Microsoft Office Standard 2007 UPGRADE Reviews

• A Giant Leap Backwards

  
  By A2Q5SLYK1EI2N9 on 2007-02-01
  Office 2003 had it's share of difficulties, but was overall a useful application, as were the previous versions of Office. I was never a huge fan, but appreciated the common logic of the application and with each upgrade they've continued to move forward with improvements.
  
  Now they've introduced a set of applications that are a gigantic leap backwards in productivity and usability. It's loaded with overburdened, irregular icons and hidden menus. All of the menu sets, menu names, and functionality has been completely rearranged with no noticeable benefit for the user.
  
  Even the help functionality, of all things, has been rendered completely differently and contains less information and more generalities referencing help for Word within Outlook and vice versa. This would be helpful except that the same menu name bears entirely different meaning between the two applications now.
  
  Menus are also too light so you can't really tell if highlights are active or passive in drop menus. Drop menus change radically within each element of the frame or window, and there are layers upon layers of custom menus you need to build from scratch.
  
  Let me say that again... you need to build your own menus. I'm not kidding.
  
  Basic functionlity that you used to find as a default icon in the last several versions you need to hunt down in a "Quicklaunch" type supermenu that's hidden above (or below) the default icon menu.
  
  I am a web usability, design, and production professional who's used more beta applications and experimental software than most users could imagine and I'm warning *anyone* to stay away from this until you absolutely must upgrade. Microsoft needs time to get the content updated on the help screens and create some functionality to return to "classic" menus that can be customized later.
  
  I generally have a lot of patience for new applications and have been accused of being to accomodating to bad usability by Microsoft in the past. Well in this case, I've never been so frustrated by *any* application.
  
  I need to be productive and this set me back by at least a day already.
  
  Be warned!!!!!
  
  

• Before You Upgrade -- Things You Need to Know

  
  By A21AOHWYUQ3QEY on 2007-03-28
  Normally I might wait to install a new software upgrade, but I just got a new laptop and thought it would be best to use Office 2007 with the new Vista operating system. I was wrong.
  
  You would expect that a multi-billion dollar company like Microsoft could put out a powerful and bug-free piece of software. But after a month of using Office 2007, you get the distinct impression that this software is not ready for public release. Microsoft should be ashamed.
  
  I don't know the root cause of my problems, but I have to stress that I am running a clean install of Office 2007 on Vista, so there shouldn't be any software conflicts or issues.
  
  So what are my issues? The list is long:
  
  -- My biggest concern is that MS Word constantly hangs and stalls. It can making editing a document very painful. I suspect the problem is when I put images or Visio diagrams into a document. But that is something the old MS Word was able to do without an issue. Oddly, if I have a colleague open the document and save it out in Word 2003, the problem goes away! What?! It's killing my productivity.
  
  -- When ever I cut and paste from an old document, Word hangs for 15 to 20 seconds. And often the formatting and margins in my new document go haywire. I keep having to spend a ton of time fixing things. This never happened in the old Word. This is another time killer.
  
  -- Every few days, Outlook 2007 starts telling me that it cannot display my email folders. Uh oh! I have to completely restart my computer to see my email again.
  
  -- Outlook 2007 breaks many graphic emails that people send -- they look like a mess. It is because Outlook 2007 does NOT render HTML correctly since it uses the Word engine, not Internet Explorer to display email. I have no idea why Microsoft did this, but they have got to fix it.
  
  -- Many of the issues in the old Word 2003 still haven't been fixed. If you place an image, it can often be hard to get it to appear correctly. Why can't they solve this one?
  
  -- While most Office programs have the new ribbon interface (which I like), some programs like Visio 2007 do not. So you have to remember how to use two interfaces. Couldn't Microsoft find the time and money to update ALL its programs? Give me a break.
  
  -- On a few occassions in Visio 2007, my files have failed to save correctly. At first I thought this must have been my fault, but it's happened to me a few times and can't be a coincidence. A few times I've gotten an error message and lost my work. Ug.
  
  -- Word and Excel 2007 use a completely new file format. So anyone you send a document to has to have 2007 installed (which isn't likely the case). To get around this, you can save it down to a 2003 file format, but then you end up with two files on your hard drive -- one in the new format and one in the old format. What a pain! Also, there definitely seems to be an issue with Office 2007 opening older Office 2003 files. Could be the cause of many of my problems, but there is no way I can avoid using old files. They should have worked harder on compatibility.
  
  There are good things about the new 2007. I do like the new interface design and the new features in Outlook 2007 are amazing for organizing tasks and sharing your calendar.
  
  But I don't think it's fair that Microsoft released a product so full of serious, serious bugs that have cost me hours and hours of extra work. I didn't spend hundreds of dollars on a beta product and don't think the public should have to suffer. Surely they can afford to do better!
  
  
  

• License allows an additional laptop install

  
  By A2IMJ568SJ22UW on 2007-05-14
  The product requires activation, which includes sending machine identification information to Microsoft.
  
  The good news is that the Office Standard license allows installation on both a desktop system AND a laptop. It also allows you to transfer the license to new systems, over time.
  
  From the license: "Before you use the software under a license, you must assign that license to one device. ... You may install another copy on a portable device for use by the single primary user of the licensed device. ... You may reassign the license to a different device any number of times, but not more than one time every 90 days"
  
  
  

• Nightmare

  
  By A2LC3VP518QBKS on 2007-02-19
  I've used Microsoft products for years, and expect for the occasional crash, they've worked fine for me. But beware this upgrade!! The box says that it is compatible for any Office XP suite, as does the website. This is not true!!! If you are upgrading from Office XP students and teachers version, it will not work! It only took a dozen Microsoft tech support people a couple of hours on the phone to figure this out, and their response is that if you bought it by "mistake" too bad, go get a different old version and then upgrade. It doesn't seem that they care about their consumers much anymore.
  
  

• Microsoft Office 2007 Upgrade

  
  By A3SZGE7KD2D5CY on 2007-05-22
  I'd actually give this and any new MS Vista product "negative 5 stars" if the system allowed it. I had to buy it since the new computer I bought came with Vista and only had Works preloaded. I looked into using WordPerfect, but didn't feel confident it would work with Vista, since so much else doesn't work with Vista ( I still can't use my wifi back-up storage drive with Vista). It's different from the earlier versions , I liked the old version just fine, so it takes some getting used to. The really big pain is that you have to go in and intentionally save things as the earlier version of Word and Excel to be compatible with the earlier version which I have on my other computer and most other computers still use. Vista is the real problem here. Like Vista, it's just not ready for prime-time, once again the "geniuses" in Seattle have decided that we all should want something "new" and "better". I was satisfied before, it's just an annoying pain when they decide to change for the sake of change and to make more money. When the automakers change cars dramatically, you can like it or chnage brands and possibly find something more to your liking. With the MS monopoly, there's really not much choice or any options. I'm not an MS fan obviously, but I don't have the patience to tinker with adjusting to Mac or Linux as alternatives when so much else is all MS based. Given a choice again right now, I wouldn't buy Vista and I wouldn't buy the Office upgrade to go with it.
  
  
• Office 2007
  By A394X2D5IO18NF on 2007-02-12
  At first glance, I had rated it five stars. I had the beta version of Office 2007 that Microsoft had given to me to test. I really loved that version. When I bought it (because it expires after 3 months) everything went down hill. They did not fix all of the glitches. In Word, I cannot make my Headers and Footers work properly. They have a really cool Headers and Footer (window) where you can make any document look really beautiful. Well it doesn't work. I am really upset with this considering they had enough time to fix the glitches. I mean it worked for me when it was a Beta, and you would really expect the problem to be with the Beta and not the finished product. It stinks! When I asked them what they were going to do about it, they gave me a song and a dance about fixing it myself. They gave me all of these instructions to "Do It Myself". I followed these instructions, and it (headers and footers)still does not work. So now what, purchase another copy? I think not! Microsoft are a bunch of crooks! Their customer reps know nothing about their products.
  
  Don't buy this version! Wait until they fix the glitches! Never purchase a product when it is first released (software) it always comes with problems and brings misery and frustration.
  
  
  
  
• DO NOT DO IT!!
  By AGPPQWP5KU86Y on 2007-06-11
  I am far from an expert, and I have spent many hours trying to get things to work, but this - and VISTA - are the worst! for the neophyte, it is very difficult. MS seems to be trying to be "cute" and fancy, but they do not have much for the ordinary user. My advice is STAY WITH XP & 2003 as long as you can. Maybe when the USERS get things straightened out, it will be better.
  
  
• It Creates Problems
  By A1P6HU7ETVUCY0 on 2007-06-27
  I upgraded to Microsoft Office 2007 because Microsoft no longer provides technical support for Office 2003.
  In my opinion the new Office 2007 is full of bugs. As an I example I had previously developed a large (23 meg) PowerPoint presentation using Office 2003 that had worked fine under PowerPoint 2003. However, Microsoft Office 2007 has now corrupted the presentation. Special graphics such as custom bullets do not display under PowerPoint 2007. Under PowerPoint 2007 the text in text boxes, such as title boxes, falls outside the box.
  It will probably take me more than 200 hours to clean up the mess in this presentation that was caused by upgrading to Microsoft Office 2007.
  In summary, beware of switching to Microsoft Office 2007 if you have previously developed large files under Office 2003.
  
  
• Much worse than flawed ---de-evolution----unfriendly
  By A38DSYHNBYZNUG on 2007-10-28
  Current experience
  It is possible to avoid some problems by loading an Office 2007 product (Excel, Word, etc.) before starting other programs.
  
  February 2008
  It is still slow. Office2007 seems to have problems getting along with some software, namely evidence eliminator. After intervening several times, it has become a ritual of closing office to run EE. EE is my data scrambling program. I have loaded the recent updates and Office seems to be a little easier to operate, though it is frightfully slow to start. One nasty trick is that closing a document by using the 'X' in the corner results in office terminating; the only safe way to close a file is from the file bar, or what passes for the file bar. One nice feature is that you now can access more than 5 past files from the file bar. I would give them 3 stars now.
  
  12/07 experience
  At first, I thought my vast experience with programming could overcome some of the flaws. I was wrong. This software is defective in a number of ways. First, customizing does not work. Second, autoformating is a failure. I retract my 3 stars and give them 2. If this continues, make it one.
  
  Early experience
  In it's 2003 form, Microsoft Office had reached it's pinnacle. Like most people, I created an array of personalized buttons that began to resemble the clutter of keys on a church organ; add together the footpedals, knobs, levers and controls and small wonder musicians take pride at mastering it! With a series of touch buttons at the corner of boxes for less used controls, and the organization of these buttons into categories, some of the clutter is gone.
  
  The small size of all these buttons is a shock, especially for those of us with reading glasses and laptops. It would be nice if the sliding zoom control in the right corner could also magnify the buttons as well as the text. All of this takes time to adjust.
  
  One of the properties I like least is how long it takes to load a file. I counted over 60 seconds. With the upgrade, I was hoping that this would improve from Office XP. Perhaps future downloads from Microsoft will reduce start-up time.
  Another feature that I do not like in Word is the listing of "Normal", "Heading 1", "Heading 2", "Title", etc. These buttons are huge compared to others and used least of all. It would be a far better approach to have put them under their own category in the master headings on top: Home, Insert, Page Layout, References, Mailings, Review, and View.
  I have noticed that once I ran Excel a few times it loads very fast. This is an improvement over Excel 2003. I will update this review as I gain more experience with Excel and Powerpoint.
  This gets back to the reason for buying Office 2007. Working with XP will expose your computer to unnecessary risk to bugs. Before loading this upgrade, I erased my old Office XP files to get rid of a bug. The longer a software has been out there, the easier it is to invade and the slower it will run as countermeasures are installed. So, here's your choice, buy a used version of Office 2003 for $150 or Office 2007 for $200. You decide, but remember that Office 2003 will need to be replaced by 2008 and Office 2007 may get you to 2012.
  If this review is helpful, please add your vote.
  
  
  
• Awesome new UI
  By A2XZX4S28WB7PO on 2007-02-05
  Pros:
  I love the new ribbon UI. For the first time in many years, I can find features I assumed Word or PowerPoint had but could never find in the maze of menus and toolbars. I only wish Outlook's core UI had adopted the ribbons too. The new smaller app footprint and XML file formats are much better too. Live previews are also much appreciated.
  
  Cons:
  Outlook is still a RAM hog and I kind of expected to get Publisher included in the Standard upgrade, especially now that FrontPage is no longer part of Office.
  
  
• Sad how Microsoft has gone downhill
  By A38R6K4AGOC0Q3 on 2007-04-10
  Office 2007 may seem ok at first. The menus are all ok for me to use, so I don't have to build menus from scratch. But after installing the trial, I found numerous complaints that would make me want to trash it if I had it.
  
  1) Word doesn't want to integrate with Outlook very well
  2) Everytime I want to send a mail message I accidentally click on 'Paste'
  3) The flags and categories for Outlook are annoying and just add to the time spent administering email without helping me more than Outlook 2003
  4) Along with all of the other Microsoft products I've tried in the past month, it hangs, corrupts its own files, and generally takes up too much memory.
  
  I'll stick with Office 2003, which doesn't have nearly as many flaws. There is no reason for me to upgrade.
  
  I'm also back to IE6, Money 2006, and will not upgrade to Vista.
  
  I've lost volumes of emails because I can't downgrade my Outlook files.
  
  Good Job in alienating your customers, Microsoft. (so what's new?)
  
  
• BEWARE before you buy!!
  By A1OGF428S0E8FN on 2007-08-13
  Beware! Even though the official MS Office website states taht yo can purchase the $240 upgrade version as long as you are a licensed user of any version beside the student version between 2000 and 2007 - if you purchased your version with the computer (as OEM) you are NOT eligible to do anything other than to put 2007 on THAT computer ONLY - you cannot transfer it - not even once. So, if like me, you bought a new computer and wanted to upgrade, you're out $240 - as I am. And I'm seething. The MS guy told me that OEM version upgrades "live and die" with that computer - but I can't use the old computer and it never said that at the website when I carefully checked to ensure I was eligible to purchase. MS continues to do this sort of junk, so my next upgrade is going to be a real upgrade: a MAC. All my buddies who use Macs are quite happy.
  
  
• Ribbon is a joke on laptops.
  By A1SLLHNK17R7BK on 2007-02-20
  So far no program problems with the great-looking software. I upgraded from Office XP Pro. It would have received 5 stars except for the ribbon. It may be fine if you have a big screen. BUT it's about 1.5" tall on my 14" laptop screen. It can either be displayed or minimized - not resized. I'm left with half a screen of workspace because of that ribbon (plus the other things like the status bar, mini toolbar, and Windows taskbar.) Had to minimize the ribbon on every program. Then had to hunt and peck for all those wonderful features to fully customize their bare minimum mini-toolbar. Took me 1 1/2 hours to get Outlook squared away to what I call "normal." Word will take longer and Excel will take an eternity, but I'll just add commands to the mini-toolbar as I go. The good thing about this, is that it will be fully customized for my use. I've had no trouble finding the commands, but then I'm not 'programmed' into looking in the same spot for things. Prepare to be a little open-minded when looking for commands. It's really good overall, just wish there was a laptop edition.
  
  
• A More Patient View?
  By A20VWWHYTOW6SI on 2007-04-22
  Am longtime user of Microsoft Office. I admit it was frustrating at first to use this new system, but have been delighted overall. Really cool new features (or least now accessible to me): Outlook as nice feature of a to-do bar with just the next few appointments coming up to right of monthly calendar view. To do file management like delete/rename in Word open menu, (as opposed to going to to file manager), the real time resizing and recoloring of text as mouse passes thru the color and dropdown menus (as oposed to choosing, see if it works, go back to the size menu, choose, see if it works etc.). Their rational in going to the ribbons was that too many features were never discovered for use, and I do feel that as a power user my power is enhanced as I go through the ribbions by clicking on tabs at the top. Bottom line, for someone really into the esthetics of software and who is patient, this upgrade is probably for you. Otherwise the previous version will do nicely.
  
  P.S. If you've not download the free Microsoft Desktop search program, run to rather than walk to is my recomendation.
  
  James Warner, Seattle
  
  
• no problems what so ever
  By A1183FKPBWTLYL on 2007-03-02
  when my trial version of 2007 expired i pretty much was forced to get the product. i could not longer send e-mail or make new documents. i was going to return to office 2003 but since i was getting vista's free upgrade my attention went to the 2007 software. i have a new Gateway MX6453 top of the line 15.4 inch lap top, dual core, 2gig ram so i have no hardware issues. i called best buy to find out how much 2007 would be and what version had outlook included. i was told i needed to get the $399 plus small business version WRONG. the Standard upgrade version has outlook and i bought it for $199.
  i put the disc in my lap top and 5 minutes later it was done, everything converted and working fine. 2007 has lots of new bells and whistles so it will take you a bit to get used to it. but that is what the consumer wants...new and great stuff. it has worked fine for me so far and i am very happy with my purchase.
  just remember that the student and teacher version DOES NOT include outlook
  
  
• Read all the reviews before you buy
  By A2VIDLF1R7PG4L on 2007-09-02
  Microsoft Office 2007 is a real disappointment. Outlook is very slow, they have not corrected the cursor/typing delay. Word does not react well with earlier editions of Word. There seem to be a lot of bugs to be worked out by Microsoft, if they are still interested in doing that.
  
  Combined with the overloaded, slow Vista, it is a fatal combination. Be prepared to be discouraged.
  
  
• Finally, a real Office upgrade
  By ABZZAJ8GVI1AJ on 2007-03-09
  It seems the last few Office releases I have purchased haven't really offered anything different, but this one does. The interface is totally changed and takes some getting used to. I would suggest upgrading to Office 2007 when you have a little time to figure out the new layout and not if you have to jump right into a project. The new toolbars seem to be really thought out and are very user friendly. If you aren't into change and prefer the status quo of the standard, File Edit Tools...layout, then this product is not for you. If you are willing to spend a couple hours getting used the new layout (it's quite easy) you won't be sorry because it's well worth it.
  
  
• not ready for prime time
  By A1M4WV5THDIYYF on 2007-03-19
  I like the product but hate the hours spent with tech support getting it to almost work right.
  
  
• From an experienced Excel user
  By A1364KJ82XSC3T on 2007-12-28
  I have used Excel as the primary tool of my consulting practice for the past eight years and can do things with charting that most folks would have no clue how to do. I say this not to boast, but to speak to other experienced users who are considering the switch to Office 2007.
  
  The change from Office 2003 to 2007 is unlike any other upgrade -- it is the most difficult learning (unlearning?) curve I've ever faced. My analogy is to a carpenter where someone changed all his tools (all the settings, all the functionality), and then hid them. That's what '07 Excel is like: you can't find your tools (they aren't where they used to be), and they don't do what they used to do. It is enormously frustrating, and simple tasks (like formatting a chart) that used to take 3 minutes now take hours.
  
  There are some nice new features: conditional formatting has more than 3 choices (yeah), you are no longer limited to 250 columns (yeah), etc; these functionality and capacity improvements are welcome. But 99% of the changes are arbitrary and useless (e.g., you now can find the "macros" tool in the "View" tab -- just where you would've guessed, huh? And how about adding a "Comment" box to a cell? Where might you find the "Comment" tool? Under the "Review" tab (how many guesses did it take?). And the help files are absolutely useless -- the worst yet for MS, and I've thought their help files were lousy in the past.
  
  The biggest frustration is colors. I used to be able to hand set 64 different colors on my color palette -- I created a palette much nicer than the gaudy set supplied by Office '03. But now MS supplies you with a myriad of color palettes which they think are best. You can edit 8 colors, but then the rest a automatically chosen for you (with no rhyme or reason I can detect). And if you laboriously create some new colors for a particular file, they are all forgotten on any new file.
  
  If I were a VP at Microsoft, I'd take the entire MS Office team, which must number in the thousands, and downsize it by 90%. The useful changes in Office '07 are few in number, and could've been done by a small group. The Office Team is a perfect example of a big corporation growing like crazy and then trying to justify it's existence by making useless changes.
  
  I'll stick with the upgrade, because my customers are beginning to upgrade and I have to keep pace with them, and 4-5 years from now we'll go through this again. But this new version of Office takes the cake for a multiplicity of useless and incomprehensible changes.
  
  
• A DOWNGRADE from Office 2003
  By A1IF2GNES3L2HC on 2008-05-24
  I recently bought a new laptop, and the changeover involved an "upgrade" to Office 2007. I was aware that there was a new user interface, but was not aware that Office 2007 is, in almost every respect, an INFERIOR product to any Office version that came before it!
  I have used MS Office for many years, and am what could be called a "power user," especially for Word and Powerpoint, which I use weekly.
  One of the great features of Office is that it has been totally customizable. For those who use office frequently, it has been easy to create your own custom toolbars so you have what you need easily available. Most tasks could be done with one or two mouse clicks... Until Office 2007!
  In Office 2007, hardly anything is customizable! You have a constantly changing tool ribbon, which takes up a lot of screen real estate.
  The ribbon presents a set of icons based on what it "thinks" you will need at the moment. It is rarely right! ... so you go searching through the tabs trying to find the icon that was on the ribbon a few moments earlier! There is one small "tool bar" up on the title bar that you CAN customize, but it is not convenient, and will not hold many icons. It has the option of being moved below the ribbon, which takes up even more screen real estate, but is still very limited, and cannot be docked or moved from there.
  Granted, there are third party programs, such as Ribbon Customizer and Toolbar Toggle, that add back some of the ability to customize, but it is still far inferior to what Office users are used to!
  Even the third party programs, however, cannot get around the fact that there are some features in earlier Office versions that are simply NOT included in the new one. In previous versions of Powerpoint, you could add a set of icons that, with one mouse click, allowed you to adjust the vertical spacing of text. That has been omitted in 2007. In the "improved" 2007 version, you must open a dialog box, and make several mouse clicks to adjust vertical spacing!
  To make matters worse, Office 2007 documents are not compatible with earlier versions. After spending years establishing formats such as .doc and .ppt as industry standards, Microsoft has introduced a version of office that does not use these formats! If you want to send a document to someone who still has Office 2003 (or any other program that reads .doc files) you need to remember to save it in that format. The default 2007 format cannot be opened by earlier versions!
  Office 2007 CAN open the older formats, but even in opening earlier Office formats, there are problems. For example, most users of Powerpoint have learned the trick of adding drop shadows behind the text to make the text stand out on the screen. Office 2007 has changed the way these shadows are formed. When you open a powerpoint presentation made on an earlier version, your old drop shadows WILL NOT ANIMATE with the text. When a slide appears, the shadows of the letters are already in place, and the letters animate in on top! Mircosoft's only suggestion... go through your slides and take the old shadows out, and put new shadows in! (I tried this... it takes 30-40 minutes per presentation! ...And I have hundreds of powerpoint presentations in my file!)
  For someone who never used Office before, or who just uses Word to type simple letters, 2007 may be okay, but for anyone who depends on Office for detailed tasks and productivity, 2007 is a nightmare.
  I have always loved Microsoft Office. It has been an industry standard for ease of use. In my opinion, that is no longer the case. I believe Microsoft tried to produce something "different" to attract new users, but in the process totally ignored the needs of those who have used their products in the past. If you have the option of staying with an earlier version, DO NOT UPGRADE to this product!
  
  
• Dumbed down and harder to use
  By A2MYTY15IFSP3G on 2007-07-29
  The new ribbon design is supposed to make it easier to learn and use. It may be for some new users but for experienced users, it isn't. This version takes away some critical nuts & bolts customization features and many tasks now take longer to perform. This is not due to the learning curve, it is the inherent nature of the way the ribbon works. Once you are familiar with the program, nothing is faster than the old menu structure. If Microsoft added an option to allow users to choose between menus and ribbons, it would be the best of both worlds, satisfying the needs of both new and experienced users. The new version does not run macros as fast however. My recommedation for existing users: keep Office 2003 for as long as you can and consider going to Open Office when Microsoft no longer supports 2003 (unless they restore the functionality in a newer release of 2007).
  
  
• Impressive
  By AVXOTIX8WM0T7 on 2007-08-18
  I have never been a fan of Microsoft products especially MS Word, but this 2007 release completely converted me from WordPerfect. I have had NONE of the problems listed in the previous reviews. Some of the reviews have incorrect statements, but too many to list here.
  
  Yes, the infamous Ribbon takes some getting used to, but the learning curve is easy and short. The Help is some help, I give it 3 stars except that it contains some animated demos that are real selling points. I should mention that the Help requires broadband internet connection for much of its content.
  
  Once I learned the Ribbon in Word, learning it on Excel, Access, and PowerPoint was easy. In fact, I created a PowerPoint presentation on the first attempt and used it to sell my product.
  
  The Save As gives plenty of options, saving in the new format, in the old format, and/or as a PDF file.
  
  I don't use Outlook so can't comment, but gladly recommend Office 2007 as a friendly, easy-to-use, and productive set of tools.
  
  
• I won't be upgrading to Office 2007 now...
  By A1R93D3ZTBIC9M on 2008-04-13
  The company I work for has upgraded to Office 2007, so I figured I'd upgrade at home to be compatible. After reading all the reviews here, I've decided to wait and not upgrade at home until I have to - hoping maybe with all these issues, my employer will call a halt and go back to 2003!
  
  I've used Office 2007 at the office for about 2 weeks now, and after getting used to the new Ribbon feature, I actually like the new interface. I agree with one review here that said the ribbon is too large, though. It would be nice to be able to resize it.
  
  The major reason I am not upgrading at home is all the reports of Office 2007 being slow, and corrupting files created in Version 2003. I have been having these problems at work, but thought the issues were due to a network problem. The most annoying slow problem is pasting things from one document to another, even within the same application (Word to Word or Excel to Excel). It's not just a little slow... it is agonizingly slow! I have taken to moving on to other tasks while I wait for Word or Excel to paste, and then go back to the document later. I'm relieved to know this isn't actually our company's network problem, but it has convinced me NOT to upgrade at home.
  
  As far as the file corruption problem, I have experienced having to reformat bullets and other things due to the new interface in a few small files, but shudder at the scale of the time it will take for my larger files. I pity my employer having to pay for my extra time wasted in this kind of clean up work. I have also experienced the problems mentioned with Outlook not being able to recognize your email folders. Again I thought this was a network problem at the office, and didn't realize it was the Office 2007 upgrade doing it. I plan to back up all my email folders as soon as I get to work on Monday as I dread having a glitch and losing all my saved emails!
  
  The other annoying thing about the new Outlook interface is something also previously mentioned here - the change in use and display of "flags" and "categories". In 2003 I had an extensive system set up using the various flag colors, which is now completely lost due to the color system being moved from flags to categories. ARGH!!!!!
  
  Thanks to the reviewers here for your input and giving me the benefit of your trials and tribulations with the software.
  
  
• AbqSteve
  By AGB02KPNKRCN8 on 2007-03-19
  Overall I was pleased with ease of installation. This was an upgrade from Office 2003. I backed up all files before upgrade, and always do this, but it was not necessary for this upgrade. My overall disappointment is Outlook's inability or difficulty to use other mail servers (yahoo, gmail, etc.). The shift appears to favor msn products only (hotmail and msn). No wonder Thunderbird is slowly becoming a favored email application.
  
  
• MS Send me some relief money!
  By A1ER7YUQG62RQ5 on 2007-04-12
  Being a PC user for many years (since 1985)I have come through all the versions of MS operating systems (does anyone out there remember 3.5!) MS has also piggy backed this "robust" office product for 20 years. Their upgrades are seldom anything more than a better looking toolbar. This is no exception, but this time I like the tool bar! As to ease of use, I use PowerPoint and Word often and my spouse uses Excel. If there were an easier product available we would buy it but then Windows XP would kill it on sight and Vista would stop working altogether. Why does MS think that everyone but those working in a professional since (hence Office for Professionals) needs all the junk they subject us to? Do those guys in Redmond still think adult users of the PC like "cute" things like little doggies wagging their tail or a friendly paper clip to help you answer your every question! I am tired of Beta testing MS products for so many years but as a PC user I am stuck with them and until someone else can come up with a better system, other than Mac, we are all stuck with them.
  
  
• Getting there... Simpler interface but, slower performance.
  By A3OQC8UHHADG7F on 2007-05-12
  Office 2007 is a decent step in a positive direction but, it's still feels slow. Why should an upgrade to an Office sweet perform more slowly on relatively new equipment?
  
  The new interface is a nice way for beginners to jump into Office but, for laptop users and those using quick keys, an "expert" mode would be appreciated.
  
  It's odd, though, to have to translate the workarounds most have grown accustomed to with Microsoft products into direct, logical concepts an average human might have wanted in the first version (not the 11th!).
  
  While the interface is an improvement, performance is clearly "designed" to drive the purchase of a new computer.
  
  While I'm not sure exactly what features are truly "new," the entire product does seem more unified.
  
  2007 components save in new .docX, .xlsX, .pptX? formats. While there are converters to open these formats in Office 2003, until all your associates are using 2007, it's a good idea to set save preferences to the '97-2003 version (doc, xls, ppt).
  
  Despite the slower performance and the dominance of the "ribbon," Office 2007 is moving in a good direction. I'll look forward to cleaner code and improved performance in the next version.
  
  
• I hope I can soon afford a Mac...Vista soured me, Office 07 is sending me packing
  By A1LR56K58FEV66 on 2008-02-23
  I've used MS Word since the mid-90s, and this is like a slap in the face from Microsoft. I can't imagine they tested this with anyone not involved in its development. Everything one needs and has learned to access in earlier versions has been spread to hell and back. It does auto-formatting contortions a python would be proud of. I had to set up a task bar with all the old icons...heck, I can't even describe the struggles I'm having. I got this suite on the cheap (educator's discount), and am going back to using Open Office, which I had installed on my new machine to tide me over till I got MS Office. Microsoft, for God's sake, stop changing stuff simply for the sake of change, and before you foist another such abomination on the public, take a few users of old versions and have them give it a run...and I mean average users--the kind who don't need or want every damn cutesy thing you can come up with.
  
  
• No big deal!
  By A1R0A3QWYJXTN1 on 2007-03-08
  I upgraded form Office 2000 to Office 2007, expecting to see major improvements. I was disappointed. Office 2007 has some enhancements, but it also has some glitches. If I had been able to try it first, I probably would have just stuck with my old version of Office.
  
  
• A decent upgrade.
  By A2NU9H8H5MJZSL on 2007-07-26
  I am a very critical reviewer (see other reviews). I think this is an excellent update to 2003 Office. I like the ribbons...very much. I find the organization now far more intuitive than before.
  
  I think a lot of negatives come from people that work 10 hours a day with a dated interface. I do not. I remember the same comments when Word came out at Wordperfect people had to change to Word. Vista will have similar concerns.
  
  CONS:
  
  A major problem for me is that they did absolutely nothing to improve media (video) handling in this version, particularly for Powerpoint. It is archaic and inexcusably stupid.
  
  This is really a cosmetic overhaul with new file formats...which you cannot really use well until everyone accepts them.
  
  
  
  
• Keep Office 2003 as long as you can
  By ACAMWA0S4PTE8 on 2007-08-19
  Instead of getting more intuitive, the menus / ribbons are cryptic. I considered myself as a quite fast user of most features of e.g. Word 2003. Now, with Word 2007, I have to consult Help every second minute and get frustrated all the time! It is even worse if on one computer you have 2003 and on another 2007. A lot of extra stress when using 2007.
  
  

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