Word 2007 Leaves Me Speechless!

Word 2007 has been let out into the wild, and so the time has come to start examining the impact and behavior of the world's most common document authoring tool.

IMPACT

There are an estimated 400 million Microsoft Office users around the world, and together they create around 7.5 billion

Although Excel continues to be a favorite application at the management layer, Microsoft Word is, without doubt, the number one tool when it comes to traditional document authoring and production. Indeed, many users of Microsoft Outlook use Word without knowing it, as the product's features are called upon to provide users with a rich e-mail experience.

The introduction of Office 2007 (or 2007 Microsoft Office system to give it its proper name) towards the end of 2006 signaled something of a watershed in the product's evolution, as the company decided to radically redefine the User Interface (UI). Given that Word for Windows first appeared in 1989, Microsoft's decision to re-engineer this most common of UIs is a very brave move, as it effectively sweeps away 18 years of user know-how in one fell swoop.

Writing as someone who cut his word processing teeth on DisplayWrite 4 and WordPerfect 5.1, Word 2007's new user interface is a bit too "in your face" for my liking, and so I tend to turn the garish 'ribbons' and 'galleries' off in order to get the job done.

Now I've not yet met a first-time user of Word to compare notes with, but I'm told by Microsoft officials that the program's new look and feel has been designed to help novice and infrequent users get more out of the product in less time, and so I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt for a little while longer.

However, what's going to happen when the office 'newb' (n. Web slang: an inexperienced user) gets a new PC with Word 2007 installed on it? Whose shoulder are they going to tap on for help? Unfortunately, the 'Office guru' isn't going to want to know, because he or she will have shunned Microsoft's latest offering, preferring instead to stick with what they know best; and as no one appears to get proper PC training these days - because we're all meant to be born with innate knowledge of Windows and Office, then I'm beginning to wonder how the transition/revolution will ever get started.

For those intent on braving the new world of Word 2007, Microsoft has knocked together an interactive Word 2003 to Word 2007 command reference guide to ease the pain. A flash-based tool hosted on the Microsoft Office Web site, the user is prompted to navigate to a familiar menu option in the Word 2003 UI before being treated to an animated display of the new Word 2007 equivalent - or not, as the case might be.

My own disappointment came when I tried to use the Text-to-Speech facility that I've found so useful over the years while proofing my own documents. The interactive guide informed me that: "Some Word 2003 commands don't have an equivalent in Word 2007", which in plain English translates to: That feature no longer exists on Windows XP, please upgrade to Windows Vista in order to regain lost functionality. I think we can safely say that my honeymoon period with Office 2007 is now well and truly over!

ANALYSIS

The migration path from Office 2003 to Office 2007 is a steep one, and it is strewn with all manner of obstructions and potholes. While business benefits relating to 2007 Office system do appear by the wayside every now and then, this traveler has decided to turn back for the time being - at least until the fog lifts and the view over the new Vista becomes clearer. ENS