Microsoft Student 2006 finds few admirers

      

Microsoft Student 2006 is a homework helper for students ages 8 to 18 comprising of dozens of study tools for just about every subject, including math, science, writing, and foreign languages. Student 2006 adds student-oriented tools to Microsoft Office programs (Office XP or Office 2003) and comes with Microsoft Encarta Premium 2006 encyclopedia and limited-time access to Encarta online.

Microsoft Student 2006 also comes with Encarta Dictionary and Thesaurus and a Microsoft Student Graphing Calculator 2006 software that helps students visualize difficult problems in trigonometry, calculus, chemistry, and physics classes (though a little difficult to master). The World Atlas contains an interactive map of the Earth while the Book Summaries contain guides that explain themes, characters and settings of classic literature

Despite all the publicity, Microsoft Office Student has failed to impress many. Business Week says Do Your Homework, Microsoft. Student 2006 package seems like a hodgepodge. Parents would do better to spend the $100 on some books.

And even the graphing calculator may not be of much help for US students. Most U.S. high schools base much of their math curriculum on the use TI-83 Plus or 84 Plus calculatore. If students do their homework on Microsoft’s on-screen calculator, they not only will have to translate TI-specific instructions from school materials but also will not develop proficiency on the calculator they’ll have to use when it’s time to take the test.

Microsoft’s Student Misses the Grade according to the WP which sees Student a fine way to get future customers hooked on Microsoft’s products at an impressionable age. Student’s role as a gateway to Microsoft Office involves a lot of toggling between Student and Office, thanks to the way Student offers shortcuts, templates and tutorials for Microsoft’s productivity suite.

Microsoft Office Student and Teacher edition 2003 is not to be confused with Microsoft Student. Microsoft Student is sold separately from Microsoft Office and Microsoft Office applications. Microsoft Office Student and Teacher Edition includes Microsoft Office applications (for example, Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint) at a low price for approved students and teachers in grades K-12 or higher education institutions. Some of the tools in Microsoft Student work in conjunction with Microsoft Office 2003 and Microsoft Office XP to provide a student-friendly interface for Office.

Buy Microsoft Student 2006

Buy Microsoft Office Student and Teacher Edition 2003

Download Microsoft Student 2006 Graphing Calculator and create multi-dimensional graphics. Click here for a full size screenshot of Microsoft Graphing Calculator