By WILSON ROTHMAN	E-mail this article to a friend

August 8, 2005

Microsoft Student 2006 How much? $100 microsoft.com/student MICROSOFT

Microsoft's cool new Microsoft Student 2006 ($100), is a smart way for students to make use of Microsoft Office (sold separately) and the Encarta Premium DVD-based and online encyclopedia (graciously included). There are a few additional perks, like a sweet graphing calculator that would put my ancient TI to shame.

Launch the program and click on a button called Learning Essentials for Students. A list of school paper and presentation options appears. All are templates and wizards for Office programs, and many are remarkably useful. Want to create a graph or pie chart? How about a profile of a character in a creative-writing assignment? My favorite is the science project template, colorful panels you edit in PowerPoint. Only trouble is that many of the target audience only own Microsoft Office for Students and Teachers, which doesn't include PowerPoint.

Navigating the main program is easy, since it's laid out by discipline: Math, Social Studies & History, Geography, English, Science, Arts & Music and Foreign Language, with a few extra topics on the side. Though I have the sneaking suspicion it's not terribly comprehensive, you can wind your way through any topic and hit something helpful for students. In Foreign Language, for instance, there are dictionaries for Spanish, French, German and Italian, complete with verb conjugation charts. There's an interactive Periodic Table of the Elements for chemistry students, and a transcript of "The Sermon" from Herman Melville's Moby Dick for serious readers or American history students. As a tool to help students stay focused, develop projects and access information, there's plenty worthwhile here, certainly enough to justify the price.

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