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Microsoft Office Small Business 2007 FULL VERSION Review (continued)
More User Submitted Microsoft Office Small Business 2007 FULL VERSION Reviews
Date: 2007-12-18
Microsoft finds a way to make things more difficult....again.
I have been using a trial version of Office 2007 and it has been nothing but difficult and frustrating. I am an advanced user of Excel and PPT, however in this version I feel like a beginner - as if I've hardly ever used Office products before. The use of the ribbon instead of the drop down menu completely changes the entire user experience and I will definitely not be buying '07. I recommend going to the MS site and downloading a free trial of '07 prior to purchasing - I really had no idea how different the interface would be and I'm glad I only have a trial version and can easily get rid of it.
Date: 2007-12-13
Backwards In Time
I believe the next time Microsoft makes a new version of the Microsoft Office Suite, perhaps they should go back to DOS. I have never had the displeasure that I have now since purchasing this software suite. Imagine everything you know about Microsoft Office being stripped away and being replaced with a new program that has the same exact functionality (nothing new what so ever), only every button, check box, function, and flexibility being stripped away. What you are imagining now is the new 2007 version. If you buy this program, the moment you start it for the first time, you will realize you made a mistake. Go back to 2003.
Date: 2007-12-03
Orifice 2007
After all these years, the trolls in Redmond still have not learned how to produce user-friendly software. There was no reason to make the changes to Office that they've made; it was simply a way to justify an unnecessary upgrade that has turned out to be a downgrade. Users with a moderate understanding of how Office operated will find themselves flummoxed when attempting to do things they had finally learned how to do in the old version.
The much-vaunted ribbons are confusing and counter-intuitive. Microsoft addresses this problem by offering free self-paced trainng courses, apparently oblivious to the fact that time iS money, unless of course, it's Microsoft's time.
At the very least, one expects backward compatibility, that is unless you're dealing with Mr. Bill's minions. I loaded Word files created with Office XP, only to find the Office 2007 converted them with serious defects, like inserting tabs in all paragraphs whenever you inserted one in a single paragraph. And, of course, if you delete a tab stop from one paragraph, you delete it from all of them.
Useless.
Date: 2007-11-02
I Was Pleasantly Surprised
After spending days reviewing everything I could find about Small Business 2007... from the videos at the Microsoft site, to reviews from the private sector, chatting with Microsoft pre-sales to ask all my questions, 1-800-426-9400, (about 7 times over 3 days) and the reviews on Amazon, I decided to take the plunge.
While reviews from some folks left me concerned about leaving Office 2003 behind after 3 years of heavy daily use, I pressed on.
I was glad for the tip about cutting through the clear tape (it's hard to see its there) around the hard plastic package in order for the red tape/tab to be pulled to open the box.
The install went great. Tip- if you have a previous version of Office on your machine, remove it from your system using the control panel-> add/remove programs. After the removal is complete, re-start your machine before installing 2007. (Some of the pre-sales folks at Microsoft told me 2007 would install over 2003.... wrongo!)
Initiating Outlook was easy. 2007 remembered all my settings from 2003 and all my folders, sub-folders, signature files and settings and installed them intact. Very nice. (I did make a .pst back-up from 2003 and didn't need to use it. I do think however, it's a good idea to have a back-up.)
I've already created some very cool graphics and training forms that I couldn't do in 2003. Probably a 'user deficit'! So I guess this bears witness to how intuitive the interface really is for me.
A lot of folks are bashing the new 'ribbon' interface and talking about it functioning slowly and it being difficult to use. This is not my experience at all.
I have only 512 MB of RAM on the XP OS and 2007 runs no differently than 2003.. no lag time or hour-glass waiting... even with changing between word - power point - and excel docs all open at one time. I guess it depends on what other programs you have running in the background- drawing off your RAM resources. I don't let anything run in the background except for my anti-virus program and printers. Everything else I open as I need it from my start menu. This is all in how you've configured your start up options as your computer boots.
The ribbon menus are very straight forward, and with mouse over tells you exactly what everything does. Also, if you're in word and want to do something you used to do in 2003 and can't figure out how, you can type this phrase into the search field inside word -> "Office 2003 Interactive" (without the quotes).
This will open a window in your internet browser that will have a view of 2003. You click on the menu selection or item you used to use in 2003, (right on your screen, this is why its called 'interactive') and it will show you what you need to do in 2007 to achieve the same task. That's pretty handy.
All in all I'm pleasantly surprised. I feel I made a good buying choice after doing my research.
My recommendation is to do your own research, and look at the videos Microsoft has available which demonstrates how 2007 is different. At least this gives you a visual.
http://www.microsoft.com/office/newday/default.mspx?WT.srch=1&WT.mc_id=DF7DDF87-E82B-4DFF-B637-7A7198470DCE
(If this link gets chopped up in the post, be sure to copy and paste the whole link into your browser.)
And:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/products/FX101635841033.aspx
Chat with the pre sales folks. If you have a question that is technical in nature and they can't answer it, they get you in touch with a technical expert specific to the program in office your inquiry is about, at no charge to you. Also you can always download a free trial, and if you don't like it at the end of the trial don't buy it.
I really felt a social obligation to write about my experience to help those who are on a 'due diligence journey' as I was. Hope this has been helpful. ;->
Date: 2007-10-30
Offensively incompetent software design, do not touch this
Sorry Microsoft, but your "ribbon" user interface is the most retarded upgrade feature ever. It renders all your Office applications useless. I have no interest spending hours to learn a completely different UI and to recustomize the toolbar all over again (I'm not even sure if it's even possible to customize the "ribbon"). The ribbon is ugly and WAY, WAY, WAY, WAY too big.
My advice: try to avoid upgrading for as long as possible.
Microsoft Office Small Business 2007 FULL VERSION Reviews Page: 4 of 7 Prev<< 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Next>>
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