Home > Consumer Reviews > Microsoft Visio Standard 2002

I like this product as it makes nice charts, etc. but it lacks the ability to adapt well to changes in paper size, relocation of objects and will put objects well outside the page limits if you let it. I would like to see an improvement in the automatic repositioning of objects and a "make-it-fit" option. Once you get past the need for manually positioning objects, the output is pretty good.

I recently had to upgrade from Visio 4 to MS Visio 2000 because a customer used it and (of course) there were file incompatibilities! (Nothing like forcing customers to upgrade via incompatibilities rather than true features, huh Microsoft?)

Sorry, I'm really a closet fan of Microsoft software in general, but if I hadn't paid the rediculous $350 myself, I might have never noticed the difference from Visio 4. The Visio 2000 upgrade just didn't change much, and the one new tool I tried to use (auto web page mapping) didn't work well.

So in reading the new features and improvements in Visio 2002, I'm completely underwhelmed again. The basic Visio functionality is amazing, but it always was. If you have an older version of Visio, stick with it. I just don't see the need to upgrade.

I've been fiddling with the OpenOffice.org and StarOffice features for a while, then took a look at the Draw program. I was blown away. It's like a mini Visio Elements -- it's got the connector lines you need and really good control over positioning, plus it's got a gallery where you can store prefab shapes.

Seriously, download OpenOffice.org if you're not a huge Visio power user. You'll be really surprised and impressed, and of course OpenOffice.org is free, so that helps.

No doubt, Visio is a powerful program. But I'm here to advocate a different approach to diagramming. With the release of Office XP, Microsoft has made PowerPoint so intuitive, precise and powerful that - for the vast majority of us - Visio is overkill.

I do lots of business flow-like diagrams. I've worked with Visio in the past, but I feel like the following method works far better for me:

1) Start by building a rudimentary version of what you want in PowerPoint. True, PowerPoint doesn't give you the snap-and-lock type features that are at the core of Visio...but you can closely approximate it with various easy-to-learn techniques. The best thing about PowerPoint is that every action is completely intuitive. I've been able to build some pretty complex things without once looking at online help.

2) Now, once your rudimentary version is in place, you can go back through and punch things up with appropriate graphics. Microsoft provides a great online tool for this purpose called "Design Gallery Live." You have access to it as part of your Office XP purchase. Say that at a certain place, your diagram calls for a picture of a CPU. Bring up Design Gallery Live through the "Clips Online" option of PowerPoint and put 'CPU' in as the search term and, voila, there are four pages of images for you to choose from.

3) You can go beyond Design Gallery Live with the help of Google. Their (relatively) new Image search feature is a boon for anyone putting together a presentation. The other day, I needed a generic image of an ATM. I put "Automated Teller Machine" in as a search term for a Google Image search and got nine pages of images back.

4) Back in PowerPoint, once you drop these images into place, you can double-click on them & go to the 'Size' panel of the 'Format Picture' dialogue box. Play with Height & Width parameters to get to proper scaling for each of the images you've selected (keep the ratios equal, though).

5) You can use the various 'Alignment' options (available through the Drawing menu at the left-hand corner of your screen) to line up the various objects as you see appropriate.

I suggest you give this approach a try as well before committing extra money to buy Visio. You'll be surprised at how powerful Powerpoint has become & how you can assemble professional, eye-catching presentations in a very short period of time.

This software is excellent for those business men who need to make charts for presentations. This software is almost effortless, but a little [high]. I got this at the Microsoft XP convention. It helps a lot to organize my things. There is no reason not to get this. This software is so easy to export the charts to the proper documents. It comes with pre-arraged charts which is really helpful. I had to put this down to a four because it's a little bit too expensive and there are so troubles with it, but they probably fixed it for the full version.