When it comes to value, though, the Home and Student Edition is a well-priced suite. You get all the products minus the Exchange Server support and Automator functions, neither of which you really need. You also get three licences for £99. Compared to iWork ’08 at £55, that’s a very attractive deal. On value alone, this entry-level version of Office 2008 for Mac is a winner.

The same can’t be said of the standard Office 2008 for Mac. Although it has the server-side support and Automator scripts, which still have only questionable value for anyone not working in a large corporation, the price is high for just the one licence.

It also irks us that the file formats used, and commercial licensing rules of Microsoft, force Mac business users to buy into this standard edition.

For now, we’ll finish by saying that the Home and Student Edition of the suite is a great product that’s very good value, and a necessary purchase if you send and receive Office 2007 files from Windows users.