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Show Office 2007 Who's the Boss

jcatcw writes "Microsoft knows how you like your Office Suite. You like Ribbons ... they're a given, right? Well, if not, Computerworld reviews some third-party packages that allow you to customize the software's interface. Classic Menu gives you an Office-2003-like set of menus. It'll help you navigate old menu structures to find favorite commands, but don't expect to use all the familiar keyboard shortcuts. ToolbarToggle lets you customize the menus. However, Classic Menu has two advantages over ToolbarToggle: It's available for PowerPoint today, and it includes Office 2007 commands on its menus, a modification you can't make to ToolbarToggle menus. RibbonCustomizer works within the Ribbon's own constraints to let you change the display of icons and commands on existing tabs or any new ones you create."

8 of 267 comments (clear)

  1. at the risk of being modded by DaMattster · · Score: -1, Troll

    I am going to say it. I have already shown Microsoft Office who is boss. I am the boss and I have decided to go with Open Office, save some money, and still be reasonably compatible with M$.

  2. A better way to show ms office who's boss by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    People need to make documents available in open office format and to point out that the application to read them is a free download, called OpenOffice.org.

    A similar ploy worked for pdf.

  3. Fork? by MadnessASAP · · Score: -1, Troll

    Never heard of Office 2007 is it a fork of OpenOffice or something?

    --
    I may agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to face the consequences of saying it.
  4. Re:Man, just get used to it MOD PARENT UP! by dilute · · Score: 0, Troll

    You bet. As a Word user since 1986, who knows the program pretty well, I must agree that the ribbon is a jumbled mess with important stuff deeply hidden. It was a big disappointment. It took me quite a while to find even the undo command. Inserting a footnote now requires a whole series of mouse clicks as far as I can tell. Go try something relatively obscure like turning on line numbering in a document and changing the style of the line numbers. It took me 10 minutes to figure out how to get to that style - it used to be in the default style drop-down. But I still choose to use Office 2007 despite all these frustrations - maybe it's loyalty, maybe it's more interesting. Damned, though, if I can see any really new major features that make it worthwhile. On the other hand, when this stuff gets rolled out to secretaries who have been using Word for years, there will be hell to pay. People get pretty set in their ways.

    This is (another) major opportunity for competitors to make inroads. Jeez, OpenOffice is (a lot) less of a leap from Word 2003 than this stuff.

  5. Re:Why can't things be simple? by Lehk228 · · Score: 0, Troll

    we're talking about software for real computers, not toys.

    --
    Snowden and Manning are heroes.
  6. Re:in which a 20-year Word vet learns about ctrl-z by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Dude, put down the MSDN marketing brochures and get Bill Gates' dick out of your mouth. Office 2007 FUCKING SUCKS and nobody likes it--ribbons are a jumbled mess of unintuitive icons with odd placements (Spellcheck under the Message tab? Huh?). Accept it and move on.

    Next.

  7. Re:Man, just get used to it by that+this+is+not+und · · Score: 0, Troll

    If I have to take my hands away from the keyboard and touch the mouse to do basic formatting, it is unacceptable. The drop-down menus are fully navigable by keyboard. I do not and will not reach over to the mouse to fricking center text. I will not give up alt-f-s to save a document frequently while editing it.

    I and many other people do not WANT a lot of banal eye candy visually blaring out at us while we write.

    It's okay, though. If forced to use it at work, I will remember that it's just part of the shitty aspects of working. Microsoft has become as mediocre as the stapler that begins jamming after six months of ordinary use and has to be replaced. As banal and tedious to deal with as an old swivel chair that no longer adjusts. What a pitiful mediocre company they've become.

  8. Re:in which a 20-year Word vet learns about ctrl-z by heffrey · · Score: -1, Troll

    vi? emacs? why don't you just go back to punch cards, it was all so much easier and more productive then.....