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| WordPerfect Office 2000 Professional Edition | Word Processors & Suites |
 I approached this review
of Corel WordPerfect's Office 2000 with some apprehension. The newest releases of major
software, especially those in direct competition with Microsoft, have often been riddled
with aberrant behavior, as well as persistent, inexplicable application errors and other
mysteries. I was, therefore, pleased to find this suite's installation and operation was
practically a magic carpet ride. The WordPerfect Office 2000 Professional Edition includes WordPerfect 9 with Dragon NaturallySpeaking; Quattro Pro 9; Corel Presentations 9; a vastly improved CorelCENTRAL 9 (personal information manager); Trellix 2 (desktop Web publishing program); Corel Print Office (small business desktop publisher); Paradox 9 (a relational database); and NetPerfect (for automated Web publishing). It also includes Microsoft's Visual Basic for Applications and Adobe's Acrobat Reader. I tested all of the Corel components and liked some more than others. In most offices, word processing is a critical function. The smooth, facile translation of information into letters, memos, contracts, briefs, as well as the myriad of other written communications passing over our desktops is essential. There are a number of enhancements to WordPerfect 9 that improve its functionality over previous versions. First and foremost, there's increased compatibility in file support and conversions, including PDF, VBA, HTML, ODBC, SGML, XML and many others. Cognizant of Microsoft's dominance in the corporate sphere, Corel has incorporated special compatibility with Microsoft Word 97, allowing users to set their default document type to .doc and save documents in original file formats. I had no problem converting documents back and forth from Word to WordPerfect, and vice versa. Another important addition is the program's ability to publish documents in PDF format, further improving compatibility. Also, the Professional version includes dictionaries for fifteen languages, plus a thesaurus and grammar-checking device. One feature I've enjoyed since Suite 8 is RealTime Preview. This allows you to see the potential results of a change in font type face or size before actually applying it to the document. Of course, Reveal Codes is still alive and well -- die-hard WordPerfect users won't do without it! Another neat feature is Block Make It Fit, which allowed me to fit a section of text into a specified area without interfering with other formatting instructions. Additionally, the Professional Edition of the Suite adds Dragon NaturallySpeaking and Trellix 2. The interface between WordPerfect and NaturallySpeaking is seamless, and Dragon's "Best Match" technology takes this program a long way to voice-powered word processing. Users should be aware, however, that the included version of NaturallySpeaking isn't the latest version. In fact, there are probably program enhancements to the stand-alone version that are better than the included version. Trellix includes a number of pre-set themes and templates. I enjoyed tooling around with this feature and designing my own Web page without complex formatting codes. Trellix also allows you to create your Web page in WordPerfect and then publish it on the Web. This process is similar to document publication in PDF format. CorelCENTRAL 9 has been completely revamped for the Office 2000 release. This redesign was absolutely necessary, as prior versions of CorelCENTRAL were virtually useless. The current version can indeed operate as a free-standing personal information manager. More importantly, it can operate together with Outlook or Outlook Express without causing a system wide crash-and-burn, which was a flaw in prior versions. The program includes a calendar, memo pad, card file and address book. Its address book was most utilitarian, and I was pleased to be able to insert names and addresses into word processing documents with relative ease. I put together a mailing for clients using one of the included templates, and even e-mailed it to a favored few. I was also pleased to import pertinent information into the address book and keep a number of separate address books in formats including CorelCENTRAL, MAPI or directory servers. One significant enhancement to CorelCENTRAL is the PalmPilot synchronization, which for me worked much more smoothly than that of version 8. Frankly, as a busy practitioner, I need my information manager to do more than CorelCENTRAL, but I'm very happy with the smooth operation of its address book, which in my opinion, is the most important component of CorelCENTRAL. For me, Corel's Paradox 9 was its most daunting feature. Say "database," and I get a little bleary eyed, I must admit. But I was pleased to see the inclusion of an easy-to-use tutorial, as well as Perfect Expert to make the program and its functions simpler to learn. I was pretty impressed with the visual database designer, which allows even a relative novice to design a database. Corel's determination to integrate its components allows improved interaction between Paradox, Quattro Pro and WordPerfect. What's more, the program boasts easy connections between Microsoft's Access, FoxPro and dBase. For many years, I was an Excel user and resisted the idea of transitioning to Quattro Pro. Starting with Suite 8, however, I did begin using Quattro Pro and found that my familiarity with the WordPerfect formatting features and toolbars made using Quattro Pro easier than Excel. The most significant change in this latest release of Quattro Pro is its increased notebook size -- the program now boasts one million rows. Honestly, no spreadsheet I've ever created has even approached that size (I can't even imagine that, really). This enhancement, according to Corel, makes it easier to convert Excel files. I readily converted Excel, csv, txt and Lotus files without a problem. WordPerfect Office 2000 also includes Corel's Print Office and Presentations 9. Print Office is a small-business/home-office publishing application. I used the program to create a simple brochure and was pleased. The templates made the preparation of such a project easier with Print Office than WordPerfect. Print Office supposedly makes manipulation of scanned images easier, although I didn't test this function. Inclusion of such publishing package in the Suite is a good idea, as the familiar interface between Print Office and other parts of the suite -- similar tools and toolbars -- made it easier for me to get used to the idea of using a publishing package. Presentations 9 is an alternative to the widely used Microsoft PowerPoint graphics presentation program. To test this feature, I imported and exported a friend's PowerPoint presentation with no difficulties. Frankly, I don't use this type of program in my practice, but I can imagine that there are attorneys who frequently use this type of presentation software. Again, the familiar interface with other Suite components makes inclusion of Presentations 9 a good choice for Office 2000. I had no problems installing, running or using any of Office 2000's components. As part of my preparation for this article, however, I did cruise over to Corel's newsgroups to see how other users felt about the program. Apparently, as with every software release, there are a number of users who are experiencing problems and inexplicable behaviors. Service pack 1, released in August seems to have corrected the most serious issues. A Legal Edition of Suite 2000 is expected shortly as well. |
Corel Corp. (877) 70-COREL www.corel.com/office2000 Windows 95/98/NT $299.95 Reviewed By Denise Ward, attorney, Grean & Ward, Port Chester, N.Y. PROS CONS VERDICT |
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