Office 2010?

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ASC1951

Guru
Location
Yorkshire
Is it worth it? I am on Office 2000 and think the upgrades to Outlook and Excel could be worthwhile, but I'm not too keen on filling up my PC with gigaflops of MS Bloatware. For instance, I have never had a use for Access or Powerpoint, and I would hope I could choose not to install those, although my recollection is that MS Office auto-installs everything and you have to unpick it afterwards.
 

ACS

Legendary Member
I have Office 2010 and upgrade from 2003 and currently assessing it prior to a role out to my network users. To be honest I cannot see what all the fuss is about. I can see the advantages in an integrated corporate environment with info path forms and Outlook integration but as a standalone product IMO it’s over kill.

I still use Office 97 on my own laptop. Its fairly lightweight, the spell checker works and it’s easy to use.
 

Howard

Senior Member
Is it worth it? I am on Office 2000 and think the upgrades to Outlook and Excel could be worthwhile, but I'm not too keen on filling up my PC with gigaflops of MS Bloatware. For instance, I have never had a use for Access or Powerpoint, and I would hope I could choose not to install those, although my recollection is that MS Office auto-installs everything and you have to unpick it afterwards.

You could go for the Home edition - no Access, anyway. I loved 2007 - but I appreciate it wasn't everyone's cup of tea.
 
I bought Home Edition from PC World for my daughter's computer as she only had MS Works on it from when it was purchased. At work we still use Office 2003. Having seen her use 2010 I quite like the new 'ribbon' arrangement and some of the new functionality, but I can see if/when we migrate at work there will probably be some head scratching while we work out how to accomplish everyday tasks using the new menus as opposed to the old ones!
 

on the road

Über Member
I have never had a use for Access or Powerpoint, and I would hope I could choose not to install those, although my recollection is that MS Office auto-installs everything and you have to unpick it afterwards.
Because you didn't choose Custom install.
 

Keith Oates

Janner
Location
Penarth, Wales
I've been using the trial version in my new laptop and liked it so this weekend I've purchased the full version, on line, becuse I like it, so for me it's worth having.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
OP
OP
A

ASC1951

Guru
Location
Yorkshire
It costs peanuts if you have kids.
Yes, that was the link (on another thread) that prompted me to look at it. Although I haven't technically been a student for <cough> 38 years, my conscience tells me that being a governor of an academic institution is close enough.

No, it wasn't the cost. I was concerned that the more bells and whistles Microsoft add to a program, the harder it is to do simple things. With software, less can definitely be more.
 

woohoo

Veteran
I use a Netbook a fair amount of the time and, on balance, I prefer Office 2007 to 2003 because the "ribbon" increases the amount of useful space on the (small) screen when I minimise the menus. Adding shortcuts to the Quick Access toolbar for things like spell checking and printing etc is also useful. However I still have to hunt around to find some functions that are easily available in 2003, especially when using Excel. Overall, I found the upgrade from 2003 to 2007 worthwhile but I'm not sure there's much to be gained for me in upgrading to 2010.
 

PaulSB

Legendary Member
Is it worth it? I am on Office 2000 and think the upgrades to Outlook and Excel could be worthwhile,

I don't have 2010 but am running 2007 and have done since it was launched. I really like 2007 and have found it a big improvement over 2000. At a guess 2010 will include all the improvements I enjoy. I found the upgrades on both Outlook and Excel very useful and I guess all of that and more is in 2010.

BUT BEWARE

No one has mentioned you may struggle to find other users who are on 2007 or 2010. I find that even three years after 2007 was introduced we still have to to backwards convert all documents which are being sent out to our customers as the vast majority do not have the more recent software. Now we have got used to this but it can be very frustrating, you can do all your work in 2007 / 2010 and then have to save any copies for distribution as a backward conversion to, for example, Excel 97 - 2003. All the fundamentals of your document will still work but there may be bells and whistles you have used which are not available to the recipient. This has definetely led to errors within the business as people make changes to docs and save the wrong version etc. etc.

Obviously it all depends on how you use your software. I have become used to having to produce two document types, those for internal use which can be saved as 2007 and those which are for external distribution which are saved as 97 - 2003. I have yet to receive a document from an external source which has been saved as 2007!

Users of 2003 and older cannot open 2007, and I presume the same will apply to 2010. I realise why MS do this but it's incredibly frustrating.
 

PaulSB

Legendary Member
There was a free pack (Windows and Mac) you could download to add Office 2007 compatibility to earlier versions. I know it worked OK for Office 2004 Mac and 2003 Windows.

Is there a new one for Office 2010?

I wasn't aware of that. Depending on how or to whom one distributes documents I'd still be very nervous relying on my customers having taken the trouble to find and download a pack of any sort. If I accidentally send out a docx file I just get a chorus of phone calls and e-mails saying it won't open. The assumption is that my business is at fault, not the customer's outdated software!!!!!
 
OP
OP
A

ASC1951

Guru
Location
Yorkshire
I don't have 2010 but am running 2007 and have done since it was launched. I really like 2007 and have found it a big improvement over 2000. At a guess 2010 will include all the improvements I enjoy. I found the upgrades on both Outlook and Excel very useful and I guess all of that and more is in 2010.
Yes, most of the reviews I have seen suggest that 2007 is well worth it but 2010 isn't worth the upgrade from 2007. Since I have neither, I might as well go in at 2010.

BUT BEWARE

No one has mentioned you may struggle to find other users who are on 2007 or 2010.
A good point. We had a mix of 200 and 2007 at work and it was a nightmare although TBH most of the other firms who emailed documents had upgraded to 2007 before we did.

Now that I've retired it isn't really an issue. I do deal with some people who send docx and xlsx but I've always found it easier to use Open Office for converting than Microsoft's clunky conversion plug-in. But Outlook is such a versatile product that I'm happy to stick with Office for the foreseeable future.

Or I could join GoogleDocs' cloudbank....
 

scots_lass

Senior Member
I've just bought a new PC and installed Office 2010. Had 2003 on my old PC. I have found it a bit of a faff setting things up but I guess that will just take time to get used to it. Haven't found any new features yet that will help me at home but I guess for a real office it would be useful.
 
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