Free PDF - “First Look: Microsoft Office 2010”

[Idoine]

Originally Posted by Laurentiu

...
Plus that a simple pivot table was not backward compatible with Office 2003!

For this part, you can work in compatibility mode, and choose to make 2003 documents by default...

[Idoine]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

Microsoft just released a 202 page PDF which describes all the new features in the next version of Microsoft Office (currently in beta).

http://cid-d7229b252a0ad6f2.skydrive...93876ebook.pdf

Thanks for this one, Nate, I'll take a look. As a future teacher of this version, I need all the informations available !

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

Microsoft just released a 202 page PDF which describes all the new features in the next version of Microsoft Office (currently in beta).

http://cid-d7229b252a0ad6f2.skydrive...93876ebook.pdf

I've been using the Office 2010 Beta for about a month now. I like it.

Derek

[CleverClothe]

I love the ribbon and the customizability for the Office applications. The old interface was too busy. I also liked Vista and just love Win7.

However, I do dislike the ribbon on WordPad, it is overkill for an interface with so few functions. I guess they were trying to make it into mini-Word.

[Solitaire1]

I've not used Word 2007 (the last version I made regular use of was Word 2003, at work), so I can't speak specifically about the Ribbon. Based on what I've read and heard, opinion falls into two camps: love or or hate it.

Since there is so much strong feeling about the Ribbon, why not just make it just one option of many (keyboard commands, traditional menus, use-adjusted menus (most used items appear initially), button bars, and Ribbon). It isn't a new concept, Wordstar (a word processor from 20 years ago) had customizable help levels which ranged from 3 (which gave you step by step guidance for every command), 2 (help for specific functions when needed), to 0 (which provided you with no help at all). When they added pull-down menus, they just made it help level 4.

[Ham88]

Personally I like Office 2007, and I'm currently downloading the beta for 2010. I kind of like the ribbon interface, for me a majority of what I need is already in the ribbon easily accessible, no more searching through menus.

[DawnFalcon]

Originally Posted by 13xforever

Even with all the UI issues, Office 2007 brought OpenXML and this tech alone worth a lot (at least the right not to be called "nothing but a crap").

True, that buys them the right to have the ISO exposed as utterly worthless and ignorable since you can buy standards. Technical merits, given previous, drastically superior open standards? /div0

It's an excuse to have an "open" standard (and thus head off genuinely open document standards), while you cannot even actually read and write the documents by following the "standard" precisely. Oh, and remember that Office 2007 is NOT OpenXML compliant!

(Ecma's status as a branch of Microsoft should also be formalised)

[dmaul1114]

Originally Posted by Laurentiu

As a person who rarely uses the mouse, I am asking: what is wrong with typing the formula directly in the cell?

Plus that a simple pivot table was not backward compatible with Office 2003!

Yeah, that's probably part of it. It took me a while to adapt but I like it better for the most part as I'm a huge mouse user.

I had a little bit of experience with DOS and Windows 3.1, but most of my PC using was Windows 95 and above so I've grown up relying on a mouse and hating keyboards for anything other than typing.

Same reason I mainly use SPSS for my statistical work--programs like Stata and SAS are better regarded, but I love being able to point and click through menus vs. relying on typed syntax.

[VicLavigne]

The biggest problem with Office 2007 - for us "old-timers" - is the radical change in interface.

I've used Office 97, 98, 2000, XP, and 2003 (about 10 years of Office programming) and the interface always stayed pretty much the same. With Office 2007 this radical change just prompted a "huh?" reaction.

Having said that, Office 2007 does seem to be a superior product. For the first time in ages, the file sizes of the documents produced actually have gotten smaller and more efficient. That by itself tells me they are finally trying to get efficiency in programming. Office 07 doesn't seem to need a lot of resources.... I remember switching from Office 98 to 2000 and seeing my system slow down. Not so with this upgrade. And although I'm not a big fan of the ribbon, I'm getting used to it since I use it on a daily basis. The more you use it the easier it gets. And I've finally gotten to customize my Quick Access bar, which has also helped. I've also started customizing my Styles, which has also helped. I think I can live with this version, although my first month using it I did a lot of cursing.

[FizzyWater]

Ye gods, I hate that ribbon.

I agree, it's probably fine for newbies. But it's bloody frustrating for someone who already knows where everything is on the menu and heavily customizes it for my own tastes.

It also takes up a lot of screen real estate, especially when I working on a work-provided laptop (of only average screen size).

I'm so sorry to hear it's still a part of Office.

[Xerxes]

I haven't read the pdf yet.

Unlike most people here it seems, I find the ribbon really intuitive. I've been using Word since it was going by the name Word 6. Like someone once said don't look for thing where they use to be but, just go where they are. It seems natural.

The only thing I would desire is to create a Xerxes ribbon tab. A nice custom ribbon tab with all of my current dealings. Some things I do in outlook could be ironed out instead of switching from the insert, then review, and then back to main bar. Same amount of work as menus, I even have my ribbons minimized. I'm pretty sure you can have custom ribbon tab but I figure it it involves scripts and flips and blah blah. MS job to make that easy.

[Laurentiu]

Originally Posted by Idoine

For this part, you can work in compatibility mode, and choose to make 2003 documents by default...

Isn't that a step backward? All previous versions were compatible 100% with the previous one. Now we must save the docs as 2003, to make sure other stubborn people (like me) can read them! It simply doesn't make sense. Or, it makse a lot of sense for M$ who found just another way to push people buy their colourful product! Needles to say, my company decided to stay with Office 2003 (and that's how M$ lost about 1500 licences), plus that we paid extra when we renewed all our computers to have them 'downgraded' to Windows XP (and not get thath piece of crap called Vista!) And, remember, we are not the only company that did that!

It seems that M$ is well known for the way they lauch products:
Windows 95 - nice, but with lots of issues for drivers, not a true 'plug&play', but rather a 'Plug&Pray' - Thumb down
Win98 - Better, especially Second Edition - Thumb up
WinME - Oh, my gosh! The worst Windows OS ever (that, before Vista, mind you) - Two thumbs down!
Win XP - Finally, something that was stable and really worked! Thumbs up!
Win Vista - so many flavours, so many problems! Two thumbs down, again!
Win 7 - well, it seems to be OK and they finally solved the Vista problems.

Can you see a pattern here? Based on it, I can only hope that the Office 2010 will be really improved. I cannot care less for colourful ribbons, please, give me my drop-down menues back! Hey, M$, let me tell you something: I CAN READ, therefore I don't need your stupid icons!

[goldilocks]

Office 2007 has been a real learning process. Once I started treating the ribbon like the drop down menu it has become easier. Of course I use the help button if I need to (but hate getting video instructions!). But I don't like that they took the scan function out of the program. And, being an old WordPerfect user, Microsoft still can't seem to get a comparable "Reveal Codes" function. Excel drives me crazy when it says it can't save a 2003 document with certain formatting(?) but won't tell me what part of the formatting is the problem.

I guess if I can get the new program thru the Workplace deal I got 2007, I may just give it a try.

[daffy4u]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

crap! It looks the same, with the stupid "ribbon" toolbar.

Am I getting old and chrochety about new software, or do you hate the "ribbon" also?

I HATE IT!

I will only use Word 2000 or 2003 for work (which I have re-configured to near perfection). I have 2007 but it's just a pain in the butt to use and slow because of the stupid ribbon.

[Idoine]

Originally Posted by Laurentiu

Isn't that a step backward? All previous versions were compatible 100% with the previous one. Now we must save the docs as 2003, to make sure other stubborn people (like me) can read them! ...

I agree with you, but it can be a solution for compatibility problems.
Now there's another one, downloading the compatibility kit to install on 2003 version. It permits to open and modify v.2007 documents with an Office 2003.

When you look at the adds of the 2007 version, it's quite obvious all is not compatible with 2003
The styles collection, for one, so rich ! (up to 16 000 000 colors !)
Formats, too. When you see the conditional formats are now up to 64, in lieu of 3...
The filters in Excel, with checkboxes (and easy-to-use solutions)
In Excel, too, the number of rows and columns (1 048 576*16 384, vs 65 536*256)...
...

If you have 2007, I invite you to open the Help window and take a look at the News entry (whatever the name in english, it's the first one ! ). It's really edifying.