What are your co/client Office 2007 deployment strategies & plans?

[Dawn Bjork Buzbee]

I am a Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) Master Instructor, trainer, speaker,
etc. In the past, many of my clients have brought me in to offer
orientation/transition seminars when they rolled out the latest version of
Office. Typically, the move was partnered and driven by an upgrade to Windows
(such as Windows 2000 to XP). That is, the upgrades were ultimately due to
increased security features (for instance) rather than improved user
experience.

To prep for several upcoming speaking engagements, I'd like to learn from
expertise beyond my client base. How are your clients or your company
planning to deploy Office 2007? With Windows Vista? Before or after Vista is
released? What do you think was/will be the primary reasons for the upgrade?
What is the projected timeline? What IT deployment resources or surveys are
available? What other expert opinions (from you) would be helpful?

Thank you in advance for sharing your knowledge and insights,
Dawn

 

[JoAnn Paules]

I work for a major government subcontractor. They won't even let us install
IE7. Office 2007 and Vista are almost cuss words. Ditto for my husband who
works for a national manufacturer.

--

JoAnn Paules
Microsoft MVP - Publisher

How to ask a question
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375

 

[Dawn Bjork Buzbee]

Thank you, JoAnn, for the perspective. Your feedback is similar to what I'm
hearing from some other folks. Very helpful-thanks!

Dawn

 

[JoAnn Paules]

I know it wasn't what you asked for but there are too many programs being
used by my company that may or may not work in Vista. Worldwide, there are
almost 100,000 employees who use hundreds of different programs.My husband's
company employs 50,000-60,000 employees. Changing the OS or even Office
versions is not something done lightly.



--

JoAnn Paules
Microsoft MVP - Publisher

How to ask a question
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375

Thank you, JoAnn, for the perspective. Your feedback is similar to what
I'm
hearing from some other folks. Very helpful-thanks!

Dawn

 

[Dawn Bjork Buzbee]

Actually, JoAnn, your feedback is extremely helpful! In the past, my
experience was that most large organizations waited a year or two to even
consider implementing upgrades. Typically, however, the OS and Office were
upgraded at the same time. Now, I'm also hearing that either no changes are
planned/explored/allowed, or that only Office 2007 will be introduced
sometime in the future. Even then, it may only show up on new machines
brought in as part of the refresh cycle. The lack of drivers,
incompatibility, etc. are all ingredients to an OS update nightmare!

Seems to me that Microsoft's figure of 40 million Vista licenses in 100 days
must be a a reflection of incentive volume purchases by OEMs and not at all a
sign of demand or interest.

Thank you for your time and insights,
Dawn

 

[gls858]

I am a Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) Master Instructor, trainer, speaker,
etc. In the past, many of my clients have brought me in to offer
orientation/transition seminars when they rolled out the latest version of
Office. Typically, the move was partnered and driven by an upgrade to Windows
(such as Windows 2000 to XP). That is, the upgrades were ultimately due to
increased security features (for instance) rather than improved user
experience.

To prep for several upcoming speaking engagements, I'd like to learn from
expertise beyond my client base. How are your clients or your company
planning to deploy Office 2007? With Windows Vista? Before or after Vista is
released? What do you think was/will be the primary reasons for the upgrade?
What is the projected timeline? What IT deployment resources or surveys are
available? What other expert opinions (from you) would be helpful?

Thank you in advance for sharing your knowledge and insights,
Dawn

Our company is a small one. Less than 50 people. The IT dept has
just two people. We just purchased several PC's to get rid of
our last Win2K machines. We bought them with XP but with the option
to upgrade them to Vista. Currently all PC's are XP Pro and it's going
to be that way until our next round of hardware purchases.
We won't use Vista for quite a while. We will be rolling out Office
2007. We already have 3 people using it. The other
users will follow probably a couple at a time until we have them all
converted. Training being our biggest issue. Our users are not very
technically adept.

gls858

 

[JoAnn Paules]

Normally I'm not an early adopter but I needed a new computer so I'm running
Vista and Office 2007 at home. I have no problems with it here (except that
my scanner is not Vista compliant). I suspect that Microsoft's numbers are
mostly home computers, not work.

--

JoAnn Paules
Microsoft MVP - Publisher

How to ask a question
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375

Actually, JoAnn, your feedback is extremely helpful! In the past, my
experience was that most large organizations waited a year or two to even
consider implementing upgrades. Typically, however, the OS and Office were
upgraded at the same time. Now, I'm also hearing that either no changes
are
planned/explored/allowed, or that only Office 2007 will be introduced
sometime in the future. Even then, it may only show up on new machines
brought in as part of the refresh cycle. The lack of drivers,
incompatibility, etc. are all ingredients to an OS update nightmare!

Seems to me that Microsoft's figure of 40 million Vista licenses in 100
days
must be a a reflection of incentive volume purchases by OEMs and not at
all a
sign of demand or interest.

Thank you for your time and insights,
Dawn

 

[Dawn Bjork Buzbee]

GLS858:
Thank you. Your detailed response is very helpful and reflects much of the
feedback that I'm hearing from associates. That is, if there is an upgrade,
it is likely to be first to Office 2007 with Vista on the back burner until
multiple service packs are out, hardware is further tested, there is a future
upgrade of machines, h*ll freezes over, or ????

You are right--there can be a lot of frustrations with users that are not as
proficient plus a big loss in productivity. This is especially true with such
a dramatic change to the UI. Training and support must be a big challenge
with a 2-person team.

Thanks again for your insights and experience,
Dawn

 

[Dawn Bjork Buzbee]

JoAnn,
My only conflict so far is the loss of some utilities I use with my WinXP
system that are just not available for Vista. The other challenge at this
stage, of course, is running 3 different versions of Office on 4 machines so
that I am able to accurately support and train on Office XP thru Office 2007.

Your response and willingness to help are sure signs of why you are a
Microsoft MVP!

Thank you!