Finishing Office 2003 has taken Microsoft longer than expected; we first saw beta code in February and the final launch was only this week. But with many companies questioning the cycle of hardware and software upgrades, has it been worth waiting for?

It has been a long time since we have seen anything radically new in standard business applications: working with a word processor, spreadsheet or presentation package hasn't changed substantially over the past 10 years. Office 2003 doesn't break a lot of new ground, either. Being able to burn a CD with your presentation on directly from PowerPoint or get all the features for managing a list of data automatically added to your worksheet will simplify your life and save time, but they don't change the way you work.

The reading view in Word and the reading pane in Outlook both make it easier to read information on screen; but it's about time software made information easier to read. Threading messages properly in Outlook is useful, too, but again, it's something that should have been there long ago.

Dynamic virtual Search Folders for organising email are an innovation, though: only Opera has anything similar and it's far harder to use.

If much of what's new in Office 2003 is more of the same but better, the XML support is one real development, and InfoPath is the other. You can already save files in XML format in Office XP, and in just about every other office program on the market, too. What Office 2003 lets you do is use your own XML in a document; if you have a schema for job applica tions, product specifications, monthly reports or annual accounts, you can use that to label the information you put into a document by hand, or extract the information you need from a database automatically. You can write code to guide people through adding, using and submitting the XML- identified information to make sure it works properly in your databases, and these Smart Documents are more secure than macros, too.

InfoPath combines the powerful and flexible structure of XML with a familiar interface and editing tools. Users don't have to worry about connecting to databases or issuing complex queries, or fitting complicated information into a rigid format. Repeating and optional sections mean you can fill in as much detail as is relevant for as many items as you need without having to put "not applicable" in all the extra fields - as long as the schema that controls the InfoPath form and the elements of the form are designed for it.

That's the bit few users will be able to do themselves. InfoPath isn't something you start using straight away because you need the schema to base the form on, and connections to the back end systems to make it useful. You need SharePoint or similar to build a workflow system with it. And you need someone who can design the forms. InfoPath is only in the Enterprise edition of Office 2003, which makes sense because you will need those resources to develop a business system that makes it worthwhile.

Lewisham Town Council is switching to the new Office and putting InfoPath on Tablet PCs so council housing inspectors can do their paperwork while they're out and about. While the development was something they could do in-house rather than calling in consultants, it's not like macros that any power user can write themselves.

You don't have to start from scratch, though. ScanSoft has added InfoPath to the new version of OmniPage Developer Edition, so you can scan a paper form, or open a Word document in OmniPage and convert it into an InfoPath form.

Linking in programs and services from other suppliers - the Office Marketplace - is another key feature in Office. You can send and receive faxes in Outlook via the internet, but you'll need to sign up with a service that lets you do it. The Research Pane offers extra services and features, from document management systems to pay-for news and research from Factiva, translation services or details of books from Amazon. The Amazon Research Service uses Amazon's XML Web Services, so that when you click on the name of a book, you can get the ISBN or the cover art.

This kind of integration makes Office 2003 interesting, because you can use it as a platform, adding tools and services that people can use while they're dealing with the documents that take up so much of their working day. It also means thatOffice isn't a one-off purchase, and you will be developing and rolling out systems rather than just installing a new word processor or spreadsheet.

Just as you'll need Exchange as your email server - specifically the new Exchange 2003 - to get the most from Outlook on the move, other new Office features need Windows Server 2003.

Information Rights Management lets you lock a document so only certain people can open, print or forward it by email depending on how you set it up. It's not a complete security lockdown, but it's simple enough to use and it gives confidential documents a reasonable amount of security. The rights management service you need to use the feature is free - but it only runs on Windows Server 2003.

If you want to set up workgroups for collaborating on documents, Outlook lets you do it as you attach the file to an email. The Document Workspace task pane in Office applications makes it easier to keep track of who's doing what on the document.

Although you can still buy the full-feature SharePoint Portal Server software, you can also get the basic Windows SharePoint Services needed to run the workspaces free - but again, only for Windows Server 2003. And, don't forget, you'll need Windows 2000 or Windows XP on the desktop. If you're using earlier versions of Windows for business, it's worth upgrading anyway, and this might be the push you need. It's one more piece to put in place.

Any company using Outlook is going to want the new version because the Reading Pane, Search Folders and properly threaded email make a huge difference to working with messages. But it's not the actual features in the main Office applications that matter when you are deciding whether you need to upgrade.

As Simon Berlin, head of e-government for Lewisham Town Council puts it: "It's the integration facilities, not the fact that Microsoft Word might have some new features: we can get to where we need to be more quickly if we don't have a wide range of integration issues. And for the users, options like publishing to the web aren't a separate activity from what they're doing day to day in Office; it will be natural to them."

Using the XML features to get information in and out of Office documents makes a lot of sense when you have proper backend systems that ought to be storing information that ends up in documents scattered around various desktop PCs instead. Compared to that, the new features in the applications are a nice bonus but almost irrelevant.

Office 2003
www.microsoft.com/uk/office
Office Online
http://office.microsoft.com
Office Marketplace
http://office.microsoft.com/marketplace
ScanSoft OmniForm
www.scansoft.com/omniform/developer