Developing for Word 2003 & 2007 - what is the current marketshare?

[Peter]

I am currently developing an addin which can be used under 2003 and 2007.

Does anyone have any information on the relative market of 2003 vs 2007?
Where might I find this information. The specific market I am interested in
is higher education and secondary education. Currently it works EXACTLY the
same under both 2003 and 2007 and I am trying to work out how long I need to
support 2003.

For those who are intersted below are the main things I have done to exist
in the 2003 and 2007 universes:
* use userforms for the interface rather than toolbars or ribbon

* stay away from features that exist in only in 2003 or 2007

* different instructions for each vervision
If Val(Application.version) >= 12 Then
Prompt = "going to the 'Add-Ins' ribbon and clicking 'Show eMarking
Assistant toolbar'"
Else
Prompt = Prompt & "using the 'View menu' > 'Toolbars' > 'Show
eMarking Assistant toolbar'"
End If

* if I need to use a 2007 only feature then testing the version and calling
it using CALLBYNAME so the application does not break in 2003 (even though
the statement is not run e,g,
If Val(Application.version) >= 12 Then
CallByName Options, "ContextualSpeller", VbLet, True
End If

*distributing it in a .doc file

The application avaiable at http://emarking-assistant.baker-evans.com

PeterEvans

 

[Graham Mayor]

FWIW, as my add-ins tend to make use of the ribbon/toolbars, I offer
separate versions for Word 2003 and 2007.
Most of the support I provide is requested for the 2007 versions. Whether
this means my 2007 programming is weaker or more users have Word 2007 I am
unable to say

--
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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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[Jonathan West]

I am currently developing an addin which can be used under 2003 and 2007.

Does anyone have any information on the relative market of 2003 vs 2007?
Where might I find this information. The specific market I am interested
in
is higher education and secondary education. Currently it works EXACTLY
the
same under both 2003 and 2007 and I am trying to work out how long I need
to
support 2003.

Quite a long time yet I suspect. I'm a commercial developer of custom
templates and addins for Office, and I still get customers on Office 2000.

I suspect that Office 2003 will hang around for a long time, because of the
change in file formats and user interface involved in moving to Office 2007.
I confidently expect still to have Office 2003 customers in 5 years, and
perhaps a few of them will not have upgraded even in 10 years from now.

It is only in the last 12 months that I have been seeing significant takeup
of Office 2007 among business customers, to the point where perhaps a
quarter of my work (up from near zero this time last year) is in Office
2007.

Your mileage may vary of course. Education may move a bit faster because
Microsoft offers cheap versions of Office to educational institutions.