Comments on: Office 2007 update comes early

Service Pack 1 for Office, which has gotten a lot less attention than the forthcoming Vista service pack, makes its quiet debut on Tuesday.

[ian sayer]

Office 2007 SP1

Does the SP 1 give me back the toolbars of 2003 plus extras or would I still need to buy an add in to give me back the user abilty? I'm still flumaxed at the ribbon being a sale point.
Ian

[sanenazok]

No but

if you're looking for Office 2003 appearance then Office 2003 is your safest bet. Also, the last thing Office needs is more extras/plugins.

If the new look of Office 2007 caught you by surprise you're likely flumaxed by maaaany other things. SP1 or not you're in trouble!

[Penguinisto]

Trial downloads?

...I wonder why they're not counting sales... is it that bad?

/P

[Vegaman_Dan]

Not applicable

I'm not aware of any service pack or patch costing customers a single dime. Or are you trying to make some obscure reference to something totally unrelated to the article?

Your post is confusing. Please elaborate in detail with referenced articles for evidence.

Thanks!

[suyts]

They are not counting?

Who says?

[The_Decider]

Off ice 2007 blows

I am in the unenviable position of having to teach this in a computer "literacy" class to freshmen. The trials of being a graduate student.

The software is slow, bloated, buggy, changed UI for the sake of change, etc. Yeah, going down 4 or five levels in a menu bar is a drag, but not nearly as bad as having 4 or 5 dialog boxes up. There are too many items on the "ribbon" that should be elsewhere. MS has a loooong way to go before it will be able to create a user friendly GUI.

The only thing remotely worthwhile is the source management and styles. It is admittedly cool, but not having enough of them(MLA, APA + a few obscure formats do not really cut it) or an easy way to add in other formats diminishes its value.

PowerPoint has nothing new of value. And Excel is Excel. Speaking of Excel, it is probably the only legitimate user level program MS has.

At $60 for the student version it is about $60 overpriced.

Please don't ask me why my school went to Office 2007, or why they insist that knowing Office makes one compute literate. No one at the school can seem to answer those questions.

[Vegaman_Dan]

Design trend

I wish I could counter your complaints about the ribbon and design, but I cannot. The design trend for applications today is more about eye candy than functionality. Adobe, Apple, all of them- menus are changed more for marketing than functionality.

[suyts]

You didn't notice?

that there is no longer that 65,00 row limit on Excel?? With that functionality alone, Office 2007 is worth it. Word isn't user level? Outlook? While I agree, PowerPoint is for visually stimulated people, there are many that enjoy the pretty pictures. (User level?) Have you even looked at the Groove program? This is a "barrier" breaking program included in the Office suite. Access is still my choice to pull other DB's to. Way easier than the constant SQL statements one has to run otherwise. Yes, slightly more advanced than a "user level" program, but not much. To answer your question, if one can show a command of Office (MOUS/E cert), they would be employable in any office across the globe. If you are really teaching a course in Office, it would behoove to be more educated in the course you are instructing.

[jbfurby]

I agree . . . I agree . . . I agreee

This is the most frustrating piece of #$%& I've ever used.

[dufftheglc]

Why Office SP1?

Since Office (as well as all other programs) requires the operating system to work, why didn't the SP1 for Windows get priority for development?
Because even MS can't get it to work?

[Vegaman_Dan]

Parallel development

Most companies have separate groups working on different products. They don't devote all their resources to one product until it's done, then move on to the next one, etc. They work on multiple products at once.

Look at the auto industry. Each company comes out with multiple models each year.

[Gunady]

Complexity

Windows, as Operating System, is definitely more complex than Office Application. If Office Application has number of Add-Ins developed by third party which SP update shouldn't break them, Windows has tons of device/drivers/MS Software (e.g. Office itself)/third party app that Microsoft shouldn't break by the update. That might explain why Vista SP1 went through such testing from Beta 1, 2, RC, etc.

[Commander_Spock]

Hitting the nail on its head!

"Since Office (as well as all other programs) requires the operating system to work" Ohhhhhh... those API (OS/2-Lotus 1-2-3) Calls. Who is "Mr. Scrooge" and Company that disappointed the world!

[suyts2]

Sigh,

Ok, I'll bite, what Windows doesn't work? I've had them all since windows 3.0. No complaints except for ME. Please don't say Vista is broke, I've got my 68 y/o mother using w/o complaints. I have it up in my shop.... haven't found any problems yet. So what doesn't work?

[inachu]

Did Sp1 kill the kindergarden look and feel?

the interface appeals to little kids.

[The_Decider]

Not mine

My kids hate it.

Personally, I don't find it all that difficult to get around, but there is no reason for it. It is annoying and gets in people way. Hows that for a perfect description of MS software?

It is the same level of annoyance as the equally worthless "feature" in Office 2003 that hid lesser used functions from the user. That was a gas!

[furiousrcj]

re: Did Sp1 kill the kindergarden look and feel?

I agree! No one I know likes it, and if you goole search it, no one out there does either...