Office 2007

[polonyc2]

I was a very happy user of Office 2000 Premium for the past 9 years or so and had no interest in buying another version of MS Office...that is until I found out that MS has officially ended support for Office 2000 as of July 2009...no more new security updates...even though there are still new flaws discovered in the software, MS in their wisdom decided that 10 years was long enough and have decided to retire the software

at first I was thinking about continuing to use Office 2000 even with no new support as I thought it has been sufficiently patched...but recently when I did a new reformat and tried to install Service Pack 1 I got an error message and could not install ANY patches...this never happened in dozens of reformats so I'm assuming MS has also purposely crippled the older updates as well

in the end this forced me to purchase Microsoft Office 2007 Home and Student...I was expecting the worst as I heard horror stories about the new interface, layout etc...but I was pleasantly surprised...it definitely takes some getting used to in terms of figuring out where everything is in the new version...but once you get up to speed it's actually very nice...very customizable as well

my biggest worry was with older .doc documents and how they would work with the new .docx XML format but everything is working fine...you can easily change the defaults to make the older .doc format the default as well as pretty much change the entire look to match older Office versions (except the ribbon part)

I'm not a huge power user of the Office software so maybe in that respect the learning curve was a bit easier but I really like Office 2007

[zapionics<alt>]

I've been using it for a while now and find it ok to use. The "gee whiz" of a new UI factor wore off pretty quickly and getting down to actual business tasks wasnt difficult.

I can see what they are trying to achieve with the UI and the quick access toolbar, but I think the previous interface worked just as well once you had tailored it the way you liked.

The problem with the approach is that its still fairly arbitrary which features get put on which tabs... just because of the nature of the English language... what seems logical to one person may seem counter-intuitive to another.

Usual problems of a hierarchical approach... context is critical.

[polonyc2]

Originally Posted by zapionics<alt>

The problem with the approach is that its still fairly arbitrary which features get put on which tabs... just because of the nature of the English language... what seems logical to one person may seem counter-intuitive to another.

I've only been using it for 1 day but can't you customize it the way you want and move your most commonly used functions over to the 'quick access toolbar'?

[zapionics<alt>]

Yes, its customisable. So was the previous version.
Could always hide or display buttons, move toolbars around, etc, move things onto the office shortcut toolbar.

With this version they've tried to create a more logical layout so access to features is easier, via the ribbon of tabbed toolbars at the top...

but ultimately each person still has to decide which features are important and then customise the toolbars to suit... exactly same as before.

[Vheox]

I've been enjoying Office 07 both at work and at home for a while now. I like it. OneNote (Not available in home i think) is the best piece of software ever designed, except for Notepad. I've never used Office 00, but between 03 and 07, there aren't that many differences for a home user. The layout may be different, but the functions are somewhat similar.

What really changed in Office 07, in my opinion, is integration between products. If you run a business with Office 07, Exchange 07, SharePoint 07 and OCS 07, every is fully integrated. Features from one Service will be fully accessible and functional from a different service. It's nice

Wave 14 is supposed to be another step in that direction.

[polonyc2]

Originally Posted by Vheox

I've been enjoying Office 07 both at work and at home for a while now. I like it. OneNote (Not available in home i think) is the best piece of software ever designed, except for Notepad. I've never used Office 00, but between 03 and 07, there aren't that many differences for a home user. The layout may be different, but the functions are somewhat similar.

What really changed in Office 07, in my opinion, is integration between products. If you run a business with Office 07, Exchange 07, SharePoint 07 and OCS 07, every is fully integrated. Features from one Service will be fully accessible and functional from a different service. It's nice

Wave 14 is supposed to be another step in that direction.

OneNote is available with the Home and Student version...havn't really tried it out yet but I'm hearing a lot of good things about it

[Vheox]

Oh cool, I didn't know that. OneNote is basically a mix between Excel and Word... not really, but kinda. It's a great way to stay very organized with all your data: you create books, then sections, then tabs to go deeper into detail. I also love the Win + S feature to take screen clippings (not enabled by default).

[Brian]

Bought Office 2007 Home and Student last December only because it was on sale for the Christmas season for $49.99 (which up here in Canada was $100.00 off the regular price!).

Installed it in May and have been quite surprised at how much I like it!

[polonyc2]

I paid $84.95 which I thought was a good deal but I guess it's not such a good deal after all...people seemed to have paid much less

I've heard that Office 2007 has a limited number of activations before you have to call Microsoft, same as Windows...anyone know the number of activations allowed?

[Brian]

Originally Posted by polonyc2

I paid $84.95 which I thought was a good deal but I guess it's not such a good deal after all...people seemed to have paid much less

I've heard that Office 2007 has a limited number of activations before you have to call Microsoft, same as Windows...anyone know the number of activations allowed?

Don't fret about the price! Even at $85.00 it is still a bargain!

Not sure about the number of activations but another thing I love about the Home and Student Edition is that it comes with three licenses which, of course, means you can install it on three separate computers. So I have it installed on my system, my ex-girlfriend has it on her system and my landlord has it on his.

And it's completely legit!

[polonyc2]

Originally Posted by Brian

another thing I love about the Home and Student Edition is that it comes with three licenses which, of course, means you can install it on three separate computers. So I have it installed on my system, my ex-girlfriend has it on her system and my landlord has it on his

that's an interesting trifecta Brian...you, your girlfriend and your landlord ...or is he giving you a discount on the rent for giving him an Office 2007 license key?

[Brian]

Originally Posted by polonyc2

that's an interesting trifecta Brian...you, your girlfriend and your landlord ...or is he giving you a discount on the rent for giving him an Office 2007 license key?

Nah, he's just a great guy! But I hope he takes my generosity into account when it comes time to renew my lease by not raising my rent!

[Rick_EE]

My wife is school faculty, so last year we got an academic copy of office Pro for $100. I use word and execel a little. Outlook a lot. The improvements from 2000 to 2007 are great. Much easier to organize emails.

[zapionics<alt>]

Originally Posted by Rick_EE

My wife is school faculty, so last year we got an academic copy of office Pro for $100. I use word and execel a little. Outlook a lot. The improvements from 2000 to 2007 are great. Much easier to organize emails.

not big from 2003 to 2007 versions tho...

[Rick_EE]

Originally Posted by zapionics<alt>

not big from 2003 to 2007 versions tho...

Nope, we have 2003 at work and that was the motivation to upgrade. I could not stand 2000 any more.