I'm a Dinosaur - but gone back to Word 2003

[jimbo45]

Hi all
I've been struggling with Word 2007 / 2010.
I like the "look and feel" of most of the Office 2010 applications with a significant exception.

I've had to go back to WORD 2003 - I've still got office 2003 installed on a Virtual Machine.

I've got to grips with EXCEL 2010 -- no probs with Excel -- have been using it for ages and the rest of the office suite is fine but for WORD I absolutely HATE the later versions.

I've screwed up so many documents with Word 2007 / 2010 that I've finally said enough is enough and gone back to Word 2003. (Fortunately I always ensure backups of documents so I haven't actually lost them).

I'm not a professional author so I don't need half the options on that new 2007 type menu.

The simplest tasks seem to take forever in Word 2007 / Word 2010 which could be done easily with one or two keystrokes in Word 2003 -- for example hiding and showing gridlines in a table in a word document. Once you've set the style to show the gridlines in Word 2010 how do you hide them again -- easy in Word 2003.

Moving or aligning tables is also a pain -- I move them and then after a mouse click or too the old alignment has re-appeared -- I know it's me but the HELP is of no use at all.

I'm sure I could get it right eventually -- but I haven't got the time or inclination to spend days on learning all the new features of something I don't use apart from a few basic features very much at all.

So MS -- Office 2010 -- OK for EXCEL / Outlook / Powerpoint/ Access and MS Project.

Definitely THUMBS down for Word2007 / 2010.

Word 2003 (as they say in the BBC's Master Chef program --Love it BTW -- "You're staying with us").

Cheers
jimbo

 

[Fantail]

Well at least your machine isn't a dinosaur!
I have 07 but probably use Office at home less then you do & at work we still roll with 03. And in no rush to migrate to 10.

 

[CarlTR6]

I am using Word 2007; but I prefer 2003.

 

[Dragonfly]

If you're REALLY Old School, you can get a WordStar emulator for older versions of WinWord.

The WordStar Command Emulator for Word 97/2000 lets you use the WordStar 'Diamond' keyboard commands in Microsoft Word. These intuitive commands allow faster text entry without the usual awkward key combinations or the mouse. This is of particular advantage to anyone who can type.

 

[Ajulian]

I still using word 2003 in my pc. I only use the 2007 in my job because i can't choose hehe

 

[jimbo45]

If you're REALLY Old School, you can get a WordStar emulator for older versions of WinWord.

The WordStar Command Emulator for Word 97/2000 lets you use the WordStar 'Diamond' keyboard commands in Microsoft Word. These intuitive commands allow faster text entry without the usual awkward key combinations or the mouse. This is of particular advantage to anyone who can type.

Hi I'm not THAT old .

I think sometimes applications reach essentially a pinnacle and after that "bloat-itus" sets in -- good example was Nero -- up to version 6 it was great but who would use it now version 9). - Even they tried to remedy that by offering a "Lite" version -- but then they went the OTHER way in eliminating some of the original features you DID want such as creating an Audio CD from various codecs etc.

Office 2003 set the bar for fast easy to use and yet a sophisticated office suite - which could even do a lot of pre-press / publication material even for non professional people.

Adding rarely used features to the base product install was IMO a big mistake -- I prefer the modular approach -- offer a slick fast easy to use product with bolt on "add-ons" installed when (and if) you need them.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[CarlTR6]

If you're REALLY Old School, you can get a WordStar emulator for older versions of WinWord.

The WordStar Command Emulator for Word 97/2000 lets you use the WordStar 'Diamond' keyboard commands in Microsoft Word. These intuitive commands allow faster text entry without the usual awkward key combinations or the mouse. This is of particular advantage to anyone who can type.

I remember using WordStar and thinking it was the greatest thing since sliced bread.

 

[Dragonfly]

Yep. WordStar and VisiCalc ruled the roost in the early 80's. I think I still have a copy of both somewhere around here.

You can still download VisiCalc from Dan Bricklin's site.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
speaking of that timeframe do any of you remember an early Code Generator -- it was called "The Last One" and marketed as the ONLY program you would EVER need again.

Two interesting links for those interested BTW.


Teblog: The Last One, Personal Computer world and me

Development of The Last One (paper) - British program generator

Cheers
jimbo

 

[CarlTR6]

I don't remember The Last One. Interesting reading, though.