Ok and thanks for reasoned reply Beth. But I am basing this general feeling
on other MS products too. In particular Visual Basic 6 which was a brilliant
product attracting millions of developers, now abandoned by MS (leaving them
all high and dry). Nearly all compatibility links have been broken. Might I
respectfully suggest that as co-author of that book, at the same time as you
are knowledgeable you are not entirely without a natural affinity for the
new product and the MS philosophy!
"Beth Melton" wrote in message
...
Umm... you can't just throw out some speculation out and expect everyone
to take it at face value. Where's your supporting evidence of this? Here's
Microsoft's Support Lifecycle Index, you can see for yourself the plan
Microsoft has for supporting previous versions of Office and how long they
will continue to support them. (I don't think Office 2007 is in there
yet):
http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifeselectindex
As for support of older versions on a new OS, I know for a fact there is
careful consideration of older versions of applications on new operating
systems. I haven't tested this for Windows Vista but on Windows XP I had
Word 2.0 - Word 2003 installed and they all ran fine with the exception of
minor conflicts with shared files since they were all installed
side-by-side. I would expect similar results on Windows Vista. Like
Windows XP, it has Compatibility Mode for older applications. Here's a
non-MS reference for you:
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windo...tibility-mode/
As for Office document compatibility, I'm very impressed with how
documents created in the Word 97-2003 file format are handled in Word
2007. Compatibility was a primary focus of the Word dev team and I think
they did a great job - at least from what I could ascertain from my
rigorous testing - they promised full compatibility and I was determined
to hold them to their word. ;-) They actually went beyond what I expected.
The Compatibility Checker can be ran any time and it will tell you exactly
what will happen to features that aren't supported in earlier versions.
And it can be set to run automatically when saving in an older file type
so you don't accidentally overlook running it.
Many of the documents I work with are those that were created using
previous versions of Word, some from Word 6, which are shared with others
using older versions of Word. They don't encounter any problems and I
don't encounter any problems.
Not to mention the old interface has been around since 1989, that's 18
years of the same UI. There are very valid reasons behind the change to
the UI - they didn't do it to just to "mix things up". Take these numbers
for starters:
Word 1.0: Around 49 menu commands, 2 toolbars
Word 2.0: Around 80 menu commands, 2 toolbars
Word 6.0: Around 120 menu commands, 8 toolbars
Word 95: Around 125 menu commands, 9 toolbars
Word 97: Around 210 menu commands, 18 toolbars
Word 2000: Around 249 menu commands, 23 toolbars
Word 2002: Around 260 menu commands, 30 toolbars, 8 task panes
Word 2003: Around 275 menu commands, 31 toolbars, 19 task panes
In a short time the number of commands and toolbars doubled. Added
functionality means more menus and toolbars. Where were they going to put
all of it? More menus? More toolbars? More task panes? More clutter?
Something had to change. The original UI was created for the days of
1989 - a LOT has changed since then. Plus Microsoft has invested numerous
years on Office 2007.
If you're interested in seeing more, here's a good PowerPoint presentation
that Jensen Harris put together, and where I obtained the numbers. They
may be a little off since I just now jotted them down for this post so if
you want more accuracy you can take a look for yourself:
"OFF201 ''Office 12'': Introduction to the Programmable Customization
Model for the "Office 12" User Experience (Part 1)"
http://blogs.msdn.com/erikaehrli/arc...pdcslides.aspx
It's too bad you don't get the dialog with the presentation - a bit of the
rationale is lost without it. But in the various screen shots of the Word
window, you'll see some of Microsoft's failed attempts to make the
numerous commands more compact and later how many user's Word screens end
up looking after using it for awhile. (I've witnessed similar examples in
various office environments.) Also note the screen shots aren't from the
RTM version so some things, such as the appearance and terminology, have
changed slightly.
Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP
Co-author of Word 2007 Inside Out:
http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/boo...x#AboutTheBook
Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/
"Aalaan" wrote in message
...
Yes, but on present showing, no sooner has this been done than MS will
introduce another completely different and non-compatible version and
cease support of Word 2007, so that everyone will have to relearn and buy
the new product again! Oh, and BTW a new operating system that will not
allow any of the old versions to work...