Over at ZDnet, Marc Orchant writes about the "Office UI retraining canard." The catchy title aside, Marc states that the new user interface for Office 2007, including the "ribbon" and the newly grouped sections will eventually win users over. Marc goes on to write that the new interface was designed with a non-existent learning curve in mind. Apparently most users will take to the new UI like a flock of (your favorite waterfowl here). I suppose he is right by saying that "the biggest pushback will come from the most knowledgeable users. They have developed habits that will require some adjustment with the new UI." I certainly fall in that category, and I think a lot of people do. All I want is the option to use the new format or that old one. Though I favor the old way (who doesn't) I am starting to see some advantages to the new UI. I may come around. Stay tuned.Office 2007 may be just ducky.
Over at ZDnet, Marc Orchant writes about the "Office UI retraining canard." The catchy title aside, Marc states that the new user interface for Office 2007, including the "ribbon" and the newly grouped sections will eventually win users over. Marc goes on to write that the new interface was designed with a non-existent learning curve in mind. Apparently most users will take to the new UI like a flock of (your favorite waterfowl here). I suppose he is right by saying that "the biggest pushback will come from the most knowledgeable users. They have developed habits that will require some adjustment with the new UI." I certainly fall in that category, and I think a lot of people do. All I want is the option to use the new format or that old one. Though I favor the old way (who doesn't) I am starting to see some advantages to the new UI. I may come around. Stay tuned.2007 file extensions
So, has anyone out there noticed the new snappy Microsoft file extensions on the end of Office 2007 documents? Word went from .doc to .docx, Access from .mdb to .accdb, PowerPoint went from .ppt to pptx, and so on. I don't like that it is different, because it is well, in a word, different. Change is hard. I do like that it differentiates Microsoft's new XML-driven files from the older non-XML format. Oh, and I love how speedy stuff is. Office 2007 seems to load the screen faster than 2003 or 2000 did, which is nice. I wonder if these file extensions and the XML foundation will amount to great XHTML validation for converted docx? It would be nice, especially since the web has been a bigger focus for Microsoft in recent years. It is a little hard to get used to the 4-5 character file extensions, but they are MORE descriptive, which helps. Here again though, I don't think it cuts down on user confusion, but perhaps Microsoft thought it was a necessary move to ensure future non-confusion and compatibility. Other than that, the X on the end is just plain cool! Sorry, get out your Kodak, I think I just had a geek moment.
Send a Smile utility for Office 2007 beta testers
Last week Microsoft released Office 2007 Beta 2 to the world, and had somewhere over 500,000 downloads in the first two days. The primary reason for releasing this test version of the software so early is to get as much feedback from the Office using community as possible, soon enough that final product decisions can be made before it is released to manufacturing. To that end, the Office team has released a utility called Send a Smile. Once installed, it offers both a happy face and sad face icon in your system tray. The idea here is that when you find something in Office that you want to make a positive comment on, you click the smiley face, and if you find a problem you click on the sad face. Jensen Harris reports that in the past features that were thought to have been rarely used would be removed, only to find out that many people enjoyed the use of that feature. Sending a smile is offered as a way to effectively vote for your favorite features, to ensure they make the cut when Office 2007 is finally released.
Office 2007 first impressions
I can't find anything! The new layout looks like it aims to please the average every day user, but I can't find anything. I am a major power user and administrator, so I reply on the fact that I know where everything is. I'm not so sure such a large shift in operational functionality was a good move in the new release. I may get used to it in the end, because I have to, but I won't like it. I still like 2003's simplicity over 2007's odd rearrangement. I am a big proponent of screen real-estate as well, So I really hate having no choice in the size and hugeness of the new "ribbon" toolbar. Office 2007 does seem to move a bit faster loading things up, which is nice, but the layout should at least be changable. This is another way Microsoft is showing that they care more about their own ideas than about the customer.
Office 2007 beta now available
I know we're supposed to be calling it "The 2007 Microsoft Office system", but I just can't wrap my head around that. Anyway, Microsoft has put the beta version of Office 2007 up on a preview site so that users can now freely download and evaluate it. Personally, my days of being an early adopter have long passed - I've got too much on my plate that needs to get done to busy myself futzing with something Microsoft isn't yet done with. However I will likely install it on a test rig just to play with some of the new features, and more importantly the new menu-less user interface paradigm that Microsoft is shooting for. Let the fun begin!
Microsoft product naming fiasco continues
Ed Bott points to a post at Inside Office Online where they discuss the decision to change the name of Office 2007 to "The 2007 Microsoft Office system", complete with a small 's' in the title. What the heck are they smoking over there? This official name has held true since the days of Office 2003, oops, I mean The 2003 Microsoft Office system, but Microsoft did not try to hold publication's feet to the fire about it. Apparently that will now change, as Microsoft attempts to rebrand Office. Ed is right on with his prediction that this initiative will go nowhere. I'd like to add that this is an example of Microsoft's branding people simply throwing away money. I can't believe they caved
Microsoft finally caved, they joined the open source
Open-Document group. Honestly I don't
see what is so bad about an open-source standard. It really is the way to go. It means better sharing and fair play for
everyone. I imagine Microsoft wanted to hold on to it's Office monopoly by railroading everyone into their format, so
bravo and many cheers from me on doing the right and sensible thing and playing nice with the other kids. Many industry
analysts are saying that Microsoft is only playing nice in the interest of crashing the party Trojan-horse style and
making off with the women and children, those dang Redmond Vikings! Hopefully Microsoft will defy the critics and not
execute a dastardly plan, that would be nice for a change.Project Viewer Central
If you've ever been in a position of needing to be able to view a Microsoft Project file without
access to Microsoft Project, Project Viewer
Central may just be what you need. The website is able to open any Microsoft Project file smaller than 400 kb in
size, and for files larger than that they have a Windows client available for download that will allow you to view the
file. Amazingly, the format output online is almost exactly what you see when using Project itself. This URL is
certainly a useful tool to have on the tool belt of any project manager.
Outlook picture security
Why does Outlook block pictures and make you
respond to let them through? In short, it is because Outlook is trying to protect you from potentially harmful (read:
virus or spyware carrying) images. Believe it or not virus writers have figured out how to embed viruses even in
certain types photos. In reality, these photo types, including WMF, and RLE bitmaps among others are the most
vulnerable yet more rarely used. Usually jpeg, gif, png, and tiff files are okay. The Philadelphia daily news has a short piece on
how to fix images displaying correctly in Outlook and more on why and how to use Outlook's security features regarding
images.Will Google's Writely dethrone Microsoft?
With Google's acquisition
of Writely, I really find it hard to swallow that Microsoft is just going to bite the dust in a matter of months
like everyone seems to be predicting. Microsoft has a death grip on the Office market, just like Apple does with
the iPod market, and it will take an awful lot of kicking and screaming to get the entire world to switch over to
Google's Writely. It's not even who has the better product that is the key factor here, it is more a matter of
familiarity and entrenchment. If you ask anyone in my office, or most offices in the country, regardless of if they use
mac or PC, and they will tell you they use word, and secondly "what is Writely?" Even if Google outsmarts
Microsoft in some key arenas like search and click-driven marketing, they will mostly likely never be able to throw
down the current king of the hill. Unless corporate America grows some organic tech-savvy in jars and downloads it to
all their people overnight, I just don't see it.
Don't get me wrong, I use Writely extensively, and it is one of the best Web 2.0 apps out there, but I will never stop using Word. It is too powerful and too everywhere. Google should be trying to best Microsoft where they can, not where there is a snowball trying to make it big in the land of burning sulfur.
Some Climb on Rocks
Microsoft is just a big kid trying to make a
little kid cry (not that it will work). I really don't see what value it has in yelling about OpenOffice.org being 10 years
out-of-date. What is with Microsoft trying to kill Linux and open-source so vehemently? Have they not looked at their market share lately? I vote for focusing on outpacing the competition with real results (something revolutionary) instead of trash talking. I don't think they have that much to worry about, at least not yet. I guess it follows the old saying that goes something like: "If you can't beat them join them, and if you don't want to join them then at least trash talk them, but if you do end up beating them, why not trash talk them anyway, what does it hurt, right?" Well, I suppose that isn't so old because I just made it up, but I think that pretty much says it all right there.
