Victor

Im not sure why, but most of the folk who support Vista talk about the
improvement in color scheme and appearance.

I rarely see pro Vista comments stating that it is easier for administrators
to manage and troubleshoot, or that there are all types of new tools and
features, or that they never feel alone when UAC is always there to pop up
and ask them if they really really really want to do something. I am
honestly impressed with how stable Office 07 seems to be but the drastic
change in interface seems to have no real justification. The marketing tells
how commands are now organized in logical groups and easy to find. The menu
design was (for the most part) logical grouping, and dont let them fool you
into thinking that no thought went into the design of 2000 or xp. They make
it sound like they FINALLY studied how users use the software. I would love
to see that study. As an experienced software trainer, I would expect they
looked at how new users find commands in a program. The process is very
different for a user finding a command for the first time versus using a
command over and over with a combination of other commands in their daily
workflow. The new interface can force experienced users to spend more time
coordinating features and cost productivity. Change is not always bad but if
it aint broke, dont fix it. We need to remember that the normal office
worker does not share our high level of excitement at using a new computer
program. They want to go to work, do their job, and go home to enjoy their
lives. In My opinion, they shouldnt be forced to spend time learning new
ways of doing their work just because MS decides they need to increase sales.
Imagine how you would feel if you were forced to learn a new way of
operating your car because Ford and GM decided to make old cars obsolete. Or
what if MS released their next version to only work with Davorak keyboards
and you had to learn a new way to type? Change is not always something that
is needed. MS has really pushed it with these products and I think they are
going to survive it, but it wouldnt suprise me if we see a feature over the
next year that allows you to run a version of office with the old menu
interface. Heck, you can still change the vista start menu to "classic"
style.


Oh ! happy Friday everyone!

"Steve Thackery" wrote:

> > Unless Vista Service Packs fix the bugs, the
> > profound lack of customization options, and the Windows Explorer and
> > Office
> > toolbars disasters, I will keep using XP for quite a long time.
>
> Well, of course we can expect the service packs to fix the bugs. I'm not
> sure how this contributes to the main thrust of your argument.
>
> As for me (and pretty well every magazine reviewer I've read) I think Office
> 2007 is a big improvement on Office 2003 in terms of its user interface (the
> overall functionality is much the same). I think the Vista interface is
> much better than XP (with it appalling colour schemes, patronising and
> childish sound schemes, the dreadful 'My' in front of everything, etc).
>
> Both Office and Vista user interfaces had *extensive* tuning and tweaking in
> the useability labs as well as during the betas. Microsoft almost certainly
> does more useability testing than any other software supplier. That is why
> I'm pretty certain you won't persuade them to change.
>
> I'm sure I won't change your mind, but your reaction does sound like you are
> simply resisting any kind of change. Unfortunately I don't know how you can
> give feedback to Microsoft, but I don't think you'll have much chance of
> diverting them now.
>
> It does sound, though, like OpenOffice would be well worth looking at for
> people like yourself.
>
> Steve
>
>
>