Downloaded Office 2007 Beta the other day. Check it out and download a free beta here. There may be quite a few things aimed at the collaboration-with-colleagues level which I missed, but this is my verdict so far:




JJ's verdict: 8/10

:D The best thing (for a vain me) is that they've gotten rid of all the dreary greyness and dullness in the menus. More specifically, I like the updated interface, which has been a complete overhaul in organisation unlike the incremental cosmetic touchups from previous updates. The theory is that there would be no more looking for obscure functions (like how do you change the contrast of this picture?) as the ribbon will helpfully change according to what ever you were working on. The replacement of the menu bar with the "ribbon" isn't quite revolutionary but I support Microsoft claims that this opens up many of the functions that people didn't know existed, especially for people who are basic users.

On the other hand, personally, after using it for a month, I haven't really used many more of those extra functions that I have discovered thought the ribbon anyway (to be fair, I'd consider myself an intermediate level user).

:D In addition, the "Options" has been completely updated for the best too. Instead of trawling through little manila folders, you can now navigate through a cleaner XPesque menu reminicent of Adobe Preference menus.

:D And now, you can save your files in PDF formats, which is a great convenience for those who don't have Acrobat or those who can't be bothered to download free PDF makers.

:( Also, just like older updates, there aren't many drastic changes on functionality. There is XML compatibility, but this means saving in files named ".docx" or ".xlsx", file formats that I found did not always convert well back Office 2003 especially if you had pictures. That's bad news, since not everyone is going to upgrade and if you emailed a file to someone, that would not work. (To give them credit, there is a converter that you can use.) Ironically, as the default file to save as is with the "x", I find the XML compatibility more of a nuisance than anything because I keep worrying whether other people can actually read your files.

:( And it might just be me, but I think the extra visual enhancements cause the office programs to run a tad slower.

But hey, it's a beta and it's free (until the beta expires next year).