I have MS Office 97. Should I upgrade to 2007.

Goldie

Trainer from the Boonies
    • 80
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    16
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    I have Microsoft Office 97 on Windows Whistler. I toke a look at the 2007 version, it looks really complicated with that ribbon interface, and I was wondering if there would be any good reason to upgrade. I have 512 megabytes of RAM.

    Should I upgrade?
     
    I also have 512 MB of RAM, which might make MS07 irritating at times but you'll manage. However, the interface will drive you crazy and take weeks to get used to. If you can, just upgrade to 03.
     
    I would advise, if you do upgrade at all, go to the office 2003 version, it's still a very capable suite and you can get a plug in from Microsoft that allows Word '03 to read and save to the Word '07 DocX file type. however Office 2010 should be coming out within a year or so, I would simply save and get a new computer, which usually allows you to get a discount at most retail stores if you buy a new computer and MS Office at the same time.
     
    My reccomendation is that you upgrade. Of course it may take some getting used to, but it is very excellent overall and you can transition to '10 if it comes out earlier a lot easier than long time users.

    I'm serious, if those guys from "The Office" were real, they would laugh at you epically for owning '97 :O.
     
    I mainly use Office for writing up stuff and sending them to people. I heard that there was an extra security feature in Word 2007, making you type a password before being able to open documents. Office 97 has been good for many years now, the only thing I hate about it is the STUPID paper clip. I think I'm going to look into Office 2003, but I hear that they don't sell that in stores anymore. Going to have to try eBay or something.
     
    You'll probably hate the interface of Word 2007 for the first several weeks (months, years?) of using it. It depends on your preferences and whatnot.

    It'll also likely drag along if you have an older computer. I agree that you should likely only update to Word 2003 (I didn't know they had an addon to allow it to open .docx files, I should probably forward that to my teachers in case I forget to not save in .docx on school assignments). That is, if you update it at all.

    If you only write simple things, just stay with what you have. You can shut off that Paperclip in options and if you really need something password protected, just protect your computer.
     
    Goldie said:
    Office 97 has been good for many years now, the only thing I hate about it is the STUPID paper clip.
    Click to expand...
    You can turn that off:
    Right Click on the assistant and select Options.
    In the options window, uncheck the Use the Office Assistant option. The office assistant will be gone forever.
    Click to expand...
     
    OpenOffice.org is a great modern program with support for Office and ODF documents. Also, it's free and has a great support community; not to mention the interface isn't that ribbon crap.
     
    Don't use OpenOffice...
    End Of :P

    Use Office 03
     
    Game M said:
    Yup, I like that one too :) It's a lot cheaper than that microsoft stuff, takes less memory running and almost just as good
    Click to expand...

    Well, it's free actually.....!!!

    Open Office is a good idea but if u have money to spare then MS Office 2007 would be better (coz it has a got a gr8 interface).....
     
    Yeah microsoft office 07 is a pain to get used to but hey I went from 2000 to 2007. I think its my easy to get used to anything charateristic that helped there but yeah. The ribbon interface is a pain but it is easier to use then you think. If you want go for it otherwise go for 03.
     
    Office 2003 is perfect.

    I never liked 2007, felt far too clunky.
     
    Xelios said:
    Well, it's free actually.....!!!

    Open Office is a good idea but if u have money to spare then MS Office 2007 would be better (coz it has a got a gr8 interface).....
    Click to expand...
    You're one of two people I know that likes the Office 2007 interface. You'll be happy to know that they carried it over into some of Windows 7's components, like Paint and WordPad, though that might change before release.

    Ac1d said:
    Nooo That's what piracy is for :D
    Pirates!!
    [/joke]
    Click to expand...
    Superior.
     Long, though.
     
    to be very honest OpenOffice.org version 3 is pretty much the same as getting MS Office 2003, however the key differences are these:
    • It's free, MS Office will still costs upwards of $150 (depending on where you buy)
    • It currently has more support via it's support forums than MS Office 2003
    • Like MS Office 2003, Openoffice.org version 3 will still run well on older hardware/OS systems.

    As you can see OpenOffice.org can be a very useful suite. the only drawbacks that I've noticed is that you cannot open or create MS Publisher or Access databases.
     
    Gerri Shin said:
    to be very honest OpenOffice.org version 3 is pretty much the same as getting MS Office 2003, however the key differences are these:
    • It's free, MS Office will still costs upwards of $150 (depending on where you buy)
    • It currently has more support via it's support forums than MS Office 2003
    • Like MS Office 2003, Openoffice.org version 3 will still run well on older hardware/OS systems.

    As you can see OpenOffice.org can be a very useful suite. the only drawbacks that I've noticed is that you cannot open or create MS Publisher or Access databases.
    Click to expand...
    As of version 3, it also has support for newer formats, such as .docx and similar MS Office formats. It can also export documents as PDF files.
     
    MS Office 2007 is pretty useful, although the most notable changes are in PowerPoint and Excel. If you don't plan on using these, you may want to stick with 2003 if you prefer the old interface. I am not declaring supremacy of either one, but I prefer the 2007 layout while most others prefer the 2003 layout.
     
    I don't think anything past Office XP is going to work on Windows Whistler... well 97 is good enough for the simple stuff that I do.
     
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