Replace Office 2003 with Office 2007?

[interested]

My productivity has gone right down, especially in Excel. Trying to find anything takes generally treble the time it used to.

Outlook is more or less the same - it doesn't have the stupid interface that Excel, Word and PPT do.

[gingerjedi]

What does 2007 do that 2003 can't? I have a licensed copy of both as I managed to sneak in under the MoD radar and by them for about £18 each as an employee.

I installed 2007, didn't like it, wife didn't like it, uninstalled and put 2003 back.

[DimPrawn]

I couldn't get used to the new "improved" ribbon interface, having known the old menu systems inside and out for donkey's years.

IMHO, MS handed the crown to Open Office on a plate with this one.

[Not So Wise]

If you only use office "lightly", aka just general letters and basic spreadsheets, 2007 is fine

Anything beyond that though and you will notice productivity going way down until you get used to it (which will take a long time) because of those stupid ribbons hiding anything beyond basic functionality

IMO only reason Office 2007 is not complained about more is because all the bad press about Vista (released at same time) eclipsed it

Unless you have a real world reason to use it I would take a wait and see approach until next version comes out as majority of places are not upgrading to 2007 due to the steep learning curve and extensive user retraining needed and when they are forced to upgrade they will probably skip 2007 entirely

[Sysman]

Word of caution:

If VB & macros are important to you, and you have a whole host of interlinked documents you work with that were created in 2003, then they won't work properly when you upgrade.

In a masterstroke of MS wisdom, the fools didn't make the VB backwards-compatible with 2003. Even in 'compatibility mode'.

This is exactly the kind of straw that breaks the camel's back.

Open Office anybody?

[realityhack]

Word of caution:

If VB & macros are important to you, and you have a whole host of interlinked documents you work with that were created in 2003, then they won't work properly when you upgrade.

In a masterstroke of MS wisdom, the fools didn't make the VB backwards-compatible with 2003. Even in 'compatibility mode'.

[Mailman_1]

Outlook 2007 does not work with Exchange 5.5. You need to upgrade exchange to a min of 2003 (I think) for mail to work.

[FarmerPalmer]

I have a number of Office 2007 licenses with my Microsoft Action Pack, I tried it, but in the end bought a couple of 2003 licenses instead.

I found the user interface very frustrating and it was taking me too long to get anything done. All Client Cos are using 2003, so that is where I'll stay unless things change.

[Grinder]

Its very different in terms of menu bar / tool bar - more so on Excel / Word less so on Outlook.

I hear big corporations are typically not making the move, mostly due to the cost of retraining all the non-IT literate users.

So as a generally marketable skill - not so good, but if you are a completist or Office expertise is your thing then its worth it.

Personally I made the move because I had just assembled a new PC to take Vista and needed another Office licence. I'm glad I know the product now, because I am still benched and you never know when you might be asked if you've used it.

[stingman123]

Once you get accustomed to the new front end, its OK

But only OK

[spoons]

After upgrading I have found it quite slow to open docs, and Outlook occassionaly freezes after starting (running on XP).

Might be time for an OS reinstall though

[AlanR]

Morning all,

I currently have Office Pro 2003 installed and i am considering upgrading(?) to Office Pro 2007.

Anybody encountered any problems when undertaking a similar upgrade?

Regards

Alan