I was given my copy of XP a few weeks ago, but only got the developer edition last week. I am fairly impressed with it, with the major changes being in 'tarting it up' (from 2000 anyway). There are some excellent new features in it, such as the stored procedure designer if you are connectnig to a SQL server database. However, if you make an error you get no assistence from it whatsoever, simply getting an 'ADO Error' message.
If you have office 2000 developer I would not advice upgrading. If you are using Office 97 (which we were), then I think the changes are much more significant. Whether it is worth spending £700 on, I cannot answer!
By the way, why dont you order the trial version of Office XP Professional. This is available from the microsoft website, & will at least give you a feel for the Office XP envrionment. James Goodman