Microsoft Provides Continued Improvement With Office 2003 Update

HostReview.com
Tuesday, July 27, 2004; 12:00 AM

July 27, 2004 - (HostReview.com) - Microsoft Corp. customers today started downloading the Microsoft® Office 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1) which, as a result of their feedback, delivers continued improvements in reliability and performance for the Microsoft Office System as well as new feature enhancements for Microsoft Office OneNote® 2003 and Microsoft Office InfoPath (TM) 2003. With Office 2003 SP1, customers can develop InfoPath-based solutions more easily; create, organize and share notes more effectively in OneNote; and be even more confident in deploying the most reliable and secure version of Microsoft Office ever released.

"Microsoft really listens to its customers," said Teresa Grote, chief information officer at Dinsmore & Shohl LLP, a law firm in Cincinnati. "We've worked closely with Microsoft to suggest improvements to the security and rich media features in OneNote. We're thrilled to see that those features are included in the SP1 release, and we expect them to continue increasing our staff's productivity and improving their overall work product."

Partners are taking advantage of the release of SP1 to build customized Office-based solutions for their customers. "Office 2003 Service Pack 1 illustrates Microsoft's commitment to innovate based on industry partner and customer feedback," said Steve Myerow, president of Texcel Systems, Inc., a provider of forms conversion tools. "I'm pleased that the InfoPath feature enhancements included in SP1 reflect so many of our direct requests. Using our new version of FormBridge® for InfoPath based on SP1, customers will benefit greatly by the ability to easily replicate more complex forms in InfoPath."

Since early in the Microsoft Office System beta testing process, Microsoft has been gathering technical data and customer feedback through an innovative combination of Microsoft error reporting tools, Office Online and the Customer Experience Improvement Program.

"Thanks to our customer feedback and connection tools, we've made huge strides with the Microsoft Office System in continuing to improve product reliability through each successive release," said Steven Sinofsky, senior vice president of Office at Microsoft.
Microsoft Office System SP1 is available to registered users on the Microsoft Web site. Additional information is also available at http://www.microsoft.com/office/.

The Microsoft Office System is an easy way to help more people use information to positively impact their business. Through a system of familiar and easy-to-use programs, services and solutions, users can connect people and organizations to information, business processes and each other -- helping ensure that they derive the most value out of information.
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.