Excel/Office 2007 - Who uses it?

[lenze]

Until recently, I had no experience with 2007. But the pubic library announced they had upgraded some of their public computers to 2007, so I took a look. It seemed the more I looked for features, the more frustrated I became. It seems to me, it is way overkill. Yes, the increase in some limits may have an appeal, but not really. I, personally have only seen 1 spreadsheet with 256 columns and never 1 with 1,000,000 rows. That's why the state also runs Oracle. As for as extra nested IF's and extra CF's, I wouldn't bother. (That's why I learned VBA). I would guess that 2007 would have a significant impact on less than 5% of users.

lenze

 

[Smitty]

As for as extra nested IF's and extra CF's, I wouldn't bother.

I actually used CF on a 2007 report last week and it's a freaking pain in the ***. I can understand the individualized components of it, but it seems to create far too many conditions than is useful, especially from a maintenance/continuity aspect.

Like with support for so many IF's I think it's meant to appeal to a broader user base than a competent one (who took the time to learn VBA).

 

[Richard Schollar]

...meant to appeal to a broader user base rather than a competent one ....

2007's epitaph?

 

[xld]

2007's epitaph?

... or competent users epitaph.

BTW, what you feel about O14 is what we thought about O12 when we were first introduced to it. The sheen has disappeared rapidly. I don't like the ribbon, but I could grudgingly accept that if there were an equal impetus to fixing the things that were wrong, and improving areas that are in dire need of an uplift as well; but all I see is more emphasis on the superficial glitz.

 

[xld]

I actually used CF on a 2007 report last week and it's a freaking pain in the ***. I can understand the individualized components of it, but it seems to create far too many conditions than is useful, especially from a maintenance/continuity aspect.

Agreed, that dialog is also an interface disaster. Where did they dig that up from?

Like with support for so many IF's I think it's meant to appeal to a broader user base than a competent one (who took the time to learn VBA).

You never needed VBA to overcome the 7 nested function limit, just use functions more smartly.

 

[Oorang]

I used to hate the Ribbon, then it dawned on me I could write a wrapper

 

[Oorang]

I would guess that 2007 would have a significant impact on less than 5% of users.

I think I respectfully disagree. I really do think 2007 eases the barrier to entry for new users. I don't think that it will help the really experienced users too much (in fact it slows them down quite a bit at first), but the thing about experts is... They'll figure it out anyway Wheras people who might have thrown their hands in the air previously... might not. I wouldn't discount the importance of smoothing out a learning curve when it comes to sales

 

[Donai]

I am not too fond of 2007 because the big banks will never take this on since it will cost money to train staff with new features.

 

[Oorang]

Well I hate to play the cynic after trying to be positive. But if the handling of VB6 was any indicator, Microsoft will realize their new product isn't being adopted because of their old product, end support for the old one, and force you to make the change. So you might as well learn it now, while you still have a choice.

 

[xenou]

I'm voting "no the ribbon sucks" -- what can I say -- I'm one of those power users who had no trouble getting what I needed quickly in Excel 2003. If I get to the point where I'm using 2007 every day, I guess I'll probably start customizing the heck out of the ribbon ... so probably its no better or worse at the end of the day. The extra choices in the dialog boxes are a bit confusing to me (and I even know what they are *supposed* to be doing). It seems the complexity of the extra options make some things more difficult even if they are supposed to be more accessible. I do like the extra (standard) colors. I think the print preview is a bit strange with the headers and footers showing - or seeing part of a second page creeping in from the right. Unpleasant. Having formatting change in "real time" is cool. Still don't get Tables/Lists. I wish MS had put more time into pivot tables, or upgrading MSQuery - those are some great tools that can really be better or more user-friendly. VBA - c'mon MS stay with me! I don't want to have to buy Visual Studio so I can program Excel. Wish I knew where that was going. Maybe VSTO will be available in a version for those who want to program office applications...? It's an expensive program as it is... And overall, I'm betting I'll like Office 2008 (?) better....Maybe I can even wait it out (like skipping Vista).

Alex.

EDIT:

Well I hate to play the cynic after trying to be positive.

Hmmm...I don't see any cynicism here ... er ... isn't that just what's going to happen?