Office 2007: Getting It Before It Gets You

Greetings, all.

As you may know, a new version of Microsoft Office (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, etc.) was released last year, along with the new Windows Vista operating system, and both are now available free from BSU. While you don't need to upgrade to Windows Vista yet (and there are good reasons to wait), it would be a very good idea to go ahead and upgrade to Office 2007, which runs just fine in good ol' Windows XP. There are three major reasons to make the switch. (1) Freshman arriving with new PCs will be using Office 07. (2) The labs all over campus (including our e-classrooms) will gradually be making the switch this year. (3) The new file format for Office '07, which ultimately is a big improvement, in the short term is going to make trouble for those of us still using Word 2003 which, as is, will not read Word 2007 files.

To (I hope!) help you decide how to manage the looming menace of Office 2007, I've put together a little page full of download links and help links, here. Take a look at the page, which covers upgrading and makes suggestions about handling files, whether you're working on a PC or a Mac. (There's even a special Mac section.)

My recommendation is that you upgrade to Office 2007 now, so that you'll have time to get comfortable with it before school starts. You can postpone, if you'd like, but sooner or later Mr. Gates *will* suck you into the new interface. That's the kind of power he has.

If you'd like to get a "sample" of the new programs before you take the leap, Chris Elliott has helped us out by installing Office 2007 on the workroom PC nearest the laser printer.

Let me know if you run into trouble or have further questions.

Fred Johnson

PS: I've been playing with especially Word 2007 for a couple of weeks, and I really do like the changes, for what it's worth. The interface is a little foreign at first, but once I found the options I use most often, everything did work a bit more smoothly than it did in the old interface.

PPS: The link for that help page, again:

http://www.google.com/notebook/public/00598166139742801604/BDSaYIgoQ06ejjLsi