is office xp different to office 98?

A direct comparison is tricky but this site may help:

http://www.microsoft.com/office/editions/prodinfo/compare.mspx

Goobs

A couple of issues here...

1.)  Office 98 is for Macintosh.  Office XP is for Windows.  There are
a number of differences in the fact that they are for different
computers.

2.)  Even considering that there are differences Office itself, you
can take files from one to the other with little/no troubles. 
Depending on the features you use, you may have some trouble with the
more advanced functionality.  I personally have had some issues with
Mail Merging, but it will work fine for normal documents.

Hope that helps!

-- CptnSbaitso

Office 98 is the "Office 97" version for Mac. Many people make the
mistake of thinking that it's Office 98 because it generally ran
(runs) on a Windows 98 PC. Assuming that what you really want to know
is the difference between Office 97 and Office 2002 (also known as
Office XP), I'll tell you how I feel about it.

If I were told I could only have one Office suite for the rest of my
life, I'd stick with 97. I hate Office 2002/XP with a passion. I love
Office 2000, and Office 2003 is not bad either, and to stick with
upward mobility, I'd probably choose 2003 above all. But...like I
said...if given the choice between 97 and XP, I'd stick with 97. They
completely ruined the great Mail Merge Helper in Office XP...

no they just renamed it and resold it...

is this momeent different then this one.

no micrsoft jokes ...

chances are the biggest one is xp will prolly be supported more so in the next 

check out http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx

honeslty how much money do you make that you could spend money to ask this question?

also office 2003 looks packed compared to xp and 90's

ok one microsoft joke a 2003 option that others dont have
Information Rights Management (IRM) in Office Professional Edition 2003 files
Help reduce the risk of having confidential e-mail messages and files
fall into the wrong hands, whether by accident, carelessness, or
malicious intent. Specify who can receive files and set restrictions
on copying, forwarding, or printing them. IRM functionality is
available in Excel 2003, Outlook 2003, PowerPoint 2003, and Word 2003.