office 2013 Do You Like Office 2013? Thoughts on Preview

[Calum Veteran]

First impressions are just that, If you don't like first impressions don't read them when people say "first impression"

No one I was replying to with that post you quoted said "first impression," and the original post in the thread asks about "impressions" not "first impressions." I mentioned "first impressions" because I was informing people that these opinions they're posting are first impressions and thus might not be a good indicator of how they will eventually feel about Office.

I shouldn't decide not to read first impressions. Of course, it's nice to see others' first impressions, and it's nice to post one's first impressions. But it's always best to acknowledge that one's opinion may change after further use, and very few people in this thread have done that, so I mentioned it for them.

Well done for being rude and failing to make a good point, though (Y)

[HawkMan]

Easy fix if you fiddle with your monitor's brightness controls :laugh:

No still ugly and unelegant and inefficient compared for 2013.

[bandit_liberty_rumble]

No still ugly and unelegant and inefficient compared for 2013.

I wasn't totally serious...

[~Johnny]

What did they do to ERD support on Visio? I can open my old files but can't edit any existing entities and the new entities that I add are just colored boxes with text fields in them, there's no interface for quickly entering multiple columns and there doesn't appear to be any support for database drivers anymore. Relationships are just lines, there's no linking them to foreign keys. At this point I might as well just use Paint.NET because all it is letting me do is draw.

Have you actually activated / entered your Product key in Visio, and are using the top tier version? (I think there were 3 different versions up for download)

Word doesn't do a good job of converting PDF to word and editing. It kind of makes everything a text box.

Depends how the original PDF file was made. If it was made using a word processor, Word typically does a good job of putting everything in paragraphs and tables and nice, neat styles and formatting.

If however the PDF was made in something like Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Expression Design, etc, then like basically every other PDF converter out there, Word puts everything into text boxes and shapes and trips up a bit over the formatting.

[Shaun N.]

No one I was replying to with that post you quoted said "first impression," and the original post in the thread asks about "impressions" not "first impressions."

So the thread was created and no-one should reply with any impressions until its deemed long enough for the first impression to have expired? Gimme a break, if you don't like the first impressions then don't respond to them. Simple rules a supervisor should know.

Well done for being rude and failing to make a good point, though (Y)

You're welcome!

[Calum Veteran]

So the thread was created and no-one should reply with any impressions until its deemed long enough for the first impression to have expired?

[. . .]

I didn't state that, and the quote you've replied to isn't even the full sentence; you've taken it out of context. My reply to you clearly states that I enjoy reading others' first impressions and I enjoy adding my first impressions. Please actually read my posts in future before responding to me. As I mentioned in my reply to you, the reason I posted my initial response was to inform those who don't understand. Some people were talking as if this will be their lasting and only impression of the new Microsoft Office, so I informed them that they should give it a chance. That is all. I wasn't suggesting people shouldn't post first impressions.

That should have been obvious to you.

[. . .]

Gimme a break, if you don't like the first impressions then don't respond to them. Simple rules a supervisor should know.

If you don't read my posts correctly, then don't respond to them. Simple etiquette a member should know.

Now, this thread is becoming off-topic, so we must either take this to a private message conversation or cease it.

[Shaun N.]

I agree it is a little too white, I do love the animations on each package and also love how I can reply to an email within the reading pane in Outlook!

[HawkMan]

It's weird outlooks still can't import directly from WLM/WLM files.

[Larry the Lobster]

Nice new features, interface sucks. All caps???? WHY ARE THEY SHOUTING AT ME AND MAKING IT HARD TO READ THE MENUS? AND DEAR GOD! MY EYES! MY EYES! BLINDED BY THE LIGHT... WRAPPED UP LIKE A DEUCE TOO DAMN MUCH WHITE IS IN MY EYES. WISH I KNEW WHY EVERYTHING IN THE MENU BAR WAS ALL CAPS. BUT MY NEW BLINDNESS FROM THE DISPLAY NOW MAKES IT MEANINGLESS.

[PGHammer]

After using it all day (just Outlook and Word) I can say that overall I like the direction they're going, but I do hope they tweak it some before RTM.

The Metro styling is generally nice (and I'm actually starting to get used to the white), but I'm still hoping that they add more contrast before GA. I'm all for the minimalist look, but they need to add a few varied background colors to give the eyes a little hint at where the different UI elements start and end. No drastic changes, it just needs a few touches here and there.

At the same time I'm really not noticing much difference in functionality. Outlook seems a bit snappier, but pretty much does the same job the same way. Same for Word. With a few tweaks I think Office 2013 will be a decent upgrade, but nothing Earth-shattering.

However, I don't see the big win for Office 2013 being Office itself. Microsoft's ecosystem has long been like a giant jig-saw puzzle where you can tell what picture is supposed to be, but the pieces just don't quite fit together. It looks like that's starting to change - finally the piece are coming together - and although Office 2013 is not a huge upgrade in itself, it's a very important piece to that puzzle.

It will get tweaked; remember, the preview is good for a *year* in the case of the offline version (180 days in the case of O365).

There's only one really major change in Word (besides the snappier performance in all of Office so far) - you can now edit PDF files (and ODF files) directly within Word - no conversion needed. (This change is likely why there is Flash support built in to Windows 8 - compensation to Adobe for making Acrobat Pro largely irrelevant, and Acrobat Standard *completely irrelevant*.)

[PGHammer]

Have you actually activated / entered your Product key in Visio, and are using the top tier version? (I think there were 3 different versions up for download)

Depends how the original PDF file was made. If it was made using a word processor, Word typically does a good job of putting everything in paragraphs and tables and nice, neat styles and formatting.

If however the PDF was made in something like Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Expression Design, etc, then like basically every other PDF converter out there, Word puts everything into text boxes and shapes and trips up a bit over the formatting.

And the issue with the latter is they are great *image* editing programs; however, all of them (including Photoshop and Illustrator) blow when it comes to text-editing.

My test PDFs were ones that I created over the past year in Word 2010, followed by proofing in Adobe Reader - therefore, the formatting and fonts did *not* get bunged. For those that write such PDFs (or need to go back and edit such PDFs), Word 2013 is a relief. (Since the same applies to ODFs, there is now one fewer program you need to have installed.)

[bogas04]

As far as the white theme is concerned , i am pretty sure just like previous versions it will have "themes" too (the dark one etc)

[migo]

It's weird outlooks still can't import directly from WLM/WLM files.

It's also weird that Windows Phone can't sync with Outlook. Microsoft is like Sony in that regard, so big that their different departments aren't working together.

[Calum Veteran]

Thread cleaned

Please stay on topic.

[Co-ords]

It's been so pimped with metro... dreadfull. Installed it, used it, then de-installed it. I cant stand metro...

[~Johnny]

And the issue with the latter is they are great *image* editing programs; however, all of them (including Photoshop and Illustrator) blow when it comes to text-editing.

Quite, but they end up getting used a lot for creating PDF's as posters or fliers or advertisements, or even print publications in some cases - where design is a more important focus.

[+Anarkii Subscriber²]

Well its Friday night and I said ill update my thoughts on Office 13...

Been using Outlook alot this week and this review will be just on that.

Heres my thoughts:

1. The loading screen is much nicer with Outlook.

2. The Office icons as a whole look much better than previous incarnations.

3. At first, there is way to much white for the screen area. Id like to see Outlook (and the other programs too actually) retain their colours in some way. Even if its just the titlebar.

4. Setting up a live.com.au account for email should be automatic, since it is a Microsoft thing, yet I still had to enter the mail settings manually.

5. Would be nice to sync my iPhone calandar with the one in Outlook. Not sure how to do that? (anyone know?)

6. Clicking 'People' and adding my Facebook account, nothing happens in the left pane, and any Facebook information does not show up. Infact after adding my account details, it still shows 'connect to a social network'

7. And then again... just WAY TO MUCH WHITE.

[Shaun N.]

Hilarious!

-On topic

I don't like how Outlook has a blue icon now, I keep opening Outlook instead of Word :(

[Dashel]

Yea, I'm not sure why they changed it on Outlook alone. I've mixed them up a couple times too. Glenn Beck musta bought all teh gold.

[aviator189]

Honestly, i love it. Really smooth and the interface is awesome.

[_neutrino Veteran]

I personally do not like how bright it is but i am loving the flat look of it.

[BajiRav]

I personally do not like how bright it is but i am loving the flat look of it.

I actually don't mind the brightness but they should add a "dark" theme to it for people who don't like white. I haven't had much time to actually use it but whatever little time I spent, I had positive reaction. :)

[PGHammer]

Hilarious!

-On topic

I don't like how Outlook has a blue icon now, I keep opening Outlook instead of Word :(

I haven't used desktop shortcuts to open either program since Windows 7 (or, in fact, any Office application), instead, I use the Run box. (It works for any application you know the name of, in fact.)

[Nazmus Shakib Khandaker]

The Windows 8 Start Screen replicates the functionality of the Run dialogue box. You can type paths, command lines, and things like regedit or msconfig directly from the Windows 8 Start screen. There is absolutely no reason for the Run box to exist.

[George P Global Moderator]

I fully expect a dark theme or something. I'm sure they're hearing all the cries of "it's too white" but I think any dark theme will also show up as a option for Windows 8 as well. Which could be why they're holding off on showing us any other than those basic background options.

On another topic, if the price for Office 365 home is good, I could see myself going with that as an option going forward. You get to use office on 5 pcs as well, or pc and mac and "devices". And no, it's not just web versions, it the click to run versions which is basically the whole thing it just installs as it's downloading which allows you to start using apps before it's 100% complete (aka the 90 second comment they state). I think it's a bonus to having everything synced between devices using skydrive and so on, and also getting the newest version in the future. This all depends on price though.