Microsoft Office 2007 Question

[someone]

I have Microsoft Office 2003 on my home computer but Microsoft Office 2007 on my office computer. I am really not sure everything in the 2007 version is an improvement over the 2003 version but being on the same system as everyone else has advantages. My question involves which version of Office 2007 I should get to upgrade my home computer. I use Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook regularly. I was hoping that I could save about $400 by getting the Home Office and Student version which comes with Word, Excel and PowerPoint 2007 but not Outlook. I am hoping that when I install it, it will simply uninstall the 2003 versions of these Word, Excel and PowerPoint but leave Outlook 2003 so I can continue using it. The new version of Outlook 2003 is not worth an extra $400+ to me as the old one has everything I need. Am I right that the old Outlook 2003 would remain on my computer or would the Home Office and Student version uninstall the entire previous version, including programs not included in it?

Thanks!

 

[WoodPeckr]

All versions 1998, 2001, 2003, 2007, 2009 basically do the same thing with minor tweaks and cosmetic changes to con you into upgrading. Sometimes M$ throws in compatability issuses to help 'force' you to get the new 'latest & greatest' version of the same ole same ole. Use what you like best. The biggest change I saw was with 2009, which looked lots like free Open Office.org version.

 

[kbluejayk]

Before you spend money upgrading Office 2003 on your home computer, you should look into the MS Office Compatibility Pack you can get it from this site;-
www.tinyurl.com/3xr4tt
When the installation file has downloaded just double-click it to install. It is entirely automated and requires no user interaction!
This allows you to open, edit, and save docs, spreadsheets etc in Office 2007's XML format (which adds an 'X' to the end of the common Office file extensions.
If all you are looking to do is work on common docs at work/home in 2007 format, this might be your answer. Just a suggestion...

 

[Tangwhich]

All versions 1998, 2001, 2003, 2007, 2009 basically do the same thing with minor tweaks and cosmetic changes to con you into upgrading. Sometimes M$ throws in compatability issuses to help 'force' you to get the new 'latest & greatest' version of the same ole same ole. Use what you like best. The biggest change I saw was with 2009, which looked lots like free Open Office.org version.

Office 2007 is a dramatic change from previous versions. It removes the menu system and replaced it with something called the ribbon.

 

[WoodPeckr]

Office 2007 is a dramatic change from previous versions. It removes the menu system and replaced it with something called the ribbon.

M$ is always changing things around.
I was perfectly happy with the way Office 1997 worked. A word processor is a word processor, why make silly changes other than to sell a new version that does the same thing....

Because of this I dumped M$ Office and now happily use Open Office.org.

 

[someone]

Everyone, thanks for all the quick responses.

Asn and Woodpecker, thanks for the useful information. I clearly don’t keep up enough with computers as I was not aware that an Office 2009 was coming out. Still, I want to also get a new laptop/netbook computer soon so I can get some work done while commuting (my old laptop too big, heavy and slow) and if I am going to get Office 2007 for it, it might as well get it for my home desktop (they allow you to install it on up to three computers). Otherwise, if I am going to get Office 2009, I should also hold off on the laptop/netbook. I appreciate your letting me know about this option, as I was not aware of it. I will have to think about it.

Kbluejayk, thanks for the information. I do have the compatibility pack and. as I say, I am not sure that much of Office 2007 is really an improvement. I really don’t understand some of the changes. For example, the hot keys for super and subscripts (which I use a lot) no longer work as toggle switches. I have no idea why that would be and find it annoying. However, the new PowerPoint is a big plus for me as I use a lot of mathematical notation in my documents. In Word documents I can put equation boxes in the middle of a sentence if I want to include something like an “r” with a “^” over it and both a super and subscript following it. PowerPoint 2007 also allows me to put equation boxes in the middle of a sentence but PowerPoint 2003 does not as it insists on equation boxes going in the content part of a slide and not the text part. This alone makes the new PowerPoint worth it for me (and there are a few other advantages that I have discovered as well as other negatives).

BTW, I think my basic question is simpler than what people have been reading into it. If I buy a cheap version of Office (whether 2007 or 2009) that does not include Outlook, will it let me keep Outlook 2003 or will it uninstall all of Office 2003 including programs not included in the new version of Outlook that I bought.

 

[carnifex]

Simple answer is yes. Office is a package of several different software packages, so they are independently installed (although it seems like it's one large installation).

BTW, I think my basic question is simpler than what people have been reading into it. If I buy a cheap version of Office (whether 2007 or 2009) that does not include Outlook, will it let me keep Outlook 2003 or will it uninstall all of Office 2003 including programs not included in the new version of Outlook that I bought.

 

[WoodPeckr]

If I buy a cheap version of Office (whether 2007 or 2009) that does not include Outlook, will it let me keep Outlook 2003

I never used Outlook but believe Outlook was changed to something else, Windows Mail, or something like that but I'm not sure. As I hardly use Vista.

If you are in no hurry, wait till Windows 7 comes out in two months, so you don't have to bother with Vista at all.

PS: An old 'slow' laptop may just need a reformat to clean all the crap out that builds up in Windows slowing it down. After a fresh format your old PC will run fast again, just like new.

 

[Horney_Senior]

I never used Outlook but believe Outlook was changed to something else, Windows Mail, or something like that but I'm not sure. As I hardly use Vista.

No! Outllook Express was changed to Windows Mail. Outlook is a different product.

 

[Hobbyer]

carnifex is right, you can run them all at once. I have Excel 2000, 2002 (XP), 2003 and 2007 all running at the same time on the same computer. At one point I used Outlook 2003 but with Office 2007 programs, also at the same time, so this is exactly what you're referring to. Both in XP and now in Vista, it's all good.

All versions of Office are all more or less the same, UNLESS you use them all day everyday you will not appreciate the subtle differences between them. Office 2010, the next big one, coming next year will be awesome, particularly for Excel since it will now be a 64 Bit application. Excel 2007 was a significant upgrade, bringing along a larger spreadsheet size as well as multi-threaded calculations. Being 64bit, Excel 2010 will improve on 2007 with the 2GB application memory address limit removed. But for Outlook, you are right, I can't seriously see how much more they can improve an email program, but I'm not a hardcore Outlook user.

 

[someone]

Thanks very much carnifex and Hobbyer. I will just go ahead and buy the cheaper version of Office without Outlook. In addition, I did a search and I see that Hobbyer is right about the next version not coming out until early 2010 so I don’t think I will wait.

I really appreciate all the information. Every time I buy something tech, I find that whatever I know is out of date. Unfortunately, I am sure that the next time I buy a computer or software, everything that I am learning now will be out of date!

 

[Hobbyer]

Good choice. The marketing segmentation by M$ is done well because generally speaking only hardcore business users (read enterprise users) will make use of the advanced features of Outlook, and therefore pay the premium pricing for ONE additional program in the Standard vs Home & Office suite pricing. Most users could care less about Outlook but really need Word, Excel and PP. M$ sells more Office's this way and help discourage pirating for the average user who would never spend $400+ for an office suite, but may consider paying $100-$150 for a legit office program. Actually, at the right sale, Office Home & Student is as low as $50, for 3 user licenses.

 

[danmand]

Thanks very much carnifex and Hobbyer. I will just go ahead and buy the cheaper version of Office without Outlook. In addition, I did a search and I see that Hobbyer is right about the next version not coming out until early 2010 so I don’t think I will wait.

I really appreciate all the information. Every time I buy something tech, I find that whatever I know is out of date. Unfortunately, I am sure that the next time I buy a computer or software, everything that I am learning now will be out of date!

Take a look at open office. I got a netbook last year that runs open office. It
works for me.

 

[WoodPeckr]

No! Outllook Express was changed to Windows Mail. Outlook is a different product.

Thanks for the clarification. As I said I'm seldom use Vista and am very happy using free Open Office instead.
Only used Windows Mail once to configure settings and setup an account for using newsgroups.

 

[LadiesMan69]

I really appreciate all the information. Every time I buy something tech, I find that whatever I know is out of date. Unfortunately, I am sure that the next time I buy a computer or software, everything that I am learning now will be out of date!

That is why we have to be thankful that although on one side we have lady hobbists, on this side we have tech hobbists that are always wanting the latest and greatest and are here to help fill in the knowledge gap between our purchases.

 

[someone]

Thanks for all the advice. I got the Home Office and Student version and picked the update option to install it. It did replace the old 2003 versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint and kept Outlook 2003. So far, I have only found one problem. Outlook was using Word 2003 as the email editor. I assumed that it would just start using Word 2007. However, that has not happened. It just tells me that it cannot find Word 2003 and uses the Outlook editor. I assume that there must be a simple way of getting it to use Word 2007 as the email editor, but I have not been able to figure it out. Given I have always gotten very helpful responses here, I am hoping someone could help me on this.