UPDATE - September 2010 -
Do not buy this program unless you carry your install disks everywhere you take your computer.

I have downgraded my review from 4 stars to 1, and completely deleted my original review text.

During a recent trip, I tried opening MapPoint and received the error message "Your registry settings for this application weren't copied correctly". The fix shown was to uninstall and re-install the program. A significant difficulty since I was on the road, and don't typically lug around the install disks for every program I own whenever I leave home.

This was bad enough, but I understand there are sometimes odd glitches and just dealt with it until returning home. It did put me in a bad situation as I had all my maps and route information stored in the MapPoint program. Fortunately, my GPS was able to take over and everything worked out.

After returning home, over the course of the next few months I tried uninstalling and re-installing the program, following the Microsoft online instructions for a clean install. Same error message. I then tried uninstall/reinstall, clean reg, remove all saved maps, add another user and then open. Same error message.

Next step, contacting Microsoft directly. Unfortunately, unless you have the Product number you need to pay $35 for the pleasure of speaking or typing to someone. The product number is, of course, only accessible within the Menu once you open the program - WHICH I CANNOT DO. If I could open the program, I wouldn't need to talk to Microsoft about a program that won't open. See the problem here?

I've searched the internet, tried ever fix and workaround listed, and come to the conclusion after a few months of messing with this thing that even if I could get it up and running again, I would never trust it to not fail during another road trip. Thus, rendering a Map program, which I use for TRAVEL, completely useless.

I have a feeling that my problem stems from doing an install from an external DVD player. My travel laptop does not have an internal CD/DVD drive, so this is my only option, but I have a feeling it's the root of the problem.

My suggestion to anyone looking at this or the updated MapPoint 2011 is to only purchase it if you will be using it exclusively on in a desktop environment, and only if you are installing from an internal CD/DVD drive.
UPDATE - September 2010 -
Do not buy this program unless you carry your install disks everywhere you take your computer. I have downgraded my review from 4 stars to 1, and completely deleted my original review text. During a recent trip, I tried opening MapPoint and received the error message "Your registry settings for this application weren't copied correctly". The fix shown was to uninstall and re-install the program. A significant difficulty since I was on the road, and don't typically lug around the install disks for every program I own whenever I leave home. This was bad enough, but I understand there are sometimes odd glitches and just dealt with it until returning home. It did put me in a bad situation as I had all my maps and route information stored in the MapPoint program. Fortunately, my GPS was able to take over and everything worked out. After returning home, over the course of the next few months I tried uninstalling and re-installing the program, following the Microsoft online instructions for a clean install. Same error message. I then tried uninstall/reinstall, clean reg, remove all saved maps, add another user and then open. Same error message. Next step, contacting Microsoft directly. Unfortunately, unless you have the Product number you need to pay $35 for the pleasure of speaking or typing to someone. The product number is, of course, only accessible within the Menu once you open the program - WHICH I CANNOT DO. If I could open the program, I wouldn't need to talk to Microsoft about a program that won't open. See the problem here? I've searched the internet, tried ever fix and workaround listed, and come to the conclusion after a few months of messing with this thing that even if I could get it up and running again, I would never trust it to not fail during another road trip. Thus, rendering a Map program, which I use for TRAVEL, completely useless. I have a feeling that my problem stems from doing an install from an external DVD player. My travel laptop does not have an internal CD/DVD drive, so this is my only option, but I have a feeling it's the root of the problem. My suggestion to anyone looking at this or the updated MapPoint 2011 is to only purchase it if you will be using it exclusively on in a desktop environment, and only if you are installing from an internal CD/DVD drive.