Microsoft Project 2003 Standard [OLD VERSION]

Product came when promised - a little longer than I wanted, but as promised. They also upgraded the software so this was a plus.

A great way to manage projects and share with others in your group.

Not intuitive to learn, though.

Project sets the standard in the desktop/personal space in project management software. However, in an enterprise arena we came up short in collaboration. There are other applications available which focus more on project collaboration, centrallized reporting, and sharing resources across projects. We got @task (http://www.attask.com) which does all of the scheduling Project does and allow users to more easily collaborate. There are a variety of others too. See http://www.web-based-software.com

One could say that this is the standard by which all other project management software is measured ... but there are no others that compare. For better or for worse, Microsoft dominates this software segment like no other.

However, instead of resting on its market share, MS keeps improving its product. In more than 5 years as a professional project manager at a Fortune 500 company, I have never seen another software product in daily use other than Project ... although I'm sure they are out there somewhere.

If you require others to share your files and for your project plans to be backwardly compatible years into the future, you really shouldn't consider anything else. But don't be dismayed, this is well-designed software that is surprisingly easy to learn, use and an immediate, out-of-the-box time-saver.

The bottom line is still incredible value, even more so if you qualify for the low-price Academic Version, as I did while taking a continuing ed project management course.