No matter who you buy from, Microsoft Office is the same. It's the same CD's, the same skimpy manual and same license. Some retailers may add some extras (like a mouse or anti-virus software) but the MS Office package you buy is the same no matter who you get it from.

There's no need to pay more than you have to - that's where CheaperOffice.com comes in. We scour the Internet and show you on one page the prices for Microsoft Office – you just click and buy direct from the merchant of your choice.

Choosing the right version of Office for you isn't as easy as it first appears. While the core applications (Word, Excel etc) are the same, the marketing people have come up with a bewildering range of different ways to buy it. Sometimes the way you buy MS Office can make a surprising difference to you later on.

Microsoft Office comes in various boxes or bundles with different and sometimes bewildering mixtures of the different Office programs.

For Office XP we've prepared a special guide to the different packages currently available.

Often the bundles are the best deal, even if they include some parts of Office you don't want. However occasionally there's chances for you to save money by getting a bundle and then supplementing it.

With Office XP there's just such an opportunity if you want the core Office XP programs plus either FrontPage 2002 or Publisher 2002.

One of the big surprises in Office XP is the dropping of FrontPage from many of the bundles we'd seen for Office 2000.

To get FrontPage 2002 in an Office XP bundle you have to get either:

• Office XP Professional – Special Edition
  This bundle adds FrontPage 2002 and Publisher 2002 to the usual Professional bundle. However it's only available from a few retailers and for a 'limited time'
• Office XP Developer
  This bundle has FrontPage but also all the developer tools with a high price tag to match.

But what if you want the core Office XP programs and FrontPage but without Publisher, Developer tools or yet another mouse?

There's a sneaky way around this that will get you the core parts of Office XP with FrontPage 2002 and save you money! Look at these prices:

	ERP*	Lowest Available*
Office XP Professional – Special Edition Upgrade	$479.99	$279.99

For that you get Word 2002, Excel 2002, Powerpoint 2002, Outlook 2002, FrontPage 2002, Publisher 2002 plus a Microsoft Intellimouse.
Instead, you can buy:

	ERP*	Lowest Available*
Office XP Professional – Upgrade	$329.00	$219.89
FrontPage 2002 Upgrade	$89.95	$64.95
Total	$418.95	$284.84

For that you get Word 2002, Excel 2002, Powerpoint 2002, Outlook 2002 and FrontPage 2002. (No Publisher, no mouse).

We've used Microsoft's "Estimated Retail Prices" (ERP) in this example, generally you'll pay less than that. We've shown the "Lowest Available" prices for comparison purposes, but that could be from two separate suppliers (depending on who has the lowest price at any time) and doesn't take into account shipping costs

As with FrontPage (see above) you can get the core Office XP applications with Publisher 2002 and save money over getting the Office XP Professional – Special Edition with FrontPage and a mouse you may not want.

There's a sneaky way around this that will get you the core parts of Office XP with FrontPage 2002 and save you money! Look at these prices:

	ERP*	Lowest Available*
Office XP Professional – Special Edition Upgrade	$479.99	$279.99

For that you get Word 2002, Excel 2002, Powerpoint 2002, Outlook 2002, FrontPage 2002, Publisher 2002 plus a Microsoft Intellimouse.

Instead, you can buy:

	ERP*	Lowest Available*
Office XP Professional – Upgrade	$329.00	$219.89
Publisher 2002 Upgrade	$129.00 (before rebate)	$0.00
Total	$458.00 less the $30 rebate $428.00	$219.89

For that you get Word 2002, Excel 2002, Powerpoint 2002, Outlook 2002 and Publisher 2002. (No FrontPage, no mouse).

You save around $208.00 off buying the "Special Edition" bundle with FrontPage and a mouse that you don't want.

If you want both FrontPage 2002 and Publisher 2002 then you're better off getting the Office XP Professional – Special Edition, while it lasts.  See above for details.

The cost of Office XP Professional Upgrade plus the individual upgrade boxes for FrontPage 2002 and Publisher 2002 is greater than the 'Special Edition' bundle.

Remember that the 'Special Edition' is only available for 'a limited time', but only Microsoft knows how limited