Posted on 06/20/2007 6:30:02 PM PDT by Salo
Microsoft is making Office 2007 its default productivity suite for system builders, less than five months after the suite's full-scale launch.
Say Goodbye to Office 2003
Microsoft will stop supplying (http://blogs.msdn.com/mssmallbiz/archive/2007/06/18/3384613.aspx) OEM Microsoft Office 2003 from June 30, Microsoft exec Eric Ligman wrote yesterday on the company's blog for small businesses.
The declaration means that Microsoft partners without inventory of Office 2003 must ship Office 2007 from July onwards.
Microsoft is making a heavy push for Office 2007 and seems to be now using OEM partners in the vanguard for driving sales.
Previous editions of Office have sold relatively slowly during the last 10 years, with a sizeable percentage of the customer base clinging to increasingly out-dated editions. That's a problem for Microsoft, as it means a key product in its core business isn't growing as it should.
Office 2007 is relatively early in the Microsoft lifecycle, having officially launched in January following limited availability in November, while Office 2003 was launched in October 2003. The older product still enjoys mainstream product support (http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/) from Microsoft and partners, while also being well within its extended lifecycle support.
Customers on volume licensing agreements can still run Office 2003 by activating the downgrade rights in their contracts from Office 2007. OEM Microsoft Office does not have downgrade rights.
Microsoft is running a webcast (http://blogs.msdn.com/mssmallbiz/archive/2007/06/15/3316782.aspx) on June 21 to explain licensing options to resellers for Windows, Office and Server products. ®
That’s my understanding of the general hardware situation wrt drivers, so I’m waiting a while even though I could use a new laptop to replace one that was old, partly broken and had to be returned to the owner. Used laptops seem to be overpriced compared to new ones. Dell has a Linux offering but it is a little early yet to try that.
Cloud jargon notwithstanding, MS knows very well that individuals and particularly businesses will not continue to purchase upgrades they don't need at ridiculous prices (as they are experiencing with Office 2007),even though they are pressuring them to do so through extremely complicated licensing schemes like "Software Assurance" that even MS's own licensing experts have difficulty understanding.
When MS said it was "betting the company on dotnet" it was referring to a strategy of "... it would essentially transform the heart of its revenue base from packaged software to subscriber-paid ''interactive services.'"
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A01E7DE1730F936A15755C0A9669C8B63
LOL your link is not only to the NYT, it’s seven years old! Microsoft still sells directly off the shelf at brick and mortar stores, they’re not changing anything until they have to meanwhile these open source cloners can’t even reach 5% giving away free downloads from the comfort of your couch.
I used it. I uninstalled it! OFFICE 2007 ROYALLY SUCKS! Runs slow and the new interface will drive you nuts! If you have an opportunity to upgrade, DON’T!!
The best web server in the world, the kernel and many utilities of OS X, the best browser in the world (and the core of another), even the FTP client in Windows -- all open source.
You prefer cash.
I know a lot of folks still using MS Office 97. I’m encouraging anyone who really wants to upgrade to use OpenOffice instead.
So, you're saying it's kinda like Wife 1.0?
Actually, IMO the best programmer's editor was Brief (by Underware). It absolutely rocked. Too bad it was abandoned after Borland bought it.
You noticed?
If you're a Firefox user, you might be interested in seeing how much nicer Greasemonkey can make these tech threads.
All I see when trolls post is:
All posts by known troll Golden Eagle have been Blocked, to view posts by this person you must edit the FRTrollBlocker.user.js file.
... drive compression (Stac), disk defragmentation (Norton), viewing zip files as folders (Norton), media player (Real, Quicktime), CD burning (many examples), graphics browser with slideshow (Thumbs Plus) ...
Oh, no! Every time MS upgrades the Office applications, they all get worse and more cumbersome. Glad I’m retiring this year; I won’t have to deal with another grueling and annoying “upgrade”.
Threat of suit to crush competition in a monopolistic manner is also illegal.
“I gotta wonder what my motivation would be to even consider Office 2007?”
Maybe you’ve gotten bored with the user interface of Office, which you’ve figured out pretty well despite its many shortcomings, and want to try something new? /s
LOL at your typical attempts at distractions and personal attacks. What else can you do when you’re stuck at 3% and can’t even give your crap away I guess.
You should try MEPIS, which is a KDE build of UBUNTU. It is even easier and more user friendly and “just works” right out of the box than UBUNTU.
I will try it although Ubuntu also worked for me without any tweaking at all. Thanks.
Like everyone knows, a M$ product has to be out for at *least* 18 months before it's really usable.
And while all the techies are out on this thread, I'd like any real, experience-driven opinions about migrating from the M$ platform to either Mac or Linux. I don't think I could go Linux due to the need for Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop and Macromedia DreamWeaver - is that correct? Can any Mac users out there tell me if the $6k to $7k investment that I would have to make to rebuy all my apps in Mac format (and the machine itself) would really be worth it in terms of stability and security? I am really getting tired of the "blue screens of death" and cryptic errors not to mention having to run AdAware two and three times a week just to keep XP from slowing to a crawl.
Thanks for any input -
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