OFFICE '07 CONFUSING COMPATILITY? Here's Why...

[funnybroad]

I was getting so confused and frustrated trying to get my mind wrapped around
how the Office 2007 file formats and features are compatible with previous
Office versions, that I finally bit the bullet and tested it up one side and
down the other. I was relieved to discover that IT WASN'T ME BEING STUPID...
BECAUSE THERE IS A GOOD REASON I was so confused!!!

THE BEHAVIOR OF THE COMPATIBILTY TOOLS (Compatibility Mode, Compatibility
Checker, Feature Refresh, and Compatibility Pack) IS SO DIFFERENT depending
on the Application you're using, that it would be impossible to simply learn
"how to handle compatibility in Office 2007". You have to learn how to
handle compatibility in Word 2007, then re-learn how to handle it in Excel
2007, then re-learn how to handle it in PowerPoint 2007.... even if you're
doing the same exact task, using the same exact features (or no features at
all!)

So, I put this presentation together to help others out there who are trying
to help themselves (and their users) understand it:

http://www.slideshare.net/funnybroad/office-2007-compatibility-mode-confusion

Feel free to re-distribute... but be sure you test the scenarios in your own
environment to be sure you are getting the same results!



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http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...-b865029bd936&dg=microsoft.public.office.misc

 

[shel10]

This is a joke??? Right???
It's probably the reason that so many businesses are refusing to upgrade to
Vista and the Office 2007 suite.
I wonder when MS will raise its help desk service fee from $35 US to $70 US.
They obviously are planing to get out of the software business.

I normally keep my systems updated to the latest versions of MS software.
This time, I'm going to wait until the Office 2007 products have menus (from
MS), and Vista is on service pack 2.

 

[funnybroad]

No... it's not a joke. Try every scenario out yourself... but make sure you
apply all of the updates that I did, and that you have the latest
compatibility pack installed with your previous version of Office, because
there have been other compatibility problems resolved with them.

I'm the PM for my company's Office 2007 deployment to approx. 20,000
workstations. We won't have the luxury of updating that many workstations
overnight in addition to converting all of our documents to the new 2007
format overnight. It will probably take us well over a year to get everyone
upgraded, so therefore, compatibility will be CRITICAL during the transition.


Because it is so critical for us, I set out to understand everything I could
about how compatibility works, but I kept getting frustrated. It seemed
every time I thought I fully understood how it worked, it would behave
differently than how I remembered it working the last time I tried it.

So I thoroughly tested it. It took me a good 2 months. But at the end of
the day, I discovered that there were good reasons why I couldn't seem to
LEARN compatibility in Office 2007.... because IT BEHAVES DIFFERENTLY IN
EVERY APPLICATION... EVEN THOUGH YOU MAY BE PERFORMING THE EXACT SAME COMMON
TASK AND USING THE EXACT SAME COMMON FEATURE.

When Microsoft touts that end-users won't need training on the new
interface... they don't mention the ADDITIONAL training required to
understand COMPATIBILITY, NEW FEATURES, REMOVED FEATURES, NEW FILE FORMATS,
NEW SECURITY PROMPTS, ETC...

So, no. It's not a joke.

 

[shel10]

Have calculated the cost of re-training all of the users in your company? Was
the feature and functionality upgrade of Office 2007 worth all of the lost
productivity?

For the past 15 years, the changes in for the user interface for MS products
was evolutionary.Users could move from an older version to a new version with
very little re-training required for basic functionality. But Office 2007
was a reveolutionary change.

I'd be willing to bet good money that even Microsoft wouldn't spend the kind
of money you will re-training an entire company.

I work with small businesses. When I domonstrate the new MS Office Suite,
they have almost universally rejected making the upgrade. MS is spending a
lot of money trying to convince me that I should spend weeks learning the new
user interfrace in order to sell more product.

So far, the only compatibility I can see between Word 2003 and 2007 is the
fact the Microsoft logo on the box.

 

[funnybroad]

Not yet. I have presented all scenarios to Microsoft via an open case, and
asked them to provide a response as to whether or not they will address each
bug and/or inconsistency with future service packs, updates and/or hotfixes.

Once we get this information, we can better estimate what the Compatibility
training requirements will be.

I do wish they had just picked ONE revolutionary change at a time: the new
file formats or the new interface. Imagine how much less training would be
involved.

I did have one special epiphany during this exercise: Depending on which
file format your company adopts as the "standard", and which new features you
leave enabled in Office 2007, you may ALSO HAVE TO TRAIN YOUR USERS OF
PREVIOUS VERSIONS OF OFFICE on what they need to know to effectively
collaborate on the same files with Office 2007 users.

Right off the top of my head... it would include topics relating to close
coordination with the Office 2007 users who are working on the same file(s):
- "don't touch any SmartArt with your Picture Tools"
- "the diagrams you created in Excel and PowerPoint might be permanently
converted by a 2007 user, thus disabling your ability to use the diagramming
tool to modify them again"
- "If you open an .xlsx file containing certain new features, you will be
forced to save it to a different file, because it will open in read-only mode
to protect it. You will need to coordinate this with the Office 2007 user
working on the same file."
- What it means to save-up to the new formats (because you've got the
compatibility pack installed).
I'm sure that's just scratching the surface, but you get the idea.

 

[shel10]

With the number of licenses you purchased, Microsoft should provide a crew of
several dozen trainers for the next two years to help you deploy the UPGRADE
"?".

 

[funnybroad]

Now THAT is a JOKE!

With the number of licenses you purchased, Microsoft should provide a crew of
several dozen trainers for the next two years to help you deploy the UPGRADE
"?".

 

[shel10]

Yes it is... but if you threatened to return all of their 2007 product, they
just might take the suggestion as serious.

 

[jel]

Your page doesn't exist any more, anyway to get at the info? Thanks!