Make Microsoft Office Better

[Chris D]

I came across this website today: http://makeofficebetter.com/

It's been set up by a couple of Microsoft guys who want to get an idea of how we want them to make Office better than it is.

Personally big ones for me (especially if they can do it in time for Office 2010) are the better HTML support in Microsoft Outlook.

And yes, there are free alternatives available, we're all aware and perhaps that is your solution. But if you do "care" still for Microsoft Office, or you're forced into supporting it at work, or using it at work and you think there's improvements to be made then let Microsoft know here: http://makeofficebetter.com/

 

[VirusType2]

I like that old version that loads in under 3 seconds and has similar features as the one that loads in 3 minutes and doesn't have multiple choice as to what document type to make obsolete, etc.

EDIT: I guess this is an office joke, BTW. But I'm serious, so I will send them the message.

 

[No Limit]

I like that old version that loads in under 3 seconds and has similar features as the one that loads in 3 minutes and doesn't have multiple choice as to what document type to make obsolete, etc.

EDIT: I guess this is an office joke, BTW. But I'm serious, so I will send them the message.

My version of office excel 2007 just opened up in 4 seconds (I counted). Word opened in 2 seconds. And this is with illustrator and photoshop running in the background taking up 400MB of ram.

 

[VirusType2]

Everybody has things running in the background, but 2 seconds for word 2007? From a cold start?

 

[xcellerate]

yea, my machine took 1.7 seconds to open excel '07 and word '07 took 1.8 seconds. That's from the time I press enter to the time I can type something in the cell/document...but I only have chrome open.

I have people at work tell me they want office '03 because '07 is scary and they're too ****ing retarded to learn how to use ribbons and the office button. So now I have to install and update both ****ing suites because old people are scared of change.

 

[Krynn72]

They should go back to the normal window structure. I ****ing hate this tab bullshit and the big circle instead of the file menu.

 

[VirusType2]

My computer isn't the greatest. But it is a 2007 model CPU/mobo with upgraded RAM.

I don't think people who don't want to use Office 07 are retarded, personally. It's probably more like 03 did the same thing, yet they are familiar with it. It would be kind of like you needing to learn to drive with the steering wheel on the opposite side, and driving on the opposite side of the road (like the rest of the world).

But I know xcellerate. xcellerate and I are on opposite sides here when it comes to updated software. I don't have hours to spend arguing, but I think Vista is worse than XP in more ways that it is better. Therefore, it is a poor upgrade. Especially when you consider that it costs a large sum of money. The same goes for Office 07.

And you think I'm holding back technology. Nah, I'm holding back gimmicks and non-essential bloatware. If I want to see pretty graphics, I'll load up a game or photograph, not my office suite. Forgive me for being a minimalist, and having the budget of a normal person and not a multi-million dollar corporation.

 

[Qonfused]

Two seconds for Office '07 here as well.

The new interface was annoying at first, but I've gotten used to it. Same with anything I suppose.

 

[Vegeta897]

Can't you switch it back to the traditional view?

 

[Adabiviak]

Man, what doesn't Office do (and do fairly well)?

Definitely on the list: a quick preview of a graph/chart at the click of a button on the chart type selection dialog. This was dropped in 2007, but was incredibly handy when I didn't want to create a full chart, but just wanted to see a rough trend. This is the only feature I miss.

Optionally, Office may do this (and if so, let me know). This is in reference to Infopath forms in a Sharepoint document library, integrated with Outlook). Is there an option to automatically have these forms show up as an attachment to a letter, as opposed to a form with a "To" box on top (which doesn't lend itself to a clean email 'conversation')?

Also, is anyone using Communicator 2007? How is that?

 

[Iced_Eagle]

They should go back to the normal window structure. I ****ing hate this tab bullshit and the big circle instead of the file menu.

http://blogs.msdn.com/jensenh/pages/table-of-contents.aspx

Please, for the love of god stop bitching about the Ribbon. Read the "Why the new UI?" posts and you will understand why MS decided to do the ribbon. Yes, it goes against everything that you did years ago, and people wonder why when it "worked", but the truth of the matter is that average Word users (including yours truly) now get soooo much more power out of Word now it's unbelievable. For absolute power users, you still have your keyboard shortcuts and such, and it's a pain that you have to relearn things, but you're a power user and you will eventually relearn.

Hell, look at my Word 2010 UI right now. I simply minimize the Ribbon, and bam, I have a very file menu-esque looking menu, yea? Clicking each button makes the ribbon "appear", similar to the drop down menu, however it doesn't cover lots of the document with a dialogue box, which is very crucial now that things have live previews when you hover over them. On top of that, most of the items have images associated with them, so they're very easy to distinguish.

Oh, and Word 2010 booted up for me in 4 seconds. It was the first time I opened Word too since I installed Win7 and O2010! After that, since it was cached it was roughly half a second to open.

It took me a couple of weeks to get used to Office 2007, but the usability enhancements it brings you are absolutely worth relearning how to use it. Most of the time, I simply do what I think is right, instead of trying to rely on past habit, and most times I find the menu option that I'm looking for.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

I'll stick to word 2003 thank you very frakkin much (and frak .docx)

 

[Combine Hybrid]

took me 4-5 seconds to open ms word.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

Took me 3 seconds to get ol' 03 up. (1 second if closed and reopened).

 

[Iced_Eagle]

I'll stick to word 2003 thank you very frakkin much (and frak .docx)

What's wrong with docx?

 

[DEATHMASTER]

it doesn't open without 03 asking me to insert my cd or something. CBA, so frak it. Occasion to open such a file has only come up once and wasn't that important, so docx must be bullshit.

 

[CyberPitz]

Open Office ftw

 

[Iced_Eagle]

Open Office ftw

Hehe, have you seen the July prototype for the new UI that Open Office team is working on?

http://blogs.sun.com/GullFOSS/entry/prototyping_a_new_ui_july

A little... familiar, yes?

Personally, I hate OO. It's slower than Office, has no more functionality that is worth having, and what they have is a pain to use, and is an exercise in futility to get it to do what I want it to do. I will GLADLY pay for Office every time over OO, especially since I get student discounts on it as well.

 

[AtomicSpark]

Open Office ftw

This.

Spoiler

'Cept it's slow, missing features, and Java. Blah, it even uses Swing. Swing!

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At least it works on Linux-based Operating Systems :3

Spoiler

Actually, I hear Wine's support of Microsoft Office is pretty decent.