Dan Griffin's Blog
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Comments on Office 2007
December 13, 2007
‘Tis the season to upgrade to a new laptop, apparently. A few friends and family members have been asking me for hardware recommendations, and have also been wondering about the perils of upgrading to Windows Vista. Based on my own experience, given that they’ll be buying a tested configuration from a top-tier OEM, I don’t think Vista is likely to cause them too much difficulty. Drivers for some consumer hardware, such as older video cameras, can be a problem. But aside from that I don’t think the overall learning curve will be an issue.
However, the interesting thing has been when I casually ask whether they’ll also be buying the Office 2007 pre-load. A couple have said, “Yes, why do you ask?” Because - that’s where the real learning curve is going to be. I’ve been using various versions of 2007 for almost a year now, and I can say two things: one, some changes to the product really frustrated me. And two, it was worth it!
Two examples - one positive, one slightly negative - both based on Word. The positive one is regarding the application of outline-numbered headings. Since I write a lot of technical documents, and I find them easier to read with numbered headings, I use that feature all the time. But it got moved! It used to be buried in some menu tree somewhere - actually, I don’t even remember now! But now, in 2007, it’s a button right there on the main ribbon tool bar. Very cool! I guess I’m not the only one who uses that feature 
The slightly negative example of the 2007 learning curve concerns the document properties menu. Sorry to say that the so-called “advanced properties,” such as document title and company name, are totally buried off of a combination of the new “Office button” and a separate toolbar menu that appears subsequently. That’s no fun.
Still, dedicated MS Office users are going to plow through all of the new intricacies of the product and really like it.
The one hitch - and I think this was really an interesting calculated risk on Microsoft’s part - is office environments in which less computer-savvy staff are going to have to be retrained before 2007 can be widely deployed. Why retrained? Well, when you change something in the software or workflow, you have to retrain the office staff - it’s that simple. And that makes deploying 2007 pretty expensive. So the question is, over the long run, will 2007 make the day-to-day efforts of that staff easier?
One positive indication is the new ribbon toolbar. Although I’m sure it looks unfamiliar and intimidating the first time around, I think it will indeed prove to be easier to use and hence will save time over the long run.
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