Microsoft Office 2013 heads for the cloud but fails to soar
The last few versions of Microsoft Office have divided users, and Office 2013 – due to reach General Availability in the first quarter of next year but available now as a limited free trial – will likely be no different, even though it largely follows a familiar course. Office 2007 brought us – love it or hate it – the Ribbon UI …
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So I have these large databases and spreadsheets
So, I have a number of Access databases, some are over one Gig in size (and betore anyone shouts - Access is robust for single user and the back up of Access files is simple: XCOPY does the trick).
If I want to work with these in the Cloud then how do I get one GIg up there at my slow upload broadband speeds?
And how do I trust anyone not to peek at my data which belongs to me and my company.
If I had customer lists, contact details and so on, in these Cloudy things; how does the Data Protection Act view this? At the moment my stuff is kept safe here and not on anyone else's machines.
And, more, how do I know that my data is being backed up daily and that I won't have the Feds crawl over my work and files because what I do is not legal in the Land of the Puritan?
The Cloud? It's got to be a joke. When will someone finally see through this Emperor's New Clothes?
@BongoJoe
"And, more, how do I know that my data is being backed up daily and that I won't have the Feds crawl over my work and files because what I do is not legal in the Land of the Puritan?"
Here's the first step, from the article:
Mind you, you can still store files on your local drive. You just have to be explicit about it.
If you want full control, go for it. Your local backup strategy can still be used.
Re: So I have these large databases and spreadsheets
Most of those questions are equally valid for ANY cloud-based storage. You'd have to do some proper research off your own bat.
Useful review -- but performance? Will it run on a 2 year old computer?
I am running 2010 on a 2010 computer and IT IS SLOW while 2003 on that 2010 computer is blazing fast.
What will 2013 be like on a 2010 computer?
Re: Useful review -- but performance? Will it run on a 2 year old computer?
It's pretty quick on a 2008 PC running Windows 8 but how much of that is the Win8 optimisation and how much is Office, I really wouldn't want to guess.
The only other box I've got it on is less than a year old so not really all that helpful.
Re: Useful review -- but performance? Will it run on a 2 year old computer?
It seems to run fine on my hp Compaq dx5150 which is about five years old.
ALL CAPITALS
I don't like the menus... I assumed they were just place holders in a beta screenshot... but they're TOO SHOUTY for me.
Still can't fathom the ribbon though... baffling.
Re: ALL CAPITALS
Caps is also considered bad netiquette....
Re: ALL CAPITALS
So what, this is a menu not an IM chat.
I just noticed, the titles on the right side of this page are all caps too: FORUMS, YOUR TOPICS, SPOTLIGHT, JOBS.
One Feature that made this upgrade worthwhile
...and that was the ability to open, edit and save* PDF documents from within Word. That is such a life saver you wouldn't believe.
Elsewhere in Word there are lots of other solid improvements from the Navigation side panel to the improved properties sidepane and even the ability to directly insert a screenshot of another Program's Window.
All in all, for me, a solid but worthwhile upgrade
*I am aware that previous versions could save as PDFs
Another good reason not to upgrade.
Thanks very much Microsoft but no thanks. It looks like I shall be staying with my current versions of Windows and Office indefinitely.
Re: Another good reason not to upgrade.
Indeed.
Absolutely nothing is improved in this version as far as I can see. In fact much has been made worse - which is quite a feat given how awful Ribbon was in the first place.
Re: Another good reason not to upgrade.
Agreed,
It also looks like a smidgen of vendor arm twisting to go to Win7..
Re: Another good reason not to upgrade.
My copy of Office 2000 has kept on installing and working for many years. I've heard that some kind of new version is available, but I see no reason to change.
Re: Another good reason not to upgrade.
If you do wish to upgrade, upgrade to LibreOffice - which uses the same menu/tool bar interface. It's a rather strong office suit. No ribbons, none of this metro-esque bizarreness. And it supports the truly open format, ODF, as well as being highly compatible with Office docs (more so, in fact, than various Office versions themselves!).
There is a wonderful opportunity here for LibreOffice (which is open source) to get itself into schools and offices - it's free, and, due to Apple usage, people are often trading docs in PDF format now. And LibreOffice exports to PDF nicely.
LibreOffice has no licence fees. No licence management. Schools and even the public sector should switch to it and save billions.
Yes some people may have issues with spreadsheets that only work in Office due to quirks in VBA, that kind of thing, but not school kids or, indeed, many office workers.
Re: Another good reason not to upgrade.
Oh look a Libre shill!
It's a decent app but it's certainly not compatible with MS formats as you describe... I've never come across a medium-complexity MS doc that can be viewed/edited properly in Libre/Open. e.g I send a contract to a client in Office format and they sign and send back a printed version from Libre with an apologetic "sorry the formatting went a bit wrong" note.
Maybe this has been fixed since I last tested, but last time I asked that and everyone indignantly said "of course it's fixed now", I got the latest version and it was a crap as ever in this regard.
So stick either 100%Office or 100% Libre is my view, unless you can get people to save their Office docs in ODF perhaps. Which they won't!
Re: Another good reason not to upgrade.
@JDK - many a story exists of people using MS Office that refuses to open other MS office documents (either forwards or backwards incompatible). So if MS Office can't open its own documents, then...
As it happens Libre Office is better at opening MS documents in some cases, than MS Office is.
Microsoft are continually changing their document formats, creating this problem in the first place. Being snide towards Libre Office for Microsoft's sins is rather disingenuous.
And, unlike Microsoft, LibreOffice (Or OpenOffice come to that) have never been caught paying shills to promote their products. So if anyone is a "Shill" here, it would be much more likely to be you, a habitual Microsoft apologist.
Re: Another good reason not to upgrade.
> e.g I send a contract to a client in Office format and they sign and send back a printed version
Why do people do that (send a .doc/docx), do they not realise that it may contain information that they do not want the receiver to know ? For example comments and replaced text may also be in that file.
There is also the possibility that the receiver can change the content of the file.
The main problem with sending .doc/docx is that the fonts used in the doc may not exist on the receiving machine, or may be fractionally different, and this gives the formatting issues.
Use a PDF and it will render and print correctly on almost any machine (given an adequate viewer). It will be less editable, it is supposed not to be changable.
So any reasonable communication can be done by using outputting a PDF rather than snearing at 'inferior' systems who can't match your extreme cleverness in paying for the latest UI change from MS.
Love it
A few people in the office have tried the Beta and the response has been overwhelmingly positive.
There is nothing spectacular, but everything is just so much more pleasant than Office 2010 (that I am also a fan of).
The author fails to mention some of the nicer points:
- Office does, on the first attempt, suggest SkyDrive. But after a couple of saves it suggests the place where you save most of your documents. Much more useful than always suggesting the default My Documents
- The way the cursor moves across the screen as you type is wonderful, it sort of glides rather than jumping from character to character. It doesn't sound like much until you try it, but it makes typing a lot more relaxing
- Reply to mail defaults to a built in editor, rather than an pop out window - nice for 95% of the emails I type, and for those times when it's not it's very easy to make it pop out.
The only thing I don't like is the amount of space it takes, but then that's common these days...
I tried the preview version tied in with our Office 365 account, and instantly reported the CAPITAL LETTER MENUS as a massive fail. Looks like they ignored feedback as usual. Also is it me, or have all the icons become super ugly?
Realistically how long until that all slides into the background and you stop noticing it, exactly the way an newly plastered wall looks ugly and then 2 years later a dinner guest mentions "you're still doing the house up then?" and you realise you never got round to painting it!
Data Formats?
Can anyone tell me what data formats are actually supported (read and write)? Is this fully ooxml ( ISO/IEC 29500 Strict) compliant? What about Open Document 1.2?
Re: Data Formats?
Certainly OOXML (strict) but I haven't tested against OD1.2
20 years of progress in usability down the toilet
Where to start with the UI? The UI is flattened out, so it's hard to see what pixels are clickable and which are not.
Menu's are upper case WHICH TO HARDER READ IS
On a cosmetic level, it's just ugly,horrible.
Microsoft have lost their mind!
Re: 20 years of progress in usability down the toilet
If you find FILE is hard to read, visit the optician!
Re: 20 years of progress in usability down the toilet
Nit-picking: he said HARDER, not HARD, and numerous studies are available to show that lower case text is easier to read.
Scape Goat
I wonder whom Microsoft will fire for this omni shambles. Microsoft really shouldn't be gambling with crazy changes to their biggest cash cow by turning it into even more of a pig. First ribbon, now this!
It makes more sense to gamble on new "rising stars" products (not that they have anything promising there, Win Pho 8 certainly isn't very promising, it's a bit like Win Pho 7, which tanked spectacularly, but I digress) - Microsoft shouldn't gamble on stupid changes to Office because all they are risking here is losing what they have, not gaining what they do not. I doubt Google Docs users will like MS Office 13.
powerpoint news?
I'm using office 2010 for windows and 2011 for mac. The powerpoint for mac has, when connected to a projector, a kinda of a presenter cockpit - you as a presenter see not the presentation that runs on the projector, but the next slide, the notes of the actual slide and you can enter notes on on the current slide. Has this feature been implemented for office 2012 for windows as well now?
Re: powerpoint news?
Actually, Apple's Keynote in iWorks has this too, but with the added benefit that you can remote control the whole thing with an iPhone app which in landscape mode also gives you a "next slide" preview (in portrait it shows you the notes of the current slide).
AFAIK, Powerpoint for Windows has had this from about Office 2003 onwards. That is, if you can use it. On some Windows laptops you have a conflict between the graphics manufacturer control program and the Windows display controller which means it's occasionally a fight to get it working in dual screen mode (not to mention that Windows does not seem intelligent enough to move Windows back to an available viewport when you close the extra screen, something OSX does automatically).
If you really want to have fun presenting try this: hook up a v2 or later Apple TV to a big screen, and install Airparrot, available for both Windows and OSX (also works on older machines). And presto - cable free presenting. We've been doing this for months in our office - it even carries audio..
Re: powerpoint news?
yes i have that keynote remote app. it's nice.
what! i've been using powerpoint in win quite a lot, never noticed this feature. talking to other people made me think it was only on the mac - nobody has seen this so far on win (from my working circles). thanks for the tip! with the retina display you can output everything to the apple tv, no need for third party :), with the latest macos of course.
So I'm reading the review - first page mentions how Office doesn't look much like Windows 7 or 8. Not a total criticism, but Office hasn't been styled after a particular OS design for quite some time. We can go back to Office for Windows 3.x as the last version that "matched" the OS design - Office 95 had title bar gradients, Office 97, 2000 and 2003 had non-standard design elements that didn't match any version of Windows at the time of release, 2007 looked quite different and 2010 again looks different!
So in reality, it shouldn't come as a surprise that 2013 doesn't use the design cues from Windows 7 or 8.
matching the OS
This is true, and true again for Visual Studio and Internet Explorer, but no less of a balls-up for all that. Following the OS style is the default option. To present an alternative look and feel, someone has to go to a lot of effort to bypass the OS in order to create a jarring presentation that violates Windows Logo Program guidelines. It has always amazed me that MS are so keen to do this. To me, it is like displaying a big splash screen on startup that says THIS PROGRAM WOZ RITTEN BY A CLUELESS TURD!!!, except that the splash screen eventually goes away.
You can be sure, of course, that Office will *always* get a Windows Logo on the box. It's only little people who have to follow the rules.
Total Absolute Failure
The frigging ribbon takes up even more screen real-estate.
All of us stuck with 1366x768 screens are sure gonna like that.
MS really needs to fire all those in their usability department (if thay have one that is) becasue they obviously don't have a frigging clue about the real world usage of their products.
Just to rub in their incompetance, why have they gone to CAPITALS? Are they really trying to burn(/flame) us into acceptance?
Re: Total Absolute Failure
The frigging ribbon takes up even more screen real-estate.
All of us stuck with 1366x768 screens are sure gonna like that.
You did know you can minimize it, right?
Office team STILL dancing to their different drummer
Notoriously they've always done their own takes on UI, such as introducing the gradient filled window title way back in pre-Win95 days. Mostly harmless, sometimes adopted by the rest of the UI and eventually part of the design book. Back then they surely felt they were dragging the ugly-fuggers into a world of design, but now that MS is staking its all on the new design ethos of TIFKAM and facing substantial resistance from both customers and external developers they can't afford to have their signature apps standing back too and saying "nice ... but we can do it better!"
This was some washing better kept in the corporate laundry - shades of Dominic's OS/2 write-up where duelling corporate factions use their customer's site, wallet, and patience for the arena.
SkyDrive cock up
>>> If I open a document from SkyDrive in Word 2013, lose my network connection, then try to save my changes, the operation seemingly completes without an error message... [re-opening opens old local copy]
There are other issues - although that on its own seems like a major deal breaker. Who is going to recommend a product that does the above?!
I found that this default SkyDrive integration is badly incompatible with desktop SkyDrive (the sync client). On opening an old doc in the newly installed Word 2013, I get thrown some “error”: “a problem needs your attention” – it essentially just wants you to re-save the document, thereby sync'ing with SkyDrive from within Word, but that was stupid for a collection of hundreds of old docs none of which ever need editing again - and are already sync'ed via SkyDrive desktop!
It then porked the sync with SkyDrive desktop, with the little green tick icons on the file icons in Explorer turning to red errors, and SkyDrive complaining that it couldn't sync them. Great.
Had to turn it off, otherwise you’d have to go through and re-save (and change file mod date) every old doc you ever opened to view.
Utterly stupid and whoever let this through without user testing deserves worse than whoever was responsible for even the dumber ideas in Windows 8.
Retina burn special
All white, high contrast everywhere, Caps for menus, looking at it you'd think they were deliberately trying to destroy peoples eyesight!
The Caps make menu names harder to read.
The all black icons are difficult to distinguish from each other.
Ribbon is still useless.
Where are the benefits of this again?
Utter FAIL I.M.O.
Skype
I saw no mention, wasn't Skype supposed to be integrated with Office?
Re: Skype
It isn't so far. Possibly that's one of these updates we're told will be arriving.
Re: Skype
Skype is already integrated with Office - It's part of Lync: http://www.crn.com/news/networking/240007827/microsoft-confirms-more-details-of-lync-skype-integration.htm
UMMMMMMM......
"Don't use all capital letters for emphasis. Studies have shown that this is hard to read, and users tend to regard it as "screaming." For warnings, use a warning icon and a clearly-worded explanation of the situation. There is no need to add, for example, the term WARNING in all capital letters."
Ref :-
UI Design Guide Section :- 'Capitalization'
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa974176.aspx#capitalization
Re: UMMMMMMM......
Ah, yes, but those were the Windows 7 guidelines. Human beings are different now.
skydrive
Is that like using sftp:// urls in kde, but without the chance to pick your own server?
Or ftp:// in ancient versions of OOo?
I'll bet with a bit of tweaking of kde, you could use imap:// with gmail. Hmm, local caching, internet store...
Windows... meh
Office 2013's 'austere' windows look ...
... has similarities to the Google Docs look. Have Microsoft been 'inspired.?
All caps is actually logical..
.. as it makes the application more compatible with Ballmer..
However, what I find even more interesting is the fanatic push towards storing data in what is for most an extra-judicial location. Honestly, in the era of data theft ad infinitum and cockups by those who should know better, who is going to host their data on servers in a nation even less trusted than China when it comes to espionage?
Moreover, AFAIK, anyone in the EU who does this with client data without the required due diligence may break Data Protection laws, and that is *your* liability, not Microsoft's/Google's/Apple's/Whoever hosts outside the EU's..
Re: All caps is actually logical..
"However, what I find even more interesting is the fanatic push towards storing data in what is for most an extra-judicial location. Honestly, in the era of data theft ad infinitum and cockups by those who should know better, who is going to host their data on servers in a nation even less trusted than China when it comes to espionage?"
+1 Microsoft systems are hardly known for being secure.
configuration-ability
How many of the issues - eg save to SkyDrive as default- are fixable under options/preferences?
I'm guessing default save location (and document type?) can be tweaked somewhere, if only so corporates can force some settings control through Group Policy.
Re: configuration-ability
Save location is certainly a Group Policy option. I must go test against document type when time allows.
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