Entered CNET Catalog: 03/17/2006
SKU: CNETMICROSOFTOFFICE2007BETA1
Manufacturer: Microsoft Corp.
CNET editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 05/23/2006
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? For a sneak peek at the suite's progress, see our slide shows of Microsoft Word 2007 beta 2, Excel 2007 beta 2, Outlook 2007 beta 2, and PowerPoint 2007 beta 2.
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.
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35
User Rating: 
1/10
MSWord Difficult to use
Pros: Few if any.
Cons: Found the default settings to be difficult. MS asumes that they know how you want to format a document and provides forced/default document settings that don't work for many cases.
User Rating: 
2/10
Making easy things hard
Pros: Probably good if you've never used office before
Cons: If you've used office before, prepare to be stumped by trying to open an existing file
One has to accept that Office will not give you choices other than when you need them. That is, you must choose to insert a table in Word before seeing any table tools. Once there the tools are rather straight forward.
For old coots, it's a pain in the tucous. For noobs it won't be any harder than learning it the old way. That said, let's assume that more than 80% of users learned the old way; why would any IT department pay big bucks to confuse and frustrate the vast majority of their work force?
It's not a matter of old guard "change is bad" thinking. Rather it's a quantum leap in the hubris of MS. Sort of a "yeah, we've been screwing you over all these years, but now it's time to change position."
Like Vista, Office 2007 represents a huge effort by MS that only serves to make difficult processes worse. I'm packing my docs and heading to Google until the penguins pick a new standard.
User Rating: 1/10
Worst version of office yet
Pros: xml file system
Cons: User interface is terrible
The one thing that Microsoft has always been good at is the consistency of the look and feel of their programs. If you learn how to use one of their products, then it was relatively easy to use another. With Office 2007 this has all been dumped.
Perhaps, if they had include a choice so that users that were used to the Office 2003 interface could revert, this might have been a good product, but as it is, Office 2007 is basically unusable. Even the simplest of tasks, things that you used to be able to do with just a few simple key stokes are gone, completely unreachable.
Thanks to this release of Microsoft Office, I am switching to Open Office. At least that way I can get some work done instead of wasted hours looking for missing controls.
User Rating: 2/10
Productivity Killer
Pros: More toolbars if you like that sort of thing
Cons: Lost hours trying to figure out how to accomplish simple routine tasks
Don't waste your time. Stick with what you've got.
User Rating: 1/10
New Interface -- Fooey
Pros: Some New Formatting Options
Cons: Completely alien and hostile interface
There is no option to bring up the old Office 2003, read standard Windows application, interface as a transitional crutch. I recall the early versions of Excel responded to the older Lotus 1-2-3 slash commands for us MS neophytes. No such courtesy here -- MS: New ribbon interface -- take it or leave it.
I'm about fed up. Another few days of beating around this painful new world and if the Aha! flash doesn't hit me, I'm reinstalled MSO2003, or walking away entirely and installing Open Office.org 2.0.
I can't be wasting my time learning what MS thinks is new and cool, I have work to do - docs to write and numbers to crunch.
User Rating: 
8/10
office 2007 beta2
Pros: great user interface
Cons: none so far
Another pro is that the files you have saved in 2003 you can open it in 2007 eaisly.
User Rating: 2/10
Incompatible with other versions of Office, plus it disabled my Office 2003
Pros: Looks like a Mac product
Cons: I can't use Office 2007 or 2003 now
1. documents I create in Office 2007 won't be viewable by others with other Office suites; and
2. documents I created in Office 2003 aren't edit-able in Office 2007.
I immediately uninstalled the 2007--those two items above make the beta 2007 completely useless to me--and now I can't open any documents using my Office 2003 Professional suite--I get an error message asking for the installation disk. Well, I ordered the Office 2003 Professional when I ordered my laptop, so it was preinstalled and I don't have an installation CD. Any suggestions are appreciated.
I'm saving up for a Mac laptop.
User Rating: 1/10
Now I know why there are so man Software Pirates!
Pros: It can be un-installed
Cons: Too many to list
BTW, I'm not advocating piracy, I'm just saying that after trying this software, I can see why people would pirate.
User Rating: 1/10
Gave me a headache
Pros: Looks kind of nice at first...
Cons: NOT intuitive for people who already use Office a lot
User Rating: 1/10
WOW! If you use hotkeys forget it......you will need a mouse surgically attached to your hand.
Pros: Looks really pretty.
Cons: WOW! I can't believe how disappointing it is. Too much change. Wish I could pay my IT guy to uninstall it for me.
User Rating: 2/10
Where are the menu's?
Pros: It's new and colourful
Cons: Everything else
I have hated it from the first step.
Everything is different, almost nothing is intuitive, and if like me you do things almost automatically, it will take you 3 or 4 times as long to do anything.
I've already rolled back to 2003, and have advised all my clients not to buy this lemon. If MS put the menu's back (the menu's that have been a standard on almost every Windows product as far back as i can remember), it would be a huge improvement.
Especially if there was some way to then hide the huge ribbon, and open some toolbars.
User Rating: 2/10
Very poor upgrade
Pros: no advantages over previous versions
Cons: locks up / poor interface / resource hog
Excel locks up when working in existing spreadsheets that ran fine under Office-XP and 2003. Word "Select all" selects only text, will not copy text and picture object. Horizontal scrolling doesn't work using mouse with 4-way scrolling. User interface is less functional (you need to customize it to get functionality similar to previous versions). Outlook send reports "Sending 3 of 4" when sending a single e-mail (anyone know where the other three are going?). Junk mail filter is OK, but links in junk mail are disabled so you have to first move it to the inbox if it has inappropriately junked a confirmation, or something else you need to respond to.
Bottom line... Don't buy it.
User Rating: 
4/10
oh my, what a disaster!
Pros: smaller file sizes, choice of 3 "skins", uhhh, not much else.
Cons: installation nightmare, incompatible with older file formats even after converting, hidden common functions, ease of use less than office 2003, if you can believe
User Rating: 1/10
A Big Downgrade
Pros: Colorful, more interactive appearance
Cons: Crashes often, sluggish, major productivity hit to learn
This upgrade is a downgrade. It crashes often in most of its components, all are very sluggish and the start-up learning curve is very high. I've had it for over two months and today, delelted from my PC.
If provided to me free, I wouldn't install it. This is an example of what happens when a company doesn't have sufficient competition. This is the first upgrade in four years. It is mostly smoke and mirrors and a pretty new face. It is cleary a step back in productivity due to numereorus crashes, sluggishness in all modules and the amount of time to locate tools. It is a known fact in software development that evolutionary changes to layout are needed to drive enhanceed productivity provided by new tools.
Very dissapointing. I wouldn't 'buy it' for FREE. Does that not sum it up?
User Rating: 1/10
We all how to use a PC - now fix the issues - stop developing for the 72 people who don't.
Pros: There were no animals harmed in the making of this software
Cons: No FIXES to THE SAME ISSUES YEAR AFTER YEAR!
Outlook Issues
1Does not let you open more than one outlook profile simultaneously.
2Often retrieves data from one account into another within the same profile.
3Does not close down reliably so when you attempt to switch between outlook profiles(since it won't let you open both simultaneously) it opens the same one even if you wait a minute.
4. Using the search function in sent folders or your entire mailbox still returns only the FROM field - not sure why MS people don't ever think we want to know who it went TO- Is this such a hard thing? Yes you can customize columns after EACH search to get the TO field but I'm pretty sure when I'm seaching MY SENT folder I already know who the e-mail was FROM - what I need to know is who did it go TO.
2 BCM - A GREAT PRODUCT - Completely GIMPED by MS.
All it needs to do is sync the most important contact info - name, address, phone number, e-mail address with contacts in outlook so that it is available via OWA and WM5 - no simple copy tool included - making it completely useless for any remote data work.
3. MS Access - no OLE or wrapper or built in handler for JPGs and other picture formats. Why make a database that can't natively handle pictures. How can you do a decent catalog, inventory, personnel list etc, if you make it so complicated that you have to use code for pictures? Might as well hire a Oracle programmer if you aren't going to make a simple database for non-techies.
Excel -
Doesn't easily remove data/links. Copy and paste a table showing prices on any product - e.g. E6700 processors. Now go ahead and delete the rows or data. The "buy now" link is still there - isn't it?
Word -
Doesn't let you easily change spacing between paragraphs and sentences - e.g. this paragraph 1.2 next sentence 1.5 etc. If you want to vary randomly and between lines different when jumping to a new line.
User Rating: 2/10
Why not FIX major ISSUES - forget about making it a MAC
Pros: It didn't have any viruses
Cons: It still has the same PROBLEMS as Office 2003
I would have liked -
1 Outlook to open 2 outlook profiles at the same time. This has been a problem since the First Office.
2 A search in outlook e-mail messages to include the dang TO field so I know who it was going to when I search my sent folder - I'm pretty I know who it is FROM - there isn't as much of need for that field as there is the TO field. This has been a problem since the First Office.
3. Outlook to reliably shut down - tired of switching profiles only to find outlook is still running so it opens the same profile. This has been a problem since the First Office.
4. Access to NATIVELY support JPGS - have to install Photo Editor from office XP for Office 2003 to work - same problem for Office 2007 - of course what kind of person uses photos in a database - perhaps someone with an inventory? This actually WORKED in Office XP but they MESSED IT UP in 2003!
5. Excel to have an easier way to get rid of photo links - go ahead and copy and paste results from pricewatch - now delete the rows - funny - buy now is still there - isn't it? This has been a problem since the First Office.
User Rating: 4/10
Installed and uninstalled the same day
Pros: Pretty to look at
Cons: Downright scary if you're looking for anything familiar
I quickly uninstalled Office 2007 and went back to Office 2000. I only lost one afternoon and the feeling of panic soon left. The change is simply too radical. Maybe we'll dink around with it later, but for now we have work to get done.
Besides, Microsoft would let us use Office 2007 for free until February 2007, then it would be time to pay the piper. We'll stick with Office 2000 for now. We have Open Office installed also, just in case evil things begin to happen.
User Rating: 8/10
Worth It At the Current COst ($)
Pros: Much easier to use and more user friendly than Office 2003
Cons: Some trouble getting strated and integrated.
A few weeks ago, I had tried to download the version with Business Contact Manager and was rebuffed three times by a seeming contraction (YOU MUST DOWNLOAD OFFICE OUTLOOK). What I discovered, much to the confusing information, was that one needs to do two downloads?first the suite and then again the version of Outlook with Business Contact Manager (which will be the only thing downloaded).
So on Thursday evening I started the process, feeling the same tension that a test pilot might and waited for things to go wrong.
The download was fine. My data stayed intact. The directions and error messages were clear enough and I thought I could relax.
Not that fast. Quickly a message about upgrading MS Desktop search appeared and disappeared. This became the largest problem of trial, error and failure. It appears that this is a requirement no matter which brand Desktop search engine one needs?one must download Beta Version 3 of MS Desktop Search.
Although I did this, I still was fighting slowness and my own fear of six months of problems. S l o w n e s s. What could it be? Since I was ready for bed, and I recalled massive slowdowns before Diskeeper, I did an overnight run in which it found nearly 20,000 fragmented units. Five times more than any other run I had had. But, after Diskeeper ran, the slowness disappeared.
Since I have been torn between Goggle and MS for Desktop search and MS kept giving me crashes and other problems, I switched to Google. An afternoon at the opera allowed it to completely index my files.
Now, I am using the product and find it great. At first, I thought that the quality of the screens was very poor. Somehow, I found the option to select traditional Windows XP colors or switch to Vista colors. And that created outstanding visual quality. Everything is black or gray and very crisp.
I think that the new approach to what had been pop down menus has been outstanding and makes use far easier. For Word there is a large ball in the upper left hand corner that contains much of the old File options , but the others have much more functional labels: Home (typography would have been a better label), Insert, Page Layout, References, Mailings, Review, View and Add-Ins. Having large icons to enable the many tasks offered for Word, Excel and PowerPoint is very easy on the eye.
I still find a visually improved, functionally impaired Outlook a bit souring. I have been using NEO, a great utility program for sorting e-mails eight or so different ways and it is not smoothly integrated into Office, as it was before I started all of this.
After three days, I am delighted that I did what I did and if one enjoys exploring, with the risks it entails, this is a fine product so far (and as my writer?s eye looks at the ongoing word count in the lower left corner, I am delighted to have it there.
Could I have lived without this? I started using desktop software (so to speak) in 1967 with GE timesharing. At zero cost, and nerves of steel, this was worth doing. Will I buy licenses for the five active computers in my household? I am sure I will.
I need to add, that sometimes reviews of MS products are so filled with loathing for the company that the reviewers? comments are not exactly accurate.
No matter who put this together, I would say it is a jump in user friendliness, to the state of the art.
The only reason my rating is not higher is the consideration of installation problems.
User Rating: 8/10
The Next Generation of Productivity
Pros: New interface for increased productivity, new file format provides security
Cons: Expensive and Gone are the days of the standard toolbar?
User Rating: 
6/10
Give it a try if you have a disc of it
Pros: New easier clean interface, eye candy such as scroll bar effects,
Cons: Nothing different about it with some minor improvements, not all programs have the ribbon but instead use toolbars, not that I have much criticism but once you use excitement runs out.
The new ribbon is easier to use and saves space and has larger icons and text which I think is way better than toolbars.
The most complicated program for Me is Outlook which took over my normal e-mail client Outlook Express, Too much on my screen and have to look in the tools menu to send and receive new e-amil messages.
The main changes in Office 2007 are Word, powerPoint, Excel and Access the others like Publisher still have the toolbars and have not got much of a makeover.
Ive noticed that Microsoft has added special effects to Office like glowing scroll bars and mouse over effects which is all very nice and the workspace is mostly blue colored.
Ive also noticed that it has been designed mainly for Windows Vista.
My conclusion is: While the effects and eyecandy are nice and simple and clean there is nothing much different in this verison and previous versions most of the changes are the interface and effects with a few minor improvements, my advice if you are happy with Office 2003 or XP which I am even if it doesn't have special effects stick with it until you are FORCED to upgrade.
User Rating: 4/10
New look for newbies & kids not professionals
Pros: Good for newbies or children to use
Cons: Professionals frustrated trying to use this version
User Rating: 
7/10
A good update to the Office Suite, but with some pitfalls.
Pros: Excellent interface, easy-to-use
Cons: Uses different file formats to Office 2003
User Rating: 
10/10
Great product.
Pros: Excellent interface and ease of use.
Cons: Only a beta.
User Rating: 
3/10
Overall Disappointing
Pros: A couple useful new functions
Cons: New Interface
In addition I have found that some macro written for Office 2003 do not work in Office 2007. Also graphs that were created in Office 2003 do not print out correctly in Office 2007. While I realize that this is just a beta version I expect it to be compatible with the previous version.
Overall I see no reasons why to upgrade to Office 2007 and can find numerous reasons not to.
User Rating: 7/10
Better organized
Pros: Everything is more at your fingertips
Cons: Longer learning curve for most
User Rating: 8/10
Office 2007 Beta 2
Pros: Great interface, easy menus, great layout, easy to use
Cons: Not much difference from Project 2003 to Project 2007
I also believe that the new look is fitting for the new VISTA look. Less drop down FILE MENU area.
This program will help non-users, like Vista become users.
I can not wait to see the new version on the MAC. Oh wait...I just ran this on my MAC Mini......"It Just Works!"
User Rating: 
5/10
nice, but there are some bugs
Pros: nice graphics & interface
Cons: using a lot of memory
User Rating: 5/10
Schedule looks like Apple Calendar - in 2002
Pros: Tabbed Menus are a nice idea
Cons: Looks cosmetic. Where's the beef?
Except the tabbed menus, which look like a great idea, it looks like they (once again) tacked on a bunch of only marginally useful bells and whistles.
A zoom slider? Is 63% that much better than 67%? Or than typing 63 in a box? What they're calling integration appears to be duplication of common tasks. And while you can choose from 85 identical bar graphs, did they do anything to make it easier to make minor adjustments in graphic elements? Do I need a "reference" button in Excel AND Word AND Powerpoint? I can click on Explorer in my menu bar just as easily, and it doesn't add overhead. 3 times.
I'd rather have lightweight apps that I can move data through, or a single, truly integrated behemoth. But I still like the tabbed menus - and I'll bet others steal it, which will be a change of pace.
User Rating: 
9/10
Huge improvements in usability
Pros: new user interface, smaller document sizes
Cons: activation wizard doesn't work
User Rating: 8/10
Office Hillclimb
Pros: GUI, Interoperabiility gets better with each version, smooth functionality.
Cons: Bloat. Initial Setup tweaks. Too early to see upgrade gains.
User Rating: 8/10
Interesting
Pros: Eye-candy interface, easy to understand for 1st time users, Excel, Word, Powerpoint very similar to OS X-style buttons/config
Cons: Difficult getting used to if used to older versions of Office, STUPID ACTIVATION NOT WORKING
Word, Excel, and Powerpoint are totally revamped, with completely new interfaces, drop down-type menus, and user easibility feateres. Outlook, on the other hand, looks almost identical to the older versions of Office, with seemingly only a new search button and a calendar/to-do-list shown on the right hand side. Also, it now has the ability to color certain emails according to user preference.
Overall, they all look much more akin to an OS X-type suite, in eye-candy and in Microsoft's attempt to make things more easier for users. I enjoy it, but then again, I love OS X. Before I get flamed for being a Mac fanboy, I love my PC's to death, just use a Powerbook for mobile work.
I think this suite is a step in the right direction for Microsoft, it will just take a little getting used to in order to undertand the new locations/abilities/features of the programs, since I've been used to the older versions of Office for so long.
P.S. The stupid activation does not work, so if you download the Beta, you only have 50 times to use any of the programs. I don't know if Microsoft plans on letting you activate it at any time in the future, but currently, there is no way to activate the product successfully.
User Rating: 3/10
One word: OpenOffice.org
Pros: users are familiar with MS Office
Cons: MS Office is expensive and has a poor security track record
User Rating: 6/10
Just Another Version - Worth an Upgrade?
Pros: New User Interface, Faster Program Load Times,
Cons: Not Worth the Money to Upgrade from 2003, Errors
I'm having difficulty getting it activated. It tries to connect but then says there isn't an Internet connection. Dunno if anyone has any idea what may be the problem with that. Stupid Microsoft wanting to activate a BETA when it's free anyways.
All in all, what I have seen from 2007 isn't worth the money to upgrade from 2003. I know people have been saying this about the XP to Vista upgrade. They need to make it more valuable and more innovative.
Just my two cents...
User Rating: 6/10
won't load e-mail accounts
Pros: potential, looks like a good upgrade from 2003
Cons: can't get outlook to correctly load e-mail accounts
User Rating: 4/10
Useless bells and whistles
Pros: Context sensitive menus might be useful for a beginner.
Cons: Destroys the simplicity of the Office interfaces.
If MS doesn't provide an option to retain or restore the older interfaces, I predict that a lot of businesses will either keep their current version of MSOffice, or will jump ship to OpenOffice or StarOffice.
