Office Lite: Less Would Be More

I have long felt that the world needs a simple version of today's multifeatured desktop programs, such as Microsoft Office. This Office Lite would be just the ticket for home, school, and small-business use. So why doesn't Microsoft offer such a package? Says Vice-President Steven Sinofsky: ''We could make a product like that, but there would be no one to sell it to.''

The Microsoft argument runs like this: It's true that most people use only a fraction of the features in a program such as Word. But everyone uses a different fraction, so there's no way to design a simplified program with broad appeal.

While it's hard to argue with the success of Microsoft in general or Office in particular, here's my case for simplicity. These programs are vast, complex, and intimidating. Many of the features added to please corporate technology managers, who set Microsoft's Office development agenda, are useless or dangerous for many consumers. But simplicity cannot mean second-rate or dumbed-down programs. And they must be designed from the ground up to meet peoples' needs, not by stripping functions from existing programs.

My basic suite would, of course, include a word processor. Everyone has to write something sometimes. A spreadsheet has more limited appeal but is probably a vital component. And, to my surprise, PowerPoint has become a widely used educational tool, especially in high schools. So presentation software is an essential part of the mix.

PORTABILITY. The most critical factor in the design of this new suite is enabling the programs to use the same files as their Office counterparts. The failure to do this was a major flaw in past attempts at simple combination word-processing and data-handling applications. Examples: the mediocre Microsoft Works or the much better AppleWorks (formerly ClarisWorks). People need to bring files home from the office or from school, work on them, and take them back with all formatting, formulas, and other features intact. This cannot happen if files must be converted to a different format. Rival suites, such as Lotus Smartsuite and Corel WordPerfect Office, have made great strides on Microsoft file compatibility, but these packages are as overwhelming as Office itself.

Another important step is making the applications less versatile. One of the factors that has made Word such a monster is the addition of features that really should be left to other programs. You can embed a live spreadsheet in a Word document along with a graph that will change when you change the numbers. That's cool--but purchased at the cost of great complexity. You can even embed a click-and-play movie in an Excel spreadsheet, though I can't imagine why.

Most of these multimedia features could be eliminated from Word, Excel, and PowerPoint and not be missed. In fact, many presentations would be better if they were simpler. And tighter focus could make programs easier to use. For example, Word comes equipped with powerful but hard to use tools for creating complicated page layouts. Microsoft has long offered a lovely, easy to use page-layout program called Publisher. Let people use a simplified Word to write text, then use Publisher (part of Office 2000) for fancy layouts.

PRICE BREAK? Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is the powerful programming language that is an integral part of Office. Corporate customers regard it as essential for automating important repetitive tasks, such as filling out forms. Outside the office, most people rarely if ever use it. But just by being there, VBA adds complexity and creates a huge vulnerability that bad guys can exploit by hiding viruses inside innocent-looking E-mail file attachments. Most of us would be better off without the capability.

I also expect to see this modified Office sell for less than the current $499 for a non-upgrade version of Small Business Edition. That may help explain Microsoft's profound lack of enthusiasm for the notion. Still, the idea is not entirely without support at the company. The inclusion of new Small Business Tools in Office 2000 recognizes that this important market has special needs, although the software suffers from trying to build simplicity on top of complexity. The Macintosh Business Unit, which sells most copies of Office 98 to schools and homes, is looking for ways to make its next version more consumer-friendly. There are even rumblings that Microsoft's new consumer group is trying to revitalize Works.

Would you buy a simplified Office for home, school, or business use? And what would the most important features be? E-mail me at tech&you@businessweek.com, and I will pass the word along to Microsoft and its competitors.

BY STEPHEN H. WILDSTROM