Comments on: Microsoft starts testing Office 14

Software giant begins early outside testing of some of the server products that will make up the next version of Office.

[Mr. Dee]

Geez, why is Microsoft being so stingy with Office 14 news? I suspecting the Office Team has ran out of ideas, they did such a good job with 12 and Fluent UI what more is there really to put in the suite?

[loose_screw]

Wow, my company is still on Office 2003, and haven't even upgrade to Office 2007 yet. I doubt we're unique in that regard either.

[inverse137]

Consider yourself lucky. All of the users I have upgraded to 2007 hate the new layout.

[MotleyHar]

2007 is awful, be happy that you have 2003 still.

[Knightro2]

Office 2007 has a big learning curve. I just rolled out O2k7/IE7/SP3 to 900 workstations at the end of last year. My team and I are ramping up to finish the remaining 4000+ workstations starting next month. From the first 900, we got a lot of push back. But once we worked through the issues...and there were a ton of them... the users actually started to really like 2007. It just takes some getting use to.

[ducttape36]

i used to hate the ribbon as well, but a year later im coming around. now when i use an older version on another computer i find myself wishing i was using 2007. granted, it took me a whole year to finally get used to it, but i find it really does increase my productivity. especially when working across all their office products, not just word.

I suspect 99.9% of Office users don't care, and don't need MS Office either with suitable alternatives available with a >90% lower cost of ownership. Any IT specialist I know of worthy of his/her position recommends a non-Microsoft office product.

[Lerianis]

Are you joking? The fact is that most IT specialists are still saying that Microsoft Office products are the best, bar none. Mainly because they are very easy to support in a business environment.

[chrisfrary]

As an IT specialist I can say that although MS Office alternatives are there people want it out of habit. I have offered several classes and devoted a whole day per user (Management) to switch, but ultimately it was not my decision. The office is too full of old style users that will go up in arms as soon as something new comes along that they are not familiar with. I keep pushing for more discussion and consideration for easier and cheaper products and explain that by the time I am done everything will be better but they just refuse new things even if it is easier just because they wont attend a training course etc.

[lordmorgul]

Now, Office still enjoys this user driven market lock-in... because it is now only the user's preferences and fear of new software that keeps many companies using it, rather than previously it was document incompatibility and portability. With the new cloud computing office apps out there (google docs, 280slides.com, etc), and the solid office products like OpenOffice.org and ThinkFree Office, I think that MS Office will have to do more to keep users soon.

Those new products are not hard to use and as company budgets tighten I could see some of that change getting mandated from the top.

[Lerianis]

OpenOffice? Give me a break: most long-time Microsoft Office users HATE OpenOffice when they try it, and have given it a good bit of use before they say they hate it.
Personally, I went to Microsoft Office after getting blasted by OpenOffice's problems, and have never looked back.

[Draq Wraith]

DId i sleep through office 13 ? or is it locked up in a vault with other evil things?

[lordmorgul]

Apparently products with odd version numbers are just assumed to have flopped and are not released. Vista, ME, and other famous failures were most likely odd versions before rebranding and taking that chance by sending them to the market was ill-advised.

[mkeswani]

office 12 was called office 2007.
when office 14 comes out, lets see what the name is. i only use ms access 2007. i don't use the other ms office apps.

[MMC Racing]

Why is there rarely a 13th floor in buildings? Silly superstition.

[in2uitiv]

wow...you really don't know what Office 13 is?

For you (and anyone else that doesn't know)....'Office 13' is the Mac version of Office 2007 dubbed Office 2008.

[nutso101]

It is going to be hard to improve a great office suite package. What more could anyone want?

[rub12]

Most enterprise see a lot of value in the Office Platform, with it's ease of use, rich features and tight integration with server products like SharePoint, Project Server and Exchange. Truely there is no competitor with the feature rich story of office, mind you Office not includes the old four but InfoPath, Publisher, Visio and Project Professional.

I am yet to come across any serious organistaion who does not use MS Office. The UI changes done with Office 12\aka 2007 are revolutionary. Most users do require a few days of getting used to but I can tell from experience - when given the option to go back to an older version - is a no go!

[handybob]

I'm more upset with MS for what they've done with Office than with Vista (and I'm pretty upset with bloated Vista). I'm on my 11th year using Word and I find myself staring at the screen, trying to figure out how to execute a simple command. In time I'll figure it out. But what a low blow to introduce docx so that eventually virtually everyone will have to upgrade. I don't doubt that MS is an expensive enterprise to keep afloat, but I look forward to the day when open-source software becomes the standard and I can say goodbye to MS's bloated, expensive software.

[goodspeed8701]

Ladies and Gentle men! I present to you another lazy fool.

[gp2792]

google search on "Office 2007 Search Commands" You will find a little add-in for office 2007 that really helps the transition from office 2003 to 2007. It was written by Microsoft (Office Labs) under the code name "Scout". That should help you make the transition.

I would never go back to 2003 or earlier versions. Once you get used to it, the interface is much more powerful.

[MotleyHar]

I really love how Microsoft is afriad of the # 13 and skipped it. Thats just awesome.

[mohameddaudomar3950]

i got office 2007 at both my college and home and at first i hated it but as time went on i found it easier to use the office 2007 becuase everything has been easier then the 2003 version and becuase the 2007 verison has more features and is easier to use

my only problem with this product is that its expensive and if you do your work in a computer that has the 2007 version and you go to another computer that has 2003 version then it wont open on the 2003 version

[goodspeed8701]

So many of you guys dont know how o use office. Heres is a tutorial... dont be scared its free.

When you want to save your work you can choose weather you want to save it to work on office 2003 or 2000 or 97. Just go to the office logo and click it and you will see a drop down menu click save as and choose 97 to 2003. thats all. Now say thank you.

[zbawic]

You can always download the converter from MS - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=941b3470-3ae9-4aee-8f43-c6bb74cd1466&displaylang=en

[Firemark1817]

Let's hope that when they reach Office 41 they'll finally manage to resolve all the underlying annoying inconsistencies between the applications. Is it =IF or IIF they really wanted to improve the product the commands and syntax for formulas would be standardized among Excel, Access and SQL Server. THEN it wouldn't be such a chore for folks who start out learning Excel to expand their data handling with Access Queries. ELSE we'll be stuck searching through all the new coats of lipstick pasted on the front end of this PIG!