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To cut or not to cut - The lousy MS Office ribbon
MrCrispy:
If Office 2007 were an Apple product, everyone would be dancing and doing cartwheels over the simplicity and the ease-of-use. I want choice as much as the next guy, but there's a lot to be said for a consistent approach that serves 99% of my needs.
Most of the complaints are from people used to their shortcuts and menus from previous Office versions. Give both to a new user, let them discover how things work, and I bet they'll like 2007 much more.
Carol Haynes:
BUT ... is Office 2007 really aimed at new users? Where are these new users coming from? If you wanted an Office app you have a choice of Microsoft Office (by far the major player), Corel Wordperfect Suite (long time struggling suite) and Open Office (if you want a cheap/free office app you aren't going to move to MS). There are some others out there but they are all really small fry by cmparison with MS Office !
I suppose it might be but truly new users must be a truly tiny proportion given that Office has been out there since the early 1980s in its pre-2007 format!
The ribbon is more likely to have appeared as a response to really bad publicity affecting ALL upgardes since Office 97 - namely that almost nothing new was added! No one can say there is nothing new in O2007 - whether it really lives up to the hype is another matter.
I haven't spent long playing with the ribbon but I have to confess I quite liked the approach but whether it is worth the proce of an upgrade .... I think I am skipping Office 2007 and Vista and see what happens next.
jacquesrober:
There is a possible solution to this question: to cut or not to cut.
This software: http://www.addintools.com/english/menuoffice/default.htm can rollback the ribbon to give you the classic look of office 2003 and also keep some of the best features of the ribbon.
It is not free and can also apply to excel.
MrCrispy:
Carol, what I was trying to say is that the Office time took the risk to totally revamp the interface and break backwards compatibility to make it better, after they did a lot fo research to find out what would make the best UI. All the complaints about the ribbon bar are that its too unfamiliar, not about its usability.
The biggest market for Office is business desktops and I imagine all new employees would count as new users :) But I agree that the majority of people will have to undergo a significant adjustment period for Office 2007 and Vista. Is that a good thing? Depends on how you feel about change!
wasker:
I tried O2007 beta -- Ribbon is fantastic.
About screen real estate: it could be "auto hidden", so I don't see any problems here.
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