Office 2007 toolbar... again

[Neale]

I'm sure I'm not the only one having installed Office 2007 only to find the
new UI difficult to say the least. There seems to be a number of software
vendors selling an Office 2003 toolbar but it makes me wonder why Microsoft
doesn't offer this as part of Office itelf, i.e let the user decide between
old classic style (2003) or new 2007 style UI. With this new UI I can't
imagine why a large entereprise would ever go to 2007 given the huge support
issues this would cause. Come on Microsoft, can you please give the users
back the choice.

 

[Gordon]

I'm sure I'm not the only one having installed Office 2007 only to find
the
new UI difficult to say the least. There seems to be a number of software
vendors selling an Office 2003 toolbar but it makes me wonder why
Microsoft
doesn't offer this as part of Office itelf, i.e let the user decide
between
old classic style (2003) or new 2007 style UI. With this new UI I can't
imagine why a large entereprise would ever go to 2007 given the huge
support
issues this would cause. Come on Microsoft, can you please give the users
back the choice.

Give it time - you'll find that as you get used to it, that the ribbon is
more intuitive than the old "menu" system....IMHO....

 

[Gordon]

oxymoron, more intuative stuff need less time

There's ALWAYS a learning curve when using new software, pillock.....

 

[Another Brian]

I've been using the Ribbon for 7 months or so. I still cannot find
things on it and consequently have to waste time hunting. About 3
months ago I added AddInTools so as to give me some hope of finding
things, though I try using the ribbon as much as I can. I am a power
user and use control keys a lot of the time.

Talking to other users, it seems that people that are new to Office
and those that only use it occasionally (and never learned the old
interface) generally do like the ribbon better. But most of the power
users that I know are having problems adapting. Must just had the all
the Office 2003 toolbars that they regularly needed always visible and
are being annoyed having to jump between the ribbon bars. Oh yes, they
can add functions to the quick bar, but not the dozens that they
regularly use.

This is just my ranting.
Brian

 

[Gemini]

Gordon, I don't WANT to give it more time. I am not interested in learning a
non-intuitive, counterproductive, clunky interface that the stupid "Ribbon"
represents. I do have several other items on my plate which take much higher
priority than wanting to learn a ridiculous new interface.

IMO, this is sheer arrogance on MS's part to think the users will simply
accept the new "Ribbon" meekly.

OnTheBridge, I quite agree with your idea about the slaps for the
designer(s) of that stupid Ribbon. However, I'd recommend that the "slap" be
in their respective pocketbooks as well.

-- Gemini

 

[Gordon]

Gordon, I don't WANT to give it more time. I am not interested in learning
a
non-intuitive, counterproductive, clunky interface that the stupid
"Ribbon"
represents. I do have several other items on my plate which take much
higher
priority than wanting to learn a ridiculous new interface.

I'm an ADVANCED Excel user, and I just, err, sort of USED it.....

 

[Gemini]

Gordon, as regards Excel, I'm usually described as an ADVANCED user as well.
I've been using Office apps for more years than I care to remember.

However, I'm not the kind that meekly accepts whatever MS decides to dish
out. I shall be going back to Office 2003. Once I figure out how to convert
my trusty macros to OpenOffice, that's most probably what I'll use to replace
MS Office, rather than be forced to spend time learning the ridiculous
"Ribbon".

-- Gemini

 

[joe_btfsplk]

It's a pity that the reactionary response of a defender of the Office 2007
ribbon has to include derogatary name-calling such as "pillock" (i.e. idiot).
It's been my oberservation that the vast majority of those complaining about
the ribbon, or really the lack of the menus, are consciencious, experienced
Microsoft customers who are totally bewildered at both the ineffectiveness of
the ribbon, and the apparent indifference of Microsoft to the adverse
reaction of those customers. I'm convinced that Office 2007 is the most
user-unfriendly software I've purchased in years, and in my highly technical
profession, I find that that is a common sentiment.
Many companies with which I work are assigning one professional to totally
immerse in Office 2007 for a few months, and after their evaluation are
making the IT decision to defer upgrading to Office 2007 until the menus are
offered as an alternate to the clunky ribbon.

Wake up and smell the coffee: the ribbon was a good idea that deserves a
decent burial.

 

[Gemini]

It appears that comments to Jensen Harris' blog are being censored. I
attempted twice to respond directly to Jensen's claim about how well the
Ribbon has been received (apparently the results of an independent survey),
shared my experience with the trial version of Office 2007 and asked him
about providing the classic UI as well, since that'll be the acid test
(seeing how many users choose the Ribbon voluntarily). Those comments don't
show up at all. Perhaps M$ has indeed become indifferent to what the users
want. Arrogance, anyone?

-- Gemini

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Hi Gemini,

Which blog entry are you referring to? It's not uncommon for blogs to have responses/comments only enabled for a specific (often
short) period of time. Jensen posted on 21Feb that he'll presenting at the Mix UX (User eXperience) portion of the sold out MS
Mix08 conference this Friday in Las Vegas and the topic is the ribbon and that blog topic is open for comments and it appears
that you are one of the folks that did leave more than one comment there including the one you said didn't appear
http://blogs.msdn.com/jensenh/2008/02/21/mix-it-up.aspx#comments
Jensen replied today to some of the comments that had examples rather than generalities

FWIW, in a rush to get a project status sheet together for an unexpected meeting called by a senior mgr today one of my folks who
hadn't used Excel 2007 before put together a really nice sheet and her comment was that it was a lot easier for her to find her way
around and get things done in Excel 2007 than in the versions she had used before. So there are folks who find it 'about the
same' some who find it 'slower to use' and those who find it 'a help' It can depend on what the usage, need and how folks
perceive things (visually, tacticle, etc) - a lot of factors. There isn't a 'right' answer for everyone. Not everything in the
ribbon is slower, not everything in the menus was faster.

Your comment on the blog that allowing folks to choose the interface to see how productive they could be wouldn't necessarily be a
good test, as the corporate administrators would often be the ones who made the choice <g> and those folks are also 'customer's

If you don't choose to use Office 2007, fine, if you do, fine If you mix and match multiple versions or add one of the free
classic menu add-ins (does it really matter if it's MS or a 3rd party that provides the capability?) whatever works for you is the
way to go to meet your needs, but not necessarily those of others, eh?

=============
It appears that comments to Jensen Harris' blog are being censored. I
attempted twice to respond directly to Jensen's claim about how well the
Ribbon has been received (apparently the results of an independent survey),
shared my experience with the trial version of Office 2007 and asked him
about providing the classic UI as well, since that'll be the acid test
(seeing how many users choose the Ribbon voluntarily). Those comments don't
show up at all. Perhaps M$ has indeed become indifferent to what the users
want. Arrogance, anyone?

-- Gemini >>
--

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*

 

[Gemini]

I stand corrected. The two comments I made showed up this morning. The
earlier one was MIA for about 36 hrs! So, the comments are NOT being
censored. Hopefully, MS will heed the voice of the older users and provide a
classic UI.

-- Gemini

 

[Gemini]

Bob, re the missing comments, see the post I just wrote a few minutes ago.
Yes, I've posted to the Mix08 blog.

Re providing a choice, I don't quite see why it's up to the admins. In the
Excel options panel, there could be one entry to achieve that and thereby let
the user choose.

Yes, I did see Jensen's detailed response. However, that doesn't say
anything about the user base (experienced v/s new, power users v/s casual
users, etc.). Based on the responses I've seen to date, those who have been
using Office apps for a long time (like yours truly) have been the worst
affected. That, IMHO, is something MS should have considered.

"whatever works for you is the
way to go to meet your needs, but not necessarily those of others, eh? "
Now when did I say that? That's the rationale behind providing two UIs and
letting the USERS choose, not MS and not the admins!

Bob, I've been using the trial version. I still don't see why I need to
spend premium $$$s for a product that crashes at random, a product that has
slowed me down, in order to complete the exact same tasks as before. That
appears to be a low ROI proposition. Then, on top of it, your proposal would
cause me to spend even more money to make the app useful to me. Now why would
I want to do that?

BTW, I've tried the product from AddInTools. Whereas it does provide the
classic UI, keyboard shortcuts don't work once it's "expanded". So, it's not
quite the same.

-- Gemini