IMHO, Word 2007 is an exceptional piece of software.
As others have said, the layout is very intuitive and logical; a definite adjustment from prior versions of Office, but for new users, I think it’s great. The bit about “dumbed down,” or not for, “power users,” is unfounded. It’s fully shortcut accessible and highly customizable using the Quick-Access bar which will make literally any feature accessible through an alt-number shortcut if you so desire.
The fully integrated and easily accessible equation editor as well as the excellent references tracker are both worth their weight in gold. Both have saved me untold amounts of time compared to Word 2003 or any other word processor on the market. I’m sure it doesn’t offer quite the same level of flexibility as LaTex or whatever, but I have never gotten stuck in being unable to format something just the way I wanted within a few minutes.
I like the .docx format becuase it produces smaller file-sizes than the old .doc format and IIRC it is now open source and ISO 9001 standards complaint.
The built in PDF support is good, but I suspect that is now fairly standard.
As a point of comparison, I’ve used Google Docs and Open Office a fair amount and in both cases I’ve experienced blinding white apoplectic rage over bullet lists that just wouldn’t behave. Google Docs does this crazy shit where it’s imposible to delete lines sometimes that makes me want to fly to California to kick ass and take names.
Word 2007 is fast, powerful, stable, and easy on the eyes.
Seems like WordPerfect was also a lot better about sections. Try to start a different footer in a new section in Word. Go ahead! I dares ya! Next to impossible to get page numbers etc. correct. That’s what I miss about WordDefect. snif.
Yeah, sorry, I didn’t pay close attention to the OP’s choices. But, I like more people to know about the free options.
Regarding the 2007 formats I really have no idea. I don’t keep up with that stuff very closely. I know, I had read something in passing in a prior version about a plugin, but the latest version might have it built in.
Since it’s an open format it really shouldn’t be long before it is added, if it isn’t already.
I used OO.o as well, since it’s free and just can’t make myself pay for MS Office. OO.o is fairly good about converting to .doc, but it tends to fuck up tables and bullets (trust me; I just spent 2 hours yesterday trying to format a cv and transcript for a job application, and I finally just said “fuck it” and submitted it as a pdf, despite what what asked - I got an interview anyways!)
I don’t understand Word 2007. They have it on the computers at school, and I don’t use it very often, so when I need to open it up to do something quick, I discover that I’m kind of lost and confused. First time I used it, I was modifying a cover page template for an assignment, and I wanted to save it to my USB key so that I’d have it for the next assignment, and there was no “Save As” option, either in the visible menus, or in the Quick Launch or whatever menu. If it was there, I couldn’t find it. I had to go online and find the keyboard shortcut for it (it just isn’t one that I’d ever bothered to learn before)! The crappy thing is, even though I loaded up with buttons that I wanted, the school computers don’t save the customized version, so I’m back at square one every time. I HATE it. I used notepad for my last typing thing at school, then brought it home and printed it here with OO.o!
Related Rant: The school computer people have also decided that no one should need to use Windows Explorer, as it is entirely unavailable, even using a Run command. I can open Control Panel, and change how it looks to accomplish the same thing, but it doesn’t stay that way for my next log on. I have been using Win Explorer to manage and find my files since it was invented, and I don’t want to change my habits now! It drives me crazy.
I’m not sure, but I read that it’s coming if it isn’t there already. I used a demo version of Office 2007 when I had a loaner laptop, and I despised it. By accident (read: stupidity) I saved a presentation in PPT, and then turned the laptop back in. It crashed PPT 2003, but OO (actually I used StarOffice) opened it fine and let me fix it.
It’s possible that when he evaluated OO.o before he didn’t like it. More recent versions are a lot more compatible with older ones. It’s still not 100% - complex papers I write have figures jumping around a bit when I move from Word to OO and back again. Another problem is that you can’t get inside an object created by another tool in Suite A when you move to Suite B (and vice versa.) I have both on my laptop, but at work we have StarOffice only, since we are a Solaris shop.
WordPerfect is the most wonderful piece of wordprocessing software ever made. It is geared toward an office environment, and is wonderfully accessable to everyone.
I’ve been wordprocessing on different platforms for over 15 years, and a month or so ago, I opened Word 2007, because it was the only thing handy. Oh dear…
I couldn’t find anything! I consider myself an above average computer user, and I was hunting and clicking for literally, ten minutes, in order to change the top margin. What a waste of time…
My gold standard is WordPerfect… (checks version)…9.0. It’s about 8 years out of date, but since it does exactly what I need it to, I’ve never seen the need to upgrade. The newer versions are just as user-friendly, particularly with the web suite tools.
Insert cold, dead hands remark here (and add the two spaces at the end of the sentence)…
I’m still mad at Bill Gates for co-opting the word processing corner of the world away from WordPerfect. They finally won the battle with MicroSoft and prevented them from creating sweetheart deals with computer companies to have their software pre-installed…but alas, all that’s left is counting the bodies on the field.
Paired coding and Reveal Codes is still the far superior method of creating a document.
I have to use Word because it’s the standard and I’ve finally learned how to use it, but I still get bogged down every now and then trying to figure out what the hell Word wants me to do to format a list or a table just how I want it.
So what do you consider a giant firm, I have worked for several medium size businesses that all went to MS Office as the complete suite just works the best overall.
