Aha! the reason for a new version every couple of years is... MONEY! surprise! Microsoft are in it for the bucks!!!
Clarisworks, yes i remember it, it worked fine. Nothing has been added to these typemanagers since about 1994 that was actually needed.
No, I wouldn't use the "internet functionality" if you paid me! have you ever, par example, opened an html file using Word? go and try it... Ha Ha Ha! you either get a hideously distorted pile of crap, or even better, a total refusal to cooperate in the form of an error box implying it's
your own fault (well of course it is, you should have known that word was a pile of catwallop to start with!)
I suppose it might be handy that .doc documents contain hyperlinks for webpage and mailto addresses, but after all, a lot of non-M$ programs can now read and edit those .doc files anyway...
i really wouldn't upgrade any of yr versions of office, the new versions i hear are worse, what with all the bloatware, and Office 2002's new 'phone it all home feature.