fan of Plaxo, a free service that seamlessly updates information entered on either my home laptop, my work laptop or my desktop at work.
Works Suite 2006 balked at such integration. Plaxo could not attach itself to the Works software, rendering the calendar on my home laptop the only one that could be accessed online. That was mighty inconvenient and surprising. If something works with Outlook Express it should easily work with Works Suite, too.
The photo program in Works Suite is capable and easy to use, though for power users who want to augment or digitally alter their favorite photographs, it’s best to stick with Adobe Systems Inc.’s Photoshop or other programs.
For casual users, Works’ photo program, Digital Image Standard, works fine. Photos can be cropped, edited, colored, filtered and have different effects – such as simulating film grain – with a few clicks.
For those who want to experiment with video, Digital Image can accommodate that, too. It’s easier to operate than Adobe’s Premiere Pro and easily files away clips from my video recorder or my digital camera. It even lets me burn them to a video CD.
Still, I prefer Picasa because its interface is easier to understand, if not more intuitive. Digital Image had too many choices and not enough guidance on what to do. I wanted to crop a photo of my wife so that I could send it via e-mail to put on her rail discount card. It took me 20 minutes, and I still got it wrong. In Picasa, I simply clicked and dragged a square – that’s all.
Streets &Trips is easy to navigate and the Works Suite version boasts improved maps of the United States and Canada, compared with its earlier incarnations.
I quickly found the location of my family’s matriarch in Kentucky and, for kicks, plotted the routes I had taken there on previous trips from Colorado, Alabama and New York. The routes were almost identical to the ones I had done with a regular map, and it realistically estimated the time it takes. It was also faster than the online map services.
Overall, Works Suite 2006 is suited for people who don’t need much kick and don’t want to buy separate programs for their home needs. People in business and so-called “power users” would be well-advised to stick with Microsoft Office.
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