J
Jay Ohman
As a former CAD (Computer Aided Drafting) user (IBM CADAM), I was able to
memorize the UI after a couple months of use. It was wonderful that I was
able to concentrate on my mechanical design and not spend any precious
thought on the interface.
I have now been a user of the Office Suite since the early 90's (remember
loading 27 floppies anyone?!). I am now an IT administrator for about 15
small businesses, with a total of about 100+ workstations. Frequently, I am
called while away from my desk with an Office 2003 question, and I can
generally guide a user to any menu item in any of the Office programs from
memory. I consider myself very proficient in Access and have developed
numerous solutions in Word/Excel/Access that do a wonderful job of leveraging
the power of a PC and result in a nice ROI for my small business customers.
I am usually fine with trying new software (preferably at me leisure), we
have now had Office 2007 installed in our office for almost 2 years. Maybe I
am just a dummy or idiot (as commenters in these forums have suggested to
like-minded thinking), but I feel strongly that the Ribbons are NOT easier to
use than the Classic Menus. I find I must use a precious amount of
concentration to go >>find<< the ribbon/function I need. I am much quicker
not having to reach for the mouse, with the Ribbons I am forced to go
click/find the function I need. Where I used to be able to program in Access
97-2003 for 12 to 16 hours straight, I now have a splitting headache and am
mentally exhausted after about 4 hours with Access 2007 having to use (in my
case precious) concentration on finding the function I need.
If Microsoft cares, my findings amongst family, friends, and customers is
that of frustration with Office 2007 (unscientific poll alert). Maybe the
Ribbons are easier/slicker/wonderful for some folks, but for us folks here in
Wisconsin the vast majority of users find the Ribbons frustrating and a waste
of time to re-learn. For us, there is tremendous value in sitting down at
any computer, regardless of Windows or Office or IE version, and hit the
ground running being productive. Just yesterday, I was working with a new
customer who expressed his frustration over the 'new-fangled button crap' on
his new laptop. Maybe Wisconsin is full of stuck-in-their-ways and
inflexible idiots, so is there any harm in catering to the market?
The specific functionality I find frustrating is the inability to >>SWITCH<<
to Classic Menus. And in fact that is the comment I hear the most "why
couldn't Microsoft leave the old way as an option?". (Maybe folks here
aren't so dumb, we know that clever programmers will give us options). And
as we have seen in Politics, folks don't like when something is FORCED on to
us, as has been the case with Windows/IE/Office. Sure, we can stick with the
older (familiar) versions, and where possible we have. Many of my customers
have **paid** me to revert their new laptop from Vista/Office 2007 to
XP/Office 2003.
In the 14 years I have been in business, I would have never imagined that
folks would pay me to uninstall newer Microsoft software in favor of the old
version.
And as some have suggested, everyone single one of my customers has stuck
with Office 2003 (and WinXP). Do the math, I wish I could sell 100+ licenses
of Office 2007 to my customers. It used to be an easy sell to get the
customer to pay for the next version, now the (in my opinion legitimate)
concern is the loss in productivity and time (expense) lost in training. If
the Ribbons work better and are easier for some users, that's fine. But just
like Microsoft has afforded us the option of the Classic interface in Windows
XP/Vista, it simply seems wise to provide the OPTION of Classic Menus in
Office. (Again, we're talking Wisconsin here, but about 80% of the users
shown the classic Windows interface prefer that option).
What some folks in this forum call 'a step backwards', I would suggest could
easily be called 'easy to use software'. Certainly, 'easy to use software'
is very much about perception and opinion, but if Microsoft would like
additional revenue, wouldn't there be value in catering to the market? Maybe
we're all a bunch of dummies and idiots here, but most of us have managed to
learn and use Office 97-2003 rather proficiently over 10 to 20 years. I
don't blame the folks that would rather not spend a significant investment in
re-learning something they already know. To me, good software would
accomodate: the new user; the expert user; and the avant-garde user.
I frequently log in at a customer site workstation, whip up an Access
database from Exported QuickBooks/SQL Server/etc data, throw together a
report/query, and provide the information the small business owner is looking
for. Customizing the Quick Access Ribbon 15+ times over to do common tasks
quickly/easily is not a relished thought. I'd much rather I had the option
to just use Access as I always have for 15+ years, so that I cantremendous loss for me, I like the increase in billable hours.
As for me, I have both Office 2003/2007 on my workstation. When I need to
concentrate on my work (not the UI), I use 2003. Sure, a couple nice
features in Office 2007 (although nothing there that couldn't be included in
a Classic Menu). And I know with time I'll eventually have all the
clicks/Ribbons memorized. It just sucks that I have to waste my time
re-learning something I have been using for almost 20 years now with a fairly
consistent interface, and that I have to spend (waste) more time clicking
around than before. Trust me, if I felt the Ribbons had potential to make me
and my users more efficient, I'd be the first evangelist.
In this forum, I searched for "classic toolbar". Judging from all the
discussions, it would seem there are some other folks who would prefer having
the classic option.
The only hope here: that Microsoft recognizes that their software would be
more attractive and sellable if there was an >>option<< for Classic Interface
(that goes for Windows also). And hopefully, this forum is provided by
Microsoft as a tool for folks desiring to submit constuctive opinions.
Constructively submitted:
---Jay R. Ohman
----------------
This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to the
suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion, click the "I
Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see the button, follow this
link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft Web-based Newsreader and then
click "I Agree" in the message pane.
http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...-4fbe368647d0&dg=microsoft.public.office.misc
memorize the UI after a couple months of use. It was wonderful that I was
able to concentrate on my mechanical design and not spend any precious
thought on the interface.
I have now been a user of the Office Suite since the early 90's (remember
loading 27 floppies anyone?!). I am now an IT administrator for about 15
small businesses, with a total of about 100+ workstations. Frequently, I am
called while away from my desk with an Office 2003 question, and I can
generally guide a user to any menu item in any of the Office programs from
memory. I consider myself very proficient in Access and have developed
numerous solutions in Word/Excel/Access that do a wonderful job of leveraging
the power of a PC and result in a nice ROI for my small business customers.
I am usually fine with trying new software (preferably at me leisure), we
have now had Office 2007 installed in our office for almost 2 years. Maybe I
am just a dummy or idiot (as commenters in these forums have suggested to
like-minded thinking), but I feel strongly that the Ribbons are NOT easier to
use than the Classic Menus. I find I must use a precious amount of
concentration to go >>find<< the ribbon/function I need. I am much quicker
not having to reach for the mouse, with the Ribbons I am forced to go
click/find the function I need. Where I used to be able to program in Access
97-2003 for 12 to 16 hours straight, I now have a splitting headache and am
mentally exhausted after about 4 hours with Access 2007 having to use (in my
case precious) concentration on finding the function I need.
If Microsoft cares, my findings amongst family, friends, and customers is
that of frustration with Office 2007 (unscientific poll alert). Maybe the
Ribbons are easier/slicker/wonderful for some folks, but for us folks here in
Wisconsin the vast majority of users find the Ribbons frustrating and a waste
of time to re-learn. For us, there is tremendous value in sitting down at
any computer, regardless of Windows or Office or IE version, and hit the
ground running being productive. Just yesterday, I was working with a new
customer who expressed his frustration over the 'new-fangled button crap' on
his new laptop. Maybe Wisconsin is full of stuck-in-their-ways and
inflexible idiots, so is there any harm in catering to the market?
The specific functionality I find frustrating is the inability to >>SWITCH<<
to Classic Menus. And in fact that is the comment I hear the most "why
couldn't Microsoft leave the old way as an option?". (Maybe folks here
aren't so dumb, we know that clever programmers will give us options). And
as we have seen in Politics, folks don't like when something is FORCED on to
us, as has been the case with Windows/IE/Office. Sure, we can stick with the
older (familiar) versions, and where possible we have. Many of my customers
have **paid** me to revert their new laptop from Vista/Office 2007 to
XP/Office 2003.
In the 14 years I have been in business, I would have never imagined that
folks would pay me to uninstall newer Microsoft software in favor of the old
version.
And as some have suggested, everyone single one of my customers has stuck
with Office 2003 (and WinXP). Do the math, I wish I could sell 100+ licenses
of Office 2007 to my customers. It used to be an easy sell to get the
customer to pay for the next version, now the (in my opinion legitimate)
concern is the loss in productivity and time (expense) lost in training. If
the Ribbons work better and are easier for some users, that's fine. But just
like Microsoft has afforded us the option of the Classic interface in Windows
XP/Vista, it simply seems wise to provide the OPTION of Classic Menus in
Office. (Again, we're talking Wisconsin here, but about 80% of the users
shown the classic Windows interface prefer that option).
What some folks in this forum call 'a step backwards', I would suggest could
easily be called 'easy to use software'. Certainly, 'easy to use software'
is very much about perception and opinion, but if Microsoft would like
additional revenue, wouldn't there be value in catering to the market? Maybe
we're all a bunch of dummies and idiots here, but most of us have managed to
learn and use Office 97-2003 rather proficiently over 10 to 20 years. I
don't blame the folks that would rather not spend a significant investment in
re-learning something they already know. To me, good software would
accomodate: the new user; the expert user; and the avant-garde user.
I frequently log in at a customer site workstation, whip up an Access
database from Exported QuickBooks/SQL Server/etc data, throw together a
report/query, and provide the information the small business owner is looking
for. Customizing the Quick Access Ribbon 15+ times over to do common tasks
quickly/easily is not a relished thought. I'd much rather I had the option
to just use Access as I always have for 15+ years, so that I cantremendous loss for me, I like the increase in billable hours.
As for me, I have both Office 2003/2007 on my workstation. When I need to
concentrate on my work (not the UI), I use 2003. Sure, a couple nice
features in Office 2007 (although nothing there that couldn't be included in
a Classic Menu). And I know with time I'll eventually have all the
clicks/Ribbons memorized. It just sucks that I have to waste my time
re-learning something I have been using for almost 20 years now with a fairly
consistent interface, and that I have to spend (waste) more time clicking
around than before. Trust me, if I felt the Ribbons had potential to make me
and my users more efficient, I'd be the first evangelist.
In this forum, I searched for "classic toolbar". Judging from all the
discussions, it would seem there are some other folks who would prefer having
the classic option.
The only hope here: that Microsoft recognizes that their software would be
more attractive and sellable if there was an >>option<< for Classic Interface
(that goes for Windows also). And hopefully, this forum is provided by
Microsoft as a tool for folks desiring to submit constuctive opinions.
Constructively submitted:
---Jay R. Ohman
----------------
This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to the
suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion, click the "I
Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see the button, follow this
link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft Web-based Newsreader and then
click "I Agree" in the message pane.
http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...-4fbe368647d0&dg=microsoft.public.office.misc