New Microsoft Program Offers Homework Tools But It's Clumsy to Use
In many American households, homework is a big problem. Teachers often load up students with far more of it than I recall from my own prehistoric school career. And parents, squeezed for time by dual careers and rusty because of rapidly changing curricula, find it is hard to help.
Also, today's students often have so many after-school activities that even with the best work ethic, it is a struggle to get through hours of homework and still get enough sleep before the absurdly early start time at many high schools.
Taking note of this daily homework battle, Microsoft has decided to help -- or at least to see whether it can make some money by addressing the problem. The software colossus has just introduced Microsoft Student 2006, designed to make it easier for middle-school and high-school students to attack homework efficiently by gathering homework resources in one place on the computer.
WALL STREET JOURNAL VIDEO
Walt Mossberg reviews the Microsoft Student 2006 homework program on CNBC.
Microsoft Student, which runs only on PCs equipped with DVD drives and Windows 2000 or Windows XP, is priced at $100, though it is less expensive at places such as Amazon.com, which sells it for $80.
I have been testing this new product over the past week, reliving the sheer joy of solving algebra problems, crafting book reports and trying to string together two sentences in French.
My conclusion is that, especially for students who struggle or who need help getting started on assignments, Microsoft Student can provide some aid. Still, it is confusing and clumsy to use and disappointing in some respects. It is really a thin veneer thrown over several existing Microsoft products, rather than an integrated program designed from the ground up.
Under the covers, Microsoft Student relies heavily on the company's existing Encarta encyclopedia, on Microsoft Office and on its Internet Explorer Web browser. And one of these key elements, Office, isn't included in the box. If you don't own Office, which includes Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint, you will have to buy it.
Microsoft Student has several main features. One, called Learning Essentials for Students, is a set of templates and help files for Word, Excel and PowerPoint, designed to assist students in developing good-looking reports and presentations. The templates don't include any content, just designs and tips for how to organize and create school papers. This feature also includes special templates for writing in German, French and Spanish, including a handy way to insert foreign characters.
There also is a slick virtual graphing calculator, sort of a software version of the complex scientific calculators parents must buy their children in better high schools. Another module is an online math-homework helper that uses problems similar to those in the most popular math textbooks to show students how they are solved.
Microsoft Student includes the company's Encarta encyclopedia, with free online updates good until October 2006. There is a Web-search companion that pops up Encarta results alongside any Web search the student performs, so the student isn't relying on the often-random and sometimes-inaccurate content that litters the Web.
There also are summaries of many great books that include suggested topics for reports on the books; a database of famous quotations; and sections grouped by subject that attempt to gather all the program's resources for each area of study. These include "how to" articles on getting started doing various kinds of reports.
The weakest part of Microsoft Student, in my tests, was the encyclopedia searches, including the "companion" searches tied to Web searches. The search function is dumber and far less precise than Google or even Microsoft's own MSN search engine.
For instance, when I searched on Roger Williams, the founder of Rhode Island and a pioneer in religious liberty, I did get a relevant Encarta article, but I also got articles on baseball pitcher Roger Clemens, the film "Roger and Me" and various counties and islands called "Williams." Putting quotation marks around the search term, a well-known technique for improving results, didn't help.
In the Web companion, when I searched for Joseph Reed, a Revolutionary War figure who was a top aide to George Washington, Microsoft Student came up empty, with only a barely relevant article on the Articles of Confederation. Instead, it offered material on Joseph Lieberman, the modern-day senator; the movie "Airport"; a map of Florida; and a musical clip of Glenn Miller playing "In the Mood," which was written by a man named Joe. Google did much better, showing me a couple of Web sites about Reed.
Beyond that, the program is a hassle to use. It makes you jump between its main module, Office, Internet Explorer, the graphing calculator and the dictionary, all of which are separate programs, with different interfaces. Just using the Learning Essentials requires you to dig out your original Microsoft Office disk, if you can find it, to install the Student templates. You also have to install the online math helper and an Encarta toolbar for Internet Explorer, and register for the online portion of Encarta.
For desperate parents and struggling students, Microsoft Student may provide some homework relief. But it is confusing to use, and the search function needs a major overhaul. Microsoft should have done better.
差强人意的微软新款家庭作业软件
对于许多美国家庭来说，家庭作业可是一个大问题。老师留给学生的作业经常太多，造成他们负担过重，我回忆自己过去的学生时代可没这么辛苦。而家长呢，由于父母都要工作，没什么时间，加之课程迅速变化，他们自己学过的知识早就生锈了，因此也很难帮得上孩子的忙。
另外，如今的学生校外活动通常都很多，即便是拥有最好的工作意识，要完成几个小时的作业量，而仍然能够在许多中学每天早得荒唐的开课时间之前获得充足的睡眠，都是一件十分困难的事情。
注意到孩子们每天为家庭作业疲于奔命的现象，微软(Microsoft)决定施以援手－－或者至少要看看自己是否能够通过解决这个问题来赚点钱。这家软件巨头已经推出了Microsoft Student 2006软件程序，旨在让中学生更高效地应付家庭作业，方法就是把作业资源集中在电脑里的一个地方。
Microsoft Student仅可在配备DVD驱动器和Windows 2000或Windows XP操作系统的个人电脑上运行，售价为100美元，但在Amazon.com等地方要便宜一些，卖到80美元。
过去一周，我一直在测试这个新产品，期间重新体验了解代数题、撰写读书报告并试著将两句法语组织起来的真正乐趣。
我的结论是，尤其是对那些疲于应付家庭作业、或者需要在如何开始写作业方面获得帮助的学生而言，Microsoft Student可以提供一些帮助。但是，它用起来让人困惑，而且功能笨拙，在某些方面甚至令人失望。它实际上是将微软几个现有产品简单地拼凑在了一起，而非一款重新设计的集成程序。
从本质上看，Microsoft Student严重依赖于微软现有的Encarta百科全书、Microsoft Office及其Internet Explorer网络浏览器。而作为这些关键组成部分之一的Office并没有被纳入Microsoft Student。如果你没有包括Microsoft Word、Excel和PowerPoint在内的Office软件，那就你必须先购买它才行。
Microsoft Student具备几个主要功能。其中一个被称为Learning Essentials for Students，这是一套模板和Word、Excel和PowerPoint的帮助文件，旨在协助学生制作漂亮的报告和陈述。这些模板并不包括任何内容，只有如何组织和创建学生论文的版式和技巧。这个功能包括用德语、法语和西班牙语写作的特殊模板，其中还有一个插入外国字母的简便方法。
它还有一个虚拟图形计算器，有点像父母们必须给在好一点的中学上学的孩子们购买的复杂科学计算器的软件版本。另一个模板则是一个网上数学作业助手，它利用与最受欢迎的数学教科书中类似的问题，教授学生如何解题。
Microsoft Student还包括微软的Encarta百科全书，附带免费网上更新功能，2006年10月到期。它还有一个网络搜索伴侣，当学生在互联网上进行搜索时，Encarta的结果也会随之弹出。因此学生不用依赖于散布在网络上、经常是随机而且有时候并不准确的内容。
Microsoft Student还包括许多著作的内容提要，其中有关于这些著作阅读报告主题的建议；一个名人名言数据库；以及根据主题划分的不同领域，将程序的所有资源集中起来，供某一个方面的学习所用。这些包括如何撰写报告的文章，教你如何著手撰写各种各样的报告。
在我的测试中，Microsoft Student最为不济的部分就是百科全书的搜索功能，包括与网络搜索挂钩的“伴侣”搜索。这种搜索功能与Google、甚至是微软自己的MSN搜索引擎相比，要愚钝得多，远不如后两者精确。
比如说，当我搜索罗得岛州创始人和宗教自由先锋罗杰?威廉姆斯(Roger Williams)的时候，我确实获得了Encarta的一篇相关文章，但是搜索结果中同时还包括有关棒球投手罗杰?克莱门斯(Roger Clemens)、电影《罗杰和我》('Roger and Me')和名叫“威廉姆斯”的各种郡和岛屿的文章。在搜索词条上加引号－－一个众所周知的用来改善搜索结果的技巧－－也没有用。
在网络伴侣方面，当我搜索革命战争英雄人物、乔治?华盛顿(George Washington)的高级助手约瑟夫?里德(Joseph Reed)的时候，Microsoft Student仅给出一条有关《邦联条例》(Articles of Confederation)的文章，搜索页面空空如也。相反，它倒是提供了有关现代参议员约瑟夫?利博曼(Joseph Lieberman)的资料；电影《机场》('Airport')；佛罗里达州的地图；爵士乐手格伦?米勒(Glenn Miller)演奏的《喜悦心情》('In the Mood')的音乐剪辑，这首歌曲是由一个叫乔(Joe)的人创作的。Google的表现就要好得多了，为我提供了有关里德的几个网站。
除此之外，Microsoft Student使用起来堪称一场混战。它让你在主要的模板、Office、Internet Explorer、图形计算器和字典之间频繁切换，所有这些都是独立的程序，界面各不相同。仅仅使用Learning Essentials，你也得拿出Microsoft Office的光盘（如果你能够找到它的话），这样才能安装Student模板。你还必须安装网上数学助手和为Internet Explorer安装一个Encarta工具栏，并且为Encarta的网上内容进行注册。
对于绝望的父母和举步维艰的学生来说，Microsoft Student可能会减缓一些家庭作业的压力。但是它用起来令人困惑，而且搜索功能需要一次重大的全面修整。微软应该能够做得更好。
