Word 2007....crap!!

[roystreet]

Hello,
I hate to cause an uproar (And I hope I don't) I hardly see any type of positive comments towards Office 2007. Maybe try being more objective - Possibly? I used it in its 2007 BETA stage & became quite fond of it. To the point, yep - That I bought it! If you used 2000, you've pretty much used office XP & office 2003. To me, 2003 especially was a complete waste of money (with the exception of a very little amount of extra eye candy) It did not add much more functionality than office xp. Don't get me wrong, I've seen the amount of available commands increase dramtically from each version, esp the ones earlier on.

I found that office 2007 was a nice, new change - Developed for a newer concept. The old/standard methodology for office applications has been practically the same for probably well over 10 years...Although I could be corrected, it still has been the same for some time. Are There Newer features - Definitely!

I do believe that it would've been a smart move for MS to offer a "Classic Menu" option, (Similar to XP's classic theme) for office 2007. Part of the purpose of new or upgraded applications is change - This new application totally fulfills what I would consider change. In my opinion - It's about time. The ribbon, well - I wasn't sure at first, but I gave it a chance & I have come to appreciate what it provides for me. Do I miss some of the "I know where it is" ability & comfort of the classic design - Yes I do. Am I willing to try something different - Yes I am. I say "Classic" style with all due respect. I like it, but not as much as the ribbon style. Although they have their place. There are some applications that probably would be best fit by the classic menus style. You can minimize the ribbon so that it gives you more room to view the document. You can still have custom buttons along the top of the document. I have several buttons on the top that run macros I've designed.

I will say that the idea of changing how an application works, cosmetic changes, or methodology changes is not limited to MS - It happens frequently throughout the software world. Even CD burning software can dramatically change from one version to another. (To the point of annoyance) Which I know isn't as important as an office application, it still can slow down my work progress. Some of the features that are worth noting...Contextual tabs - If you haven't tried them, they are helpful. Esp if you are clicking on drawings, it will create a tab that only contains commands associated with that item. In my opinion, this has helped me know of more of the features available in MS office that I might not have known before. Ones that were hidden in the darkness of the text -> commands menus. The application also provides a live preview which works even for changing fonts. I highlight the text & then I just highlight the font & it will automatically show me what the text will look like. This will save me from selecting the font & then going back again & selecting a different font type, etc. It does offer a little toolbar that shows up when you highlight text - So that you don't have to go all the way to the top again. Although I would like a way to customize that toolbar. I have not seen once, (But that doesn't mean it hasn't happened to others!) a compatibility issue between old doc formats & office 2007 being able to open & work with it. There is an update to office applications (Which I believe is one of the Office regular updates) that allows you to open docx formats with previous versions of office. I have seen very little difference between the two formats, but that maybe because I don't use some of the special features. I do see a huge difference in size & I appreciate that fact. I have seen once or twice a loss of feature because of the two formats being different.

I am disappointed, but not surprised that MS version of XML is not the same as the standard out there. Wasn't "Their" JAVA different too? It is business.

I wish that OpenOffice supported VB because I do lots of programming using VB & find it valuable. I have used OpenOffice & I like it. I even tried to migrate over to it. But too many times did I find format loss or practically "formate corruption" when opening Doc files in OpenOffice. But again, that may just be the docs & formatting I used. It may never have happened to you. I had to go in between the two formats alot, so compatibility between OO & MS office was a must.

In closing...Would I encourage people to get office 2007? Yes, but depending on your needs, comfort levels, & opinion. If you are comfortable with what you use now & you don't want to change - Keep what you got. If the desire to upgrade is within you, but you don't like the design concept - Go to OpenOffice, it's a fine design & great product. I like it alot! If you would like change (& part of that desire is eye candy!) & are ready for (What I consider...) advancement in application design - Try Office 2007. I am excited to see the changes in OpenOffice also. I am very aware of how we are forced to change with new computers. Although I find that-that is changing some now. I like using Linux & Dell offers Linux on their servers. I heard Dell was even going to put OS X on his new machines if some type of legalities go a certain way. I don't know how much truth is in that, but that's what I heard the other day.

Does MS get all of its ideas from the open source community - I don't think so. But you have to agree the open source community has wonderful ideas, but it's also a community that represents what people would like to see in their applications. I'm sure they have ideas of their own & also find ideas in other places too! Does the open source community always look the other way & never consider the ideas that MS has or Apple has? - I don't think so. I wouldn't at all be surprised if some open source application in the future has a ribbon type of design. That is just one example of a concept that could be used in other places. This is a world of exchanging ideas & test beds.

Thanks...
---roystreet

[ingis]

Hello,

But too many times did I find format loss or practically "formate corruption" when opening Doc files in OpenOffice. But again, that may just be the docs & formatting I used. It may never have happened to you. I had to go in between the two formats alot, so compatibility between OO & MS office was a must.
---roystreet

.doc is completely proprietary and not standardized format it's miracle that OpenOffice can open it at all. .docx and OOXML will be a bit better but still broken formats. So only one possibility is to use one common standard OpenDocument. Many applications use it as default format and the same document opens in different aplications with no format loss. MS can simply implement OpenDocument, becouse it's open but they do not want loose monopoly.

[fingal]

Funny, but the only way I use Word in a 'serious' way is to share ideas in a team setting using its 'add a comment' feature. This lets us track what people think about - for example - a report, line by line. Other than that I don't need it to be productive.

The application I do rely on is Excel. I haven't managed to get to grips with the Open Office spreadsheet package yet.

Most of my written work starts off as a simple text file; I find the lack of formatting very flexible because for me, the most important thing is to be able to manipulate text with a lot of keyboard shortcuts. I would like to abandon MS Office, but it's embedded in most organisations as 'the' main office suite. Old habits die hard it seems.

[minthaka]

I still think, that the new .docx format is firstly an attack against OpenOffice's compatibility. I don't how much time will take for Sun to create filters for the new format. OpenOffice is stronger every day. I know lot of new people using it instead of MS Office.