My Dad, who is in his early 70's, is taking a course
on basic computer use, which covers Windows XP and the previous
version of office.
The latest version of office is loaded upon his home computer,however
and he can't find any of the functions he needs to do his word
processing, and that's nothing more basic than cutting, pasting, and saving. He
finds that it is hard to figure out how to get things done.
I've used MS products on different platforms since DOS and
before Windows 95. I find it confusing and I can't locate the
functions and features I need to get work done.
I'm thrilled that there aren't 8 toolbars with 200 tiny icons
that are too small and too numerous to pick out functions, but
the groupings of the functions on the new interface are like they
were slapped together without thinking about how they are used
to get work done.
I could see people having trouble going from a non gui to a gui,
like the original WordPerfect to the graphical versions of word
processors. Here, however the graphical interface is already in place.
There's nothing about the changes that makes it more usable or
improves functionality and accomplishes the task quicker or better.
If you give it to grade school kids and force them to use it for
the next ten years they may figure it out, but that would be
because that's what they were told to use, not because it is more
intuitive.
Just because it's not the old interface doesn't make it a
better interface, it's just not the old interface.
I don't know what the public thinks.
I don't know what new users think.
I find it needlessly painful and difficult to use.
I think it's a disservice to make a product
less useful and charge money for it.
But, that's just our experience in our household.
> Date: Wed, 25 Mar 2009 19:16:37 -0400
> From: Chris Dunford <ch...@covesoftware.com>
> Subject: Re: Change isn't always good
>
> OK, so what you have is from your own experience only, and
> exclusively with
> people who used older versions. You don't have any data
> to back up your
> claim that "the public" thinks Office 2007 is
> confusing, bloated, and slow,
> which is what I wanted to know.
>
> One other point is that, from what you said, you have
> little or no
> experience with what new users, starting fresh with 2007,
> think. It's
> possible that the ribbon interface is far more intuitive
> and easier to use
> for them--your experience doesn't appear to provide
> that perspective.
>
> > don't demand that everyone else just doesn't
> know what they
> > like... or what works best for them.
>
> Looked over my messages, did not find any demand like that.
>
>
>
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