5 out of 8 people found this review helpful.
A dumbed down version of what used to be a good productivity suite.
Date of Review: Feb 16, 2009
The Bottom Line: Office 2007 is a failed attempt by Microsoft to convice consumers to "upgrade" when, in fact, the product has been dumbed down.
Any previous version of Office is superior to this. If you are buying a new computer, don't "upgrade" your version of Office. Keep the old version instead. Or, if you have never had a version of Office, buy a used copy of Office XP, Office 2003, Office 2000 - anything but Office 2007. Office 2007 is terrible. Microsoft made a big mistake.
Just about every aspect is worse than what it was before starting with the Ribbon. The Ribbon replaced the traditional File - Edit -etc. menu items. Now, you won't be able to find anything. If you used keyboard short cuts before - forget it, the Alt - keys are different now. In some cases you can't even do what you did in earlier versions without having to use the mouse - you'll have to take your hand off the keyboard just to click here or there.
I bought a copy for $22 only because my employer was switching over and Microsoft made the special offer to employees. I have been using it at home and the office for several months and not a day goes by where I don't ask myself, "Why did they do this? Why did they ruin what used to be a good product?"
The better bet is to save your money and get OpenOffice which is totally free and can read Office file formats. It has the capabilities most home users need. And you can't beat the price.
UPDATE: I can't emphasize enough that if you used a previous version of Office and you are used to menu commands (File , Edit, etc.) and / or you regularly use keyboard shortcuts, you will not like this software. This suite is developed for newbies. Experienced users will find that the handful of additional capabilities in Office 2007 do not outweigh the productivity losses they will experience. Caveat emptor.
UPDATE: Gee - I got a couple of "not helpfuls". I guess they are looking for more specifics. OK. I'll supply them as they occur.
Excel. Sorting. I do a lot of this and I like to do it without using the mouse which wastes time. Define the range by starting in the upper left corner then pressing Ctrl - Shift - End. This still works. Launch the Data Sort menu item by pressing Alt - D - S. This still works. Select the column you want to sort on by pressing Alt - Down Arrow. BZZZZZ. Doesn't work. The OK button has the focus instead of the column selection drop down. This means you have to take your hand off the keyboard and click on the drop down with the mouse - you can't even cycle through the various controls in order to get to the drop down - you have to use the mouse. Then, if you want to add another column for the sort, you have to click on the Add Level button. You can cycle through the controls to reach this button but when it comes time to select the column, it is back to the mouse again. You used to be able to tab though to the next level and select the column using Alt - Down Arrow.
UPDATE: Here's another one. Access. Paste a range from Excel into an Access table. No can do. If you open a blank table and try to append the contents as pasted from Excel you get an error message saying the clipboard data is damaged. If you design the destination table in Access first you get the same error message. This happens whether or not the Access table has a Primary Key or not.
UPDATE: File properties used to be close at hand. Now it is buried. To get there: Click on the Office button -> Prepare -> Properties -> Document properties -> Advanced propteries. This is another "Why'd they do that?" moment.
