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Microsoft VP has big remodeling plans for Office | |
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| Time: 10:18 EST/15:18 GMT | News Source: Silicon Valley | Posted By: Byron Hinson | ||
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Jeff Raikes, a soft-spoken former Nebraska farm boy, masterminded Microsoft's $10 billion cash cow -- its Office productivity software. The cow has been looking a bit feeble recently, but Raikes has an ambitious plan to enliven it. Office sales were essentially flat in the fiscal year ended June 30, putting Microsoft's future on the line. About a third of the software giant's revenue in the fiscal year came from Office, the word processing, e-mail, spreadsheet and presentations package that is a staple of the workplace. Office is Microsoft's ``other'' monopoly alongside the Windows operating system. | ||
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| #1 By 442 (65.33.154.204) at 10/21/2002 11:00:44 AM |
|
Here's an idea for the Office team...make your app comply with the UI from the OS it runs on. What drives me crazy, and is in itself very poor UI design, is that the toolbars and menus in Office look totally different from the rest of the OS.
The OS has built-in GUI tools so that developers can make their apps have the same standard look and feel of others, including the OS. This makes a simple and fluid transition from app to app and OS to app. Why Microsoft, who makes both the OS and Office, can't seem to do this is beyond me. One of the reasons I much prefer the Mac, and the Mac version of Office, is that going from app to app is seamless. I wish Microsoft could do the same with their PC version of Office. |
| #2 By 2459 (24.233.39.98) at 10/21/2002 11:10:47 AM |
| Speaking of Macs, why has Apple chosen not to adopt the Aqua UI for their new iApps and Quicktime? Instead, they use the grey look they originally intended to use for OS X which is a stark contrast to Aqua. |
| #3 By 1845 (12.254.162.111) at 10/21/2002 11:17:37 AM |
| Going from app to app is seamless? What are you talking about? I don't see any great differences in UI from Office app to Office app. I also don't see any great difference between Office UI and, say, Explorer's UI. |
| #4 By 442 (65.33.154.204) at 10/21/2002 11:23:43 AM |
|
BobSmith:
I'm talking about ALL of the Office apps in comparison to every other major app and the OS. The menus and toolbars have a totally different look and feel. I am, of course, speaking of Office 2002 (XP). That is the first version of Office to do things all on its own. Very poor UI design. ----------------------------------------------------------------- n4cer: Why is Apple using the "brushed metal" look for some apps and not others? Who knows. Personally, I don't mind it all that much. I do wish they'd use some sort of divider line to note the actuall title bar of the window for when Dialog Sheets slide out. Even though the "windows" of the iApps don't look the same as the standard Aqua look, at least teh menus and toolbars are still the same. This post was edited by jaredbkt on Monday, October 21, 2002 at 11:24. |
| #5 By 1845 (12.254.162.111) at 10/21/2002 11:36:41 AM |
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You mean the look and feel quite similar to VisualStudio .NET? The major-est (nice word, huh?) apps for Windows are the Microsoft Office apps anyway. Why don't you give specific examples and perhaps screenshots to illustrate your point. When I open Outlook every morning, I don't think "AHH! The discrepancy! My world is torn". Everything feels pretty smooth and nice to me.
As a side note, Office often adds new UI components to the OS. Remember Office 2000 with the new OpenFileDialog? Office is often the distribution vehicle for new UI stuff. |
| #6 By 2459 (24.233.39.98) at 10/21/2002 12:23:21 PM |
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"AHH! The discrepancy! My world is torn".
lol |
| #7 By 2459 (24.233.39.98) at 10/21/2002 12:31:00 PM |
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But aren't there similarities between Apple's iApps differences and Office's differences.
I have Office XP and VS.NET. I see little difference between their functionality and other apps. The colors are different (unless your other apps are Windows Forms apps), there are some UI concepts introduced to make working with documents easier, but nothing drastically different from what is in the OS. Like the iApps, menus and toolbars work the same way, the main difference is visual, and that difference is superficial -- not because it is a visual difference, but because the visual changes are largely subtle and do not sharply contrast with the OS or other apps. |
| #8 By 2459 (24.233.39.98) at 10/21/2002 12:35:47 PM |
| Mozilla or Adobe software presents a greater visual contrast to Windows or other Windows apps than Office does. Even in this case, however, the functionality is similar except where Mozilla/Adobe/etc. don't code to the Windows APIs. |
| #9 By 1845 (12.254.162.111) at 10/21/2002 12:38:42 PM |
| I doubt there will be anything revolutionary in the Office 11 GUI. Revolutionary UI things don't come from Office. Enhancements, yes, but not revolutions. |
| #10 By 135 (209.180.28.6) at 10/21/2002 1:34:52 PM |
| BobSmith - Evolutionary, though... Office introduced the hiding menus, did it not? |
| #11 By 1845 (12.254.162.111) at 10/21/2002 1:51:59 PM |
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Ya, the hidden menu thing and the new (well 3 years old now) FileDialogs were introduced with Office 2000. When I said enhancements to the UI to mean the same as evolution to the UI. The only revolution to the UI in the last 10 years IMPO is the change that came with Windows 95.
sodablue, did you catch the ending comments on the thread from last night? |
| #12 By 61 (65.32.170.1) at 10/21/2002 3:22:33 PM |
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Office does not contrast with other Windows apps to a great degree, maybe a couple of colors here and there, but it complies completely.
If you want an app that does not conform to ANY Windows UI standard... or any concept of decent UI design, look at Trillian and Trillian Pro. |
| #13 By 61 (65.32.170.1) at 10/21/2002 4:34:16 PM |
| It does translate it properly, simply, PowerPoint 2000 doesn't support many things that are in Powerpoint 2002, which was a great improvement. |
| #14 By 6859 (204.71.100.216) at 10/21/2002 4:40:07 PM |
| Don't forget he wants to DOUBLE the revenue that MS gets from Office. That means we are in for the marketing campaign from hell. You thought Windows XP was hyped? You ain't seen nothing yet. |
| #15 By 135 (208.50.201.48) at 10/21/2002 9:50:32 PM |
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If they expect to sell more copies of Office 11, they will need to lower the price. No amount of new features will convince people to upgrade beyond Office XP.
BobSmith - I caught a few of the comments, I think... you need to stop posting so I can catch up! |
| #16 By 1845 (12.254.162.111) at 10/21/2002 10:07:45 PM |
|
The important part in reference to you thinking that that thread had allowed me to pass you was:
You're a little bit late sodablue. I passed you at 10/18/2002 3:13:47 AM. My goal was to be the first one to 2500 posts, which I reached at 10/18/2002 3:21:31 AM. That last day I had to do 190 posts, but I still made it. Also, together with n4cer, there are two other records I claim. The longest running thread - 30 days. The longest thread - 737 posts. The longest is now 31 days and 342 posts. This post was edited by BobSmith on Monday, October 21, 2002 at 22:08. |
| #17 By 3339 (67.119.193.2) at 10/21/2002 10:23:27 PM |
| Seriously... why is it such big deal to kill the 255 character limit in Excel headers? I've been asking for it since Excel got headers (never mind that each of the Office apps has different "headers"). I would consider that a feature of a "modern" Excel, and maybe they'd convince me then the suite was worth $200, but that's it tops. Stop adding sh!t and fix the problems that have existed since day freakin' one, Raikes. My word documents don't need video conferencing and I wouldn't buy it from you in the first place--they could use a modern style implementation though for CHRIST'S FSCKING SAKE! |
| #18 By 61 (65.32.170.1) at 10/21/2002 10:45:50 PM |
| Bob, now I'm one of the original members and still have less than a thousand, and often times post several posts a day.... |
| #19 By 1845 (12.254.162.111) at 10/21/2002 10:59:59 PM |
| I've been a member over a year (373 days) and I average about 7 posts per day. |
| #20 By 135 (208.50.201.48) at 10/22/2002 1:59:48 AM |
| What are these threads that last for weeks on end? I only see the ones off the front page I guess. |
| #21 By 1845 (12.254.162.111) at 10/22/2002 2:45:42 AM |
| Favorites, bro, favorites. |
| #22 By 61 (65.32.170.1) at 10/22/2002 4:19:44 PM |
| Or just hit search, type in the date that you want, and there comes all the news articles for that day.... although, it is a bit flawed, it shows the same news articles over and over... you have to see it to know what I mean. |
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