2008 Woodie Awards
Students experiencing problems with new Office suite
Gerard Attoun
Issue date: 11/20/08 Section: Campus Life
Clearly, the new Microsoft Office 2007 suite hasn't met everyone's expectations. From complaints about the lack of customization tools to difficulty navigating through the new tab interface, the 2007 Office hasn't been truly welcomed.
"I have had huge problems opening up study guides and other documents from teachers and friends," Megan Villamaria, junior in broadcasting and political science, said.
Here at PSU, the newer version has been creating a host of problems on campus, with students complaining that they can't open files saved under the latest Office suite, as well as those grumbling that the entire campus isn't equipped with the latest version. Overall, most students aren't irritated with the software functions at all; most people use the older versions of Office and are frustrated with the transition.
"Small changes gradually are good, but the new version of the Office destroyed what Microsoft had established with a poorly planned, badly programmed monster," Villamaria said.
One of the disadvantages of Word 2007 is that it has moved all of its commands. The tabs can be distracting, and the new Word file formats require converters in order to be opened in older versions of Word.
"The new and old versions of Office are just not compatible, and a smart programmer would have known that," Villamaria said.
If a document is saved as a .docx, .xlsx or .pptx file, which are the default file types for the new version of Office, it won't be able to open in older versions of the Office suite.
"The .docx (file) is a pain, especially when I forget that I've saved something in it and it won't open on other older Word versions," said Sara Wade, senior in communication.
There is a way to remedy the problem of opening files between older and newer versions. When a user of Office 2003 double-clicks on an Office 2007 file for the first time, a prompt will offer to download a converter package that lets the 2003 version open and save files in the new format. The Compatibility Pack allows users of Office XP or Office 2003 to open, edit, save and even create files in the new XML-based formats. The pack is available as a free download from the Microsoft Web site. Saving a document under the 97-2003 compatible versions is an easy task, though not widely practiced by those using the latest Office. When a document that was originally created in the new format is saved under the old format, some of the formatting and features that are only supported by Office 2007 programs will be lost.
"I have had huge problems opening up study guides and other documents from teachers and friends," Megan Villamaria, junior in broadcasting and political science, said.
Here at PSU, the newer version has been creating a host of problems on campus, with students complaining that they can't open files saved under the latest Office suite, as well as those grumbling that the entire campus isn't equipped with the latest version. Overall, most students aren't irritated with the software functions at all; most people use the older versions of Office and are frustrated with the transition.
"Small changes gradually are good, but the new version of the Office destroyed what Microsoft had established with a poorly planned, badly programmed monster," Villamaria said.
One of the disadvantages of Word 2007 is that it has moved all of its commands. The tabs can be distracting, and the new Word file formats require converters in order to be opened in older versions of Word.
"The new and old versions of Office are just not compatible, and a smart programmer would have known that," Villamaria said.
If a document is saved as a .docx, .xlsx or .pptx file, which are the default file types for the new version of Office, it won't be able to open in older versions of the Office suite.
"The .docx (file) is a pain, especially when I forget that I've saved something in it and it won't open on other older Word versions," said Sara Wade, senior in communication.
There is a way to remedy the problem of opening files between older and newer versions. When a user of Office 2003 double-clicks on an Office 2007 file for the first time, a prompt will offer to download a converter package that lets the 2003 version open and save files in the new format. The Compatibility Pack allows users of Office XP or Office 2003 to open, edit, save and even create files in the new XML-based formats. The pack is available as a free download from the Microsoft Web site. Saving a document under the 97-2003 compatible versions is an easy task, though not widely practiced by those using the latest Office. When a document that was originally created in the new format is saved under the old format, some of the formatting and features that are only supported by Office 2007 programs will be lost.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Kevin S. Walker JD MBA
posted 11/20/08 @ 7:37 PM CST
I've been a user of Microsoft Office since 1995 but the latest version is an unmitigated disaster. I uninstalled the latest version when I couldn't find out how to do a previously simple formatting change and the help section was useless. (Continued…)
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