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Office 2003 to 2010? Reasons to upgrade?


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Hey guys, I still use Office 2003 because it's fast and light. I decided to avoid Office 2007, but I'm thinking Office 2010 might be something to use.

What would be some of the features/reasons for someone to use Office 2010 over Office 2003? I'm genuinely interested!

Thanks!

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Office 2010 is nice, but there's really no reason to upgrade if 2003 is working for you.

Some info from Wiki:

According to an article published in InfoWorld in April 2006, Office 2010 will be more "role-based" than previous versions.[5] The article cites Simon Witts, corporate vice president for Microsoft's Enterprise and Partner Group, as claiming that there would be features tailored to employees in "roles such as research and development professionals, sales persons, and human resources." Borrowing from ideas termed "Web 2.0" when implemented on the Internet, it is likely that Microsoft will incorporate features of SharePoint Server in Office 2010.[32]

Microsoft indicated that Microsoft Office 2010 will include updated support for the ISO/IEC compliant version of Office Open XML (OOXML), which was standardized as ISO/IEC 29500:2008 in March 2008.[3] In its pre-release (beta) form, however, Office 2010 does not support the approved Strict variant of the ISO/IEC compliant version of OOXML, but it does support the Transitional variant.[33][34] The intent of the ISO/IEC is to allow the removal of the Transitional variant from the ISO/IEC compliant version of the OOXML standard.[34]

Microsoft Office 2010 will also support the ISO/IEC compliant version of OpenDocument Format (ODF) v1.1, which was standardized as ISO/IEC 26300:2006 in May 2006.[3]

New features are also said to include a built-in screen capture tool, a background removal tool, a protected document mode, new SmartArt templates and author permissions. The 2007 "Office Button" will be replaced with a menu button that leads to a full-window file menu, known as Backstage View, giving easy access to task-centered functions such as printing and sharing. A refined Ribbon interface will be present in all Office applications, including Office Outlook, Visio, OneNote, Project and Publisher. Office applications will also have functional jumplists in Windows 7, which would allow easy access to recent items and tasks relevant to the application.[4][35][36] Confirmed features of Office 2010 include:

  • Refined Ribbon interface and Backstage View across all applications
  • Background Removal Tool
  • Letter Styling
  • The Word 2007 Equation editor will become common to all applications, replacing MS Equation 3.0
  • New SmartArt templates
  • New text and image editing effects
  • Screen Capturing and Clipping tools
  • Live collaboration functions
  • Jumplists in Windows 7
  • New animations in Powerpoint 2010

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2007/2010 has a much better interface.

Subjective, at best.

Everything isn't cluttered and hidden behind a million menus and windows.

It depends on what someone is used to. I can use Word 2003 (for example) and never touch the mouse and do it with less keystrokes than is required in 2007/2010.

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Subjective, at best.

It depends on what someone is used to. I can use Word 2003 (for example) and never touch the mouse and do it with less keystrokes than is required in 2007/2010.

I used to work at the local IT center for my university. We installed 2007. After installing 2007, we received less requests for help with Office than when we had 2003. Many people also commented on how much they liked it and if they could get copies because they hated using 2003 at home.

You know every shortcut key to everything. Congratulations. For the rest of the people, it's quite a significant improvement.

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2007/2010 has a much better interface. Everything isn't cluttered and hidden behind a million menus and windows.

I can find everything just fine in 2003. the 2007 takes some getting used to and everything isn't in logical places others are duplicated among menu items (page break if I remember right is in two locations).

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I used to work at the local IT center for my university. We installed 2007. After installing 2007, we received less requests for help with Office than when we had 2003. Many people also commented on how much they liked it and if they could get copies because they hated using 2003 at home.

You know every shortcut key to everything. Congratulations. For the rest of the people, it's quite a significant improvement.

Yes, for some it will be an improvement. For others that have been using Office since before Windows (there's lots), the Ribbon and subsequent removal of decades old shortcuts, does not make an improvement.

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It is 100% user preference, if 2003 does everything you want it to, and you cant get used to 2007/10 then no reason to upgrade, if you are like me however, even if it takes me 6 months to grasp the new layout and features of something, I will still upgrade, after all, there is a reason they update things

I think the learning time is well worth the cookies at the end

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I agree with what most have said here. If you're fine with 2003, for now stick to it for now. But you better get used to the new UI somehow, maybe by talking to friends who are already using it. Office 2003 is OK for now, but in a few years it'll become too old and you'll have to upgrade, so make sure you slowly get used to it.

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As far as the new UI goes, you are probably going to have to learn it eventually, unless you plan on sticking to 2003 forever. Microsoft has shown that the ribbon is the direction they are going for everything, so you might as well start learning it now.

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What features are lacking in 2003 that you need in 2010. Why are you upgrading? Unless you can come up with viable reasons, I would stick with 2003.

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If you use Outlook then you need to upgrade to 2007/2010 because they are just so much better. Outlook 2003 is just far too slow to be useful, especially when searching a large inbox. I was also pleasantly surprised to see that with 2010 Outlook will finally save your password when connected to a remote Exchange server.

If you use Excel for large datasets then you also have a good reason to upgrade from 2003. The newer versions can handle 1 million rows whereas 2003 is still stuck with 65,000 rows.

I'd dispute your "fast and light" claim regarding 2003. I personally think it's much slower and more bloated than 2007/2010. The startup times for the later versions of Office are much better than 2003 and, regardless of what naysayers claim, the Ribbon really is a huge improvement once you're familiar with it. I've seen users in their fifties instantly fall in love with Office 2007 after an hours training once they understand how the Ribbon works.

You're honestly doing yourself a massive disservice if you frequently rely on Office and don't bother upgrading.

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Outlook 2010 is definitely kick ass and worth it alone in my opinion. However if what you have does what you need then I'd stick with it if you are happy with it. It comes down to personal preference.

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Yes, for some it will be an improvement. For others that have been using Office since before Windows (there's lots), the Ribbon and subsequent removal of decades old shortcuts, does not make an improvement.

Ribbon does not remove old shortcuts, most of them, if not all, work fine.

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I want to thank everyone for their comments.

I mostly use Microsoft Word, but I sometimes need to use PowerPoint. I have a feeling that there might be better looking templates/creation tools in both the new Word and new Powerpoint.

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if 2003 is working fine for you and it meets all your requirements then don't change as some things in 2007/2010 are different and 2003 can be installed on 7 32/64 and you can apply the ms compatability updates so 2003 can work with the newer formats, the only possible reason to upgrade is if you like the ribbon interface but of course if you want to see then test it in a vm and see what you think before deciding,personaly i would stick to 2003.

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From my experience of using Office 2003 at University at Office 2007 at home for a year I found that tasks that would normally take 7-8+ clicks in Office 2003 can be done in 1 or 2 clicks in Office 2007.

Ive used every Office version since Office 95 and don't think I have ever appreciated a newer version of Office more than 2007, so I can only imagine going from 2003 to 2010 will be a great experience.

I love the ribbon interface, some people for what ever reason hate it. I honestly think you will get used to it in no time, everything is exactly where you would expect to find it :)

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While I have been running Office 2010 and find it nice, Office 95 still exceeds most needs of most users. It's not a needed update.

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One word: ribbon

Many say is a matter of perspective or point of view. But it is more efficient and practical. It takes the average user less clicks to do the same in prior Ribbon versions of Office.

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While I have been running Office 2010 and find it nice, Office 95 still exceeds most needs of most users. It's not a needed update.

If you export to non-Word formats (even simple ones like Word-Perfect, let alone PDF or ODF), that alone is reason enough to switch, especially if you run Vista or 7 x64 and aren't hamstrung by specific add-ins or plug-ins (which are the biggest reason for NOT upgrading).

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OK. Upgrade, you won't regret it :)

REASONS:

  • Ribbon
  • Better templates
  • Nicer picture tools
  • DOCX
  • Oh and since you use Powerpoint, amazing animations and transitions yes.gif

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The ribbon. I've been using 2007 since the first dogfood build that leaked (about 5 years now). The ribbon makes you able to do things a LOT faster. And if you try actually using the features in Word that are there (automatic table of contents, changing the font and style of all titles in your document at once, ...) or the new effects and rendering engine in PowerPoint you will never want to use anything else ever again.

* You could download the 60-day trial of Office 2007 and see what you think. If you like it, you'll love 2010 as it's just even better.

I don't agree with the statement "If it works for you, don't upgrade". 2003 can work for you, but any newer version has the potential to work a lot better, and in the end, who wants to settle with something seriously inferior if there's better stuff out there?

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