The basics
Microsoft has scheduled a radical 2007 makeover for its ubiquitous productivity
suite, Office. The impending release, expected early next year, will further distinguish
Redmond's tools from the competition's. Office 2007 will reveal a dynamic new interface and
smaller, XML-based file formats. We've installed the private, beta 2 test version
of Office 2007 and have been playing with the features for a week.
See for yourself
What will the next editions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook have in store
for you?
You can test-drive this preview of the Office 2007 system
And you can track Microsoft's progress via pictures of the earlier build,
Office 12 beta from last fall.
Ribbon
Microsoft rebuilt Office from the ground up, and most features are located in different
places than in versions 2003 and earlier. Gone are what Microsoft considers too
much of a good thing: the buried location of more than 1,000 features within top-down
menus. Now you can access functions front and center within a tabbed Ribbon across
the top of the interfaces of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Access. We expect this
new look to challenge longtime users with a steep learning curve. The intent is
to make the apps more intuitive, but the opposite is true for certain features if
you want to fall back on old habits. For example, Insert Comment is no longer found
within the Insert menu but within the Ribbon's Review tab. While we had problems
initially getting oriented, we found our bearings for most of the major functions
within a couple of days.
Dynamic
We have mixed feelings about the Ribbon's ability to surface and hide features according
to your task at hand. Though designed to make it easier to find tools, the Contextual
Tabs sometimes left us befuddled. For instance, to view the full gamut of changes
you can make to an image within Word, you must first select the image. What if,
say, you're working in Word and wish that you could insert an image, rotate it,
and wrap the text around it to make a newsletter? If you haven't already inserted
and clicked on a picture, then the Format tab will be out of sight, and you'd never
know those image-tweaking features existed.
System requirements
System requirements for Office 2007 aren't finalized yet, but so far Microsoft says
that you must run Windows XP SP2 on a 500MHz PC with a 2GB hard drive and 256MB
of RAM (512MB for Outlook with Business Contact Manager).
Suites
Microsoft has reduced the number of suites originally planned for the Office 2007
System to seven, ranging from Basic to Enterprise. Most consumers will likely opt
for Basic (containing Excel, Outlook, Word) or Standard, which throws in PowerPoint.
The Small Business package adds Publisher as well as the Business Contact Manager
version of Outlook.