Microsoft Office 2007
March 7, 2007
Q: Steve -- Have you been able to try out the new Microsoft operating system yet or the new version of Office? Do you think it would be worth it to upgrade our office computers or should we just wait until we get new computers? -- Barb
A: I have heard versions of this question several times since Microsoft launched its new products earlier this year, so I called up some folks I know at Microsoft to see if I could get a demo (full disclosure: I do some work with Microsoft.) Not only was I given a nice demonstration of both products, but I have been able to knock around on them for a few weeks now so that I could really get a feel for them.
Over the next two weeks, I'll tell you what I found. This week, I want to discuss Office 2007 and whether it is worth the upgrade, and next week we'll do the same with Vista.
Office 2007: The first thing I noticed that I liked was that if you buy Office new or as an upgrade, your license allows you to install it on not one, but two computers; a nice feature for the growing bevy of us who work at both home and the office. But the product is not cheap. Office 2007 ranges in price from $149 for a new version of Office Home & Student (no upgrade option available), to a steep $679 for the Ultimate edition. Upgrades for the version I tested run $279.
Is it worth the price? Indeed. There were times during the demonstration I was given that I loved what I saw. Now, will there be a learning curve for me to go back and figure out how to do those things I liked so much for myself? You bet, and that's the bad news. If you have used Office 2003 for years, it will take some effort to unlearn what you know and figure out how to use Office '07. But I can assure you this: It will be worth it.
The product is high-quality for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that it is more intuitive and pleasing to the eye than its predecessor; it's brighter, with a pleasant blue hue. For instance, remember when you might be working in Word and there would be so many rulers and menus at the top of the page that it became almost impossible to figure out what to do? That is long gone. I can also happily report that "Clippy," the animated paperclip, can rest in peace.
Instead, at the top of any Word document you get what is called the "ribbon": Essentially, it is the old pull-down menus (now extinct) using icons instead, and the icons change depending upon which task you want to perform. The "insert" menu for example has different, easily understandable, icons for inserting a picture, or a chart, or a hyperlink, or whatever. Other useful Word features:
A running word count on the bottom left
A slide bar for increasing or decreasing fonts automatically on the bottom right
Powerful graphics options
This same intuitive interface is found throughout Office, from Excel to emails to PowerPoint (where the templates and themes are also much improved.)
Many businesspeople begin and end their day with Outlook, so I want to spend some extra time examining this key program. My favorite improvement is that they have added a To-Do bar on the far right so that you can see what is going on on any given day. That you can finally drag emails and tasks into your calendar is also a very welcome, useful addition. Or how about this: Flag an email and it shows up as a task on your to-do list.
Searching inside Outlook is also much improved as all results show up - not just emails, but entries in you calendar, contacts, etc.
The calendar is now color-coded so that it is far easier to see what is happening, and scheduling meetings and tasks and integrating them with email (and vice versa) is easier and faster.
Finally, integrated within some versions of the new Outlook is Office Accounting Express and Business Contact Manager:
Accounting Express allows you to easily manage everyday financial tasks, and one of the items I saw that was fairly amazing was the integrated eBay tool: You can create and post an eBay auction from the program, and the results are automatically downloaded into your books.
Business Contact Manager helps you track leads, opportunities, projects, and even marketing campaigns.
Finally, you should be happy to learn that to get all of these bells and whistles, you need not upgrade your computer.
The bottom line is that if Outlook is not part of your everyday work life, the upgrade, while useful, may not be necessary. But if Office is the center of your work life, then you would be well-served by this powerful product.
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