Customer Reviews

Microsoft Word 2007 Version Upgrade [OLD VERSION]

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

Word 2007, some like it, but a very vocal group, one could say a majority, despise it. (just Google "hate word 2007" and you will see)

Unfortunately, I'm in the latter camp.

Having used MS Word back in DOS days, back then it was competing against the then reigning king of desktop word processing, Word Perfect, and gave it a good fight during the early years of Windows-based word processors, eventually winning the fight and driving Word Perfect into virtual obscurity.

I have watched the program undergo some fantastic development, each one better than the previous. Word 95 was remarkable, Word 97 even better, and it got progressively better as it matured and enjoyed a dominant position in the word processing marketplace. Word 2003 ruled the roost.

However, with Word 2007, Microsoft have pulled the unthinkable, and has literally foisted a new interface upon its loyal users under the guise of being "new and improved".

Boasting "new functionality", the ribbon interface appears like eye candy, and much to my disappointment, it is. Perhaps for a novice user or someone who's never touched a word processor before, it might be a pleasant learning curve to get used to the functions. Unfortunately, a vast majority of the Word 2007 users would be unsuspecting Word "loyalists" hoping to get something better than the previous version.

If you're used to keyboard shortcuts to do familiar tasks, or browsing a traditional drop-down menu to find things, you will find the ribbon as a rude shock. What MS has done is a literal "slap in the face" of the existing user-base, as it has changed access to many functions that users were familiar with (either by keyboard shortcuts, macros, even familiar menu buttons) and grouped them in a very confusing interface which seasoned Word aficionados would cuss and swear about trying to find simple things like "print" or "save-as".

Productivity takes a huge hit as a lot of time is wasted hunting for that "delete table" function or other which used to take seconds before. There is no option in the application to revert to classic menus.

To sum it up, I will use the analogy of MS releasing a new car, the "Word 2007 GT", only this time, the steering wheel is replaced by a big control ribbon taking 3 times the space of the old dashboard. It will have pretty pictures showing "Turn left" and "Turn right", and you have to tap your left foot on the foot button 3 times (they have done away with pedals) to get the "Go forward" image to appear, and then double-tap your right foot on the accelerator button to make it move. Going in reverse will require you to hover your hand over the "Go forward" image until the drop down appears showing a "reverse" symbol, which resembles a MS logo. Stopping is a whole new adventure, just nudge the red "X" on the 2nd menu's nested drop-down for "stopping functionality", and hope the car stops before hitting the one in front.

All in all, MS Word 2007 is a giant leap backwards in functionality, simply because they have alienated a massive number of their existing user base by not providing an option for "classic menus".

Back to my car analogy and MS, we want our cars to be consistent with what we've used before. It should have a steering wheel you turn to point in the intended direction. Pedals in the right places that are consistent with every other car you're likely to drive. Why fix what is not broken, Microsoft? Did your development focus group consist mainly of novices and morons?

I'd give this product a 0/5 rating if I could.

What I like: Live preview (e.g. document updates with the font or style you're hovering over). Too few others to mention.

What I don't like: Wasting time trying to find functionality that was literally a click, or a fast keyboard shortcut away. Ribbon interface taking up too much screen real-estate.

What I want: A service pack that brings back classic menus.

Word 2007 is now being forced upon us by it-departments all over the world. It is a complete makeover from the last version. The last version was ok. It was stable and for the most part you could find what you were looking for fairly quickly. Not so with the new version. It is a complte mess. And the program is extremely hard to use without reaching for the mouse all the time. In the ideal word processor, the mouse should be used as little as possible in order to maintain the flow. Alas, we have forever lost the best word processor ever in that respect, Word 2.0c. Now that was a great program. All the bells and whistles you actually needed. No stupid pets. Only took up 5 Mbytes on the hard disk.

I spent more than an hour and a half with a tech over a static phone line trying to activate this product once it installed. I have used computers since the beginnings and have never been so frustrated trying to install a simple upgrade program. Heavily accented techie and a static phone line make this hardly worth the while regardless of how well the new upgrade performs. Never again.

For anyone who routinely shares Word docs with other business people, Word 2007 may make your life more difficult. Most people have an earlier version of Word, and will be unable to access or read a Word 2007 document unless it is "saved as" a file with earlier Word document format (which is .doc ; for Word 2007, Microsoft created a new file type, .docx ). However, even if you "save as" an earlier Word version, recipient with earlier Word version will have limitations in using the file, and - understand this - Word 2007 creates a second/duplicate file in your folder (one for ea. file type). So, if you have a Word 2007 document called "New Word File" & you "save as" the earlier Word file type so that a business associate may read/access, you'll then see 2 files with the same exact name ("New Word File") in that folder. And if you then need to subsequently make a change in the document (any change at all), you'll have to either make it in both files (twice the work) or somehow remember which file (if either) has been updated, etc. If you're like me, you don't know (& don't want to have to ask) which version of Word your business associate is using. Which means if you want to be sure they'll be able to access & read the Word document you're sending them (& you're using Word 2007), you must save as earlier version of Word.

As an instructor for a one credit hour class in Job Search Strategies, one of the primary goals of the course is for each student to develop resumes, cover letters, business cards, and references sheets.

I have a range of students with varying degrees of Microsoft Office proficiency, and this year's progress is significantly slower than previous classes. The new Word Command interface initially impresses the user with it's slick styling and sleek look, until you actually need to find a specific command, and then the user-hostile, maze-like nature of the interface becomes all to apparent.

Despite our school's policy of choosing which software packages we teach based on those that are most prevolent in industry, Word has proven to be such an exercise in frustration for students ranging from novices through experts, that all classes after this one will be using Openoffice.org Writer, which is not only more user friendly but completely free, and available for Windows, MacOSX, and Linux.

I have never had a problem with Microsoft Office software until this the 2007 latest incarnation. Word 2007 is an utter and complete waste of money and time.

If you liked the old DOS era when all applications had different commands and the clerical staff had a stroke when you made them learn a new word processing application, you will absolutely love Word 2007. However, if you liked the modern era of Windows applications whereby they shared familiar drop down menus, you will detest Word 2007. What amazes me are the glowing reviews this mess has received by the "experts." I guess computer geeks are like mathematicians: as long as something is "elegant," that's good enough. Why should one worry about the dumb masses who will use the "elegant" product?

BEWARE- they don't tell you upfront that Word 2007 isn't easily compatible with Word 2003...especially for those upgrading...a lot of the 2003 features and 2007 features do not work together, thereby many 2007 Word docs will not read in Word 2003 and visa versa. If you go to the MS Office website you can download a "converter" to convert 2003 Office docs to 2007 format, but who wants to have to go through that everytime..makes you wonder what they were thinking in Redmond, WA when they designed this new software? While there are certainly vast improvements in graphic look and capabilities...the Word 2003 non compatabillity is a serious flaw that they overlooked (or maybe they just didn't care how inconvenient and how much trouble it would cause their loyal customers. And you wonder why people hate Microsoft so much...wake up Bill!)

If Vista wasn't bad enough, this is even worse.

The huge problem with this upgrade is the dire interface. The ribbon takes up far too much space and can't be customised. Forget all your keyboard shortcuts, they won't work in Word 2007 e.g. when using tables, ALT>I>R to insert a row becomes ALT>J>L>A. It's all like this. The menu structure is gone and there's no option to bring it back!

Instead of menus you get lots of tabs and a ribbon. You can't move the ribbon and it take up 30mm of your screen space. None of the commands is where you expect it to be and doing simple things like bullets and numbering has become tedious. You can only have a single row of custom buttons and this is practically limited to about 25 buttons which can be visible - if you want font or style on the quick access bar then this falls to about a dozen.

Microsoft have enforced a strict inteface that can only be changed by a programmer who can write XML apps for Word!!!

In summary, if you are an experienced user, you will hate and detest this software and wish you had not bothered. This upgrade is the best advert for Open Office that I can imagine. And Open Office is a free download from the Sun Website!

Microsoft shoots itself in the foot - again.

It wasn't broken, so why did they "fix" it? It is a productivity killer. What was once 1 or 2 clicks away is now 3, 5 or 7 clicks away. The ribbon is a frustrating and unnecessary organizational concept. There are a few upgrades I like (e.g., SmartArt in PowerPoint), but the few true upgrades are not worth the complete reorganization of the toolbars / menu bars that business users have relied on for years.

I'm a graphic designer and small press publisher of my own books who does much layout and design work for myself and other independent authors. MS Word is the primary choice for most writers and would-be self publishers due to it's ability to create pretty sophisticated layouts and general ease of use. I work with the software extensively, and am the first to admit that MS Word can be difficult to work with at times. However I still find it to be the best by far.

Word 2007 has a revised interface that at first I found confusing, having worked with older versions for years. But as I got used to the new modular interface, and the ability to place a custom selection of tools and options in a convenient row of toolbar buttons at the top of the screen, I've grown to love it. Along with the new feature where, when highlighting and changing text you are given an auto-pop up to allow choice of bold, italics, and other options, it's already increased my productivity tremendously.

If you're thinking of upgrading from an older version of Word, think no more. Do it. Just expect a brief learning curve while you get used to the completely revamped interface.