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Well, my complaint has reaped lots of rewards from our faithful colleagues,
and I want to thank you all (Richard, Geoff, Beth, and Julie).
I don't know what MS intended with their changes to Word; I haven't used it
enough yet to comment on whether it has new capabilities that will increase
my productivity as a writer. In the short run, it will decrease it, but
that's "to be expected."
For they benefit of anyone reading this who hasn't seen the Word interface,
the top of the document has tabs for "Home," "Insert," "Page Layout,"
"References," "Mailings," "Review," and "View." That's two fewer top level
"menus" than the XP version. I've been working at customizing another tool
bar, which has helped me find some of the other functions I've used in the
past, but it'll be a while till I can find them all.
I'm just very puzzled at how this type of organization is supposed to be
more user friendly. Perhaps it's as someone suggested, designed for the
newest generation, who are supposedly more graphically oriented. Perhaps
we'll return to pictographs and ideographs in the future :-) That'll be a
really steep learning curve!
On 8/20/07, Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca> wrote:
>
> Kathleen MacDowell wondered: <<Has anyone on the list had to convert
> to Vista/Word 2007 yet?>>
>
> Nope. I'm using a Mac, so it'll be 2008 at least before I get to see
> the Mac equivalent. Plans are to release it during the first quarter,
> but historically, Microsoft's application software* (not just on the
> Mac) has been nearly unusable for at least the first major service
> release... so it'll be at least mid- to late 2008 before I waste my
> time.
>
> * Unlike their operating systems. Sure, they've had their problems,
> but their OS division understands that reliability and stability is
> at least as important as the pretty windows and icons. Wish the
> Office crew got the same message.
>
> And oh yeah... the miserable #$%^! decided that we Mac users weren't
> worth the time to port the macro language. That means I'll still have
> to keep Word X (ca. 2002?) installed just so I can run my macros.
> Idjits. If you want to kill off MacOffice in the business world, you
> couldn't possibly have chosen a smarter strategy.
>
> <<If so, how long has it taken to adapt to all the changes? Is there
> a way to revert to the XP appearance?>
>
> Stories I hear from those who are making the leap are that it's not
> so bad once you get over the initial "why have they screwed with my
> familiar interface?" reaction. For some assistance, check out
> Microsoft's interactive "Word 2003 to Word 2007 command reference
> guide": http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HA100744321033.aspx?
> pid=CH100487431033 (or TinyUrl: http://tinyurl.com/vlc5f).
>
> Also check out: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?
> FamilyId=9044790B-4E24-4277-B714-66D7B18D0AA1&displaylang=en (or
> Tinyurl: http://tinyurl.com/3999y)
>
> <<Also, if there's a Word MVP reading this--would you mind suggesting
> to the people in charge that product usability can be drastically
> affected by wholesale changes in the way things are done.>>
>
> Amen to that. There's nothing wrong with radical change _if_ you give
> people the option of continuing to work in the old way. I do
> understand that's not always easy or practical, but it should be a
> design criterion. It's almost never a good idea to force people to
> learn a new interface with each version unless you can demonstrate
> tangible benefits. I haven't heard that 2007 is so miraculously
> superior that it justifies the radical overhaul, but then again, I
> won't have a chance to play with it for at least a year.
>
> <<The changes are staggering, the Help is useless, and ...>>
>
> I'd be interested to hear more about the "useless" help. I've never
> been a fan of Microsoft's help software, but that's just me -- I'm a
> professional cranky old man. <g> More opinions welcome!
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> -- Geoff Hart
> ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca / geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com
> www.geoff-hart.com
> --------------------------------------------------
> ***Now available*** _Effective onscreen editing_
> (http://www.geoff-hart.com/home/onscreen-book.htm)
>
>
>
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