There has also been a big question in my mind lately: “Will OpenOffice.org benefit or be hurt because of Microsoft Office 2007 release?”
With all of the hype we have been hearing about the Microsoft Office 2007 Ribbon does everyone really love it? Personally I think it is a great replacement to the toolbars but I don’t think everyone will agree with that. With that said I am having a hard time determining whether the release of Microsoft Office will push users to go to OpenOffice.org in order retain the familiar toolbar format or if it will actually draw people away from OpenOffice.org because of the innovative design.
I’m torn between a definite answer because there are times that I do miss the simple toolbars but the Ribbon does bring a lot of great features to the table. Overall I think Office 2007 will be great for new users who aren’t familiar with Word processors but the average power user would probably prefer to have the toolbars. It is just like how some people rather have the Windows Classic theme instead of the normal Windows XP (Luna) one.
I could also see a lot of companies deciding to make the switch to OpenOffice.org because there has never been a better time. The people who are already familiar with the toolbars in Microsoft Office may actually prefer to switch to something they have seen before rather than something they’ll have to learn all over again.
OpenOffice.org is obviously trying to seize this opportunity by expanding their current set of features to include more templates and clipart. They are doing this by starting a contest that will give people a reason to share those templates/clipart that they have made with the chance to get something in return.
So what do you think would be easier/better for most people…learning Office 2007 or just switching to the free OpenOffice.org?
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Tags: Software
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I think the new ribbon is absolutely great. Yes, it takes up a bit of screen real estate, but that’s what the new smaller ribbon and auto-hide are for. As an experienced user of almost all versions of microsoft office, I can see how it might be hard to make the transition. But the truth is, this new layout is so much more logical. The ability to quickly visually recognize tools and options is very efficient. And I believe this version will be easier for completely new users to use and learn than previous versions. Office 2007 is a welcome update to an ancient beast of a software suite.
I am sure that MS Office will lose a little, but not something important. If in IE versus FF, Microsoft should really be careful, because FF IS superior to IE, this is not the case in OpenOffice versus MS Office. While yes, because of money some people/firms will move to OpenOffice, the phenomen will not be a large one. My opinion.
But I wish that OpenOffice will become some day as good as FF in its field. And I think OpenOffice will have to make a Ribbon for itself. Microsoft is still the one to dictate the trend.
I really don’t think it correct to assume that 2007 will cause users to switch over to OpenOffice.org, simply because I don’t think all users will even switch to 2007.
Even today I know a lot of people using Office 2000 and more than happy with it, simply because they are comfortable with it.
Personally, I may consider the shift to 2007. Have been using the beta and though the interface can get extremely confusing at times, it is well worth learning.
I have realized that it is definitely time saving. After a good deal of usage, it will get much easier to use.
An interesting question. I think you’ll see a few people try alternatives like OpenOffice, it certainly has made improvements since I first tried it over a year ago.
I wouldn’t have considered OpenOffice a year ago but I’ve now got OpenOffice installed on my XP machine and I’ve experienced no issues so far with importing documents created with Office. So far everything has worked seamlessly for me so I intend to stick with OpenOffice.
Having said that I’m sure lots of people with love the new Office 2007 look and I can’t see its user base being eroded that much.
To my mind, MS Office is ALWAYS creating and dictating the new standards for office applications (just because they are monopolists).
OpenOffice.org should add those ribbons to their next major version, but leave standard toolbars as an alternative. (There should be ability to switch between ribbons and toolbars).
OpenOffice.org just HAVE to mimic all MS Office enhancements, to save the status of the MAIN alternative to MS Office.
I don’t think you’ll see OpenOffice adding something similar to the ribbons because I have heard a lot of people giving them a hard time just for making the toolbars so close to Microsoft’s. Sure that is what makes it a good Office alternative but it would leave a bad impression if they can’t come up with their own unique user interface.
I think Open Office need to do something to make their software stand out from M$, and the ribbon in Office 2007 is a good chance to do something different – Open Office should update their UI but keep the old style toolbars, so it will feel nicer but still be easy to use out of habit. I like OpenOffice, but even Office 2003 just feels smoother in the interface.
I can’t think of any redesign that OpenOffice could do that wouldn’t be copying off of Microsoft? Maybe they should add the live preview functionality because that is one of my favorite things in Office 2007.
If Microsoft had their way, OO.org would be shut down just because they dare to release a competing product. That said, I’m all for the freedom to see OO.org exercise constructive creativity in interface design, but I also realize that open source is still the underdog in many cases and certainly in the office suite area. Until OO.org awareness and market share reaches a critical level, anything too different from the MS Office way might scare off new Microsoft refugees. I like the idea of using MS’s “Embrace, Extend, Extinguish” MO against them: As much as is possible to do so without degrading the software quality, make the open source office products familiar enough for Joe Windows to pick up and use so that more people get interested in it. Then, when Microsoft has lost its stranglehold, crank things up and show the already amazed ex-Microsoft users just how good open source software can be!