Hi Grammatim,
As far as documents looking alike (consistency of presentation?) with most things, some folks see the Office 2007 changes and
expansion of AutoText into Buiding Block galleries, as a means for making reusable content more easily identifiable and accessible,
others see it as a change they didn't ask for, I suppose
but as with other Word features they can be avoided and the galleries
can be depopulated of their examples. Each version of Word has included samples that can be used and modified (fortunately Microsoft
has left the 'Blue Skies and 'Adventure' themed ones from earlier versions behind for this decade g).
The ability to setup custom packets of styles, headers and footers with logos and specific formatting can be helpful in company
environments where standardization to a corporate 'look' is wanted, as well as 'boilerplate'/approved wording of certain letters and
forms to allow, if nothing else, replicate using preprinted letterhead/form letters in the printer from inside of Word g.
For folks in schools, or in the scientific community, who need to meet specific formatting and layout needs, the galleries can also
come in handy, letting folks focus more on content than on how to match a layout.
The access to templates in Office Button=Open is one I've seen as appreciated by the casual user of Word from home for
letter/email/calendar flyer, etc creation. For those folks, the allure of an improved 'compare documents' feature could be on their
'why bother changing that' list g. It's not an easy task to 'please millions' of folks with differing opinions of what they'd want
to see change'.
FWIW, Bill Gates is in his retiring this summer. Perhaps one day folks will be saying 'Bill Gates wouldn't have done that when he
was in charge' as the next versions of Office come out, or 'I wonder what Bill would think of this' g.
=================
"grammatim" wrote in message ...
Nothing listed by Aeneas strikes me as desirable -- especially what
they seem to be promoting especially heavily: the imposition of pre-
provided designs instead of the creativity of individual designers
(or, call it advertising departments). Evidently Mr. Gates wants all
documents ever produced henceforth to look alike.
The one useful feature of Word2007 that's been mentioned here is the
clearer method of comparing versions of documents.
--
Bob Buckland ?:-)
MS Office System Products MVP
*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*