February 2007

Microsoft Office 2007 -- Was it worth the wait?

After numerous delays and much fanfare, Microsoft has unveiled Office 2007 to the public. For those of us who have heard and read so much about Microsoft's latest Office Suite, the question is "was it worth the wait?"

According to experts who have reviewed the new suite of applications, the answer is an emphatic yes! PC Magazine writes "2007 combines power, ease of use, and visual clarity in ways that leave the earlier versions far behind." eWEEK reports "Office 2007 unearthed compelling features and tools, and reminded us why enterprise continues to rely on the productivity suite."

The Office 2007 Suite will be available in eight versions to fit the varying needs of Enterprise, Small Business and Home users. The Enterprise edition includes Access, Communicator, Excel, Groove, InfoPath, Office, OneNote, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Word. The most basic version of the Home edition includes only Excel, Outlook and Word.

Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint and Word are the only applications to receive the full interface upgrade for 2007. At the heart of the new interface is a "Ribbon" which replaces traditional menus and toolbars. The Ribbon gives users access to the most relevant features through a set of contextual tabs. For example, when you click on parts of a document such as a chart or table, the Ribbon provides you with a set of features which apply to those specific tasks.

The new interface also allows users to manage features such as fonts and page margins through a selection of sample galleries. For example, rather than having to create your own Word layouts you can choose from a wide variety of professional looking styles. Live Preview allows you to see how the document will look by simply moving the pointer over a selection in the gallery.

Excel and PowerPoint feature enhanced new graphics to improve your presentations while Outlook has a new interface for handling messages with voicemail, RSS and SMS options. In addition, Office 2007 introduces a new XML- based file format for Excel, PowerPoint and Word. Although the XML file formats will be the new default for Office 2007, users will be able to save documents in Office 1997 to 2003 formats.

So was Office 2007 worth the wait? We think so, but be advised the new interface and other powerful features will take some getting used to. Should you or anyone within your organization need assistance with Office 2007, or other applications, the Versitas Team is ready to help! For more information, contact us at (888) 572-1200 or info@versitas.com.