Software Reviews

Xcelsius|XL review

Review Xcelsius|XL offers an impressive array of features that can turn your Excel charts and tables into flashy, interactive PowerPoint slides.

Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 review

Review It's not perfect, but Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 makes pen-based computing feasible for the average worker.

StarOffice 8 review

Review StarOffice 8 is an impressive upgrade of Sun's bargain productivity suite. It's a good buy for small and large businesses, but if you need an email program and a photo editor, consider Corel's WordPerfect Office 12 Small Business Edition.

WordPerfect Office 12 Small Business Edition review

Review WordPerfect Office 12 Small Business Edition is an affordable productivity suite with a powerful set of core applications -- a good buy for smaller companies that don't import a lot of Microsoft Office documents.

WordPerfect Mail review

Review WordPerfect Mail is an inexpensive yet powerful email client that's good for small businesses on tight budgets. Its IMAP support needs work, but it's a fine alternative to Microsoft Outlook, Netscape, Eudora and other competitors.

Computer, know thyself

Buyer's Guide We examine several 'dashboard' products that help you monitor your computer -- and much more.

Zetadocs PDF review

Review Zetadocs PDF could prove useful if your business handles a lot of electronic documents -- particularly customer-facing ones -- that would benefit from a consistent look and feel.

Flash 8 Professional review

Review New effects, an improved interface and a more efficient encoder keep Flash at the head of the class of animation tools.

Inside Vista's Windows Presentation Foundation

Preview In build 5219 of Windows Vista, Microsoft puts its efforts into a new graphics engine.

Office 12 pre-Beta 1: screenshot gallery

Preview The next release of Microsoft Office shows a radical departure from earlier versions, as it gets more visual and adds tabbed browsing across all of the individual applications.

Microsoft Office 12 pre-Beta 1

Preview Microsoft Office 12 pre-Beta 1 drastically revamps the user interfaces of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access.

Dreamweaver 8 review

Review Faster, easier to use, and more powerful than the previous version, Dreamweaver 8 is a worthy upgrade for professionals, but amateurs should stick with a less complicated program, such as HomeSite.

We the Media review

Review The Internet is changing the face not only of journalism, but also of all information, and all businesses will need to adapt to the new media landscape described in this book.

Laplink Everywhere 4 review

Review Laplink Everywhere 4 remote-desktop software offers multiplatform support and flexible file transfers, but lacks true-colour support and single-use passwords.

Google Desktop 2.0: screenshot gallery

Preview Google plans to add more features when it finalises this desktop search tool and content portal. Here's what it looks like so far.