Microsoft has more often failed to surprise us with virtually very little to no change for the better on its Office series and the last one was the Office 2003 launched in the fall of 2002 which had all that the previous versions had with minor improvements with its oft repeated Mantra AESTHETICS. It was more of tom foolery of the eye which has its own property of accommodation and acceptance.
“Seeing is believing”* was also extended to Vista which was mere visual Wasta with uncompromising security to keep tabbing-Do you want to open this file.
Office 2007 is just not an extension of the platform like in XP to Vista, but is way different and way ahead of Office 2003, yet keeping the basics of usage right and relevant because it is you who has got used to the same old keys of Office day in and day out.
If you want to get into the Office which you have for many years, you will just sneak in unnoticed with not the thought that you are entering the remotest corners of your Office subconsciously even if it was the size of the Ambani offices. Yet when you join a new company, it takes time to have a feel of it and test the deeper waters.
If you are an avid user of Office 2003, there are lanes and by lanes unending which you would have explored for the heck of it.
When you switch to Office 2007, it is a single corridor open to all the sections one shot and the whole bloody place is in front of you. That is what Microsoft calls Ribbons which is the basis of Microsoft Office 2007 edition. If you want you cut the ribbons or whole gamut of ribbons is in front of you. If you have time and energy get into Office 2007 with all new Interface that will take you into a far more beautiful world of presentation which you will vouch for corporate success.
Microsoft office 2007 Enterprise-Enterprising solutions**.
The breezy installation takes a solid 30 minutes. but mind you with enough validations to keep piracy out. You have options to choose from
Standard-Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook and Tools
Student and Teacher- Word, Excel, Power point, One note and Tools
Basic: Word, Excel, Outlook
Small Business:- Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Access, Outlook and Tools
Enterprise:- Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Access, Outlook, One note, Publisher, Groove and Tools
Ultimate:-Complete Package
My pick was Enterprise for the lovely new package ofGroove and One note and the best part was it is less heavy than the previous version of Office 2003 unlike XP to Vista which puts heavy burden on your system speed. No compatibility issues here unlike the Vista and the reverse integration were always possible with old file formats.
Office 2007 Word-New imprint*
Ribbons, Ribbons everywhere and no drag downs and no extensive search. It’s all in front of you with distinct style and interface available in three funda colours-Blue, Black and silver. The first thing you will notice is the logo at the top left which will be a mystery until you know that it is the File’s epicenter and not the Home. The learning curve is quite steep but with so many simple beautiful small things taken care of like the single click styling, colouring and the right click ribbon that lets you do everything in one click. The emphasis is on icons and not textual messages which make your work faster and satisfying. The long toolbars have evaporated and what you have is tabs that have many icons. You can look at your page exactly the way it gets printed unlike print preview or just use the View tab for viewing multiple documents.
The essence of MS word 2007 is its beautiful graphic interface with colours and themes and plenty of wonderful templates to choose from with no pop ups, animations and cumbersome tools. No sidebars for references and viewing and one shot editing, conversion(to pdf) and mailing.
Office Excel 2007-excellent design*
Graphics design is the standpoint with emphasis on more acceptable colours and textures for tables, pivots and charts. Formatting adds flavor like an icing without having to go into toolbars with the drag down of colours and styles. The insert from the conventional 2003 has moved to an user interface adjacent to Home with ribbons which give highly presentable output of Tables and charts. You don’t have to select a format or template and just dragging them makes you visualize the final output before selecting them(Conditional formatting). Gone or the days when accountants have to use formulas keyed in and now it’s all in a jiffy with the Formula Icons. You will find the best use of Ribbons in Excel.
Office Power Point 2007-Powered for Cute Presentations*
Just one word to describe-awesome, the new Power point version compared to its predecessor where the essence has been aesthetics and present ability and where the choice is yours. The shapes, drawings and text all have moved up and many notches ahead where you can play with your slides to give that wow feel. Working on slide design and animation was never so user friendly and interactive. The ribbons come handy in slide additions and insertions and when done, slide show reviewing and finer manipulations are all a click away. The templates online has gone through a sea change.
Outlook 2007- Flagged version of 2003*
My best companion has been Outlook over other e mail client systems because of the safety and ease of maintaining 1000s of mails organized in a readable user interface compared to Outlook Express or Incredimail which take more space and are less secure. It is in 2007 MS outlook that you see the same old File tabs and you won’t see the ribbons until you open the individual mail with formats and features that appeal to you. My original preloaded Office 2007 trial on Vaio has pre loaded Business Contact Manager which is an excellent option to synchromise all your contacts. This feature is available only on Ultimate edition and I would say that it is a big mess up from MS to leave this which makes Outlook 2007 nothing beyond 2003 edition except the new Flags and Categories which helps in tagging and organizing your mails.MS claims that Outlook 2007 is more secure with its phishing filters for which I have been using QUIRB for ages.
Office 2007 One Note-Note worthy for MSians*
Yeah, I always wondered why MS does not come out with a notepad better than those stupid notepads and wordpads. One Note is the best feature on offer in the Enterprise edition because you just have to use it like a personal diary with scores and scores of info may it be on travel, ticketing, credit cards, passwords, research works, web notes and even MS reviews. You just have to dump them all and forget. Did I say forget, yes because it is as faith full as your dog and never misbehaves. It takes everything you enter and saves in itself in one single ONE NOTE FOLDER with sidebar to choose like Professional, Personal, Travelling, Planner, Miscellaneous and sundry. But don’t throw the dogpile of garbage in it.
Cont'd in Comments due to lack of space.*
