The End to Buying the Office, Student and Home Edition of MS Office?

Many consumers buy Microsoft's Office, Student and Home Edition of MS Office, which includes Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. Although the Office, Student and Home Edition is less expensive, this version does not include Outlook, and that could lead to future problems. Here's why:

• Outlook Express is no longer available (because of the demise of Vista) and has been replaced with Windows Mail. If you are a longtime user of Outlook Express and you have years of email stored in folders, you may find that Windows Mail cannot successfully import your "old" emails. Exporting these old email folders to Outlook seems to be the only Microsoft solution that works.

• Another problem with Windows Mail is that it is not included in Windows 7. Its replacement is Windows Live, which is an application partially housed on the Microsoft web server. What this means is that all your data is not housed on your computer - you may have trouble backing up your contacts, email, calendar, etc.

• Do you have a SmartPhone? Backing it up and synchronizing it with your computer is a must. Unfortunately, SmartPhones will only synchronize with Microsoft Outlook.

We recommend spending the extra money and buying the Office, Home and Business Edition which includes Outlook.

(The Office, Student and Home Edition retails for ~$150 and the Office, Home and Business Edition retails for ~$280.)