MS Office 2007: A mini review by LW

[Leonard Washington]

So I have (actually had) office 2007 and I don't like it. Its on home-assembled Amd 64 3700+ with 2gb ram running XP pro.

First of all it is sluggish.

It takes longer to bootup, but what really annoys me is when I have multiple word documents opened. When I switch between the documents, the computer has to "think" before I can begin to type/manipulate.

Composing emails in outlook is also sluggish. Typing quickly generates a lag that is very annoying.

Powerpoint sucks

I do alot of presentations and they have removed the templates and replaced them with "themes". It wouldn't be a big deal if the themes also contained the same designs as powerpoint 2003, but noooooooooo.

It also suffers from the sluggishness when manipulting/creating slides.

Office files are no longer compatible with previous versions

This is probably the death blow if you have colleagues/friends with older office programs.

There is a compatibility update for older Office programs but I don't know if you can edit the files.

Now for the positives

I love the new menu format. It really minimizes the time it takes to look for functions. The "office" button is great.

I love how you can right click text and a mini-menu showing showing font, font size, bullets/numbering, etc show up.

[Leonard Washington]

no comments?

[zoony]

Of all the things that need improving on my PC, Office isn't one of them. I love mine.

Every time they change it, I find myself trying to break it in again... getting my toolbars the way I want them, etc. That said, I love the online-resources that are available thru Office, I use them quite a bit to aquire templates, etc.

Independent of your review (or anyone's for that matter) I'll probably not switch to 2007 until I'm forced to.

[Guest sk1nzHEAD]

i have ms office 2007...i love it. it doesnt seem sluggish at all, and im running it on my laptop..

[ImmortalDragon]

I've read elsewhere that Office 07 is amazing. My computer is too old to handle it though...

[drums and skins]

Upgrade your computer...or do something to improve its performance .

[Slacky McSlackAss]

Ill stick with OpenOffice.

[Larry]

Office files are no longer compatible with previous versions

Um,

1) Every version of MS Office has created documents that were incompatible with previous versions.

Office 97, for example, was originally designed so that it was incapable of saving a document that Word 95 could read. (People complained, so MS re-designed it so that 97 could save 95-compatible documents, but only if you manually specified that you wanted it to do so, every time you saved a document.)

2) This is not only intentional, it's part of MS's standard method of forcing people to buy programs they already own.

If your company owns 200 copies of, say, Word 2000, and you buy 20 new systems with Word 07, then gee, well, I guess you'll just have to buy 200 more copies of 07 just so the folks in your company can exchange files with each other.

(I've heard several folks complain that when MS came out with Office 2000, and businesses didn't buy it quick enough, they started sending free copies to company CEOs. PHB installs it on his system, begins using it, . . . and then he starts getting complaints from the employees that nobody can read the things he's sending out. Result: Guess the whole company needs to upgrade.)

Bill Gates did not get to where he is by being nice. Or dumb.

[RLeVan]

Upgrade your computer...or do something to improve its performance .

You work for Microsoft don't you. Come on, fess up. As processor speeds and memory sizes increase according to Moore's Law, named after Gordon Moore, Microsoft has contributed it's own Moore's law, named after Gordon's not particularly bright half-cousin Wikkan Use Moore. Actually, Microsoft decided to call it More's law to avoid all the legal mumbo jumbo that goes along with stealing an original idea and claiming it as their own.

Frequently misquoted as a statement instead of a law, the phrase normally shows up in the form of "you need More processing power", or "You need More memory", maybe even as "you need More memory". During the late 70's, this phrase wasn't very common but in the early 80's it became more prominent. Unfortunately, as time progressed, Intel saw benefit in Moore's law, which was named after one of their co-founders. However, during the same time period, Microsoft latched onto the coat tails of Intel and this was when Moore's law and More's law became prominent.

As Moore's law continued to be invoked by Intel, Motorola, and soon to be formed AMD, More's law changed suddenly and quietly almost without anyone noticing. Instead of referring to hardware, it was used as a catch phrase in small circles around MS. For example, "You don't work here anyMore", or "we got More from IBM than you did". As the employees cycled through, out with the old and in with the new, the law itself was forgotten.

What MS never disclosed and what isn't commonly known, is that Wikkan had three children. After feeling like he got the shaft from Bill and being mocked throughout his later years by his half-cousin Gordon who had all the fame. His three children eventually became MS employees. Their names are Wiwan, Wiget, and Steve.

More's law was thought to be forgotten, a thing of the past. However, it is making a resurgence with each update and every Service Pack. When we thought we finally had enough, we need to spend More money for slower operability, More time downloading with less customer service, More time searching a help file, More time checking compatibility, More, more, more...

I'm not exactly sure why I just took the time to right that out, just a crazy thought. I was just pokin fun at your comment drums and skins, not at you.