18.-20. October: tekom conference in Wiesbaden

Farewell to Classic Toolbars

"With Office 2007, Microsoft has put an end to classic toolbars, the way we have known them ‎since the first Word for Windows. This move has been criticized for the last few years by ‎nearly everybody, even by those who never indulged in Microsoft bashing," writes Yves Champollion in Version 6 of his User Manual for WordFast, and there are certainly a lot of people out there who agree with him.

The Power Users' Gripe

"Office 2007 is a disaster that completely disregards end-user behavior patterns by completely revamping the user interface. It’s no more intuitive than Office 2003 and far more intrusive as far as space," griped an anonymous blogger.

And the manager of a high-octane consulting firm specialized in streamlining Microsoft software for large-scale companies told me: "Our typical customer uses between 15 and 20% of the functionality provided in Office 2003. Yet with Office 2007, it took us ages to dig up the functions we knew were there, and then loads of time to redo the GUI so that your regular Joe could find them.

Interactive Reference Guides

Microsoft quickly realized that they were in danger of alienating their most avid supporters and set up an interactive command reference guide (1) designed to soften the blow for those that had built careers on knowing where to find what in the at times arcane-seeming lower tiers of the office suite. Alas, the provided online help did nothing to stem the tide of desperate users pounding the door of software companies like Addintools (2) to get products that could revive the 'classic menus'.

On to Greener Pastures

But while being a great admirer of Monsieur Champollion who crafted an entire translation memory tool based on Microsoft Office, I would contest that his allegation of near universal criticism against MSO 2007 is accurate. In the past few years, only comparatively few - albeit extremely vocal - power users have raised their voice in protest. It seems that the vast majority of information workers can be herded from one version of Microsoft Office without much complaint.

And it bears pointing out that for many people who in the past had spent hours stumbling across dialog boxes and options strewn across the menus of Office 2003, the fluid user interface of Office 2007 must seem like a godsend.

Office Power Users are Dinosaurs

Another thing worth noticing is that while in the nineties it was considered de rigueur to be software-proficient and computer-savvy, the noughties brought about a generation of professionals now climbing the rungs of the workforce with a mindset that anything below a "management" position is unacceptable.

A smack of this attitude was given to me on our stand at the 2009 tekom trade fair in Wiesbaden by a young student looking for a possible future employment. When I let on that our employees were actually expected to be proficient in the use of the software we provided, the impromptu job interview came to an end with a bang as the otherwise charming student gasped: "What are you talking about, do I look like a doormat?" My counter-question which aimed at finding out what kind of employment the young interviewee might be aspiring to was answered with a terse response: "Well, management, of course!"

Since then I have come to understand that in most contemporary CVs, 'proficient in MS-Office' means something in the vein of 'reading eMails received with Outlook' and 'using PowerPoint presentations prepared by some geek in another department'.

Backpedalling into the Future

But even with the majority of information workers and a growing amount of young managers happily clicking the colorful ribbon in perpetual trial-and-error mode, the people at Microsoft must have realized fairly soon that they had taken things too far too fast with Office 2007.

For a good part, realization may have dawned when in 2008 disgruntled users beat a path a mile wide to the doors of Open Office 3, which seems to have been cleverly crafted to look as much as Microsoft's stalwart Office 2003 as possible.

In the way Microsoft launched Office 2010, you can practically see the people bending over backwards in an attempt to get their train back onto the tracks, especially once you notice that the interactive guide (3) is designed to build a bridge for users holding on to Office 2003, not Office 2007 as one might expect.

Where do we go from here?

While those that wanted - or needed - to write technical documentation with Microsoft Office, the versions 2000 - 2002 - 2003 were easy to handle. In contrast, the versions 2003 - 2007 - 2010 in use today are a mind field of confusing, at times conflicting functions and file formats.

The presentation will try to shed light on the scenario and offer hands-on solutions.

Literature

(1) http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/training/guides-to-the-ribbon-use-office-2003-menus-to-learn-the-office-2007-user-interface-HA010229584.aspx
(2) http://www.addintools.com
(3) http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook-help/learn-where-menu-and-toolbar-commands-are-in-office-2010-and-related-products-HA101794130.aspx

Questions and comments: enderstein@ditto-trans.de

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