This year will see the release of Microsoft Office 12.
Microsoft has an interesting web page about it: http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/default.mspx
The new version of office introduces a new User Interface, in Word, PowerPoint, Excel etc.
Check out the new interface of Word here:
http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/uioverview.mspx
What do you think??
I would have been more supprised if it had gone much longer with a new office release to match vista... I looks really great, and I'm looking forward to see if they have made if more userfriendly of if thet still think it's fun to have there customers looking for one special thing to do without finding it.... that's just me...
I'm switching to mac in a few month anyway, so what do I care? 
The next release of Microsoft Office products will present a streamlined, uncluttered workspace that minimizes distraction and enables people to achieve the results they want more quickly and easily. View a larger image.
Looks more distracting to me than Word 2003 with those large, glossy icons. 
I've been using the beta builds for sometime now and I can say that the dynamic menus are really intuitive and much easier to use than preview office builds
You don't have to shuffle through menus or toolbars too look for what you want to do, the menus change depending on whats going on... for example.. you select some text in word
you'll get text formatting buttons etc
very cool
i must agreee with nappystudios... the new interface is are much much visual and i found myself to be more productive (especially on Microsoft Word 12 -> you can see the word count at the bottom right away)
i have been using the beta for about a month now and i must say it is a pretty solid release.... can't wait to see what they do with Office:mac
honestly... i wouldn't go back using Office 2003 right now, as the beta is very stable and really fun to use
NB: the new dynamic menus arnt distracting, trust me.
yeah, question is, will it crash on page 100 after I insert an equation?... unknown error... would you like to send an error report? it's about time they did an overhaul of office. still better than LaTeX imo.
I like the new interface. Stability has never really been a issue for me with Office..although having more than about 12 fonts makes it freeze up like Adobe CS2.
When microsoft tries to simplify things it only makes things 10x more complicated- they just cant do it right,
look at the control panel in Windows Xp, who actually uses "Category view" over ""classic view"? category view might look more pleasing to the eye and may be more simplified, but you can never find what you want fast...its a pain in the ass-
apple polish everything and know what they are doing- M$ doesnt and will make office annoying trying to imitate apple.
Well chew on this-- the more Microsoft does to make Office 12 more visually appealing, the more we can do to Office 12 to make it look how we want it! Microsoft is absolutely opening up Office for modding potential.
apple polish everything and know what they are doing- M$ doesnt and will make office annoying trying to imitate apple.
Your level of reflection astounds me.
The rip-off artists at M$ never cease to amaze me...the title/menu bar look like a smoothed-out version of Apple's Brushed look.
I have office12 beta, and I must say it looks a bit nicer, but it sure is not that much easier to work with. instead, everything has changed and that really is a shame since you have to learn to work with it all over again. it's extremely slow (but it's still a beta), and there is some ****ty cleartype rendering, you just can't shut down.
pros: good looking
negative: all the rest
Microsoft Office always felt out of place.
Each version introduces new menus, toolbars, controls, that never match the version of Windows it was intended for, both in terms of appearance and functionality.
This time MS abandons menus altogether and introduces "command tabs". Maybe they're better, maybe not. But if command tabs are better than menus, shouldn't they be implemented in all MS products, and of course Windows? Some people still cannot tell when to single or double-click. Command tabs and classic menus together can be very confusing.
Paperclip assistants, menus that behave like toolbars (draggable etc), "outlook bar" controls, task panes, smart tags and now command tabs!!! It makes me wonder how much these last ones will endure. Probably not until Office 13.
:-S
I think the above is because MS's cash cow #1 department is in competition to its cash cow #2 department regarding developer, designer and other resources (Namely: Bill Gates attention span) - and they pull the rope in different directions. If you work in a cubicle, this turnout of events appears perfectly natural to you.
Nevertheless, software needs to evolve. If this is to it's good or bad, time will tell. I hated that sodding paper clip from day one and I am but thankful that there's always an option or setting to nuke it out of the way. No harm done, no need to get angry and no need to get excited. Ever.
Btw, comparing to Word for Windows 2.0 crashes and whatnot, it seems to be hardened enough to bend horseshoes around it these days.
I'd still stick with average aged versions - at work I am forced to use Office 97 and Excel 97 is fullscreen on my 2GHz corporate Dell before the sound of the mouse-click on its start menu entry has reached my ear.
Aqua-Soft Forums