 |
Product Search
|
 |
|
Article Search
|
|
|
Resources
| |
|
Home > Office 2007 Uses New Interface Technology
We Have Found 2 Products for your search of Office 2007 Uses New Interface Technology.
Displaying Items 1 - 2:
Office 2007 Uses New Interface Technology by Julia Hall
Although the recent release of Microsoft's Widows Vista operating system has gotten a lot of attention recently, the huge software company has also recently released the newest version of its productivity software: Office 2007. Office 2007 has actually been out since November of 2007 for business customers. Microsoft's proprietary suite of office software features big name programs like Word, Outlook, Excel, Front Page, and Power Point to name a few, and is used by an estimated five hundred million people, worldwide. (Just for the sake of perspective, the population of the United States is estimated to be about three hundred million.)
Traditionally, upgrading to newer versions of Microsoft Office hasn't been a big deal for individuals and businesses because the changes from one version to the next have been so subtle. The new software would basically be installed on a business's machines and the employees would gradually learn to use the new features built into the new software.
This simply isn't the case when contemplating an upgrade to Office 2007 for a number of reasons. That's because the interface that Office 2007 uses represents a radical redesign of the older interface. The main idea behind the design of Office 2007 is that it should be more efficient to use than previous versions of Microsoft's productivity software, and in this case, efficiency is determined by decreasing the number of mouse clicks needed to accomplish a given task. The result of this shift in thinking has been the elimination of the pull down menus that we've grown used to in favor of what Microsoft calls "The Ribbon." The Ribbon is essentially a tool bar at the top of the program's window that provides all of the functions that used to exist in pull down menus on different tabs. This will supposedly decrease the use of the mouse by as much as sixty percent as compared with older versions of Office, and as a result allow users to spend more time producing rather than adjusting.
The problem with this new interface is that many companies are anticipating greater costs involved with upgrading to Office 2007 in the form of training and lost productivity as workers get used to the new software than with previous releases. According to Microsoft, many users of the new software will adapt to it with between two hours and two days of practice. However, paradoxically more experienced users may require up to two weeks to get used to Office 2007 because they have a lot more to "unlearn" before learning the new interface. Another research firm has come up with a very different time table. It says that many companies can expect to give employees three hours of formal training and then expect to see as many as four weeks of decreased productivity as the employees get used to the software on their own.
Of course, with this kind of difficulty anticipated in adapting to Office 2007, one has to ask if the new interface will really improve productivity enough in the long run to make it worthwhile to upgrade. Because of questions like that many companies are in no hurry to upgrade and are looking at time frames of years rather than months for their upgrades. Considering that future releases of Office, along with all of the other software packages that it influences- like OpenOffice.org and WordPerfect- will probably have similar interfaces, the answer is that it probably is worth making the transition to this new interface.
About the Author
A leader in technology (http://www.newtechnologytalk.com) reporting, Julia Hall has published articles about the latest digital (http://comcast-cable.newtechnologytv.com/) devices and gadgets for over ten years. After graduating from MIT with a degree in electrical engineering, Julia turned down huge salaries from some of the most recognized fortune 500 companies in the world to pursue his dream of becoming a leading consumer advocate. Julia uses her expertise to cut through the too good to be true deals offered by high tech companies to reveal the real steals and the real duds that we're bombarded with daily. If you enjoy staying on the cutting edge of technology (http://snltranscripts.jt.org/cable/comcast-special-offer-.html), whether for business or pleasure, but find yourself occasionally confused by the overwhelming information out there let Julia be your guide.
|
