Final Results And Overall Mark  

Well we have reached the end of the preview. Here are my final comments, notes and grades for Office 12 Beta 1.

Final Comments

It’s obvious I have only covered the tip of the ice-berg here and I could go on and on about the product, but the preview would never end. I covered some of things that interested me in this introductory preview and focused on things I experimented with. The user interface in the core applications is a bold step forward, but its necessary, 1,500 commands and a plethora of toolbars has pushed the antiquated interface to the limit and it’s just a matter of time until the Office team makes it standard across the entire modules in the Office System.

It’s an innovative interface yes, but will the benefits outweigh the changes? That’s for users to decide. Yes this early code does have glitches and performance issues left to be ironed out; right now the focus is on reliability and stability. The BETA 2 release should provide us with an early glimpse of what’s in store in the final product. My personal say is getting used to interface should not be a problem for many since the familiar tools are organized in ways that makes it convenient for the user for and new tools make the interface more intelligent and more aware of what the user is doing presenting the right tools for the Task at hand.