Microsoft Office 2007 Professional Edition (Upgrade) (PC)
£220.00
Embrace the change - Everywhere I read so called `advanced users saying `if it ain t broke, don t fix it , and complaining how traumatic it has been to upgrade from the oh so user friendly Office 2003 to this. Come on now. If you are really such an advanced user, spend an hour enjoying familiarising yourself with the new software rather than writing a review slating it. If you are a less advanced user then I take your point more seriously, but given time I m sure you will find yourself benefiting hugely.If you take a step back, you see how awful the interface for Office had become. It worked ok back in 1994 when there were fewer features, but just bunching the icons up at the top was completely inappropriate for an application of this size. When I speak to new users they often seem completely bewildered by the array of icons, and somewhat ill thought out method of adding and removing task bars. Where has it gone?, they ask. Often I see them rolling their mouse over them for considerable periods. Awful bloated software, pandering to the ever-cautious business customer. But no more. The new interface is logical and clean, with tabs on the ribbon representing application specific tasks within the document, and the `office button featuring more generic tasks. Changing the file types does seem unnecessary, I concede. But they are smaller and compatible with compatibility packs you can download. In my view Microsoft is hampered by being too cautious, but it is the bold things which upset some users which make them stronger. For example, Windows XP, with its radically altered kernels, initially annoyed many `advanced users, but is now near universally accepted. Without it a great many users would have been likely to have gone elsewhere for a stable operating system. I have used Office for 14 years now, and that is how long I have been waiting for this change. Viva la revolution.
Don t bother buying Office 2007! - Just bought Office 2007 as an upgrade from 2003, and am hugely dissapointed. For the money (and it isn t cheap!) I was expecting a lot more user interactive options, however it is just a more rounded & polished version of 2003. I have a fairly new PC (about a year old) and can easily tell some of the programmes (Word in particular) is slower to load, slower to spell check and slower to interface graphs/charts. If you are NOT used to Office 2003, it probably is a spanking good piece of software, however if you are looking for a direct upgrade then spend your money elsewhere.
Great New Software - This new Microsoft Office is a must have for so many people. The old Office lay out was basic and most buttons were easily accessible by one click: sounds good doesn t it. So why do i think people should buy this one?The reason is this one is easier to use, more user friendly and better features. In the last few years i have written a report covering 143 pages and i used this suite a lot. I found the ribbon simple to use and it allowed me to find things which i didn t even know were there before. in using this product for a month, i became a well established user who now knows where all the buttons for each function are: somthing i didn t know about before.Another feature i also like is the new emphasis on proffesional looking documents rather than just getting the job done. THe new designs and the ability to change whatever you want in the documents are an amazing featureRecommended at all costs (within reason)
Old users, stick with 2003, new users openoffice ! - Having been a very heavy user of Office for more years than I care to remember, Office 2007 is a huge backward step (similar to Vista over XP). Microsoft have clearly lost their way, and this is a ploy to get large sums of money for a poorer product.For existing users of Office 2003, stick with it. Do not upgrade, you WILL be disappointed !For new users, go for the free OpenOffice. For most functions it more than competes with MS Office and very similar to office 2003.
A big step forward - Many folk resent change and the new interface will put off some users. Things do take a bit longer to begin with, but once you get used to where things are, the new ribbon feature actually speeds workflow.The new packages are great to use, and apart from the well-documented Excel bug, the packages appear stable.Don t be put off by change, give it a chance and you will find it a big leap in a good direction. There are backward compatibility issues though if you have old documents you still need to use, despite the compatibility mode . Check how this will affect you before taking the plunge.