How much functionality has REALLY been added to word processors and spreadsheets in the last 20 years since either the original "Word" or Lotus 1-2-3?

(Please don't ever mention WordPerfect, that thing was an infernal and detestable piece of schit).

Not much, IMHO. Most of it is bells, whistles, dancing clowns and animations and other crap that just gets in the way. And M$ is able to push this on the world and convince people to pony up $1,500 every three years for the privilege of "upgrading" to the latest dancing clowns.

Amazing business model. Really.

Excuse me?? They had to do this to make it match with Vista! Both are a piece of crap and waste hours of our time trying to figure out how to make it work.

I just formatted a new computers hard drive and installed XP and Office 2003. When if ever MS gets their act together will move upwards but not until then.

I tell all of my customers to avoid Office 2K7 like the plague. It's really horrible, so you are not alone.

Some dude was put in charge of the Office production group. His goal was to grow market share. Since MS Office has 80+% market share, doing the same as had been done before wouldn't win any new converts, so something radical had to be done to grow the market share by 2% so some jackass would get his bonus. So this jerk tweaks the interface, and pisses everyone off.

I don't blame him. Mature management would know that the only place to go with 80% market share is down. So they should of told the product manager "hey, just don't fuch it up!" But that's not how Microsoft's corporate culture works.

Agree. I've got two new systems running now and my personal PC is old system. WTF, I hate these darn learning curves!

What'ya gonna do?

Pages is almost there :)

Many other cool apps out there. Ahhhh, the IT dept supports this ... However, I feel sorry for those IT guys. Lot's of trouble for what ???


I remember when Word was only on the Macintosh way back in 89-91. That was a sweet program. I heard that Word 3.1 wasn't bad either.

I haven't touched my XP machines. They are staying the way they are ;)

I am still learning all I can do with word 2004. I am never going to upgrade it. I won`t go to Vista either. Sometimes, older stuff is better when you know it well. Just like my 911SC.

Aurel

I tried Vista/Office 2007 3 times and returned it 3 times. I hate it! It has been explained to me that I am stupid and I need to learn computers all over again. Here I was thinking it would be an intuitive process that would actually make my life easier. What was I thinking??

The new MS stuff - Vista, Office, etc are crap. We are expected to re-learn to make up for their design flaws. No thanks! I'll buy the XP machines, like the brand new Dell I'm on now, until they are unavailable. At that point I will switch to a Mac.

I've been using Office 2007 and Vista for almost a year now and I've grown to like it. Takes some getting used to, but I really like it (I drank the Kool-Aid)!

It's picture-driven (icons) instead of menu-driven. Equate the old menu in your mind to the ribbons in 2007, and that should make it easier.

The crack IT team in our shop "upgraded" to Vista and Office '07. As a result, 40% of the permanent staff has spent their own money and switched to Macs.

The only stumbling block is the docs that are circulated in the .docx and .xlsx formats. They have to be translated to earlier formats for half the office. And the translation is imperfect, I'm finding. So the Mac users will probably have to go to Office '08. 14 months ago, everything worked smoothly. Now, not so much.

Hmm, I actually rather liked it, and didn't find the new interface *that* difficult to get used to. Granted, I'm nowhere near your average PC user.

Agreed about the new document format. What was SO wrong with the .doc format....?

New features? I certainly can't speak to all of them, but the one I like the most, and LOVE, and miss in the software I use, is automatic generation of works cited pages. You tell Word what kind of citing you want to use (MLA, APA, Chicago, etc) and what the sources are, and it automatically correctly formats the Works Cited page. That is AWESOME, and saves me a bunch of time.

Currently am using StarOffce 7 (from SUN Micro). It looks a lot like Office 2000/2003.

Several years ago I was one of those techno-geek types that used to love staying up on technology, hanging around in Fry's just to see what was new, etc. I built quite a few computers and actually was the "IT Manager" at one of my old firms - I could have (if I'd wanted to) probably turned that into a career change managing IT networks - but I had no interest in doing that for a living.

Anyway, I've come to really have kind of an anti-technology view of the world. I dunno - nothing in particular, I just guess I get sick of seeing an over-emphasis on gizmos and doodads in society, and less common sense, "real-world" smarts and the creation of a very A.D.D. generation because of the over-emphasis on fad technology rather than core principles, fundamentals and basics in education and workforce training. Maybe that's "old fashioned", but I think it's simply being more honest.

Anyway, my position on it now is that if I get a computer or a piece of software, I don't want to read through a 600-page manual or "help" file written in techno-dork-speak - it needs to be intuitive enough where I'm reasonably productive with it, right out of the gate. After that, I can worry about researching the nuances and advanced features as I need them. I am a very well-educated guy, with a lot of computer experience and I consider myself pretty damn intelligent overall. I shouldn't need to constantly feel like I'm playing "catch up" to a bunch of software just to accomplish what (in my mind) are basic tasks. K.I.S.S. method counts for a lot. Software shouldn't be condescendingly sappy and cutesy (animations, etc.), but it shouldn't require a 4 college-credit-hour course just to use either.

That said, I have to say the newer Macs (Mac OSX, Leopard, etc.) are LIGHT YEARS ahead in this regard. The interfaces are simple, easy, and do a lot. The software is easy on the eyes, simply interfaced, and advanced/powerful where it counts. I also have a soft spot for Linux (I spent a lot of time learning the OS back in my "geek" days and have an appreciation for how well-built and robust it is, even if not necessarily intuitive for a beginner (although companies like RedHat have made it more so in recent years). Microsoft has ALWAYS been either too "dumbed down" or too obsessed with stupid "features" that I'll need <0.001% of the time. In simple terms, the advantage of the Mac software and interfaces is that they do the 90% of the stuff you use 99% of the time better, even if the Windows stuff might do the stuff you use 1% of the time better. HUGE advantage to the Mac, IMHO.

I guarantee my next computer will be a Mac. It sure as hell won't be Vista. My XP workstation is pretty good for now too. It does what I need it to.

We have never upgraded from Office 2000. I guess Outlook improved but the registration or verification looked like a hassle. I plan to stay away from Office '07 for sure. I'm fine with MSFT protecting their IP (I own thousands of shares) but I'm not going thru the hassle with the verification thing.

Have been working with Office 08 under XP/Vista and have to say it has been frustrating. The interface is not intuitive, it seems circuitous, not diggin it a bit.

Finally got around to getting 08 for OS X installed today.

Huge difference, while there is some of the overdone interface it is not nearly as bad as the Windows version and my initial impression is positve.

Let's see if I feel the same a week from now.

You better buy a copy of Office 2004 for Mac. Office 2008 is hideous.