Comments on: Microsoft Releases Windows Vista, Longhorn and Office 2007 Betas http://www.realtechnews.com/posts/3083 Independent Tech News and Product Reviews from former VP and head of CNET.com and Longtime Computer Shopper Columnist, Alice Hill author of the popular "Hard Edge" column. Originally named AliceandBill.com. Thu, 20 Nov 2008 09:28:05 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.4 by: Ben Zagrodnik http://www.realtechnews.com/posts/3083#comment-31311 Sun, 28 May 2006 21:16:05 +0000 http://www.realtechnews.com/posts/3083#comment-31311 Never trust a marketer to have any sense of history. And never marvel at their lack of shame at not having one. Reading comment #2 above without any knowledge of the campaigns around previous Microsoft releases of their application products, you could be forgiven for thinking that the new release of Office will indeed be a valuable event. In truth, every marketing campaign for each Office release has touted the _exact_ _same_ _thing_. "This version of Office is _so_ much better than previous versions, you cannot get along without it." Anyone who has used any version of the Office suite (or the individual programs before they came bundled as the Office suite) knows this is a patent falsehood. If I forced you to do your word processing with Word 1.0 (dating from 1997), I'd bet you would be nearly as productive as you would be with Word 11 (the current version.) Most of what each new release does is expand upon the capabilities of some peripheral aspect of the product--table formatting, pagination, web-page development. The core remains unchanged. (And let's face it, any competent grade-schooler can develop a basic word processor today.) So zipity, I'm with you--astroturf campaigns or not, don't drink the marketing Kool-Aid and believe that this version of Office (or Vista, or Office Live, or any of the other streams of effluent from Redmond) will be even a modest bit better than what has come before it. Never trust a marketer to have any sense of history. And never marvel at their lack of shame at not having one.

Reading comment #2 above without any knowledge of the campaigns around previous Microsoft releases of their application products, you could be forgiven for thinking that the new release of Office will indeed be a valuable event.

In truth, every marketing campaign for each Office release has touted the _exact_ _same_ _thing_. “This version of Office is _so_ much better than previous versions, you cannot get along without it.”

Anyone who has used any version of the Office suite (or the individual programs before they came bundled as the Office suite) knows this is a patent falsehood.

If I forced you to do your word processing with Word 1.0 (dating from 1997), I’d bet you would be nearly as productive as you would be with Word 11 (the current version.)

Most of what each new release does is expand upon the capabilities of some peripheral aspect of the product–table formatting, pagination, web-page development. The core remains unchanged. (And let’s face it, any competent grade-schooler can develop a basic word processor today.)

So zipity, I’m with you–astroturf campaigns or not, don’t drink the marketing Kool-Aid and believe that this version of Office (or Vista, or Office Live, or any of the other streams of effluent from Redmond) will be even a modest bit better than what has come before it.

]]> by: David Johnston http://www.realtechnews.com/posts/3083#comment-30400 Wed, 24 May 2006 06:01:58 +0000 http://www.realtechnews.com/posts/3083#comment-30400 I just got the Office 2007 beta and it seems pretty neat. It faster than I expected, though still not completely fluid on my 2.52Ghz Athlon 64 box w/ 1GB RAM. It will also take some getting used to, but it is promising. The new tabbed menu system is nice and the live preview of text formatting, etc. is also pretty cool. I just got the Office 2007 beta and it seems pretty neat. It faster than I expected, though still not completely fluid on my 2.52Ghz Athlon 64 box w/ 1GB RAM. It will also take some getting used to, but it is promising. The new tabbed menu system is nice and the live preview of text formatting, etc. is also pretty cool.

]]> by: zipity http://www.realtechnews.com/posts/3083#comment-30017 Wed, 24 May 2006 01:03:16 +0000 http://www.realtechnews.com/posts/3083#comment-30017 Well, #2 smells like astro-turf.... But my opinion is that betas are for people with machines and/or data they don't care about And possibly too much time on their hands. But to each, his own... Well, #2 smells like astro-turf…. But my opinion is that betas are for people with machines and/or data they don’t care about And possibly too much time on their hands. But to each, his own…

]]> by: Dan Zagrodnik http://www.realtechnews.com/posts/3083#comment-29834 Tue, 23 May 2006 19:14:22 +0000 http://www.realtechnews.com/posts/3083#comment-29834 I have the Office Beta and I would encourage others to get it. It is such a great improvement, that I do not know how I could go back to the older version, even to the previous version Office 2003. With Internet Explorer 7, Windows Live Messenger, and Windows Media Player 11 (these three betas are available for XP already from Microsoft) as well as with Vista and the new Office, Microsoft is really bringing some great new products to the table. I have the Office Beta and I would encourage others to get it. It is such a great improvement, that I do not know how I could go back to the older version, even to the previous version Office 2003. With Internet Explorer 7, Windows Live Messenger, and Windows Media Player 11 (these three betas are available for XP already from Microsoft) as well as with Vista and the new Office, Microsoft is really bringing some great new products to the table.

]]> by: David Johnston http://www.realtechnews.com/posts/3083#comment-29827 Tue, 23 May 2006 18:21:38 +0000 http://www.realtechnews.com/posts/3083#comment-29827 If you're not a member of the MSDN or TechNet, you'll still have to wait a few days for the real public release. There's a lot of talk about this beta being the "make it or break it" release so far as making MS's deadlines with a production-quality OS. If you’re not a member of the MSDN or TechNet, you’ll still have to wait a few days for the real public release. There’s a lot of talk about this beta being the “make it or break it” release so far as making MS’s deadlines with a production-quality OS.

]]>