2007 Story Set
| Date: May 22, 2007 I used to think it kind of silly when, on a job description, they would call out "Familiar with Office" or specifically list WORD under software knowledge required, as if this was an unusual request. At least, I thought it was. That is, I thought it was silly until my latest contract. I am surrounded here with young imported engineers, imported being the operative word and no pun intended, and they haven't got a clue how Office works, let alone the Word part of it. They use the PC all day long but have no idea what it needs or how to use it effectively. They do not understand the RAM memory requirements of the Microsoft Office package (1 GB just for the OS, and the XP OS can not address more than 3GB, no matter how much RAM you purchased). (Vista I will not comment on since I am avoiding it until it matures.) They do not understand that the buffer overflows if you do a lot of edits without ever saving. They don't get that if you type for hours, and never save, and the system hangs or crashes - you are hosed. Depending on the type of failure (and it could be a power-outage in this day and age), the file may be irretrievably lost. Try explaining that to a frazzled VP. They don't get that a file over 10MB, or smaller file with lots of tables (or art) exceeds the ability of the software to handle it, also regardless of how much RAM you throw at it. It's a software limit. You know when you hit it since the operations s-l-o-w d-o-w-n. (If you are waiting for the file to complete doing something - and you have 3GB RAM - you've hit the upper software limit.) Word was designed for memos. It just thinks it can do other things. They don't know where the auto backup setting is (giving you a backup copy should your main copy crash in a non-recoverable manner). They don't know where auto-save is or how to set it. It doesn't occur to them to save an important file under cpy1 and cpy2 name tags. (If back up is set, this gives you four chances for recovery - guess who has lost a couple of files and never will again.) They don't get using a remote server to back up the PC. The servers are backed up. Supposedly. (This company doesn't even back-up the PC automatically - as many companies do. So if they don't back-up and do store something on the C drive, well, it can be lost.) Now here comes Office 2007. Microsoft, going against industry trends of having the toolbars all look somewhat familiar, File, Save, Save As, Print, Copy, Find, Paste and other common commands in relatively familiar positions in every program the typical professional would be using, well, evidently not in Microsoft. Office 2007, and especially Word (where I have spent most of my time) decided to be drastically different. The Save, Print and related commands are ----- not under a FILE tab, they are under the "LOGO". Yep. The actual play-block graphic in a blue balloon. This is an attempt by the marketing arm of Microsoft to promote their brand. In your face. The only thing it promotes in me is abject hatred. It is as bad as the bouncing paperclip. (Which was easy to kill on the Mac - ha ha! And I did!) Everything has moved. Common "I am used to them" dialog boxes are hidden (and not obvious). And if you don't go to Microsoft and take the free tutorials, you are lost. Forget the Help file (once you find it). Oh yes - and you must patch any version of Word pre-2007 or it can't open a 2007 file which is no longer gifted with a ".doc" extension. Oooops! There is a "compatibility mode" with Word 2007 and since I bounce between 2003, 2007 and the Mac's 2004, I stay in that one. Guess I need to give up the pre-selected fonts and colors and designs because Microsoft is trying to second-guess what you might like. (If you are not able to figure out colors that go together, styles and fancy-dancy memo formats, then 2007 is for you. For the rest of us? Yuck!) Oh yeah, job descriptions will soon require Office 2007 familiarity. With good reason. People will drastically loose productivity until they are sufficiently trained - something companies - chasing the ever flaky investment return - don't do quite like they used to. People who barely make do and get by with the previous version of Word or Office will be up the creek without a paddle. |
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