Office 2007 Sucks

[kevinthenerd]

(This is in OT because it's subjective and opinionated.)

I can't stand the interface in Office 2007. If I ever need to "upgrade" from Office 2003, it's going to be via Open Office... assuming that doesn't get ruined too.

For years I've seen the trend in the computing industry move toward making computers accessible to total neophytes while making them harder to use for geeks. I've had this complaint ever since I switched from DOS 6.22 to Windows 3.1. This is just another annoying jump for me.

Some software upgrades were nice, but that's because they improved stability, performance, and usability. For example, I liked it when I switched from Windows 3.11 for Workgroups to Windows 95. I also thought it was a very nice upgrade when I went from DOS 3 to DOS 5, especially since I went from GWBASIC to QBASIC in the process.

The interface in modern Microsoft products is looking more and more like it was designed by Fisher Price. While I've gotten used to Windows XP, I thought it was junk when it came out. The fact that it was new had nothing to do with my opinion... it just lacked professionalism. Does that professionalism detract from the confidence that new users have with the system? Ok, a lack of professionalism doesn't hurt anything. My main issue is elsewhere, and it lies squarely in usability.

Why should an existing interface that works quite well for seasoned users be obliterated? The only reason why this should ever be done is that, with enough practice, the new interface would become more efficient than the old. I highly doubt that's the case with the new Office interface. How can a menu so highly driven by the mouse be more efficient than keyboard shortcuts? Now the only shortcuts that are available are the ones that the veterans have memorized.

 

[RallyMaster]

I must agree with this rant. I used it for 6 weeks and decided to ditch it. I was used to keyboard shortcuts for everything and clicking 8 times with a mouse to do something I could do with three keystrokes is not to my liking.

 

[us3rnotfound]

I totally agree. I watch as the teacher in my American Government class attempts to use Powerpoint 2007, and it took her 5 minutes to find out how to start the slide show from a certain slide (not from the beginning). In 2003, it was so intuitive that I don't even remember how one would do this, I'd just do it. Fuck the Office Button, Fuck the different tabs at the top.

 

[MrChad]

Originally posted by: kevinthenerd
The interface in modern Microsoft products is looking more and more like it was designed by Fisher Price. While I've gotten used to Windows XP, I thought it was junk when it came out. The fact that it was new had nothing to do with my opinion... it just lacked professionalism. Does that professionalism detract from the confidence that new users have with the system? Ok, a lack of professionalism doesn't hurt anything. My main issue is elsewhere, and it lies squarely in usability.

Larger buttons with higher contrast (read: colors) improve click accuracy and therefore make users more productive. You may think burying thousands of functions in a handful of menus three or four levels deep is more "professional", but the fact of the matter is that it's inefficient and unproductive.

Why should an existing interface that works quite well for seasoned users be obliterated? The only reason why this should ever be done is that, with enough practice, the new interface would become more efficient than the old. I highly doubt that's the case with the new Office interface. How can a menu so highly driven by the mouse be more efficient than keyboard shortcuts? Now the only shortcuts that are available are the ones that the veterans have memorized.

http://blogs.msdn.com/jensenh/...2005/10/13/480568.aspx

All of the keyboard shortcuts have been carried over from previous versions.

While you are entitled to your opinion and you may not like the new interface (it won't please everyone obviously), Microsoft invests heavily in user interface R&D on both their operating system and Office products. Businesses are finding it difficult to justify Office suite upgrades these days, so I would venture to guess that MS made sure the new UI is easier to learn and more productive on average than previous UIs.

 

[ElFenix]

i don't like it, but people are already sending me docx files.

of course, most of the time i use wordperfect, so i can avoid the craptastic interface changes of office.

MS really has shot themselves in the foot with this last round of software. vista blows (why the fsck does IE crash when doing nothing?!?), and the new office interface is horrible. unfortunately they'll still sell billions of dollars of each merely because everyone has to buy it to keep up with the network.

Originally posted by: MrChad
Businesses are finding it difficult to justify Office suite upgrades these days, so I would venture to guess that MS made sure the new UI is easier to learn and more productive on average than previous UIs.

yup, the last versions of MS software were perfectly good, so MS has to find something to upgrade. i'll give you a hint: the main selling factor of the new office is not the interface, it's the new file format that everyone will have to buy into.

 

[OutHouse]

I agree too. I had accountants going crazy trying to figure out excel when we upgraded them from office 2003 to 2007. funny how we didnt have that problem when moving from office 2000-2003. they hate the interface but they do like some of the improved features. I hate word, it seems like they hid the most used buttons and replaced them with crap that i have never and will never use. 07 outlook is nice, i like the new layout but still not a fan of the tab crap.

 

[MrChad]

Originally posted by: us3rnotfound
I totally agree. I watch as the teacher in my American Government class attempts to use Powerpoint 2007, and it took her 5 minutes to find out how to start the slide show from a certain slide (not from the beginning). In 2003, it was so intuitive that I don't even remember how one would do this, I'd just do it. Fuck the Office Button, Fuck the different tabs at the top.

Intuitive? The tiny unreadable icon in the lower-left hand corner was intuitive?

In 2007 you click the Slideshow ribbon then click the big "From Current Slide" button. I was able to figure it out in about 5 seconds.

The only reason the old method was "easy" is because you've done it hundreds of times. The new method is far more intuitive than the old, and just requires a bit of new training for experienced users.

 

[thescreensavers]

Thats why I still use 03

 

[OutHouse]

Originally posted by: MrChad

Originally posted by: us3rnotfound
I totally agree. I watch as the teacher in my American Government class attempts to use Powerpoint 2007, and it took her 5 minutes to find out how to start the slide show from a certain slide (not from the beginning). In 2003, it was so intuitive that I don't even remember how one would do this, I'd just do it. Fuck the Office Button, Fuck the different tabs at the top.

Intuitive? The tiny unreadable icon in the lower-left hand corner was intuitive?

In 2007 you click the Slideshow ribbon then click the big "From Current Slide" button. I was able to figure it out in about 5 seconds.

The only reason the old method was "easy" is because you've done it hundreds of times. The new method is far more intuitive than the old, and just requires a bit of new training for experienced users.

 

[GTaudiophile]

Agreed. We recently got 07 at work and there is a whole new learning curve with 2007. The software simply doesn't seem intuitive to me like putting all the crap in the Office button.

Think of the billions lost in time wasted having to learn a whole new way of doing the same crap you were comfortable doing.

 

[MrChad]

Originally posted by: Citrix

Originally posted by: MrChad

Originally posted by: us3rnotfound
I totally agree. I watch as the teacher in my American Government class attempts to use Powerpoint 2007, and it took her 5 minutes to find out how to start the slide show from a certain slide (not from the beginning). In 2003, it was so intuitive that I don't even remember how one would do this, I'd just do it. Fuck the Office Button, Fuck the different tabs at the top.

Intuitive? The tiny unreadable icon in the lower-left hand corner was intuitive?

In 2007 you click the Slideshow ribbon then click the big "From Current Slide" button. I was able to figure it out in about 5 seconds.

The only reason the old method was "easy" is because you've done it hundreds of times. The new method is far more intuitive than the old, and just requires a bit of new training for experienced users.

It's tough to teach an old dog new tricks. If you're used to the old interface (i.e. "experienced"), the new interface is going to require some re-training.

 

[Mucho]

After two weeks I gave up on 07 and Vista as well.

 

[mugs]

I hear you man... took me a half hour to figure out how to clear formatting in Excel. I got it for FREE, and I feel like I was ripped off. I uninstalled it and went with StarOffice. Same with Vista - such a piece of crap. I uninstalled it and went back to XP on my main PC. Bought a new cheapo PC that came with Vista on it, and I replaced it with Ubuntu.

 

[DBL]

It just takes a little getting used to. What shortcuts are not available anymore? As an accomplished user, you should be able to adjust relatively easily. I do think it is an easier interface for someone who is learning.

However, I find the Excel 2007 bug quite frightening.
=850*77.1

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: kevinthenerd
I've had this complaint ever since I switched from DOS 6.22 to Windows 3.1. This is just another annoying jump for me.

That didn't make sense at all since at the time you sort of needed DOS still with windows....

GUI is far easier and just as powerful as commandline parsers about 90% of the time.

If you are a power user you can reskin just about anything to make it look less Fischer-Price.

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: alkemyst

Originally posted by: kevinthenerd
I've had this complaint ever since I switched from DOS 6.22 to Windows 3.1. This is just another annoying jump for me.

That didn't make sense at all since at the time you sort of needed DOS still with windows....

GUI is far easier and just as powerful as commandline parsers about 90% of the time.

If you are a power user you can reskin just about anything to make it look less Fischer-Price.

A GUI is easier and just as powerful, but if you know the command line, it's pretty much physically impossible for the GUI equivalent to be faster.

 

[GTaudiophile]

Originally posted by: DBL
It just takes a little getting used to. What shortcuts are not available anymore? As an accomplished user, you should be able to adjust relatively easily. I do think it is an easier interface for someone who is learning.

However, I find the Excel 2007 bug quite frightening.
=850*77.1

Wow.

100,000 is the result.

 

[Anubis]

we just and i mean JUST upgraded to 2003 at work, im save for a long time HAHAHAHAH

anyway excel 2007 is a huge leap backwards, yea more rows/colums are cool but the same calcs on sheets take 10x longer in 2007, man it really does suck

excel 2003 runs faster on a 3ghz p4 with 512 megs of ram then 2007 does on a core 2 duo with 2 gigs of ram. its kinda sad actually

 

[Xavier434]

If it's not broken then don't fix it comes to mind here, but the new interface doesn't bother me. It's frustrating learning something new, but I can deal with it. I don't use keyboard shortcuts much so that part wasn't an issue although I can see how it would bother many people. I'm surprised they didn't add that functionality.

The "fischer-price" look doesn't annoy me either. Interfaces that look like that will often make the novice computer user more comfortable. The experts already know what they are doing so it shouldn't be an issue to them in terms of efficiency.

I am waiting to see how I feel about the whole thing after I get used to the interface. That will be the only time when I can make an educated opinion on which is more efficient for me personally. In any case, we all need to adjust to the changing times. The old Office programs will eventually become obsolete. Nothing we can do about it.

 

[Cabages]

Agree. Office 2007 is garbage.

 

[OutHouse]

Originally posted by: MrChad

Originally posted by: Citrix

Originally posted by: MrChad

Originally posted by: us3rnotfound
I totally agree. I watch as the teacher in my American Government class attempts to use Powerpoint 2007, and it took her 5 minutes to find out how to start the slide show from a certain slide (not from the beginning). In 2003, it was so intuitive that I don't even remember how one would do this, I'd just do it. Fuck the Office Button, Fuck the different tabs at the top.

Intuitive? The tiny unreadable icon in the lower-left hand corner was intuitive?

In 2007 you click the Slideshow ribbon then click the big "From Current Slide" button. I was able to figure it out in about 5 seconds.

The only reason the old method was "easy" is because you've done it hundreds of times. The new method is far more intuitive than the old, and just requires a bit of new training for experienced users.

It's tough to teach an old dog new tricks. If you're used to the old interface (i.e. "experienced"), the new interface is going to require some re-training.

kinda goes against the theory of "intuitive" doenst it?

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: nakedfrog

Originally posted by: alkemyst

Originally posted by: kevinthenerd
I've had this complaint ever since I switched from DOS 6.22 to Windows 3.1. This is just another annoying jump for me.

That didn't make sense at all since at the time you sort of needed DOS still with windows....

GUI is far easier and just as powerful as commandline parsers about 90% of the time.

If you are a power user you can reskin just about anything to make it look less Fischer-Price.

A GUI is easier and just as powerful, but if you know the command line, it's pretty much physically impossible for the GUI equivalent to be faster.

Do you do any system administration? Take a list of users for instance. I can select any combination with a few mouse clicks to apply something too. From the commandline I'd have to type in their 'ID' which depending on the naming conventions may require multiple commands to look up.

GUI's were created to speed tasks and later tweaked to make them more accessible to neophytes.

In some cases the GUI is not as good as command line, but that's why I am sticking to it's only about 10% of the time if that.

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: ElFenix
the main selling factor of the new office is not the interface, it's the new file format that everyone will have to buy into.

I don't really have a dog in this fight, I just wanted to comment on this one line. It's true that the new file format will be the main selling factor in the future, but the XML-based files are much smaller and easily managed than their older counterparts. Atleast there is an incentive to use the new file format. A person with a ton of Office documents could easily cut the space used in half with the new format. That could save in costs for network traffic and storage space.

 

[Bateluer]

Do the elitism is strong in this thread.

Office 2007 and Vista are very solid products and far ahead of what Office2003 and XP were at launch.

Some people just like to complain every time MS releases new software. When the next versions of Office and Windows are released, people will be bitching about how well Office2007/Vista work for them and how theirs no reason to upgrade.

 

[Xavier434]

Originally posted by: blurredvision

Originally posted by: ElFenix
the main selling factor of the new office is not the interface, it's the new file format that everyone will have to buy into.

I don't really have a dog in this fight, I just wanted to comment on this one line. It's true that the new file format will be the main selling factor in the future, but the XML-based files are much smaller and easily managed than their older counterparts. Atleast there is an incentive to use the new file format. A person with a ton of Office documents could easily cut the space used in half with the new format. That could save in costs for network traffic and storage space.

Very true. Whether we like it or not, docx is not going away for a while. Those of us who prefer to procrastinate when it comes to change are ok for now, but it's only matter of time. I installed 2007 at home for personal use while I chose to use 2003 at work where time is more of a factor. I am hoping that I will become familiar enough with 2007 at home so that when it comes time to use it regularly at work the transition will be less painful.