I just installed the new MS Office XP Beta. I did so reluctantly based on previous experiences with their betas dating back to the first beta for Win98 and Office 2000. I ignored the screaming little voices and did it anyway. Two hours later, after I worked out the kinks and manually programmed my shortcuts, I had it up and running. Here's my take.
Outlook still needs a lot of work.
I'm not that impressed with it. I think the biggest change I saw there is the voice activated commands. Again, they still have a lot of kinks to work out in that. I'm not really the one to comment on any changes in those programs. I am really excited about what they've done with it.