News Office 2007 goes gold

[WilHarris]

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2006/11...007_goes_gold/

[Cthippo]

Meh, Good for MS.

I think I'll save myself the $500 and stay with Open Office

[Atomic]

We trialled the Beta with a selection of staff at work and they loved 'the ribbon' but it took too long to get used to it for admin staff who are used to the 'classic' toolbars/menus.

Office 2003 works perfectly for most people.

[M4RTIN]

Originally Posted by Cthippo

Meh, Good for MS.

I think I'll save myself the $500 and stay with Open Office

too true, after realising i can get a legal office app for free i see no need to use microsoft office again.

[Laitainion]

Originally Posted by M4RTIN

too true, after realising i can get a legal office app for free i see no need to use microsoft office again.

Eh, I've used both the latest version of OpenOffice and the MS Office 2007 beta, and tbh I wasn't terribly impressed with OpenOffice. I think it's roughly comparable to Office 97, or 2000. For most stuff it's fine, but I don't think it's anything special.

Office 2007 on the other hand I *love*. Hats off to Microsoft for finding a way to improve a product many people thought couldn't be improved. While I agree getting used to the new ribbon can take a little while, it is stull a massive step forwards. Just to show how much I think of this release, I am considering actually paying for it, which would make it the first release of MS Office I have ever bought.

[unrealhippie]

I have Office 2003 and Office 2007 Beta, Beta is nice but as you point out, do I really want to spend that much for a nice GUI? For now I'm using my Office 2003 with Crossover for Mac and Beta 2007 on windows...

[M4RTIN]

Originally Posted by Laitainion

tbh I wasn't terribly impressed with OpenOffice. I think it's roughly comparable to Office 97, or 2000. For most stuff it's fine, but I don't think it's anything special.

there is a major difference in open office and microsoft office tho.. open office is free, can you honestly say microsoft office is £300 better. open office isnt pretty or that special but it gets the job done, it runs fast and ill say it again it costs bugger all.

and before anyone says, yes im well aware you can download office for free but im putting illegal use aside for my point

[Journeyer]

I must agree with Laitainion. I absolutely *love* the 2007 version, and are, like him, also considering actually purchasing it. OpenOffice on the other hand I found to be clumsy and a little limited.

[zr_ox]

I played with the Beat for a while and was impressed, but since 2003 works for my needs and I have a proper license I will stick with it.

It's just too expensive given the fact that it's maninly the UI thats changed.

I will only switch when it's been cracked

(joking)

[Tyinsar]

Originally Posted by M4RTIN

... can you honestly say microsoft office is £300 better...

I'd put it at about $50 better for me, so it's O.O. for me

Originally Posted by zr_ox

...
I will only switch when it's been cracked

(joking)

For a time I used a "borrowed" copy of Office 2003 but - I'm glad to say that all 3 of my home machines now run 100% legit software. It takes some work to find all the progs but I'm happy with what I use now. (sometimes the freeware stuff is even better than the paid versions)

[TeknoMage]

Seems odd to me that everyone is complaining about the price. The primary place of use for Office is in the office. Which means that you don't have to pay for it, the company dose. My company purchased the Software Assurance from Microsoft with our corporate licensing so the upgrade costs us nothing extra for Vista or Office.

[Risky]

Generally you look at a new version of office and mightn't be amazed at the difference, but if you're forced to move back a version you won't be happy.

The alternative may welll be fine for home use but I'd be rather pissed off if I went to a new employer and found I was stuck with something less. Like being given Lotus Notes instead of Outlook

[DXR_13KE]

i think i will wait untill i can test it for my self.

Originally Posted by TeknoMage

Seems odd to me that everyone is complaining about the price. The primary place of use for Office is in the office. Which means that you don't have to pay for it, the company dose. My company purchased the Software Assurance from Microsoft with our corporate licensing so the upgrade costs us nothing extra for Vista or Office.

and if i want to use word at home?

[TeknoMage]

Originally Posted by DXR_13KE

i think i will wait untill i can test it for my self.



and if i want to use word at home?

The corporate licensing agreement that my company has with Microsoft allows us to have one copy at home per user so you can work from home.

[BioSniper]

I'm with Cthippo on this. Open office all the way specifically because the equation editor (which my g/f used for uni) is one hell of a lot better than the one in word. It has as far as I can tell the same functionality as office just under different menus.

[<A88>]

Office 2007 is, at least in my opinion, head and shoulders above the competition, although at the same time seems to be priced specifically for large businesses who can afford it, not the average consumer (unless you're in the education sector). Will be interesting to see how the free online version of MS Office turns out.

<A88>

[zr_ox]

The Home Use Program that MS run as part of their Software Assurance program is nice.

Our mother company which is a large electronic distributor only just upgraded from NT4 to Windows XP. It's hilarious as now they are behaving like we are running cutting edge software.

There is no way they would ever buy into something like that even though in the long run it would save money. They wonder why it costs so much money when they do a complete software re haul every 10 years

[DXR_13KE]

Originally Posted by TeknoMage

The corporate licensing agreement that my company has with Microsoft allows us to have one copy at home per user so you can work from home.

then everyone should get corporate licensing agreements, even 12 year old kids that want to do homework that can not be done on any other software because the teacher demands it on a floppy disk and on a .doc format made and formated in word.
now tell the parents that they have to get a corporate licensing agreement for office.

[TeknoMage]

Originally Posted by DXR_13KE

then everyone should get corporate licensing agreements, even 12 year old kids that want to do homework that can not be done on any other software because the teacher demands it on a floppy disk and on a .doc format made and formated in word.
now tell the parents that they have to get a corporate licensing agreement for office.

A 12 year old kid dose not need the power of Word. WordPad can read and write .doc files. Maybe more people should inquire about their employer's Microsoft licensing.

Most people that use Word at home for non-work related tasks likely do not need an application as powerful as Word. Office is an extremely powerful application suit designed for business.

People need to realize that they don't need a Scottish Claymore to cut a loaf of bread.

[hitman012]

Originally Posted by BioSniper

I'm with Cthippo on this. Open office all the way specifically because the equation editor (which my g/f used for uni) is one hell of a lot better than the one in word. It has as far as I can tell the same functionality as office just under different menus.

Are you talking about Office 2007's or previous versions? 2007 has a rather nifty WSIWYG affair, while I've always found the markup that Open Office uses to be quite cumbersome (it'd be nice if it parsed TeX for equations).