Excel on a Mac?

[arkusM]

Re: Excel on a Mac? -Hijacked!!

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I suspect if I had never used Excel before, I might actually like the Ribbon, it does expose a lot of functionality...

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So, what you are saying is that if they built this product like 15-20 years ago it would be great when *everybody* was a new user. <o></o>
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It will be interesting to see once a new use gets used to the product and then advances to levels of knowledge and experience that are common in this forum if they will find it difficult or not. If they will care or know the difference.... I did not read the blog Nate but I am sure there is a lot of psychology and stuff involved here... <o></o>
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It seems MS would have been better served if the user had the ability to remove the training-wheels (ie Ribbon) at will. LOL.<o></o>
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Personally, at this point I don’t care… or to use the newly minted word in the dictionary… Meh. <o></o>
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<o>EDIT: I guess the ribbon also reduces everyone to a "new" user status..</o>

 

[sous2817]

For what it's worth, there are commercial add-ons out there that will add the 2003 interface to 2007. The one that I have was reasonably priced and been a true lifesaver! I'm sure I could take the time to learn the new pictures, but I'd rather see my tried-and-true menu selections.

If anyone is interested, this is the one that I use (but I'm sure there are others) http://www.addintools.com/english/menuoffice/

 

[NateO]

I have a simpler solution: Excel XP and 2007 on a single box!

 

[arkusM]

I have a simpler solution: Excel XP and 2007 on a single box!

Is XP much different than 2003? I am on 2003, but I think in the new year my co. is upping things to XP. I gues I will have to rebuild my pimp'd out look and feel!

 

[sous2817]

Yeah, I have the same thing NateO. My office is in the process of moving from 2002 to 2007 so I need access to both to squash any unintended features that crop up.

I was surprised at how many people want to pile on conditional formatting to a cell...it looks like a rainbow puked on a spread sheet! Of course it's my fault that a person using 2002 can't either do the same thing, or see what the person did in 2007. Obviously it's my SUMPRODUCT formula that's causing the problems...

 

[NateO]

XP is 2002, so it's actually older. I could throw 2003 on there as well, but there's not much difference between 2003/XP, so why bother? XP works for me. I had to throw Office 2007 on my box to catch up with the real world, everyone sends me files in these new-fangled '07 formats! And, Excel 2007 could actually resolve a Mac-Excel file that someone sent me, it was causing Excel XP absolute fits, Pivot Tables destroyed, functions not working, etc... XP and 2007 play nicely with one another on the same box.

I have '97, too, but that's 11 years old, so I don't bother using it. And '97, per my tests, doesn't run quite like '97 normally would when you stack it on the same box as newer builds. I.e., I could never get back to how the Address Of Operator would normally work with a stand-alone version of Office '97.

 

[Smitty]

I suspect if I had never used Excel before, I might actually like the Ribbon, it does expose a lot of functionality that in previous versions I went looking for/researching. It's not perfect, but I'm trying to be patient with it before I throw it under the bus.

I think I'm right with you there Nate. I'm not fond at all of the Ribbon UI, but I still haven't gotten used to it. As for a new generations of users who are so graphically and mouse oriented I think it'll be a different story.

 

[arkusM]

XP is 2002, so it's actually older. I could throw 2003 on there as well, but there's not much difference between 2003/XP, so why bother?

I have '97, too, but that's 11 years old, so I don't bother using it. And '97, per my tests doesn't run quite like '97 normally would when you stack it on the same box as newer builds. I.e., I could never get back to how the Address Of Operator would normally works with a stand-alone version of Office '97.

We are running Win 2000 and Office 03, Since we are migrating to XP I assumed office would too, but if it is older it would be unlikely....
I am obviously not up on my office/Windows version!! I defer to my original comment in this thread about being a Mac guy....

Thanks for the clarification..

 

[arkusM]

Has anyone used a Bloomberg Terminal before? Those graphic mouse users are humped with that program. It is the closest thing to DOS that I have used in a while... powerfull but so deep I nearly drown everytime I use it!! LOL.

 

[NateO]

Try Unix!

I'm not an OS guru at all, but moving from Win 2000 to Wind XP (2002) is a nice upgrade, XP's much better at figuring out devices for you and is more stable in my opinion.

But, right. If you're on Office 2003, you won't be switching to Office XP, as you're already upgraded. I find the two to be pretty similar in terms of GUI/functionality/limitations, etc... Between these two, it's more of a matter of when you purchased/upgraded one or the other.