Comments on: Microsoft Adds Office 2010 Technical Preview to Productivity Battle

By: Justin Levy

Justin Levy — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 17:45:18 +0000

I think it’s a really clever marketing campaign for “The Movie” aspect of the promotion. I think the landing page, behind-the-scenes video and whole real movie production feel to it is pretty cool.

While I try to pull myself away from Office a lot, I always keep coming back. Too much of my business and partners work within it especially with Exchange. Also, I find the products very good. To Kevin’s above point to another commenter, I think the problem is that a lot of people don’t know all of the great features contained within Office. 2007 did a good job at highlighting some features that were already previously available.

Looking forward to getting my hands on 2010…

By: lsbeller

lsbeller — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 02:18:45 +0000

I just signed up and noticed that one of the questions they ask is what type of computer you intend to install Office onto. In the past, one of the choices was Tablet PC, however, now that option is not available. The only choices were desktop, laptop, netbook (interesting), and one other choice i don’t remember.

When office 2003 and 2007 came out, there was lots of talk about incorporating ink into the applications, and now not even a mention of tablet pcs in the beta testing.

How far we have come!

Steve

By: Apac

Apac — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 02:11:48 +0000

the way the ribbon dynamically adapts to the window size is brilliant. hopefully 1 day all apps will get rid of static sized icons.

main problem in 2007 is the lack of ribbon consistency, hopefully 2010 will use the ribbon on ALL the apps.

By: Kevin C. Tofel

Kevin C. Tofel — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:18:08 +0000

“I’m still discovering new functionality in 2007, and I’ve been using it since beta.”

That’s an interesting statement, no? Oh, there’s much to like in Office. More than most people realize. But isn’t that a problem… people aren’t aware of many functions? Just food for thought… and I agree with you on the Ribbon interface. I think it’s one of the best changes Microsoft implemented in Office 2007.

By: Ray

Ray — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 23:16:53 +0000

Kevin, I was able to sign up without any problem, but I had already been a member because of onenote and visual studio express 2008. I’m on the list, should hear back mid-july. I screwed up when I answered the survey, though: I said I’d be putting it on a 32bit machine only, because I’m sitting at the tx4200 that I’ve been using for 3 years…but tomorrow I’m getting a brand-new(ish) Tx2Z with a 64-bit dual core. *sigh* Some days I’m so dumb. D’you think by mid july they’ll twig to the possibility that people might upgrade iron?

By: Toby

Toby — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 21:19:36 +0000

Thanks for the link Kevin. It still requires you to sign up to be invited. I’m now waiting for a reply from them!

By: GoodThings2Life

GoodThings2Life — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 20:05:55 +0000

One more thought… I think too many people overlook the productivity gains of Office 2007/2010’s ribbon interface. Microsoft spent years of usability testing before they settled on the Ribbon idea, and despite the initial shell-shock people have, many people really are more productive with it once they stop complaining about the change and start using it.

I’m still discovering new functionality in 2007, and I’ve been using it since beta.

By: GoodThings2Life

GoodThings2Life — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 19:46:30 +0000

I *live* in OneNote and Outlook, and I literally couldn’t survive without them, because there are no viable alternatives. I’ve tried Evernote but it just wasn’t as fluid of an experience for me, and Outlook has no competition at all for use with an Exchange server.

I’m anxiously awaiting the opportunity to use Office 2010 with Windows 7!

By: Apac

Apac — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 18:16:10 +0000

1 of the things i hate most (& usually leave for the end) is when reinstalling an OS having to configure Office settings. i mean GEEEZ, have you seen how many options there are lately? i understand its a very robust/rich app , butthe wonderful thing is MS doesnt even offer a settings export option!

i really dont see how it is going to get any better though, the way devs sale new versions is by adding new features, which means more bloat & settings.

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 16:20:11 +0000

If it wasn’t for OneNote (which MS needs to do a much better job advertising, I know a ton of people who would love something like it), then I wouldn’t be using Office all that much right now either.

I’ve been using the Technical Preview myself for a few weeks, and haven’t really noticed any non-GUI / non-Sharepoint related changes though.