MS Excel

is there a heavier duty version?

[chewy]

I'm working with a colleague who just informed me that MS Excel that comes with Office Professional is not the full version of Excel - that if you buy it "stand alone" you get a different version that has more features and functionality.

I'm not one to doubt my colleague on this, but this seems to be news to me and I can't find anything via Google or MSN Search that tells me this is true.

I felt like he was telling me the world was flat or something and after a few words on my part of astonishment, I figured I had to check this out.

Any real Excel geeks out there that can tell me if this is true?

[Lilliabeth]

I'm not a Microsoft employee, so I really can't say for sure that I know your colleague is mistaken. All I can do is offer personal experience:

I'm pretty active on a couple of forums and I have never heard anyone say something like "You can't do that unless you have the stand-alone Excel." So if there is a difference, it must not be something that is used much, or else I would have heard of it. I am a pretty good user of Excel and am certified by MS as an Excel expert.

XML, IRM, and Visual Studio tools are available only in Office Professional, not the other editions. Perhaps that is the source of the confusion.

[microsoft.com...]

[DrDoc]

While I can do nothing but second what Lilliabeth already said, I would also like to add that the default installation options also differ between Office and standalone versions.