Also, 2007 Sucks
I know I've been posting like crazy today, but one more quick note.
What was Microsoft thinking when they redesigned their Office suite for 2007? Fortunately, I still have the previous version on my work computer, but co-workers are starting to get Office 2007 as they have their computers replaced or upgraded. Because I'm usually pretty good with computers, people often come to me for quick help questions... and it's absurd how many times I've been asked where something in Word moved to in the 2007 version.
I think this excerpt from an article by Jonathan Blum at CNNMoney.com sums it up:
-- Microsoft's four-letter #&!? Word by Jonathan Blum
Also, the 2007 versions of Office apps use default file formats that earlier versions can't open. As a result, I have had professors who beg students, "whatever that DOCX file thing is, don't use it -- I can't open it," and work with researchers who have been sharing files by e-mail for years but suddenly can't open each other's work.
Oh, and another thing. We create MS Access databases here that staff at other centers use to collect research data. Access 2007 can open them, but the user has to go through a convoluted process of adding our databases to their "trust center" before any of the code we've included can be run. I suppose that makes it harder to sneak malicious code past the user, but it also makes it VERY difficult for people who aren't good with this stuff to make our code work.
BLARGH!
What was Microsoft thinking when they redesigned their Office suite for 2007? Fortunately, I still have the previous version on my work computer, but co-workers are starting to get Office 2007 as they have their computers replaced or upgraded. Because I'm usually pretty good with computers, people often come to me for quick help questions... and it's absurd how many times I've been asked where something in Word moved to in the 2007 version.
I think this excerpt from an article by Jonathan Blum at CNNMoney.com sums it up:
Microsoft's hard work paid off in many ways: Word 2007 is lovely to look at and use. But Word's 450 million global users can expect major, unwelcome surprises from the new code. Everything you've learned about Word over the years is now wrong. The familiar menu names - File, Edit, View, Insert, Format and the rest - are gone, replaced by cryptic new headers: Home, Insert, Page Layout, and Reference.
And clicking on a header no longer triggers a flurry of pull-down menus. Sure, Microsoft's bloated menus were a design catastrophe, but at least you knew where things were. No more. Now you get a long horizontal bar called "The Ribbon" that holds - no, hides - most Word commands. Although Mac OS X users will find the ribbon familiar, they will have no leg up in battle to learn the new Word: most commands are slightly, but devilishly, different.
-- Microsoft's four-letter #&!? Word by Jonathan Blum
Also, the 2007 versions of Office apps use default file formats that earlier versions can't open. As a result, I have had professors who beg students, "whatever that DOCX file thing is, don't use it -- I can't open it," and work with researchers who have been sharing files by e-mail for years but suddenly can't open each other's work.
Oh, and another thing. We create MS Access databases here that staff at other centers use to collect research data. Access 2007 can open them, but the user has to go through a convoluted process of adding our databases to their "trust center" before any of the code we've included can be run. I suppose that makes it harder to sneak malicious code past the user, but it also makes it VERY difficult for people who aren't good with this stuff to make our code work.
BLARGH!