Works does have one advantage over Word, though, in this writer's estimation. Works has its Thesaurus and spell checker in clear view on the menu bar. I wish Microsoft would get the hint and do the same with Word. The Word Microsoft Word seems to be the most popular of the three processors. I suspect that Word's popularity is directly related to the sales of Microsoft Office and Works Suite.
Word is offered in both, making it easily accessible.
I haven't seen any mind-boggling changes from Word 97 to 2000, so the transition is pretty painless. Visually, the differences are minor. The 97 Professional Edition opens to normal layout view, with two toolbars and one menu bar at the top of your screen. 2000 Standard opens to print layout view, which is more visually pleasing, with one menu and one toolbar. This can be altered with a bit of tweaking.