William,

Well said!!! (and you are Welcome!)

For me it has always been "staying down to the level of my customers".
Once had to stick with 97 when 2000 was so much better.

Keep on Exceling...
--
steveB

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"William Benson" wrote in message
...
Steve -- love the reference to 'Combatability' ... how fitting a variation
that is! I am trying to be as versatile as possible without over-spending.
When I bought 2003 I thought I could always save down, but then a thread
started by Ken Loomis (see below) and never resolved made me aware that
creating files in Excel 2003 and saving down still resulted in alerts to
the user about the file's originally being created in a later version --
how annoying THAT must be! I would expect a lot of potential customers
would be using 2000 still. So I am trying not to be penny wise and pound
foolish.
"Ken Loomis" wrote in message
...
When I save a workbook, I often get the dialog box warning me that
the
file was created with a later version of Excel.

As for being a good developer so that I meet or exceed client needs ... we
all try our best, and tomorrow's best should always be better than
today's. Thanks!!

"STEVE BELL" wrote in message
news:TKize.11103$kh3.3819@trnddc03...
The only versions of Office that you should need are the versions used by
your "customer".
This might also apply to your version of Windows. There are some issues
with forward and backward combatibility...

The important thing is your ability to build applications that will work,
and work well. They should be error free, user friendly, and require
little knowledge on the part of the user. And they must meet or exceed
the expectations of the customer.

Best of Luck...
--
steveB

Remove "AYN" from email to respond
"William Benson" wrote in message
...
I'm interested in advice without starting a debtate online, so if people
want to just e-mail me answers that's great too. I know most posts are
from users seeking advice and usually that is the case with me but I
have been in the software market on a limited budget and don't know
where to turn so please bear with me. I want to be better equipped to
contribute here and also be adequately equipped to operate as a
freelance consultant building Excel and Access applications, so I am
asking about the requisite "tools of the trade"...

So far I have purchased Office 97 and 2003 Professional, but am missing
2000. Does every self respecting advisor/trainer/developer need 2000?
Also, are the developer toolkits and the Visual Tools (2003) essential
if I am going to build applications for other people? Is an MSDN
subscription worth it if all I plan are the aforementioned? Any
responses which help me sort out my options and neither over-spend not
under-prepare are appreciated.

Bill