But users and analysts said Microsoft has made some welcome technical upgrades in Project 2007, which went into general release this week along with the rest of Office 2007.

For example, the desktop version of Project 2007 adds features such as task drivers and visual cell highlighting. Those are both designed to make it easier for users to spot changes to project schedules and tasks, according to Irwin Rodrigues, Microsoft's business director for Project. The new release also lets users undo multiple changes to a schedule or plan, he said.

"Project 2002 and 2003 offered nothing substantial on the desktop," said Jack Dahlgren, an independent consultant based in Silicon Valley. "With Project 2007, there is finally a reason to upgrade."

Saibal Sen, director of test quality assurance at Genesis Microchip Inc., also applauded the new features but said his company has no plans to upgrade to Project 2007 at this point. "We're comfortable right now," Sen said.

Genesis, a chip design firm in Alviso, Calif., has used Project since 1997 to manage its global software projects and currently has about 150 users of the application. Sen said Project "forced us to think about the structure of a plan, so we don't allocate too many resources or too little."