Microsoft Office Standard 2007
Manufacturer: Microsoft Corp. Part number: 021-07746
- More product information:
- Editors' review
- User reviews
- Specifications
- Product series
- Manufacturer info
- Bottom Line:
- Overall, Microsoft Office Standard 2007 is a worthy upgrade if you need to make sleeker-looking documents and presentations to share with others, and Outlook is better than ever, but you can stick to your current software if you don't feel that it lacks anything.
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CNET editors' review
Microsoft Office Standard 2007 price range: $134.99 - $399.99
- Reviewed by: Elsa Wenzel
- Edited by: Robert Vamosi
- Reviewed on: 01/29/2007
- Released on: 01/30/2007
The good: Previously hard-to-find features now easier to explore; Word embraces basic desktop publishing tools; Excel formulas are easier to reference; PowerPoint presentations are more attractive; Outlook improves task and time management; improved integration throughout the applications; smaller application and file sizes; new file formats are easier to salvage if corrupted; document security is more straightforward.
The bad: Drastic design changes demand a steep learning curve if you're upgrading; new interface isn't always intuitive; contextual tabs and style galleries can be distracting; users of Office 2000 through 2003 must install converters to open Office 2007 files; no easy way to save work to the Web.
The bottom line: Overall, Microsoft Office Standard 2007 is a worthy upgrade if you need to make sleeker-looking documents and presentations to share with others, and Outlook is better than ever, but you can stick to your current software if you don't feel that it lacks anything.
The ambitious, ground-up rebuild of Microsoft Office Standard 2007 presents drastically different interfaces and new file formats. The new Office looks so unlike its predecessors, it's likely to spark intense love-hate responses from users. This upgrade isn't for everyone: If you're patient, eager to try the latest tools, and willing to relearn most of what you already know about Office, then you may relish the challenge of Office 2007. Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 can produce more-polished documents and presentations, and Outlook's new scheduling abilities make it a handier communications hub. Professionals who want to impress clients and co-workers with attractive reports, charts, and slide shows will find this a worthy upgrade. First-time Office users may have an easier time than veteran users getting their bearings.
However, if you only use a small fraction of what Office offers or you felt that getting the hang of Office 2003 was painful enough, then you might want to leave Office 2007 on the shelf or try it free for two months first. We imagine that power users who have mastered the nooks and crannies of the older versions will curse the steep learning curve. But take heed: The new era of Office affects even those who don't upgrade, and a conversion tool is needed to let older Office versions open Office 2007's default, Open XML files.
Office 2007 does offer complex features that you can't yet find elsewhere. However, it also falls short in key areas. Integration among the applications isn't as thorough as we'd hoped, and there's no one-click way to collaborate with others on an edit without buying Microsoft's Groove online collaboration tool or working within a server setting. The advent of Office 2007 comes as a growing number of competing tools are simpler, cost less (if they aren't free), and handle the same core features. Oddly, despite its bevy of Windows Live and Office Live services, Microsoft chose not to build a bridge to the Web for all Office users.
Office editions
We reviewed Microsoft Office Standard 2007, which costs a substantial $399, or $239 to upgrade. This suite includes Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook in addition to Office Tools that manage language settings and pictures and include a diagnostics tool for use in the event of a crash. Households that don't need desktop e-mail should opt for Office Home & Student at $149 (no upgrade option), a new suite roughly equivalent to Office Student and Teacher 2003 but with OneNote instead of Outlook. The Basic package, with Word, Excel, and Outlook, only comes pre-installed on computers sold by manufacturers that have Microsoft software licensing agreements. At $449 ($279 upgrade), Microsoft Office Small Business 2007 costs $50 less than the Professional edition that includes the Access database program. Only the Enterprise and the $679 ($539 upgrade) Ultimate editions include the new Groove tool. And oddly both the Enterprise and Professional Plus editions lack the Business Contact Manager component of Outlook, which corporate users might want for their marketing efforts.
Setup
Breezing through the options, our fastest installation of Microsoft Office Standard 2007 took no more than 20 minutes on a Windows XP computer (see our installation slide show). However, settle into your chair if you're curious about the fine print. We spent 40 minutes just skimming the 10,379-word End User License Agreement and stopped before we could understand it all. Here are some of the highlights: You're allowed to install Office 2007 software on two computers; you must agree to download updates whenever Microsoft decides you need them; and Microsoft may verify your license key at any time to make sure that you're not using pirated software. We wished that Microsoft better explained the Internet-based services Office 2007 can connect to.
When we chose to Customize the installation on another PC, the process was more involved. It's too bad that while this process lets you handpick which items to install, it doesn't explain what you'll miss if you reject, say, Office Tools. And while Microsoft displays your available hard drive space as well as how much of that is needed by your selected set of applications, there's no indication of the size of each individual application and you're left to your subtraction skills here. In the end, we installed everything available.
From that point on, loading the Office suite onto our hard drive took 15 minutes flat. Office Standard 2007 is smaller than its predecessors, at about 3GB. Unlike the Windows Vista operating system, the new Office does not demand the newest hardware. Office 2007 is supposed to work the same whether running on Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, or Windows Vista. At a minimum, you'll need to have Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1 or Windows XP SP2 on a 500MHz processor with 256MB of RAM (512MB or more for Outlook with Business Contact Manager, which comes in the Small Business, Professional, and Ultimate editions). However, of course, this rules out those still using older versions of Windows.
Although the terms of the EULA were less than transparent, we were pleased that Microsoft offered the least intrusive installation settings by default. For example, Privacy Options leaves it up to users to hook up to online Help automatically, as well as to download a file that continually tracks system problems. No Office 2007 shortcuts appeared on our desktop or in our system tray, either. The Office Shortcut Bar--a feature that disappeared in the 2003 version--is back, located within the Office Tools menu.
Interface
Once you open each Office 2007 application, you'll see a radically different, blue interface that's brighter than in the past. Word, Excel, and PowerPoint arrange features within a tabbed Ribbon toolbar that largely replaces the gray drop-down menus and dialog boxes from a quarter-century of Office software. The Office logo menu, docked in the upper left corner, bundles many commands from the old File and Edit menus. Outlook lacks the logo button and adopts the Ribbon only within its message composition and scheduling windows. There's a core set of always-on tabs, as well as contextual tabs that hide until the software detects that you need them. For instance, the Picture Tools Format tab only shows up when you click on an image. We were stumped at first about how to format images, tables, and charts until we got used to clicking on them first.
The Office 2007 programs, which share a new graphics engine, strongly emphasize ways to decorate documents. Pull-down Style Galleries let you preview how new fonts, color themes, chart styles, images and such appear before you apply the change. This is great for selecting from menus of fonts or page templates. At the same time, however, the "intelligent" shape-shifting may bewilder those who don't realize that they must click a style to apply a formatting change. In most cases, the preformatted styles only present colors within the same range already used by your document. And sometimes the pull-down galleries jut into the document and obscure the charts or images you're trying to change, and you can't turn them off.
Nor do the dynamic previews apply to all style elements. For example, from the Page Layout tab of Word, PowerPoint, and Excel, you can preview Themes of colors and templates by mousing over them. But the Page Borders option takes you to an unhelpful, old-school pop-up box without dynamic previews.
On the one hand, newbies to Office software, particularly young, visual learners, may find the 2007 interface easier to master than Office 2003. Icons label most of the commands, and many expand into pull-down menus. There are inconsistencies, though, such as buttons that open older dialog boxes. And many items have moved to places that we don't find intuitive. For instance, the dictionary and thesaurus in Word are under the Review tab, not References near the footnote and bibliography buttons. And the Insert Rows command in Excel 2007 is located beneath the Home tab, not the Insert tab. Likewise, PowerPoint's New Slide button is under Home instead of Insert. Notice a pattern? Although the Home tab houses many frequently used features, it's not the first place we look for them.
After more than a year of alternating between Office 2003 and test versions of Office 2007, we still found it hard to break old habits. Microsoft advertises the Ribbon's ability to help you "browse, pick, and click." If you're upgrading, though, you could get stuck in the "browse" stage longer than you'd like, slowing your work.
Rather than piling on more features--Word 2003 alone had some 1,500 commands--Microsoft attempted to better show off functions that already existed. To some extent, the Ribbon meets this goal, as it's easier to find Conditional Formatting in Excel, among other sophisticated tools. And the View tab in Word and Excel better provides options for viewing two or three open documents at once.
You can customize Word, Excel, and PowerPoint to some extent, such as by adding buttons to the small, Quick Access Toolbar, but not as much as with their predecessors. Luckily, keyboard shortcuts remain the same; just press ALT at any time to see tiny "badges" that label the quick keys for the Ribbon's commands. We like that you can hide the Ribbon by double-clicking on any tab. Plus, Microsoft has killed Clippy, the annoying animated pop-up assistant that would interrupt your work in Office 2003. A subtle new quick formatting toolbar in Word 2007 fades in and out near your cursor. Overall, our favorite interface tweak is the slider bar in the lower right corner that lets you zoom in and out with ease.
Features
Many of the changes to Office 2007 feel skin deep. By that, we mean that there's a strong emphasis on making documents, spreadsheets, and presentations easier on the eyes. You can adjust the brightness of images, for instance, and add 3D effects such as drop shadows and glows to pictures and charts. And many of the features that might appear new are simply easier to stumble upon in the new interface. The useful Document Inspector provides old and new ways to clean up hidden metadata in files. But don't expect too many new features.
Word 2007 offers some basic tools that you'd otherwise look to in desktop publishing programs such as Microsoft Publisher or Adobe InDesign. A host of new templates as well as preformatted styles and SmartArt diagrams let you dress up reports, flyers, and so on with images and charts. However, you can't precisely control the placement of design elements on the page as you can with professional publishing software. And for wordsmiths who just work with plain old text, there's little need to upgrade. There's a new method of comparing document drafts side by side, but you still can't post a password-protected file to the Web without having Groove or server tools. At the same time, academic researchers should appreciate the Review tab's handy pull-down menus of footnotes, citations, and tables of content. And Word's new blogging abilities might be handy, but even its cleaned-up HTML is far more cluttered than we'd like.
We find that the Ribbon layout in Excel improves its usefulness for working with complex spreadsheets. For instance, scientists and other researchers can access all the formulas in handy pull-down menus. You can make deeper data sorts and work with as many as a million rows. It's easier to find the Conditional Formatting for drawing heat maps or adding icons in order to display data patterns. Plus, along with the other glossier graphics throughout Office, Excel charts get a facelift.
You'll probably want to upgrade to PowerPoint 2007 if you frequently depend upon professional-looking slide shows to help close a deal. The new template themes are more attractive and less flat-looking than those of the past, although there's little new in the way of managing multimedia content.
Among the four applications in Office Standard, Outlook 2007 provides the most practical improvements. To start, it lets you drag tasks and e-mail messages to the calendar, a long-awaited feature that makes scheduling more simple. The new To-Do Bar's task and calendar overview and the ability to flag an e-mail for follow up at a specific time are terrific for time management. Outlook's built-in RSS reader is useful if you manage lots of news feeds, but we were disappointed that it matches up only with RSS feeds in Internet Explorer 7 and not other browsers. We also wish there were a simpler way of organizing e-mail messages than in nested folders and Search Folders. Tagging messages by subject might be nice, as Gmail allows. The new Instant Search--which lets you troll through e-mail messages, calendar entries, to-do items, and contacts--improves upon Outlook 2003's clutzy lookups. Plus, Outlook's new protection against junk mail and phishing scams disables suspicious links. But Outlook 2007 uses Word 2007's HTML standards rather than those of Internet Explorer 7, which could make some of your newsletters look lopsided when compared with their appearance in Outlook 2003.
When sending e-mail attachments from Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, the Outlook composition window opens with all of its formatting options. Integration has improved throughout the applications, but it's not fully there yet. For instance, we like that you can tinker with a chart's appearance within Word and PowerPoint while managing the connected data in Excel at the same time. You can click through a preview of a PowerPoint slide show attached to an Outlook e-mail message. But why can't you get a quick, split-pane view of two applications at once at any other time?
We're disappointed at the current lack of integration with Web-based services. If you don't want to buy Groove to collaborate with other Groove users, and you're not using Office on a shared office server, then you'll have to turn to a third-party service, such as Zoho Writer, Google Docs & Spreadsheets, and ThinkFree to upload and collaborate on documents without having to e-mail them around. We had hoped to see such capabilities added, perhaps in the form of tie-ins to Microsoft's Windows Live or Office Live.
Every application saves work in the new, Office Open XML formats (see our guide and video). Look for an X in the new document extension: DOCX replaces DOC, XLSX replaces XLS, and so forth. The 2007 documents, presentations, and spreadsheets squeeze more data into fewer kilobytes than their predecessors did. If a file becomes corrupted, you should be able to recover its contents better than in the past because the files store text, images, macros, and other elements separately.
Note that when you open older Office files with the 2007 applications, you'll work in the Compatibility Mode with fewer features until you convert files to the new format. And as with the release of Office 1997, you can't open a file with the new extension right away when using earlier versions of the programs. What if you have the new software but need to share work with people who have not upgraded? The 2007 applications let you save backward-compatible files, but not by default. Those who are running Word 2003 or 2000 and need to open a Word 2007 DOCX file have to download a one-time Compatibility Pack.
Service and support
Boxed editions of Microsoft Office 2007 include a decent, 174-page Getting Started guide. During the first 90 days, you can contact tech support by toll-free phone number for free between 5:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. Pacific on weekdays, and 6:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. on weekends. Help at any time with any security-related or virus problems also costs nothing. Beyond that, paid telephone and e-mail support costs a painfully high $49 per incident. It could take up to a business day to receive an e-mail response. You'll pay an outrageous $245 per incident ($490 after hours) for telephone help with "advanced" issues, most of which apply to businesses. Luckily, Microsoft's online help is excellent, although we're displeased that Microsoft and other software makers are increasingly promoting do-it-yourself assistance. That said, we especially like the Command Reference Guides for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, which walk you through where commands have moved since Office 2003. You can also pose questions to the large community of Microsoft Office users via free support forums and chats. And the included Microsoft Office Diagnostics installation is designed to detect and repair problems if something goes haywire.
Conclusion
Should you upgrade to Microsoft Office 2007? It depends on how you work. If you're style-conscious and want to play with new document templates, then Office 2007 should please you. Outlook outshines its predecessors if you need to lean on it daily to manage meetings and tasks. At the same time, if you already use few of the features of Office 2003 or earlier and are getting along well, then there's little need to spend hundreds of dollars on the new software.
The radical new interface of Office 2007 applications is here to stay, and it's likely to spawn some copycats. For a software package with so many layers of features, it makes sense to cluster functions within icons and tabs rather than a hodgepodge of menu boxes. At the same time, we think that some users will find the dynamic tabs and galleries more distracting than useful. We anticipate that some makers of rival Office software will capitalize on Office 2007's steep learning curve and try to attract users with the relative simplicity of applications with pull-down menu interfaces that look and feel more like Office 2003 and earlier.
Because Microsoft has opened some of the Office 2007 source code to developers, prepare to see all sorts of add-ins, such as additional interface tabs, from third party developers. At this point, however, Microsoft hasn't created a gallery on its Web site to help you find such extras. Office 2007 doesn't approach the simplicity of upstart, Web-based alternatives, but it better serves up myriad features, and it's much less bloated than in the past.
User reviews
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Whatever happened to what the user wanted?
by erindorn on February 2, 2007
Pros: overall better look, lots of bug fixes
Cons: least customizable office ever
Summary: I was involved in the office beta, and found there were some very strong likes and dislikes that just didn't change much with time using the software. The overall ...
Summary: I was involved in the office beta, and found there were some very strong likes and dislikes that just didn't change much with time using the software. The overall look is great. Outlook is great. But the major complaint about all of the programs is the silly premise that Microsoft knows how you need the program set up to be the most efficient. While the ribbon toolbars are slick to look at, you can't rearrange the buttons at all. You're stuck with Microsofts layout. I don't know about anyone else, but I've absolutely NEVER stuck with the stock layout on any version of Office I have used, whether at home or at work. You are only given one option for a custom toolbar- a tiny bar that I mounted under the stock ribbon configuration. The worst part is, there are only so many features that you can put on it, because of space, and because a lot of features just aren't available for the custom bar. The ribbon bar, while nice to look at, is huge. I might have missed it, but I couldn't find a way to reduce the size so that I had more available workspace for my documents, spreadsheets, and e-mail. All in all, it could have been a great upgrade if they had just left me the option to make it look the way I wanted, so that it was the most efficient for me. I don't care how hard they try, some of the features will never be used by many users, so you should be able to customize your layout so that it works best for you, not some design engineer in Redmond.
14 out of 14 users found this user opinion helpful.
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I assume they customer tested this
by Iwantone on January 31, 2007
Pros: Tabbed interface could be great
Cons: But its not- so close but so far
Summary: I have been a MS Office user for 12 years this latest iteration was supposed to be the best ever- AND I WANTED IT TO BE! But sadly its not...
Summary: I have been a MS Office user for 12 years this latest iteration was supposed to be the best ever- AND I WANTED IT TO BE! But sadly its not
Heres why-
The Tabbed interface is a great idea, the big buttons (ala Apple) are great and its about time but really something is missing.
Microsoft has correctly gotten it right that a BUTTON is easier to find and use than a drop down- fair enough.
You tell me - in a Word document what do 100% of users do with that document? They either SAVE it, PRINT it or MAIL it but the "HOME" tab has NO BIG BUTTON TO PRINT, SAVE or EMAIL!!! ARRRGGGH I have to go to a VERY small icon to do it with a one click or resort to a drop down on the circle logo and then drag my mouse to a right column for the "sub" action- this is just frickin nuts.
Hey Microsoft- why not a tab called 'MINE" that i could POPULATE with BIG BUTTONS that I WANT and use most often? Now doesn't that make sense? In these days of personalization why cant I use this $400 app the way I WANT TO USE THE APP?! And whats with all the space in the home tab for the styles and headers etc? Almost NO ONE messes with that stuff.
A chance for greatness and ease of use was missed- maybe Office for the Mac will get it right?
Oh and it seems slower than the last version- and i have a new loaded Core 2 duo Lenovo widescreen with 2 megs of RAM.11 out of 13 users found this user opinion helpful.
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The worst office ever
by Kzac Hawk on April 5, 2007
Pros: Pretty graphic icons everywhere
Cons: Very difficult to navigate It is not yet integrated
Summary: I purchased this because I was told that my Office 2003 would not work with Vista...wrong. I simply hate this program. All the navigation has changed and you have ...
Summary: I purchased this because I was told that my Office 2003 would not work with Vista...wrong. I simply hate this program. All the navigation has changed and you have to learn how to navigate the software all over again. Its not intutive to use, Its not integrated, its not any of those thigs the business world asked for. It is very techno, graphic, icon oriented. It will require major training to use and the features for the majority of users are no better than previous versions.
Micorsoft completely blew it on this one... they had the chance to make a good product better and they made it worse.
If it were my hard earned dollars, I would suggest getting a 2003 version and sticking with that. You won't find any thing in 2007 to get excited about. And you will spend a fortune retraining your folks. This is a case where sticking to the old will get you much further than changing to the new.
If you are an avid office user you will hate this upgrade.9 out of 11 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Alienates any experienced user
by joseph.nowak on June 17, 2008
Pros: Outlook is easier to import old .pst files
Cons: Incredibly difficult to customize toolbars as per the old "classic" way. Assumes way too many things about how the user wants information displayed. lacks substance and utility.
Summary: I have been using Office products for more than a decade and this has to be the most counter-intuitive version yet. Developers apparently left customers out of the loop when ...
Summary: I have been using Office products for more than a decade and this has to be the most counter-intuitive version yet. Developers apparently left customers out of the loop when they were making decisions on this one. They dressed it up all pretty to attract Mac customers but failed to recognize that in doing so they'd alienate many experienced users who are more accustomed to having more control over how things look and act. The Excel Macro recorder used to only be good for getting syntax and object properties. Now a "feature" is that it ignores actions taken on chart objects and it's useless. I could go on; but in short if you have Office experience STAY WITH 2003. If you're relatively new and only use Office to type a few docs and maybe send some emails, don't bother wasting your money unless you don't already have a program that can do that...unless you value flashiness over utility and don't mind getting ripped off by a price that's way too high.
5 out of 5 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Not quite ready for prime time!
by pete4176 on June 22, 2007
Pros: Some cool added features in Outlook....
Cons: Unstable, unintuitive....
Summary: I purchased this because I bought Office 2003 (Standard) between October 2006 and February 2007 and received Office 2007 as a free upgrade. I installed 2007 over 2003 and everything ...
Summary: I purchased this because I bought Office 2003 (Standard) between October 2006 and February 2007 and received Office 2007 as a free upgrade. I installed 2007 over 2003 and everything seemed to work like a champ....except for Outlook. Don't get me wrong, the upgraded Outlook has some great features I love like the ability to "preview" Office file attachments inside the preview window. But, after about four months or so, Outlook just decided not to connect to my mail server to send or receive e-mails. Several Google inquiries later I was able to find this well-documented flaw with several work-arounds, but none were able to fix my problem. I just uninstalled 2007 and installed 2003 again and everything is hunky-dory!
As for the rest of the programs (Word, Excel PP, etc) everything worked as advertised for what I was doing with them, but navigation has changed so much that it is infuriating to have to re-learn everything all over again. After four months it still took me over a minute to figure out how to rotate my Word file from portrait to landscape! It will require a lot of training to learn all of the features again and I just don't have the time. Change doesn't have to be bad, but it doesn't have to reset my Office skill level to that of a entry-level clerk!
I'm not going to say Microsoft completely blew it, but why mess around with what was working? If it were my hard earned dollars, I would suggest staying with a 2003 version and sticking with that.5 out of 5 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Don't buy it if you don't have to - stick with XP/2003
by Edstock on December 14, 2008
Pros: I like nothing about it because the drastically re-configured user interface is a mess. I'm a long-time user of XP and 2003. I assume 2007 will function just fine, but I won't keep it long enough to find out.
Cons: The new menu and toolbar configuration of 2007 is an insult to anyone who has been using previous versions of Office for basic business, personal and academic purposes.
Summary: I recently purchased a new Dell computer. The only version of Office they offered was 2007. I have XP on my other home computer and 2003 on my office computer. ...
Summary: I recently purchased a new Dell computer. The only version of Office they offered was 2007. I have XP on my other home computer and 2003 on my office computer. I am not sure if I could purchase an additional license to install XP on the new computer.
I don't have elaborate word processing or spreadsheet needs. I have become very proficient at using the keyboard instead of the mouse to navigate through worksheets and documents, select items, etc. I rarely touch the mouse, and my productivity and efficiency have gone up substantially as a result.
Now, with the 2007 interface in Office, any menus and toolbars with which I was familiar are nowhere to be found. Microsoft has offered no option of retaining the toolbars of XP or 2003 and has pretty much told experienced users that they have no option but to re-learn an enormous amount of what they probably spent years refining in their daily use.
I've found an add-in that's supposed to enable those who are stuck with Office 2007 to implement the "classic" toolbars and menu functions. Since it's not yet been reviewed by CNet, I won't name the product. They offer a 60-day trial, so I'm going to give it a go and see if it works the way they claim it does. If it doesn't, I'll be looking to buy an in-the-box 2003 Office version and I'll uninstall 2007. I hate it that much. This is the last time I'll buy a Microsoft product if there is any way to avoid it. I consider 2007 a slap in the face and a sign of arrogance. It's one thing to make a new version that supposedly has some dramatic increase in capabilities, but I'm not looking to spend substantial amounts of my time learning something that has no potential to improve my own performance.
Sorry, that's my take on it.4 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Don't Upgrade Unless You Know You Need It
by pcorning on December 12, 2007
Pros: Faster for making basic documents pretty.
Cons: Most keyboard commands are missing. Many previous power features hidden or missing. Help less helpful.
Summary: Office 2007 looks pretty, and the colorful new ribbon and Live Preview feature combine to make it easy to preview and select fonts, graphics and layout options. But if you ...
Summary: Office 2007 looks pretty, and the colorful new ribbon and Live Preview feature combine to make it easy to preview and select fonts, graphics and layout options. But if you have used previous versions of Office the new ribbon interface will cause you immediate and lasting frustration.
One big problem is that nearly all of your familiar ALT- keyboard commands are gone, which will slow you down in ever Office application you are even moderately familiar with.
Another annoyance is the way fine control has been stripped from the user in some cases. For example, Word footers give you a range of semi-cute, pre-formatted choices, but I haven't found a way to just insert a file name into a footer. Yes, I do know how to use Help.
PowerPoint benefits the most from the new and easy-to-use graphics and layout tools. Creating good-looking presentations is significantly easier and faster with Outlook 2007 than with Outlook 2003.
Word is the worst, especially if you use the application's functions regularly while creating a document (instead of, say, just typing a lot of words and not worrying about formatting). I really miss Word 2003's keyboard commands - everything seems to take longer even after10 weeks of intensive use. And since I use Word most frequently, its badness easily overwhelms the fun of the new PowerPoint.
Outlook 2007 has retained the classic menu and toolbar structure in the main application, though individual email and appointment/task/contact windows have ribbon interfaces. For these smaller items the ribbon seems to work well. Outlook 2007's problem is that it is bloated and slow (much slower than 2003), yielding frustrating delays on even a 1-year-old dual-core Pentium system with plenty of memory. With a faster system, I'd give a slight edge to the new Outlook.
Excel seems fine (though I use it for pretty basic spreadsheets - power users may feel differently). Absence of keyboard commands can be frustrating, but right-clicking will get you to the most frequently used basic commands. Let's call it a tie.
Most UI experts will tell you that users resent change and will fight even good new designs at first, then come to love them later. 20 years of training on a menu-based UI can probably make for some hard-to-break preferences. Still, after 10 weeks with Office 2007 I have hit a plateau with a constant level of frustration.
Office 2007's powerful new features (for file sharing/collaboration and publishing)may be reason enough for some to buy the package, but I would rather use Office 2003 and some file converters than Office 2007.4 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Nice new features, but YUCK!!!
by sm5574 on April 16, 2007
Pros: RSS feeds, categorized toolbars, better interaction between programs
Cons: It Look's Like Odie Puked on My Screen!
Summary: The first thing I always do when I get a new installation of Windows XP is switch to classic view. I detest the XP look. Office 2007 looks better than ...
Summary: The first thing I always do when I get a new installation of Windows XP is switch to classic view. I detest the XP look. Office 2007 looks better than XP, but it still looks horrible. It looks like a 12-year-old designed it and a 6-year-old colored it. And we only have three colors to choose from! Why can't we get at the very least a "classic" color scheme. I mean, I really, REALLY don't like this new look. At all.
Don't get me wrong, Office 2007 has some nice features, but honestly, if it weren't for the RSS reader in Outlook I would uninstall the whole thing. I just can't stand looking at it. And it doesn't help that the very first time I used Excel I had to hunt for a very basic command: Print. PRINT!!! All I want is what I had: a single icon to click on to print a document, and I had to hunt for it!
Why does Microsoft think that it's customers will love their new creations? If I wanted a program that looked like it was designed by a Lord of the Flies think tank I'd get a Mac. C'mon Microsoft, make new friends, but don't forget the old.4 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.
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The price is out of this world!
by ethyrdude on February 2, 2007
Pros: Good for the rich and dumb.
Cons: Just another MS money grab.
Summary: I cannot understand why people are still using Office? I suppose if you have so much money and you really want to get rid of it then fine, or you ...
Summary: I cannot understand why people are still using Office? I suppose if you have so much money and you really want to get rid of it then fine, or you can send it my way, works for me. There are far cheaper programs that work as good if not better. Open Office comes to mind and the price? FREE!!! How can you beat that, and it opens and is able to edit all Office Docs, Power Point, and Excel documents. Why shell out a boatload of money if you don't have to? I give it a 3 out of 10 because of the price alone.
4 out of 5 users found this user opinion helpful.
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too many changes...
by umurs1 on September 10, 2007
Pros: looks slick...
Cons: impossible to adopt...
Summary: I cant believe they change the beautiful office so much. I mean it was a good product, you would improve it but this is totally a new product, new tabs, ...
Summary: I cant believe they change the beautiful office so much. I mean it was a good product, you would improve it but this is totally a new product, new tabs, toolbars, too many changes and it is impossible to adopt from 2003 to this one.
If you are used to using 2003, this will be so hard for you to get used to. It is almost like learning office from the beginning. I cant even find where the print button is!!!And I use probably 50 different softwares which are pretty complicated!!! Anyway maybe it is me that I am so used to old style.
They should have made like a classic view or classic style switch and improve the old one instead of changing it all the way!!!3 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
Specifications
- Manufacturer: Microsoft Corp.
- Part number: 021-07746
- Description: Office Standard 2007 provides office software essentials to homes and small business so that users can get tasks done more quickly and easily. Office Standard 2007 is the office software suite that empowers you to create great-looking documents, spreadsheets, and presentations, and to manage your e-mail messages, calendar, and contacts. With improved menus and tools, enhanced graphics and formatting capabilities, new time and communication management tools, and more reliability and security, Office Standard 2007 makes it easier and more enjoyable for you to get things done at home or at work.
General
- Category Office applications
- Subcategory Office applications - office suite
- Language(s) English
- License pricing Standard
- Localization English
Software
- License Type Complete package
- Software Suite Components Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Powerpoint
- License Qty 1 PC
- License Pricing Standard
- Platform Windows
- Distribution Media CD-ROM
- Package Type Retail
System Requirements
- OS Required Microsoft Windows XP SP2 or later, Microsoft Windows Server 2003 SP1 or later
- Software Requirements Internet Explorer 6.0 or later
- Min Processor Type 500 MHz, 500 MHz
- Peripheral / Interface Devices CD-ROM, XGA monitor
- System Requirements Details Microsoft Windows XP SP2 or later - RAM 256 MB - HD 1.5 GB, Microsoft Windows Server 2003 or later - RAM 256 MB - HD 1.5 GB
Product series
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Microsoft Office Standard 2007
Manufacturer: Microsoft Corp.
Specs: 1 PC, Complete package, Microsoft Windows XP SP2 or later, Microsoft Windows Server 2003 SP1 or later, 500 MHz, CD-ROM, XGA monitor, Windows, Internet Explorer 6.0 or later
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Microsoft Office Standard 2007 (academic)
Manufacturer: Microsoft Corp.
Specs: 1 PC, Complete package, Microsoft Windows XP SP2 or later, Microsoft Windows Server 2003 or later, 500 MHz, CD-ROM, SVGA monitor, Windows
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Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007 - complete package (academic)
Manufacturer: Microsoft Corp.
Specs: 1 PC, Complete package, Microsoft Windows XP SP2 or later, Microsoft Windows Server 2003 or later, DVD-ROM, SVGA monitor, Windows
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Microsoft Office Professional 2007 - complete package
Manufacturer: Microsoft Corp.
Specs: 1 PC, Complete package, Microsoft Windows XP SP2 or later, Microsoft Windows Server 2003 SP1 or later, 500 MHz, CD-ROM, XGA monitor, Windows
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Microsoft Office Small Business 2007 - complete package
Manufacturer: Microsoft Corp.
Specs: 1 PC, Complete package, Microsoft Windows XP SP2 or later, Microsoft Windows Server 2003 SP1 or later, 500 MHz, CD-ROM, XGA monitor, Windows
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Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007 - complete package
Manufacturer: Microsoft Corp.
Specs: 1 PC, Complete package, Microsoft Windows XP SP2 or later, Microsoft Windows Server 2003 or later, DVD-ROM, SVGA monitor, Windows
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Microsoft Office Professional 2007 - complete package (academic)
Manufacturer: Microsoft Corp.
Specs: 1 PC, Complete package, Microsoft Windows XP SP2 or later, Microsoft Windows Server 2003 or later, 500 MHz, DVD-ROM, SVGA monitor, Windows
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Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 - complete package (79G-00871)
Manufacturer: Microsoft Corp.
Specs: 3 PC in one household, Complete package, Microsoft Windows XP SP2 or later, Microsoft Windows Server 2003 or later, 500 MHz, CD-ROM, SVGA monitor, Windows
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Manufacturer: Microsoft Corp.
Specs:
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Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2007
Manufacturer: Microsoft Corp.
Specs:
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Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007
Manufacturer: Microsoft Corp.
Specs:
Manufacturer info
- Microsoft Corp.
- Manufacturer profile
- Browse Microsoft Corp. products on Shopper.com
-
- Website: http://www.microsoft.com/
- Address:
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052 - Phone: 425/882-8080
- Fax: (425) 706-7329
