MS Office 2007

[Chiko2008]

What do you think about MS Office 2007?
Will the companies spend thousands of dollars to upgrade their office suites to MS Office 2007 or will they continue using their actual suite or are they going to upgrade to a opensource one, like Open Office?

Ubuntu (http://www.linux-archive.org/ubuntu/)

[paul101]

MS Office is a HUGE waste of money, open office does all the same things :)

[Chiko2008]

I agree. It's price is nonsense.

[Chiko2008]

*its price

Ubuntu (http://www.linux-archive.org/ubuntu/)

[namegame]

I probably support Open Office more than I support anything else in Linux, simply because for the price, which is absolutely free, it does everything that MS office does. Also, I know of several Windows users who absolutely hate the new layout of the UI in MS Office 2007, my mother included. MS office 2003 worked well in my opinion, yet MS in their infinite wisdom threw a curve-ball to it's customers, and changed the interface.

Just my opinions of course...

[rickyjones]

MS Office is a HUGE waste of money, open office does all the same things :)

Openoffice does not do all the same things. Last time I used openoffice, earlier this year, it did not integrate with an email client. Using Office I can create an email and send it to a list of contacts and have every email be individualized. Can openoffice do this?

Office can be a waste of money if you do not need all the features. However since most computers come with the license the cost becomes negligible.

Any company that abandons "what works" to upgrade to the latest and greatest immediately is not being a smart company. For example, last summer I worked with a large fortune 500 company. They were purchasing new laptops that were built for Vista. They continue to use Windows XP because it works, it is what they support, and they already have the licenses. They also use Office 2003 because it works and they have the licenses.

In a few years they might upgrade to a newer version when the benefits outweigh the costs.

Opensource is not going to win based on cost alone but based on benefits. Do I get more features by using this opensource software? In my opinion, most of the time the answer is no, and a proprietary solution is the better option to go with.

Sincerely,
Richard

[tighem]

I probably support Open Office more than I support anything else in Linux, simply because for the price, which is absolutely free, it does everything that MS office does. Also, I know of several Windows users who absolutely hate the new layout of the UI in MS Office 2007, my mother included. MS office 2003 worked well in my opinion, yet MS in their infinite wisdom threw a curve-ball to it's customers, and changed the interface.

Just my opinions of course...

I thought that at first, too. But the new interface is much more intuitive than the old one. It's not easy to transition to but for new users it would be a breeze to use.

I'm not going to go evangelical and say Office 2007 is awful. It's not. As a matter of fact, it's the best suite out there. However, I don't think it's $400 dollars better than the competition. Open Office does most of what Office does and it's free but I think if Microsoft put out a Linux version of Office a lot of folks would pay for it.

Office has always been Microsoft's best product after all and nothing has changed that.

[whaley]

Two things I can say positively about Word '07, especially after using it to just finish writing a 120 page research document:

1) The ribbon, after you use it for about 2 hours, is a million times better and more organized than the cluster that would ultimately become of the toolbar in previous iterations of Word and OOo.

2) The new OOXML (.docx) produces really lean files... most of which I observed were about 1/8th of the size of the same files in the old .doc format. I haven't used OOo lately so I can't give a direct comparison.

I haven't used enough of the Office '07 suite to give a further judgement.

Now, here's the disclaimer: I had available to me Office '07 through an academic program which made it available to me for free through my University. Had this option not been available, there's no way I could justify paying anything for it when OOo may have been a decent enough tool for my job.

[sayakb]

I personally like office 2007.. i bit heavy but seamless. All I need it for presentations and it produces beautiful slides :)

[Chiko2008]

I adopted the 2007 version over 2003.

Ubuntu (http://www.linux-archive.org/ubuntu/)

[karellen]

I like Office 2007, especially the ribbon, the new fonts and the format, which creates smaller files. And, being a student, I got Office 2007 pretty cheap ;)

[Kernel Sanders]

Office 2007 is the best office software I have ever used. There is a learning curve for those who are used to Office 2003 and previous, but once you get the hang of it you'll NEVER go back. Simply awesome.

I just wish it would run in Ubuntu :(

[zetetic]

Office 2007 is a bloated and secret crap.
Also it is spying on you.

[VMan]

I am currently taking a class over M$ Office 2007. I got the program from the University for free, the city is paying for the class. I had to pay about $50 for the books (the city scholarship only covers so much). That said:

If I had to purchase M$ Office 2007, I never would. Even the cheapest version retails at approx $150 US. The most expensive version is well over $600.00. At work, two people have 2007, a few more have 2003, a couple have Office XP, and I have Office 2000. I also have the oldest computer in the city. They bought it during the Y2K scare upgrades. There is a disadvantage in being able to keep your computer working. All computers are running Windows XP (except mine which dual boots Ubuntu:KS) The two people that have Office 2007 hate it. They don't have a clue how to use the new ribbon bar. I hated it until I took the class. Now I can actually use it better than the other MS versions or OpenOffice. On my personal laptop, I have a dual boot between Vista and Ubuntu 7.10. I also have several virtual machines running under Vista and Ubuntu. Some are linux, some are Windows XP. I never got Solaris to run quite right in a virtual machine. I have several versions of M$ Office on my laptop (both natively and in virtual machines). I have Office 2000, XP, and 2007. I also have OpenOffice concurrently installed on all of the Windows setups (both native and virtual). Almost everything I do in one, I try to do in the other so I know how to do it in both.

Personally, I would only run OpenOffice if I had to pay for all the M$ Office crap. I just can't afford Microsoft. Since either the city (your tax dollars at work) or the University provide M$ Office, I run it. Since I took the class, I can do more things more quickly in Work and Excel than I can do in OpenOffice. If I hadn't taken the class, the exact opposite would be true.

[whaley]

One more thing I can also say about MS Office '07 is that the formula editor is an absolute joy to use. It throughly kicks the living hell out of OOo's formula editor or the previous formula editors from other versions of MS Office.

[karellen]

One more thing I can also say about MS Office '07 is that the formula editor is an absolute joy to use. It throughly kicks the living hell out of OOo's formula editor or the previous formula editors from other versions of MS Office.

I second this. and fail to understand how or why the ribbon it's so difficult to use...:confused: I've used all versions of MS Office and I've had no problems in getting used with the new interface

[smoker]

What do you think about MS Office 2007?
Will the companies spend thousands of dollars to upgrade their office suites to MS Office 2007 or will they continue using their actual suite or are they going to upgrade to a opensource one, like Open Office?

imo, office 2007 is a bloated mess, containing ms spyware. it may have functionality that some people require, but i suspect most users of office 2007 use it for only basic stuff which means it is nothing but a waste of space on their hard drive, and there are alternatives that do the basics better that cost little or nothing.

with the 'so-called' world credit crunch, and the talk of a recession in the us, i think a lot of companies are going to be thinking twice before spending money on upgrading anything but essentials. if my company required such a thing as an office suite, then i would be instructing the installation of openoffice, or another equivalent, rather than wasting good money on frivolities with fancy features and extra staff training costs.
:-)

[quickshade]

I do all the new software installs and hardware work for my dads company on the side. He recently bought a laptop and office 2007. Since he uses the office suit a lot and for various reasons I figured it would be best to not start him on linux yet. (maybe when he retires:) )

Anyways Office took a while to install and was a bit slow the first time it ran but once it was up and running he told me that the UI looked confusing and I'd be back in a day or so to install office 2003. He called me 3 days later and said that he loved the new UI. It's fast, easier to use once you know how to use it and does everything he wanted it to do. I recently noticed a discount for college kids on office ultimate and picked it up for 50 bucks. Well worth my purchase as it really is a nice office suit. If I have to type a quick paper up I'll use Openoffice. But for great looking powerpoints or long research projects MS still wins.

Remember it's costly because MS puts a lot of research into build the office software. They went through 6 UI changes until people found one that they really understand. Yea it's not affordable for everyone, but just because it cost alot and is developed by MS doesn't mean it sucks. (which a lot of people here seem to think)

BTW there still isn't a good Visio clone at all on Linux. All the ones I've used sucked compared to visio.

[CrazyArcher]

I'm an old-time Word/Excel digger, and I absolutely love Office 2007. The new interface is a blast, it increased my productivity and now I surely use more features than I did before, not to meantion the nice looks that make the work more pleasant and less eye-straining. I don't underatand all the complains about not beeing able to find a certain function - I figured out how it works very quickly by browsing though all the tabs. It's probably not worth the price for an average home user for whom all the usage of such software sums up in typing a page in Word and printing it out, I agree, but for corporate environment it's THE most conviniet suite to use.
Now a few words about OO, which I used a few times... First of all, it's slow. Using Java for such apps is bad. Secondly, open spreadsheet app (how it's called?) lacks small but vital features that MS Excel has, like auto-updating the graph when source data is changed, or shortcut like F4 for fixating a cell name when I'm typing a formula. Stuff like that really made me mad, it looks like whoever tried to rip off Excel never used spreadsheets himself.
If all MS' software was as efficient and innovative as Office 2007, the world would've been a much better place.

[karellen]

imho MS Office suites we always ahead of MS Windows in terms of usability, functionality and stability; of course you cannot compare an OS with an Office suite, but perhaps you got the general idea

[CrazyArcher]

Well perhaps the manager of the Office department is more imaginative and demaning than his OS counterpart :)

[quickshade]

I'll agree, Office has always been a great project.

[seanc7]

If it ran on native Linux I'd probably buy the basic version. OO.Org is decent but being a technical writer that has to use MS Word at work, I can't work at home with OO.Org, it just doesn't cut it. The formatting and headers/footers get mangled by OO and it's worse in Abiword.

But, the benefit is I can't take my work home with me. :guitar:

[SIXAXIS]

I think the newer versions of Office (2007) are made more for people who don't know to already use office. They simplified things and even took away some options. Quite frankly, I like 2003 better but I guess 2007 is here to stay.

[Whiffle]

I'm ever so slowly getting used to the ribbon. At first it was annoying because everything had been moved, I get a little better at it every time I end up using it.

What bugs me is how many steps some things take, things that used to be only a right click away are now buried in the ribbon.

But my biggest gripe, is the Word 2k7 equation editor. It is absolutely the *worst* equation editor I have ever used. Ever. EVER. The one in any old version of OO is way better. LaTeX beats them both.

[karellen]

I think the newer versions of Office (2007) are made more for people who don't know to already use office. They simplified things and even took away some options. Quite frankly, I like 2003 better but I guess 2007 is here to stay.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HA100742241033.aspx
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA100743061033.aspx
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/getstarted/HA100738731033.aspx
in fact it has more features...;)

[gameryoshi600]

MS office needs more specs than age of mythology. i mean its good but open office is free and does all the same things.

[r76]

MS office needs more specs than age of mythology. i mean its good but open office is free and does all the same things.

Look, I like OOo too - I have OOo and 2007 installed, butyou are wrong. OOo maybe does everything you need, it does everything I need at home, but it does not do this:

[urgnom]

No, you cannot use Endnote, but Endnote is not by far the best reference tool. There are other reasons why MS Office is better: its spreadsheet is much better at doing more complicated tasks than OOo Calc is. But for the reference stuff: try zotero. It is open source, it integrates with both Word and OOo Writer and in my opinion it beats the crap out of Endnote. Read a paper on the web and you get a handy symbol in the firefox address bar. Click it, and all bibliographical information is automatically added to your bibliography database (you need the development edition to make it work with the new firefox beta). Try it out, even if it is with Word!

[Happy_Man]

Frankly, I think Office 2007 is the best iteration of the only product Microsoft does right.

Some of the things I love:
1) The Ribbon. I initially thought it large and stupid, but as I used it more and more, I discovered features and tools that I had no idea Office possessed. I have become about a trillion times more productive, and typing stuff has become a joy for me. I believe I have been possessed, but I'm not complaining. :)

2) the .docx format is actually more versatile than .doc in some ways, because you don't even need OpenOffice to read one on Linux. That's right, ladies and gentlemen: You don't need OpenOffice to read a .docx file: simply extract it in the same way you would a zip file and open up the .xml file you find inside. Voila! Instant reading. Also, the format is leaner than .doc files are.

3) It looks better. I'm sorry for being shallow and superficial, but I like my desktops to look good. On Windows, it takes a bit of effort, but the end result is spectacular in many cases. The same thing can be said of Office, minus the effort part. The three color schemes Office gives you blend very well with most themes and theme color schemes out there. It's a welcome change from the drab blue of previous versions.

And that's just my big things. There are so many little under-the-hood redesigns and features and improvements that come together to make Office 2007 great. It's the only Windows product I wholeheartedly love, because it's so awesome.

/rant

[LaRoza]

Frankly, I think Office 2007 is the best iteration of the only product Microsoft does right.

Some of the things I love:
1) The Ribbon. I initially thought it large and stupid, but as I used it more and more, I discovered features and tools that I had no idea Office possessed. I have become about a trillion times more productive, and typing stuff has become a joy for me. I believe I have been possessed, but I'm not complaining. :)

2) the .docx format is actually more versatile than .doc in some ways, because you don't even need OpenOffice to read one on Linux. That's right, ladies and gentlemen: You don't need OpenOffice to read a .docx file: simply extract it in the same way you would a zip file and open up the .xml file you find inside. Voila! Instant reading. Also, the format is leaner than .doc files are.

3) It looks better. I'm sorry for being shallow and superficial, but I like my desktops to look good. On Windows, it takes a bit of effort, but the end result is spectacular in many cases. The same thing can be said of Office, minus the effort part. The three color schemes Office gives you blend very well with most themes and theme color schemes out there. It's a welcome change from the drab blue of previous versions.

And that's just my big things. There are so many little under-the-hood redesigns and features and improvements that come together to make Office 2007 great. It's the only Windows product I wholeheartedly love, because it's so awesome.

/rant

OpenOffice can read .docx now.

[00arthuryu]

If I had to purchase M$ Office 2007, I never would. Even the cheapest version retails at approx $150 US. The most expensive version is well over $600.00.


Pfffft, you should try buying it outside the US, I live in the UK where is even more expensive than living in the EU lol

the cheapest student edition is £100 which is about $200
The most expensive, the enterprise is £599 in staples which is about $1200

I don't think these prices are 'value for money' in any sense.

[LaRoza]

Pfffft, you should try buying it outside the US, I live in the UK where is even more expensive than living in the EU lol

the cheapest student edition is £100 which is about $200
The most expensive, the enterprise is £599 in staples which is about $1200

I don't think these prices are 'value for money' in any sense.

I think it is "milk the europeans for every euro they have while we can" for MS.

[calc]

Pfffft, you should try buying it outside the US, I live in the UK where is even more expensive than living in the EU lol

the cheapest student edition is £100 which is about $200
The most expensive, the enterprise is £599 in staples which is about $1200

I don't think these prices are 'value for money' in any sense.

I think has more to say about how worthless the US dollar is recently than how much more they overcharge outside the US. But yea even if the US dollar wasn't so devalued by "Bush, Co" it would still be somewhat more expensive in the UK. They probably need to reprice their overseas versions now that the US dollar is so low.

BTW isn't the UK in the EU? You probably meant countries that use Euros though. :)

[LaRoza]

I think has more to say about how worthless the US dollar is recently than how much more they overcharge outside the US. But yea even if the US dollar wasn't so devalued by "Bush, Co" it would still be somewhat more expensive in the UK. They probably need to reprice their overseas versions now that the US dollar is so low.

BTW isn't the UK in the EU? You probably meant countries that use Euros though. :)

I don't think it is political. It was always more expensive there I believe, even when the dollar was higher. This forum isn't the best place for political statements (especially nonsensical ones) There have been two recessions in the last ten years, and the dollar has been lower in the past. That is how it works, things go up, they go down, they go back up, rinse, repeat.

The UK still uses their currency.

[kevdog]

But yea even if the US dollar wasn't so devalued by "Bush, Co"

Sorry, I really can't blame Bush for this one -- no matter how hard you try. The mortgage industry is most to blame as the Bonds that the mortgages were bundled into are now worth junk. These were sold all throughout the world.

So next time before making a crazy statement like you did, put some effort into it to at least try to pretend to support your stance.

[calc]

Sorry, I really can't blame Bush for this one -- no matter how hard you try. The mortgage industry is most to blame as the Bonds that the mortgages were bundled into are now worth junk. These were sold all throughout the world.

So next time before making a crazy statement like you did, put some effort into it to at least try to pretend to support your stance.

That would be true if the exchange rate just recently started going south. It has been going down continuously ever since he took office, probably mostly due to his pet war, which is putting the US trillions of dollars into debt.

The overall point is that companies such as Microsoft need to change their overseas prices for goods, since the US dollar is very low at this point.

This forum isn't the best place for political statements (especially nonsensical ones) There have been two recessions in the last ten years, and the dollar has been lower in the past. That is how it works, things go up, they go down, they go back up, rinse, repeat.

The UK still uses their currency.

When was the dollar lower than it is now at least as compared to the UK? See the graph below.

UPDATE: I found out when that was... It was when Carter was president over 28 years ago.

But yea this is off topic, so this is the last response from me on the topic.

http://people.ubuntu.com/~ccheney/us-vs-uk_exchange_rate.jpg

[LaRoza]

That would be true if the exchange rate just recently started going south. It has been going down continuously ever since he took office, probably mostly due to his pet war, which is putting the US trillions of dollars into debt.

The overall point is that companies such as Microsoft need to change their overseas prices for goods, since the US dollar is very low at this point.



What else happened shortly after he got into office? He doesn't control everything...

[smoker]

in the uk, we've been ripped off on prices for just about everything, not just by microsoft, though ms have absolutely no justification for charging uk users twice what their products cost in the us. this has nothing to do with recessions or economies, it has long been this way.

there was an interesting programme about the subject on tv a few days ago in the uk (link supplied for the synopsis, not the tv show!)
http://www.itv.com/News/tonight/episodes/RipoffBritain/default.html

[Jiraya]

I wouldn't upgrade to 2007 version if I had to integrally pay for it.

Ubuntu (http://www.linux-archive.org/ubuntu/)