«

so its been out for over a week, freely available and downloadable to anybody
with a passport.

who else (apart form me) is using it ?

any thaughts ?

after my initial problems with outlook not rendering messages properly (due
to AVG Email intergration & Office Developers changing a big chunk of that
functionality) i have to say that i can actually find stuff.

we all know how complex Word and Excel are, having to mine through endless
menus not always finding stuff (renember that 'feature' where the menus would
hide buttons not used in a while ?). the office ribbins certanly end the
pain of trying to find stuff.

granted the first time i tried to 'paste special' i was searching swearing
and generally feeling stupid when i saw that big ass 'paste' button in the
left of the 'home' ribbin, before when i wanted to do a 'paste special' (ie
when you dont want to paste the formatting) i had to click through several
things just to be able to do it - now its two clicks.

i can see that the 'ribbins' will be one of thoes things that are cloned
all through damnation (its rare when Microsoft takes a UI leap and nobody
follows, more often than not everybody follows) - its really only sutible
for big ass programs with lots of functionality (ie word and excel), but
it does give a level of 'sexyness' (yes these things matter when you are
dealing with 'real clients') that will be appreciated even by smaller systems.

one thing that did annoy me with the default install was the colour-scheme,
I found it hard trying to focus on stuff as often there wasnt quite enough
color difference to let you make out some text - admittidly my eyes are f***ed,
so i switched teh colour scheme to 'Windows Vista (grey)' and now its quite
pleasant to look at.

anyhow if your giving it a try, what do you think ?

----------------
Steven H

the madGeek

On Tue, 30 May 2006 23:46:20 +0000 (UTC), Steven H
<> exclaimed:

>
>so its been out for over a week, freely available and downloadable to anybody
>with a passport.
>
>who else (apart form me) is using it ?

Well, looking at the video, even Cup of Pee will have to admit it
looks like a big jump forwards.

http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/ui/video.mspx

I guess it again highlights the difference between hobby apps (ie
those that part-time developers work on as a hobby, ie Open Source)
versus what a large, dedicated professional team can accomplish. The
OpenOffice people must be getting worried - no doubt as they hack and
copy.

Downloading now, to see if it lives up to the video. Will post first
impressions shortly.

"Steven H" <> wrote in message
news: .nz...
> so its been out for over a week, freely available and downloadable
> to anybody with a passport.
> who else (apart form me) is using it ?
>
> any thaughts ?
>
> after my initial problems with outlook not rendering messages
> properly (due to AVG Email intergration & Office Developers changing
> a big chunk of that functionality) i have to say that i can actually
> find stuff.
>
> we all know how complex Word and Excel are, having to mine through
> endless menus not always finding stuff (renember that 'feature'
> where the menus would hide buttons not used in a while ?). the
> office ribbins certanly end the pain of trying to find stuff.
>
> granted the first time i tried to 'paste special' i was searching
> swearing and generally feeling stupid when i saw that big ass
> 'paste' button in the left of the 'home' ribbin, before when i
> wanted to do a 'paste special' (ie when you dont want to paste the
> formatting) i had to click through several things just to be able to
> do it - now its two clicks.
>
> i can see that the 'ribbins' will be one of thoes things that are
> cloned all through damnation (its rare when Microsoft takes a UI
> leap and nobody follows, more often than not everybody follows) -
> its really only sutible for big ass programs with lots of
> functionality (ie word and excel), but it does give a level of
> 'sexyness' (yes these things matter when you are dealing with 'real
> clients') that will be appreciated even by smaller systems.
>
> one thing that did annoy me with the default install was the
> colour-scheme, I found it hard trying to focus on stuff as often
> there wasnt quite enough color difference to let you make out some
> text - admittidly my eyes are f***ed, so i switched teh colour
> scheme to 'Windows Vista (grey)' and now its quite pleasant to look
> at.
>
> anyhow if your giving it a try, what do you think ?
>

I'm not brave enough to actually install any betas on my system. But
I've taken the video tour through Office 7 that's available (can't
fink the link just now). Anyway, your experience seems to square with
mine. I was pleasantly surprised to see how much functionality had
been added, especially -- for my purposes -- with the live formatting
galleries, which let you pause over a selection and have your current
document rendered accordingly. Maybe this works better on video than
in real life But I'm hopeful. The charting capability also seems
much improved. I have a library full of little VBA routines I
habitually use to accomplish some of these things now, and it seems
very possible that a number of them will become obsolete. But then
there will always be new gaps to fill, so....

Any thoughts yet on how the apps "feel" performance wise?

Steven H <> wrote:

>so its been out for over a week, freely available and downloadable to anybody
>with a passport.
>
>who else (apart form me) is using it ?
>
>any thaughts ?
>
>after my initial problems with outlook not rendering messages properly (due
>to AVG Email intergration & Office Developers changing a big chunk of that
>functionality) i have to say that i can actually find stuff.
>
>we all know how complex Word and Excel are, having to mine through endless
>menus not always finding stuff (renember that 'feature' where the menus would
>hide buttons not used in a while ?). the office ribbins certanly end the
>pain of trying to find stuff.
>
>granted the first time i tried to 'paste special' i was searching swearing
>and generally feeling stupid when i saw that big ass 'paste' button in the
>left of the 'home' ribbin, before when i wanted to do a 'paste special' (ie
>when you dont want to paste the formatting) i had to click through several
>things just to be able to do it - now its two clicks.
>
>i can see that the 'ribbins' will be one of thoes things that are cloned
>all through damnation (its rare when Microsoft takes a UI leap and nobody
>follows, more often than not everybody follows) - its really only sutible
>for big ass programs with lots of functionality (ie word and excel), but
>it does give a level of 'sexyness' (yes these things matter when you are
>dealing with 'real clients') that will be appreciated even by smaller systems.
>
>one thing that did annoy me with the default install was the colour-scheme,
>I found it hard trying to focus on stuff as often there wasnt quite enough
>color difference to let you make out some text - admittidly my eyes are f***ed,
>so i switched teh colour scheme to 'Windows Vista (grey)' and now its quite
>pleasant to look at.
>
>anyhow if your giving it a try, what do you think ?
>
>----------------
>Steven H
>
>the madGeek
>

I've got a Beta here dated Feb 20-06 which I thought was beta 2 but
it doesn't say.

However From what I have seen and others here at work I not overly
impressed with the new layout. A real learning curve I suspect for
Office users. I prefer the 2003 and earlier look myself. I suspect
it's a case of MS changing the interface for changes sake and charging
a bundle more for it.

Hello Impossible,

> Any thoughts yet on how the apps "feel" performance wise?

well its running fine on a 900mhz TB with 512 megs of memory, a guy who's
blog i read has it going 'ok' on a Toshiba Tecra 8000, Pentium II, 400 MHZ,
256MB RAM. iirc he said that it works but you should be a little bit patient.

the new eye candy will be taking a decent amount of cpu time (all Windows
pre Vista does graphics on the cpu, vista does it on the graphics card where
possible).

one of the things i really like is that the ribbins change baised on what
you are doing, got a image selected then the ribbin will show 'stuff you
can do with images' - i like this contextual stuff, makes life easier.

----------------
Steven H

the madGeek

> "Steven H" <> wrote in message
> news: .nz...
>
>> so its been out for over a week, freely available and downloadable
>> to anybody with a passport.
>> who else (apart form me) is using it ?
>> any thaughts ?
>>
>> after my initial problems with outlook not rendering messages
>> properly (due to AVG Email intergration & Office Developers changing
>> a big chunk of that functionality) i have to say that i can actually
>> find stuff.
>>
>> we all know how complex Word and Excel are, having to mine through
>> endless menus not always finding stuff (renember that 'feature' where
>> the menus would hide buttons not used in a while ?). the office
>> ribbins certanly end the pain of trying to find stuff.
>>
>> granted the first time i tried to 'paste special' i was searching
>> swearing and generally feeling stupid when i saw that big ass 'paste'
>> button in the left of the 'home' ribbin, before when i wanted to do a
>> 'paste special' (ie when you dont want to paste the formatting) i had
>> to click through several things just to be able to do it - now its
>> two clicks.
>>
>> i can see that the 'ribbins' will be one of thoes things that are
>> cloned all through damnation (its rare when Microsoft takes a UI leap
>> and nobody follows, more often than not everybody follows) - its
>> really only sutible for big ass programs with lots of functionality
>> (ie word and excel), but it does give a level of 'sexyness' (yes
>> these things matter when you are dealing with 'real clients') that
>> will be appreciated even by smaller systems.
>>
>> one thing that did annoy me with the default install was the
>> colour-scheme, I found it hard trying to focus on stuff as often
>> there wasnt quite enough color difference to let you make out some
>> text - admittidly my eyes are f***ed, so i switched teh colour scheme
>> to 'Windows Vista (grey)' and now its quite pleasant to look at.
>>
>> anyhow if your giving it a try, what do you think ?
>>
> I'm not brave enough to actually install any betas on my system. But
> I've taken the video tour through Office 7 that's available (can't
> fink the link just now). Anyway, your experience seems to square with
> mine. I was pleasantly surprised to see how much functionality had
> been added, especially -- for my purposes -- with the live formatting
> galleries, which let you pause over a selection and have your current
> document rendered accordingly. Maybe this works better on video than
> in real life But I'm hopeful. The charting capability also seems
> much improved. I have a library full of little VBA routines I
> habitually use to accomplish some of these things now, and it seems
> very possible that a number of them will become obsolete. But then
> there will always be new gaps to fill, so....
>
> Any thoughts yet on how the apps "feel" performance wise?
>

"Steven H" <> wrote in message
news: .nz...
> so its been out for over a week, freely available and downloadable to
> anybody with a passport.
> who else (apart form me) is using it ?
>
> any thaughts ?
>
> after my initial problems with outlook not rendering messages properly
> (due to AVG Email intergration & Office Developers changing a big chunk of
> that functionality) i have to say that i can actually find stuff.
>
> we all know how complex Word and Excel are, having to mine through endless
> menus not always finding stuff (renember that 'feature' where the menus
> would hide buttons not used in a while ?). the office ribbins certanly end
> the pain of trying to find stuff.
>
> granted the first time i tried to 'paste special' i was searching swearing
> and generally feeling stupid when i saw that big ass 'paste' button in the
> left of the 'home' ribbin, before when i wanted to do a 'paste special'
> (ie when you dont want to paste the formatting) i had to click through
> several things just to be able to do it - now its two clicks.
>

It looks like they have borrowed (ripped off) some of the menu system from
Macromedias dreamweaver, including the top menu system

Hello Mutlley,

> I've got a Beta here dated Feb 20-06 which I thought was beta 2 but
> it doesn't say.

CTP? that you got it with your MSDN subscription (only way to get it)

> However From what I have seen and others here at work I not overly
> impressed with the new layout.

how so

> A real learning curve I suspect for
> Office users.

there is always a learning curve, espically when ui is changed dramattically

> I prefer the 2003 and earlier look myself. I suspect
> it's a case of MS changing the interface for changes sake and charging
> a bundle more for it.

here i disagree, a 're invention' of the office ui had to happen sooner or
later. the menus were getting wayyyy to complex and messy.

but it will be intresting to see how both novice and 'professiona' office
users adapt to the new ui, i will bet that the 'professionals' will kick
up more of a stink and the novices once they get over the initial shock will
adapt easier.

----------------
Steven H

the madGeek

> Steven H <> wrote:
>
>> so its been out for over a week, freely available and downloadable to
>> anybody with a passport.
>>
>> who else (apart form me) is using it ?
>>
>> any thaughts ?
>>
>> after my initial problems with outlook not rendering messages
>> properly (due to AVG Email intergration & Office Developers changing
>> a big chunk of that functionality) i have to say that i can actually
>> find stuff.
>>
>> we all know how complex Word and Excel are, having to mine through
>> endless menus not always finding stuff (renember that 'feature' where
>> the menus would hide buttons not used in a while ?). the office
>> ribbins certanly end the pain of trying to find stuff.
>>
>> granted the first time i tried to 'paste special' i was searching
>> swearing and generally feeling stupid when i saw that big ass 'paste'
>> button in the left of the 'home' ribbin, before when i wanted to do a
>> 'paste special' (ie when you dont want to paste the formatting) i had
>> to click through several things just to be able to do it - now its
>> two clicks.
>>
>> i can see that the 'ribbins' will be one of thoes things that are
>> cloned all through damnation (its rare when Microsoft takes a UI leap
>> and nobody follows, more often than not everybody follows) - its
>> really only sutible for big ass programs with lots of functionality
>> (ie word and excel), but it does give a level of 'sexyness' (yes
>> these things matter when you are dealing with 'real clients') that
>> will be appreciated even by smaller systems.
>>
>> one thing that did annoy me with the default install was the
>> colour-scheme, I found it hard trying to focus on stuff as often
>> there wasnt quite enough color difference to let you make out some
>> text - admittidly my eyes are f***ed, so i switched teh colour scheme
>> to 'Windows Vista (grey)' and now its quite pleasant to look at.
>>
>> anyhow if your giving it a try, what do you think ?
>>
>> ----------------
>> Steven H
>> the madGeek
>>
> I've got a Beta here dated Feb 20-06 which I thought was beta 2 but
> it doesn't say.
>
> However From what I have seen and others here at work I not overly
> impressed with the new layout. A real learning curve I suspect for
> Office users. I prefer the 2003 and earlier look myself. I suspect
> it's a case of MS changing the interface for changes sake and charging
> a bundle more for it.
>

I just found this link to a utility to show you where that damn feature went
tooo ...

http://blogs.msdn.com/jensenh/archiv...30/610907.aspx

----------------
Steven H

the madGeek

Steven H wrote:

> so its been out for over a week, freely available and downloadable to
> anybody with a passport.
>
> who else (apart form me) is using it ?
>
> any thaughts ?

Do they still have the clipboard they brought out with 2003, or have they
got rid of it? As their clipboard has given me no end of headaches at work,
with their clipboard grabbing selections copying into their clipboard and
then unselecting what I selected despite the fact that I didn't want the
clipboard thing to select it.

On Tue, 30 May 2006 23:46:20 +0000 (UTC), Steven H
<> exclaimed:

>so its been out for over a week, freely available and downloadable to anybody
>with a passport.
>
>who else (apart form me) is using it ?
>
>any thaughts ?

My god, Office 2007 is good.

I haven't got time for a full review as yet, but the only problem I've
found is that it doesn't play well with Office 2003 (installed in a
different folder).

Seriously, though, there's no going back!