Average Rating: 
Rating: - Good documentation tool...
But it doesn't go far enough. Visio is one of those really cool, fun, products that you start to use and then you say "ok, but where do I go from here?"One quite bizarre example is the database module for ER diagramming: It will REVERSE engineer a database beautifully, but... why would I want to do that if I can't use the diagram for anything but documentation purposes? So you think to yourself, "well, ok, I have ERwin, so I'll just export it to that...", but then you find out that Visio can IMPORT an ERwin model, but not export one??? What a strange omission! If Visio could export an ERwin model, I could buy ONE seat of a $4000 forward engineering database tool, and innumerable seats of $400 Visio! Then I could export to ERwin, forward engineer, and have my whole team using a very approachable, inexpensive tool to boot! I don't know, maybe even Microsoft if afraid of the mighty, abusive, litigous Computer Associates! This is kind of like the Dead Sea of software products: It will take you in, but you'll never get out! In the software portion, it also is pretty much a dead end for forward engineering, although very cool and complete for documentation purposes, but Microsoft is also very tight with Rational and doesn't want to upset that apple cart either. One thing I was disappointed about was that nothing showed up as far as Java, C#, or .NET data types. I thought this was a little weird, as that's kind of the reason I upgraded. I didn't install it on my .NET server though, so maybe if you do that it picks that up, but to leave out Java is a little bit of an omission, I think. On the plus side, the interface is beautiful, it does everything but the kitchen sink documentation wise, the shapes and the way they interact is downright magical, and the thing below about the software registration is really overblown: The only thing they make you provide is the country you reside in. In fact, it says right on the CD case "Don't lose this number! You must use it EVERY TIME you install this software." Microsoft is realistic: they know that you will most likely put it on at least two of your computers, and they're not in panic mode. Bottom line: The best "single source" documentation tool ever devised is Visio 2002.
Rating:  - More flawed software from Microsoft
Upon using this software it has froze my Windows98 OS multiple times. Walls do not auto-align and in one month's worth of use it has caused 6 fatal errors.Granted it's easy to use but for the price lacks the power of other layout software. I only use it because it is a common tool and file layout within my industry.
Rating:  - Product Activation scares, misinformation
The new XP Product Activation that is in Windows XP, Office XP, and this Visio do not require you to phone Microsoft when you "upgrade your hard drive" as is indicated below. It would take a monstrous upgrade of many components to require another phone call - please consider that "ugly" listed below is not nearly as ugly as described.
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