[gui-talk] Five reasons not to upgrade to Office 2007

Tue Dec 5 18:15:38 CST 2006

Hi Paul,

How do you know, if the product hasn't yet been released?  Do you mean it looks as if it's going to be good from what you've read or heard?  Or have you somehow gotten hold of a copy and tried it already, pre-release?  Thanks.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Paul Henrichsen 
To: 'NFBnet GUI Talk Mailing List' 
Sent: Tuesday, December 05, 2006 4:01 PM
Subject: Re: [gui-talk] Five reasons not to upgrade to Office 2007

At least with Window-eyes, screenreader access for office 2007, looks great.

Paul Henrichsen
Paulh52 at pacbell.net

-----Original Message-----
From: gui-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:gui-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of albert griffith
Sent: Tuesday, December 05, 2006 2:13 PM
To: NFBnet GUI Talk Mailing List
Subject: Re: [gui-talk] Five reasons not to upgrade to Office 2007

I've been reading all the information I can find about this program and it
seems that around two out of three people think the, ribbon approach, is
better.  The rest really dislike it, however.  Every time Microsoft releases
an upgrade, the same old tired argument about it being barely out of beta is
trotted out to discourage all but the most adventurous.  Also, converters
will be readily available and it's not difficult to save documents in the
format preferred by the intended recipient.  My concerns have to do with
screen reader accessibility and I haven't heard anything about that yet.  As
always, those les adventurous, will be posting their orders for the new
products as soon as possible while those with their feet planted more firmly
on the ground will do the wisest thing and wait for six months to a year
before upgrading.  I'll probably be in that line outside of a Best Buy at
around midnight on January, 29th.
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Andrews" <dandrews at visi.com>
To: <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>; <promotion-technology at nfbnet.org>;
<gui-talk at nfbnet.org>; <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>; <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>;
<nabop at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, December 05, 2006 4:34 PM
Subject: [gui-talk] Five reasons not to upgrade to Office 2007

|
| >
| >Five reasons not to upgrade to Office 2007 By Angus Kidman Monday, 04 
| >December 2006 IT Wire
| >
| >There's been coverage galore of the benefits of the new interface 
| >sported by Office 2007, but there are plenty of good reasons not to 
| >make the switch to the latest version of Microsoft's best-selling 
| >product suite. Here's five of the most compelling. If you fit any of 
| >these scenarios, then there's precious little point in making an 
| >immediate switch to what the company refers to as the "2007 Office 
| >System", either now (when it's available for corporate licence 
| >holders) or in January, when it goes on sale at retailers.
| >
| >Reason 1: You already know how to use your favourite Office 
| >applications. The centrepiece of the latest release of Office is the 
| >new ribbon interface, which Microsoft has endlessly touted as making 
| >it easier to discover many of the features which are already included 
| >in Word, Excel and PowerPoint, but which users have somehow failed to 
| >discover buried under a wealth of menus and toolbars.
| >
| >This is a perfectly valid argument as far as new users are concerned, 
| >but Office itself is hardly a new product, with some elements of it 
| >now dating back more than 20 years. That means that there's several 
| >million people who actually know what they're doing with the product 
| >-- or rather, who did until Microsoft decided that menus were 
| >entirely unnecessary.
| >
| >The sole concession to these users is a series of interactive guides 
| >on the Microsoft Web site which map . I've asked Microsoft several 
| >times why there couldn't be an option to overlay the old menu 
| >interface for existing users -- switched off by default, but 
| >available if you want it
| >-- and never received a satisfactory reply. The bottom line
| >remains: if
| >you know what you're doing, why would you want to waste time having 
| >to learn a whole new product just because Microsoft thinks it's a 
| >good idea?
| >
| >Reason 2: You like a consistent interface in all of your apps.
| >Despite
| >the endless pro-ribbon propaganda, it's not actually found in every 
| >element of Office. In particular, it hasn't been introduced to 
| >Outlook.
| >Microsoft officials say this is simply a question of resources, and 
| >that the ribbon will probably appear there eventually. A cynic might 
| >argue that Outlook has fewer buried features, and thus demonstrates 
| >that the ribbon isn't needed anyway.
| >
| >Whatever the reason, though, the end result is that one of the major 
| >selling points for previous versions of Office -- a consistent 
| >interface across every application -- has disappeared. If this is in 
| >fact important to you, Office 2007 is a poor choice.
| >
| >Reason 3: You frequently exchange files with users outside your 
| >organisation. Office 2007 boasts a new, XML-based file format. This 
| >does in fact have several benefits -- files are smaller, less likely 
| >to get corrupted and the file format is more easily exploited by 
| >other applications. If everyone in your company is using it -- or if 
| >you're a one-person band and don't share files at all -- then it's a 
| >useful choice.
| >
| >However, if you are feeling "collaborative" (to use an MS buzzword) 
| >and want to actually mail those files to other people, then it's a 
| >right pain. Assuming your correspondents don't have Office 2007 (and 
| >most of them won't), you'll either have to do a 'Save As' into the 
| >old format every time you send a file, or convince them to install a 
| >converter (and pray they're running a version where that's an 
| >option). Frankly, who needs the hassle?
| >
| >Reason 4: You use macros and other customisation features 
| >extensively.
| >Microsoft has always boasted about the fact that there's an entire 
| >community of Office developers out there building custom applications 
| >on top of Word, Excel and the like. It generally makes less noise 
| >about the fact that every new version of Office renders these 
| >inoperable until they're recoded to fit the new interface and file 
| >formats. With ribbons sprinkled everywhere and a totally new approach 
| >to files, there's no point even contemplating shifting unless your 
| >developer has already made the migration, or you have a lot of time 
| >on your hands.
| >
| >Reason 5: It's still essentially a version 0 application. While 
| >Microsoft boasts that the number of beta testers for Office 2007 far 
| >exceeds any previous versions, it still remains a product that's only 
| >just come out of beta. Yes, it's selfish to let other people discover 
| >all the flaws, but why risk your business (or even just your home
| >PC)
| >until there's been a patch or two?
| >_____________________________________________________________
|
| David Andrews and white cane Harry.
|
|
| _______________________________________________
| gui-talk mailing list
| gui-talk at nfbnet.org
| http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gui-talk
| 

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-------------- next part --------------
Hi Paul,

How do you know, if the product hasn't yet been released?  Do you mean it looks as if it's going to be good from what you've read or heard?  Or have you somehow gotten hold of a copy and tried it already, pre-release?  Thanks.
----- Original Message -----
From:
mailto:paulh52 at pacbell.net Paul Henrichsen
To:
mailto:gui-talk at nfbnet.org 'NFBnet GUI Talk Mailing List'
Sent:
Tuesday, December 05, 2006 4:01 PM
Subject:
Re: [gui-talk] Five reasons not to upgrade to Office 2007
At least with Window-eyes, screenreader access for office 2007, looks great.

Paul Henrichsen
mailto:Paulh52 at pacbell.net Paulh52 at pacbell.net
-----Original Message-----
From: mailto:gui-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org gui-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org
[mailto:gui-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of albert griffith
Sent: Tuesday, December 05, 2006 2:13 PM
To: NFBnet GUI Talk Mailing List
Subject: Re: [gui-talk] Five reasons not to upgrade to Office 2007
I've been reading all the information I can find about this program and it
seems that around two out of three people think the, ribbon approach, is
better.  The rest really dislike it, however.  Every time Microsoft releases
an upgrade, the same old tired argument about it being barely out of beta is
trotted out to discourage all but the most adventurous.  Also, converters
will be readily available and it's not difficult to save documents in the
format preferred by the intended recipient.  My concerns have to do with
screen reader accessibility and I haven't heard anything about that yet.  As
always, those les adventurous, will be posting their orders for the new
products as soon as possible while those with their feet planted more firmly
on the ground will do the wisest thing and wait for six months to a year
before upgrading.  I'll probably be in that line outside of a Best Buy at
around midnight on January, 29th.
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Andrews" < mailto:dandrews at visi.com dandrews at visi.com
>
To: < mailto:blindtlk at nfbnet.org blindtlk at nfbnet.org
>; < mailto:promotion-technology at nfbnet.org promotion-technology at nfbnet.org
>;
< mailto:gui-talk at nfbnet.org gui-talk at nfbnet.org
>; < mailto:nfbcs at nfbnet.org nfbcs at nfbnet.org
>; < mailto:nabs-l at nfbnet.org nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>;
< mailto:nabop at nfbnet.org nabop at nfbnet.org
>
Sent: Tuesday, December 05, 2006 4:34 PM
Subject: [gui-talk] Five reasons not to upgrade to Office 2007
|
| >
| >Five reasons not to upgrade to Office 2007 By Angus Kidman Monday, 04
| >December 2006 IT Wire
| >
| >There's been coverage galore of the benefits of the new interface
| >sported by Office 2007, but there are plenty of good reasons not to
| >make the switch to the latest version of Microsoft's best-selling
| >product suite. Here's five of the most compelling. If you fit any of
| >these scenarios, then there's precious little point in making an
| >immediate switch to what the company refers to as the "2007 Office
| >System", either now (when it's available for corporate licence
| >holders) or in January, when it goes on sale at retailers.
| >
| >Reason 1: You already know how to use your favourite Office
| >applications. The centrepiece of the latest release of Office is the
| >new ribbon interface, which Microsoft has endlessly touted as making
| >it easier to discover many of the features which are already included
| >in Word, Excel and PowerPoint, but which users have somehow failed to
| >discover buried under a wealth of menus and toolbars.
| >
| >This is a perfectly valid argument as far as new users are concerned,
| >but Office itself is hardly a new product, with some elements of it
| >now dating back more than 20 years. That means that there's several
| >million people who actually know what they're doing with the product
| >-- or rather, who did until Microsoft decided that menus were
| >entirely unnecessary.
| >
| >The sole concession to these users is a series of interactive guides
| >on the Microsoft Web site which map . I've asked Microsoft several
| >times why there couldn't be an option to overlay the old menu
| >interface for existing users -- switched off by default, but
| >available if you want it
| >-- and never received a satisfactory reply. The bottom line
| >remains: if
| >you know what you're doing, why would you want to waste time having
| >to learn a whole new product just because Microsoft thinks it's a
| >good idea?
| >
| >Reason 2: You like a consistent interface in all of your apps.
| >Despite
| >the endless pro-ribbon propaganda, it's not actually found in every
| >element of Office. In particular, it hasn't been introduced to
| >Outlook.
| >Microsoft officials say this is simply a question of resources, and
| >that the ribbon will probably appear there eventually. A cynic might
| >argue that Outlook has fewer buried features, and thus demonstrates
| >that the ribbon isn't needed anyway.
| >
| >Whatever the reason, though, the end result is that one of the major
| >selling points for previous versions of Office -- a consistent
| >interface across every application -- has disappeared. If this is in
| >fact important to you, Office 2007 is a poor choice.
| >
| >Reason 3: You frequently exchange files with users outside your
| >organisation. Office 2007 boasts a new, XML-based file format. This
| >does in fact have several benefits -- files are smaller, less likely
| >to get corrupted and the file format is more easily exploited by
| >other applications. If everyone in your company is using it -- or if
| >you're a one-person band and don't share files at all -- then it's a
| >useful choice.
| >
| >However, if you are feeling "collaborative" (to use an MS buzzword)
| >and want to actually mail those files to other people, then it's a
| >right pain. Assuming your correspondents don't have Office 2007 (and
| >most of them won't), you'll either have to do a 'Save As' into the
| >old format every time you send a file, or convince them to install a
| >converter (and pray they're running a version where that's an
| >option). Frankly, who needs the hassle?
| >
| >Reason 4: You use macros and other customisation features
| >extensively.
| >Microsoft has always boasted about the fact that there's an entire
| >community of Office developers out there building custom applications
| >on top of Word, Excel and the like. It generally makes less noise
| >about the fact that every new version of Office renders these
| >inoperable until they're recoded to fit the new interface and file
| >formats. With ribbons sprinkled everywhere and a totally new approach
| >to files, there's no point even contemplating shifting unless your
| >developer has already made the migration, or you have a lot of time
| >on your hands.
| >
| >Reason 5: It's still essentially a version 0 application. While
| >Microsoft boasts that the number of beta testers for Office 2007 far
| >exceeds any previous versions, it still remains a product that's only
| >just come out of beta. Yes, it's selfish to let other people discover
| >all the flaws, but why risk your business (or even just your home
| >PC)
| >until there's been a patch or two?
| >_____________________________________________________________
|
| David Andrews and white cane Harry.
|
|
| _______________________________________________
| gui-talk mailing list
| mailto:gui-talk at nfbnet.org gui-talk at nfbnet.org
| http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gui-talk http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gui-talk
|
_______________________________________________
gui-talk mailing list
mailto:gui-talk at nfbnet.org gui-talk at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gui-talk http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gui-talk
__________ NOD32 1902 (20061205) Information __________
This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system.
http://www.eset.com http://www.eset.com
_______________________________________________
gui-talk mailing list
mailto:gui-talk at nfbnet.org gui-talk at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gui-talk http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gui-talk
--
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.432 / Virus Database: 268.15.9/573 - Release Date: 12/5/2006 4:07 PM