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 - The worst. Ever.Vista has a twin, and its name is Office 2007. And I'm embarrassed to admit I failed to do the research I should have done, and typically thoroughly do before buying anything. Yes, it got me. I was lulled by thoughts of, "I know Windows and Office applications like the back of my hand--how different could it possibly be?" And why shouldn't I think that given the compatibility and cohesion of past Office versions? Like many I'm sure, even with new or updated MS products I've pretty much always been able to, at the very *least*, intuit and immediately execute core commands--read: effective and efficient productivity right out of the box. Well, that party has come to a brutal ended with the Office '07 suites. With its completely new interface (within which the same user-friendly Office functions we've all come to know and love are purportedly buried), MS has released a product I've found to be astoundingly unintuitive and difficult to learn (i.e., nowhere near worth the time it would take to figure out), not to mention incredibly slow to run. Then, once I started to get the hang of the method to their madness a little bit, my feeble hopes were quickly dashed when I discovered there to be MINIMAL ability to customize menus, toolbars, buttons, functions, etc such that I could better take advantage of said "improvements". Can't wait to see the new TV commercial Mac will inevitably come up with to mock this mock-worthy software. Don't get me wrong folks, overall I'm a big PC/MS/Win/Office fan. But, wow, for these and other troublesome reasons already described elsewhere, this one has left me utterly stunned. Rating: - Garbage in a pretty boxI've used every version of MS Office that has been released from the early 1990's through today. This latest installment is a complete drag on my productivity, a source of daily frustration, and proof that microsoft has no idea what the consumer really needs. The "ribbon" interface up top has made an otherwise navigatable toolbar up top into a labyrinth of endless garbage. Styles are difficult to define well, table of contents are impossible to work with in an easy fashion (unless you want their preset and lame "Automatic Table"), and the command-key shortcuts are basically extinct. To summarize, this product has gone from having some of my favorite features of word processing software, database management, and spreadsheet manipulation (in previous versions) into this pathetic excuse for a productivity suite. Come on microsoft... you can do far better. The question is... do you really care to? This is the straw that broke the camel's back and a reason why I plan to move to Linux and the free "Open Office". Rating:  - AND the textbook AIN't much help either!What was going on in the minds of these so-called MS-Office "geniuses" when they decided to enhance the new MS-Office programs? Did they ever stop to think that even the average student is finding it difficult to get their work done, because they can't even locate where the print icon is or why they couldn't open their document, because they forgot to save it under a converter to 97-2003 version? Isn't it so much easier to have kept the orginal formatted version of 2003 and just add the enhancements according to its category? I'm suppose to be a computer instructional assistant who mentors students who range from having excellent knowledge of computers to absolutely NO knowledge of computers whatsoever...Yes, that's right...People who have "NO" knowledge of computers whatsoever...And the funny thing about it is - the ones that DO have excellent knowledge of computers come to me for help, because they can't figure out how to simiply cut-copy-and paste their document...That got me there! Since we both were having an extremely difficult time following the darn textbook, I just showed 'em how to do it the shortcut way...The best way I knew how ~ right click on your mouse. LMAO! Here's another issue ~ if Microsoft isn't willing to revert back to the original way they started out their software...I sure as hell am not willing to spend more than $450.00 for the newer version. I'd rather much be happier with 2003's version. Rating: - NIGHTMARE TO LEARN -- NIGHTMARE TO USE We were using Office 2003, and the company decided to upgrade to both Vista and Office 2007 simultaneously. The overall result has been slower performance of both machine and user. The change to the ribbon menu system has made everything unnecessarily complicated and ponderous. The user is actually left to relearn everything, and there is no option to return to the classic view. You can tell instantly if software is good because it is intuitive. Unfortunately, Office 2007 is counterintuitive. The simplest things before are now harder to do. The features you most need are harder to find. Moreover, the system is unstable. I have saved documents in the new .docx extension of Office 2007, only to find later that they cannot be opened. The .docx is also Microsoft's way of forcing those using Office 2003 to upgrade to the inferior Office 2007. I suggest that everyone start switching to Open Office and begin breaking away from Microsoft, a company that does not bother to consult with the consumers before bringing out a flawed and unwieldy product. Rating: - I need to rantHonestly, this version of office has infuriated me beyond belief. I actually want to do harm to the Microsoft idiots responsible for the UI design. I have always supported Microsoft's UI design. The old consistent window menus are gone, and now you got something called a ribbon. You'll jump through hoops trying to adjust the stupid thing. It takes me longer to do a simple task before I found out where they hid a command. Bottom line, navigation is completely different. Was this supposed to be easier to use? It seems everything I need to do take a couple more steps. The operating system gets mangled (Vista) and now Office. I have never been this annoyed about a software product from Microsoft. The last software that annoyed me this much was Photoshop, which I felt didn't support the shot-gun approach.
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