If you haven’t heard, Microsoft has released a public beta of Office 2007. Normally I wouldn’t download this kind of crap, but I figured it was about time to see what all the hubbub was about. So, two days ago I downloaded the Office 2007 beta 2, and bravely overwrote my existing Office 2003 installation. Now, it should be noted that I have a database final project do on Friday, so if the installation failed, I was screwed. That’s why this was a brave installation.
After the somewhat lengthy install process, I was finally greeted with the new interface. Now, when you hear that Office 2007’s interface has changed, believe me, it has changed. Besides the look, the whole concept of the interface is different. Long gone are the days of the File and Tools menu. Instead we now have a tabbed interface, based on the task at hand.
I’m actually quite pleased with the new interface. Things are laid out very logically, and you almost always know what tab you need to look under for a certain task. Now, while I think this new interface is great, and it was easy to adapt to, I don’t think everyone else will. I can easily see someone who’s used Office for years get lost, because things are in different places then what they’ve learned. That being said, I think once they adapt, which might take some time, they too will find the interface quite pleasing and functional.
Besides the interface, Microsoft really did add features to the different Office programs. It would be impossible to list them all, so instead I’ll just mention my favorite new feature. Now in almost every Office program when you highlight over a different formatting option, whether that be a font, or even a theme, the document immediately displays a live preview of that change. This makes it very handy to see how small formatting changes will effect the real look of your document.
An article about a Microsoft product can’t go complete without a few gripes, and I certainly have them. I think the new version of Access is really going to mess with people’s heads. The changes are very radical in Access. Views are completely different, building forms and reports are done in a new design editor, and other things have been moved to almost hidden places. Like I mentioned about the interface before, this is probably going to make sense to a new user, but for someone who has used the program for a long time, or a semester in my case, it’s going to leave you non-productive for a while.
My other gripe lies with Publisher. Loading up Publisher is going to cause confusion. At the moment, the interface is a hybrid of the old File menu system, and the new, sleek tabbed interface. Parts of the interface are not consistent at all. I’m just hoping this isn’t Publisher’s final interface, because right now it looks like Microsoft tried to add the new Vista-like design, and just gave up. Hopefully Microsoft just hasn’t finished the interface yet, and it will feature a consistent design by the time Microsoft Office 2007 gets released.
So in conclusion, my little sneak peak at the next version of Office was a success. I managed to not break anything, which is quite a feat for even final versions of Microsoft software. I was also able to enjoy the new interface, and use some of the new features built into the suite.
If you’re interested in checking out the new Office, I’d encourage you to do so, only if you’re on a non-productive machine. This is beta software, and you’re most likely going to run into glitches, so just be aware of that. With that said, if you’re up for the risk, go crazy. I think you’ll find the new Office suite very cool.
11 Comments
With all that said, the new UI looks really nice. Its obvious that newer programs are moving to sleeker looking windows. If M$ Vista looks the same general way, it could be a good upgrade to the comical Windows XP. (As long as they can get it running smoothly with little CPU consumption.) I would test Office ‘07 Beta, but it won’t run on my mac. And I’m not about to screw my laptop up. I could always reinstall Office ‘03…Hmmm
This looks like a nice sharp beta version fo the program, im actually downloading it right now(at 90%). I can’t wait to test it out. I will also have the Vista Beta 2 soon, and will have both combined, which I hope will be an insane experience!
why would u had been screwed? just backup the MDB file and reinstall 2k3 if necessary. but when i get back to the states ill def d/l it and check it out.
So I installed office 2007. I love it! It is so nice. The new formatting is much nicer than the previous version. But, it only took like 20 minutes to install, you computer just sucks.
I understand I could probably have reverted to Office 2003, but I figured for the worse. Like if Office 2007 wouldn’t uninstall and Office 2003 wouldn’t want to overwrite the 2007 installation.
20 minutes? That’s exactly what I’m talking about. Way too long for an installation. Office 2003 installs in under five minutes on any computer I’ve put it on.
Well tomorrow morning I’m flying back home so I’ll see how long it takes me. As for 2k2, usually it takes me less, a lot less. Around 5-7 minutes and I do full installation/complete.
i mean 2k3
I wouldn’t touch a BETA Microsoft product with a mile-long stick. If their final products (ahem… I’m using XP… not for long though) are so unstable, I cannot even imagine what Office BETA would be like. God bless the suckers, who download it. Ron here knows his way around, smart chap, but imagine what would happen if a post 35yr old person tried it out.
Why didn’t my Gravatar show????
You used a different email address. I just changed it to your email which contains your Gravatar.
Oh right. Thanks! I’ve just signed up with Google’s Domain Management, it’s awesome. I was with Microsoft’s Live Domains earlier, but it was way too restricted and limited in space. 2mbs for crying out loud! Now I’m getting a 1000 times that and Gmail’s easy-to-use interface. Check out my login page, I’m still customizing it: https://www.google.com/hosted/simran.in
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