Atm i have office 2000 installed
and i'm wondering if it's worth upgrading to 2007 office
Is there a major difference?
I only mainly use word
and occasionally (few times every few months) use powerpoint / excel / access

Is it worth the time and the effort
and what are the advantages / disadvantages compared to each?!?
Someone help me out please.
Thanks.

striker87 writes...

worth upgrading to 2007 office

Yes I think 2007 is a lot easier to use than other office versions.

and what are the advantages / disadvantages compared to each?!?

The only disadvantage is that 2007 won't run well on an old machine.

Is there a major difference?

Quite a difference: img76.imageshack.us/img7.../word20077iw.png

elmar01 writes...

Yes I think 2007 is a lot easier to use than other office versions.

+1, it takes a bit of getting used to but once you get the hang of it it is much better than previous versions

Look dude! just stay where you are, you dont need office 2007 if your just doing what you say you are doing... you will be just as happy with 2000 MS have plenty of money, why give them more when you dont need to.

S m a s h h writes...

Look dude! just stay where you are, you dont need office 2007 if your just doing what you say you are doing.

Smashh makes a lot of sense.

The wife and I both find Word 2007 to be a nightmare to navigate around. Microsoft in our opinion has fixed something that wasn't broken.

If your current version of word does everything you need then save your money for the next interest rate rise :-)

striker87 writes...

Is it worth the time and the effort

Well, it's not much effort.

I'm a huge fan of 2007, but 2000 worked fine.

citizen_smith writes...

The wife and I both find Word 2007 to be a nightmare to navigate around. Microsoft in our opinion has fixed something that wasn't broken.

Thats because your so used to the old version. Unlike the old versions everything is laid out logically and is much quicker and easier to use but it takes some getting used to if you used the old versions alot.

Thats because your so used to the old version. Unlike the old versions everything is laid out logically and is much quicker and easier to use but it takes some getting used to if you used the old versions alot.

I disagree that everything is laid out logically :-) but as a licensed copy of Office Enterprise 2007 only cost me $30 through work I guess I'll have to get used to it as I won't be changing any time soon.

Cheers,
Citizensmith

Office 2007 is crap.

Crashes all the time (on XP SP2 dual core with 1GB memory). I have some wonderful Microsoft Office Diagnostic screenshots if you are interested.

Hard to use (the ribbon is a definite pain in the ass if you are used to Office2000/ 2003 menu structure).

Wont run some 2003 macros. So much for backward compatibility.

Insists on default saving in weird xml format that no-one else can read.

I'd say stick with 2000 if it does what you need, but I have 2007 and love it. Unlike vista, it's a no-brainer to install this if you need to choose a version of office for a fresh install.

Bartoli writes...

Crashes all the time (on XP SP2 dual core with 1GB memory). I have some wonderful Microsoft Office Diagnostic screenshots if you are interested.

What do you have running at the same time? 1GB is enough for most things on xp, but it's not heaps.

Hard to use (the ribbon is a definite pain in the ass if you are used to Office2000/ 2003 menu structure).

Completely disagree. The scroll wheel is tied to the ribbon so I find it MUCH quicker to navigate. The layout of the ribbon also makes it much easier to work with.

Insists on default saving in weird xml format that no-one else can read.

Huh? It saves as .docx, but it's a simple button press to make it save as .doc instead, with full BC.

Bartoli writes...

Insists on default saving in weird xml format that no-one else can read.

Then go into the Save options and set default format to 97-2003 compatibile .doc. Stop complaining.

Works fine for most people.

Its like going to Vista, just a few days of "WTF! god why did I do this" and then its all good, you won't never go back.

Bartoli writes...

Crashes all the time (on XP SP2 dual core with 1GB memory). I have some wonderful Microsoft Office Diagnostic screenshots if you are interested.

Then you got something wrong.

E6400 (Dual core), 2GIG Ram, XP SP2 and it runs *SCHWEEEEEEEEET* on my machine.

Insists on default saving in weird xml format that no-one else can read.

Office Icon, Save as, Save as type "97-2003 Document".

Bartoli writes...

Office 2007 is crap.

"…if you have no idea, as the rest of this post demonstrates."

There, fixed it for you.

Hey,

My work still using Office 97 or Office 2000, it works fine.

They won't upgrade if it aren't broke.

I am using Office 2003 Pro on this laptop.

If there is no problem then don't upgrade if it aren't broke.

I disagree with you here, i would have orignally said that until i bought Office 2007 under the "it's not cheating promotion". Now i seroiusly couldn't work without the added functionality. There's a reason they release new versions and people buy them, they are better.

Office 2007 rocks, and this is coming from someone who hates microsoft software with a passion.At first 2k7 is bit difficult to navigate around but once you have the hang of it you seriously won't look back. It works beautifully with Endnote, and Office OneNote has revolutionised the way i study.

I say if you can get a cheap copy definately do the upgrading.

Personally I believe Office 2007 is a big improvement over previous versions. I find that it is much easier to navigate compared to office 2000 and common tasks are simpler to complete.

As long as you don't have a really old computer, it should run fine.

striker87 writes...

I only mainly use word
and occasionally (few times every few months) use powerpoint / excel / access

This is the most important aspect!

In that case, I would say 'forget Office 2007'.

For a few times use, it's simply not worth it.

Why spend extra money on stuff not required. Yes, if you had a productivity gain that warranted upgrading, then sure, but otherwise, what's the point?

Ms are learning the hard way things that other OS manufactures have learnt many years ago and that's that you don't go radically changing a product unless there's some real advantage (i.e. business advantage) to do so. Office 2007 has some productivity gains but unless your using it a lot, then the gains are probably not worth it. Vista is a flop with business because it doesn't give them anything extra to run their business more efficently - in fact, it only costs businesses more to deploy it with it's increased hardware requirements etc.

For your amount of usage, I'd stay with what you have and skip Office 2007.

:-)