The recent version of Microsoft Office offers lots of new tools such as SmartArt graphics, easy to apply themes and themed templates. The Windows version's interface is also cleaned up and much better looking, with tabs instead of messy dropdown menus.

But if you are looking to create regular, functional documents (like almost everyone else does) then you'd probably find the additions not too helpful unless your documents are dressed to impress.

Microsoft Office's Clip Art gallery also stands out, with thousands of downloadable images; although again, the program's strengths seem to lie in the eye candy department.

Compatibility issues are, strangely, a little bit of a problem for new Office 2007 users, since the files are saved in .docx format by default instead of the more common .doc; meaning that users without the latest version may not be able to read the files, or see stripped down versions without graphics or tables.

If you have a lot of time on your hands, and want to crate fancy, graphics-heavy documents with flowcharts, illustrations and colour-coordinated text, then Microsoft Office is still the best choice.

Should typing regular documents with simple tables and charts be your need though, there are lots of other free and pretty good choices to pick from.

Name: Microsoft Office 2007 (PC), Microsoft Office 2008 (Mac)

Platforms: Windows, Mac

Applications: [Applications vary with different versions or editions.] Word (word processing), Excel (spreadsheets), Powerbook (presentations), OneNote (digital notebook), Outlook (email), Access (databases), Accounting Express (accounting), Publisher (publishing tools), Groove (collaboration tool), InfoPath (information-gathering)

Get it from: office.microsoft.com or software retailers

Price: USD149.95 ($203) for the Student and Home edition to USD499.95 ($678.03) for the Ultimate Edition