I'm BETA testing 2K7.the interface could move a little faster but its a great experience to not have to sort through all the options menus.Coupled with Vista Beta and the new msn messenger that looks very Vista Esque the system looks pretty.

Interesting article about 2007 OEM and Home/Student packages ...

http://www.desktoppipeline.com/190302439

As for alternatives, I've been testing Ability Office [ AO ] http://www.ability.com/v4/newv4.php?ln=en for a design firm here who are fed up with all the MS licensing hanky panky and are keen to unhook themselves from the evil clutches of "Them" asap - innovations or no innovations.

But there are risks - many of their clients & consultants are sure to upgrade to MS 2007 to stay in the race. But if we can settle on something that covers the essentials for general business and is reliable then we're more than halfway there. One key issue is and will be compatibility of formatting, templates etc - especilly for docs and reports that use an extended range of circus tricks. This is where MS more or less decides on the rules of the game.

I was a little skeptical about AO given the sometimes disasterous performance of earlier versions, but thus far the latest release looks very solid, each component looks well thought out and it's very pleasant to use. The Pro version comes in at US $ 74.99 - so no complaints there. It certainly loads a lot faster than OO (actually 5 times faster). As much I love OO, AO seems to have a much more efficent engine which is handy if you want to make use of an older computer for WP, accounts or basic DTP work.

Andre