Some PC manufacturers offer the Microsoft Works suite as a value-add to PCs. While corporate executives would prefer Microsoft Office or Openoffice.org, Microsoft Works would suffice for basic tasks: letter writing, a few calculations, maintaining lists and planning. This suite has a word processor, spreadsheet, database, and calendar. Plus there are some goodies like templates and a dictionary. There is no presentation software in Works 8, though a PowerPoint viewer is included. There's no e-mail client either, though it has a link to the default email client and the default address book.

On the plus side, Works 8 lets you open and edit Microsoft Word and Excel Spreadsheet documents. And there are plenty of ready-to-use templates so that you don't have to bother with elaborate formatting.

MS Works also records all activities in the History section, so you can easily access a task that needs to be repeated. INTERFACE: The MS Works interface has large buttons, large calendar views, and an uncluttered look-all this gives it the easy-to-use look. The home screen or Task Launcher provides access to all programs within the suite. The Calendar and Contacts are first displayed under their separate tabs. The Quick Launch bar appears on the far-right. When you click it, a collapsible list appears, giving access to the Works word processor, spreadsheet, and database.

The navigation bar runs along the top of the screen; it has large icons offering access to the five main sections: Templates, Programs, Projects, and History. It's much like a browser with oversized buttons and no address bar. We thought that too much screen space has been allocated to the navigation bar. However, this point may be irrelevant since each program opens in its own window. CALENDAR: The Works Calendar is nearly similar to the Outlook 2003 one. It's got the first three menus of Outlook, albeit with fewer options. The Tools, Actions, and Go menus of Outlook 2003, are missing here. So there are no options for scheduling a meeting. Within the calendar you can shuffle through months or view appointments by week or by day. You must open one of the calendars to set an appointment.

Creating multiple calendars is much easier than doing the same in Outlook Calendar. The new calendars open in their own tabs. Setting an appointment is pretty straightforward; just double-click in a time slot and fill in details like the start and end time, reminder, location and title of the appointment. There's even an option for recurring appointments. Appointments can be copied/shared across multiple calendars (for different family members).

Calendars can also be synchronized with a Palm or Windows CE device (but who uses dedicated PDAs these days?)
Under the Address tab, you can view a list of contacts. But it draws the contacts from your default address book (in our case the Outlook Express address book). WORD PROCESSOR: The Works Word Processor program is closer to MS Word . It has similar formatting options, even a spellchecker and thesaurus. There's mail merge, autocorrect, word count, columns and tabs. The question then is what's missing (when comparing it to Word)?
Well, there are just two toolbars (Standard and Formatting). There aren't any customization options. There are no drawing tools, no tracking & reviewing features, and no collaboration features (like comparing and merging documents). The multi-tabbed options dialog box is also reduced to a single-dialog box with a few essential options. Security features like password protection, read-only documents, and formatting/editing restrictions are all missing in here. But that's too much to expect for a price that's much lower than Microsoft Office. SPREADSHEET: The Works Spreadsheet is good enough for simple calculations, tables, and lists. Use it if you just want to maintain a record of your bank passbook, or a list of things that you need to collect. It's also got all the basic chart types,

but no 3D charts. All the Excel function categories (except database functions) are present. But there are fewer functions within each category (just 74 in all). There are no data analysis tools and macros. Pivot Tables is also missing. So if you want to do some serious data analysis or reports, you'd be much better of with Openoffice.org or Microsoft Excel. DATABASE: The Microsoft Works Database lets you create flat file databases. The program is a really lite sibling of Microsoft Access. It has the typical introductory choice, where you can pick from a choice of either a blank database to work on, or use a readymade template.

The entry of values into the database seems a little forceful, since a form for adding records appears right from the start. The data types however are strongly typed to keep up with the datatype standards of Access. Those who frequently use Macros and Queries may not seem too happy to find these missing here. There's a neat tool for generating reports.

On a whole Microsoft Works Database is best for basic inventory storage. It's good enough for simple lists. For instance, you can create a list of addresses, or a recipe list. Forget about queries, views, tables, and relational databases (with indexing) here.



TEMPLATES: The set of reusable templates is perhaps the nicest thing about Works. For each of the programs in this suite, you'll find a set of templates. But if try to create your own template, by modifying an existing one, it won't show up in the template gallery. For that to happen, you'll have to figure out which subfolder holds the Works templates, and then save your new template there.

PROJECTS: This feature is reminiscent of the Binder feature seen in previous versions of Microsoft Office. When working on a project, such as an upcoming event or meeting, there are likely to be all kinds of documents (received from different sources) associated with the project. In MS Works a project is like a To Do item.

You create a To Do and then associate various word processor and spreadsheet documents with it. You can also associate website links with the project. Like everything else in this suite, creating projects is easy-just describe the To Do and click on the Due Date.

WORKS 9: While we were reviewing Works 8 Microsoft released a newer version. Despite our best efforts, we failed to get Works 9 in time for review. But we learnt that the enhancements are mainly in the collaboration features. For instance, there's support for up to 32 calendars, and you can combine everyone's calendars into one view. Works 9 also includes hundreds of customizable templates. There's better integration/compatibility with Microsoft Office 2007 too.

VERDICT: Microsoft Works 8 edges closer to the full-fledged Microsoft Office suite, in terms of features. If you miss some
MS Office features like Tracking and Reviewing documents, than you are better off with at least the Student and Teacher edition of Microsoft Office (which costs much less than the Professional Edition). You can also try the free Openofficeorg suite, though its interface is not as simple as Works.

FOR: Home users will appreciate the simple interface and easy usage. The Calendar also has the functionality that most people would require. And best of all, Works can open and edit Microsoft Office documents.

AGAINST: Templates are not customizable, though this is corrected in Works 9. There are too few functions in the Works Spreadsheet. The interface can't be customized. No security options .