JohnIK -just a clarification. I was referring to SmartSuite Millennium, not WinME, about which I know nothing.

Gulliver - The Lotus SmartSuite programs were not designed to be "different from Windows" - that's like saying that a Ford is designed to be different from a highway. They are different from the MS Office programs, and Microsoft have certainly made it difficult over the years for competing applications software to keep up to date with operating system changes.

That said - I still use the Lotus suite, and have not yet found anything that Word does and Word Pro doesn't. As far as database work is concerned, I can still develop from scratch a relational application with polished forms and reports using Approach in much less time than my more skilled colleague needs using Access.

However, the main reason for my choice is the price of the software. The Lotus version has always been well under 1/3 the Microsoft version. I have to buy all my own - the work I do is voluntary, and I get nothing back for software and hardware.

I have a few items of old software that I can't do without, particularly ExtraCAD, which I purchased for £35. It does almost everything AutoCAD does, and is small, quick to load and very efficient in use. Unfortunately, the last version in English is 1996, and Vista wouldn't like that. I will stick with WinXP until it's no longer viable.

Phil