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I gave Office 2007 a try last year. I really wanted to give it a chance, but found the ribbon interface difficult to get used to, compared with the simpler menus on Office 2003. Since I use Outlook for e-mail, I REALLY hated Outlook 2007, especially in the way it rendered HTML e-mail messages. Instead of using Internet Explorer as the rendering engine, OL 2007 uses Word. Microsoft claims it's for "improved security." But if they were working so hard at making Internet Explorer (starting with Version 7) more secure, what's the problem?
I have since switched back to Office 2003 and will continue using it until Microsoft doesn't support it anymore. If it's not broke, why fix it?
I'm building an application in Access 2007 right now. I really, really, really hate to have to be doing it, as I don't like using proprietary technology, but we need something NOW and I have to work with what I have.
I was going to do the front end in Access, with the data stored in mysql, but there's too many issues with that, so I'm linking to an Access backend DB instead. The original plan was using mysql so that I could (A) not be limited to the 2gb db size, and (B) write a front-end client for our customers to be able to access data via our web site, but that's nixed for now. Maybe when I feel like shelling out $900 for the ODBC connector and setting up and colocating a Windoze server dedicated to -- drum roll -- storing a file, I may write that front-end. For now, though, we'll just work with Access.
All that said, I do have to say that it's come a long way since '97 (the last version I played around with). The new "attachment" data type is pretty handy. Actually, one of the biggest obstacles I came across with running mysql on the back end was that the BLOB data type in mysql showed up as an "OLE Object" in Access, which meant that any files you stuck in that field would take 10-100x more space in the db than the file did on the disk - totally unacceptable... The "Attachment" data type, which is new in Access 2007, doesn't suffer from this bloat.
Other than that, we don't use the Office suite much. We use the occasional simple spreadsheet and have our letterhead as a template in Word, but we don't really "use" Office much. We use the heck out of Adobe Acrobat, though.
Have you looked into SQL Server Express? It's free. Access isn't a true DB and will not grow with you at all. I deplore Office 2007. I can deal with the menu changes, etc but this thing has more bugs than I can count, especially in a business setting where you are bringing multiple workbooks together, etc.
Oh, good grief - I am fixing some old Word 2000 documents because the page numbering format got screwed up on the footer during the conversion. OMG! You USED to be able to very simply do page numbers in a footer..........I wound up going to insert fields instead of using that tool because my footer has, imagine this, text in it such as the document title and word. ...... glad I remembered the field names for page numbering.
I personally do not like the menu structure in Office 2007. I have not seen previews of Office 2010, but I hope the general look of the programs is more like 2003 than 2007.
2010 will be more like 2007 than 2003. 2007 has a learning curve to get used to the ribbon, but after you're familiar with it you'll find that it's actually useful. The reason why MS went to the ribbon design was because there were features that were in 2003 that no one knew existed because they couldn't find it in the old menu style.
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Originally Posted by DixieChick1972
I have used Office 07 at work and I really do not like it. I do not like how it seems totally different than the other versions. I don't like how they have moved stuff around so I cant find it anymore on the menus etc...and the changing the file extensions to .docx, .xlsx etc... really gets to be a pain when either I or others forget to save as older format.
1) you can set the older formats as default
2) if the other people are using Office 2003 they should install service pack three that allows them to open the newer formats.
Have you looked into SQL Server Express? It's free. Access isn't a true DB and will not grow with you at all. I deplore Office 2007. I can deal with the menu changes, etc but this thing has more bugs than I can count, especially in a business setting where you are bringing multiple workbooks together, etc.
I can put an access database on a shared drive (samba on linux) - SQL Server requires a Windoze machine, and using one of our workstations as the DB server is out of the question.
We don't have and I won't build a Windows server. I think Microsoft makes a very good desktop operating system, but (imho) with few exceptions, their server products pale in comparison to the offerings from the open source community when it comes to security, reliability and overall ease of setup/maintenance.
If we ever need to migrate away from access on the backend, we can hire a geek fluent in Access and mySQL to do the job. There were just too many inconsistencies and quirks for me to want to deal with it. As much as I dislike using it, though, I do think it'll be fine for us. The way our business works, I don't anticipate too many problems with db size, etc. The only difference is that I'll probably be archiving records after, say, six months, instead of 1-2 years or more.
2010 will be more like 2007 than 2003. 2007 has a learning curve to get used to the ribbon, but after you're familiar with it you'll find that it's actually useful. The reason why MS went to the ribbon design was because there were features that were in 2003 that no one knew existed because they couldn't find it in the old menu style.
1) you can set the older formats as default
2) if the other people are using Office 2003 they should install service pack three that allows them to open the newer formats.
So HOW do you set the old formats as default? All I have seen is afternmarket software to do this at $15 per each product [ie, office, ppt, excel......)
I could find everything I needed in 2003. I do remember going through this angst from WP5.1 to windows 3.1 and associated office sw, where, all of a sudden you had to have a mouse to word process.
I can customize my single toolbar in 2007 but it is not quite the same. I am learning to use the ribbon but it is still very annoying.
I still have issues with file management and the search option - the old search on XP was much better than the current on on Vista.
You can set he file format defaults to 2003 versions, but you cannot change the menus to look like previous versions. While you can set a theme in Windows to "Windows Classic," there is no such thing for MS Office.
Office 2007 is FAR better than previous versions. Yes the ribbon bar takes getting used to. But many many things take fewer clicks in Office 2007. In 2003 you would click a Menu bar item (like File or Edit), wait for the menu to pop up, then choose another item. In 2007 chances are good what you need is on the Home group - and most things are one click away.
Office 2007 is more powerful. If you use Excel - try the new conditional formatting. It is amazing. It is so much easier to add a series to charts now. If you use Powerpoint - try to the new graphics - which have 3D, shadowing, beveled edges, etc. You'll see the instead preview of formatting changes.
As for 25 digit license keys - Microsoft is no different than Adobe and hundreds of other software companies. At least most Microsoft panels that require a key automatically forward space and eliminate the need to type dashes.
As for Openoffice - it is an acceptable free solution. But it is slower, and it does not always open MS documents correctly. It processes some Excel functions differently - as I found recently.
So HOW do you set the old formats as default? All I have seen is afternmarket software to do this at $15 per each product [ie, office, ppt, excel......)
...cut...
Just open word and go to the office button (top left corner, where "file" used to be) then click on "word options" in the menu that drops down
This should open a window with lots of configuration options in it. Click on "save" on the left and side of the screen, and then in the top drop-down box in the centre of the window, change the "Word Document (*.docx)" to "Word 97-2003 Document (*.doc)". Then click on "OK" in the bottom right corner of the screen.
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