Primera Vista at Vista
When I took Spanish lessons in junior high, we used a textbook entitled Primera Vista. If I’m not mistaken, that translated into "First Look." And, although it’s been around for a little while, I have recently got my first look at Microsoft Vista.
Given all the grousing about it, I was not expecting to like it, but I do. (I like it. I really like it.)
just what do I like about it?
A friend described it as "lighter and airier," and I couldn’t have said it better.
For starters, the icons are better rendered, and the general look and feel is more attractive.
I also like the Office 2007 tools, which are moving away from the "old" drop down menu structure to an interface that is more graphical and - should I dare utter the word? - intuitive.
I will admit that the first time I used Word 2007, I was tearing my hair out and rending my garments.
What had they done to Save As? Where was Word Count?
When I couldn’t find Word Count, I was sitting there swearing to myself, "How the @(#*)(*@# do they expect people to figure this out. Are we supposed to count the words one-by-one." Naturally, I was doing a brief description for inclusion in a catalog, and all I wanted to know was when I hit the 40 word limit.
The beauty of adopting Office 2007 after it’s been out a while is that there are plenty of people out there who have already figured out where Word Count is.
All you need to do to tap their expertise is Google "Word 2007 Word Count".
(It’s on the bottom left hand side of the document screen, not in it’s old familiar spot on the Tools menu.)
At first, each time I came across something that was no longer where it had been for years, I just googled up an answer. Gradually, as I got used to the new interface, I could pretty much figure things out for myself.
Some things are particularly good. I especially like the new Table area. Like everything else in the Office 2007 application, it’s got an easy to follow, much more graphical way to figure out what’s going on.
This is not meant to be an exhaustive review of Vista - just a word of encouragement to those who fear adopting it.
Yes, there are some nettlesome areas within Vista - that box that keeps popping up to ask some inane question about the Information Bar - but all in all, I’d give it pretty high marks for look and feel.
I’m sure that it’s not quite Apple-like, but for those who’ve been using Windows for years, it strikes me as something that’s going to turn out to be a great leap forward equivalent to Windows 3.0.
I don’t think I would move to Vista if I had to switch operating systems, but if it’s pre-installed on a new machine, I would recommend resisting the urge to fall back on the known quantity of XP and Office 2003. Vista is the future for those of us who just live in Bill’s World - even if, as I’m told, the underlying applications have been mostly given a new coat of paint as opposed to a truly new rewrite.
And while we’re on the subject of Apple, I’ve got two things to say.
One, I really like the looks of that new skinny-mini laptop that Steve Jobs showed off a MacWorld. (Maybe next time.)
And, when it comes to switching over to Apple-land: the other day, I was talking to my brother-in-law about the recent transition my sister had made to an Apple laptop. We concluded that Apple was far more intuitive if you were using a computer for the first time, but if - like us - you’d been using Microsoft/Windows for a couple of decades, plus or minus, Microsoft will start to seem intuitive you.
Interesting way to look at things, and it was one of my prime motivations for not transitioning to a Mac when I bought my latest laptop: I just didn’t have the time or interest to learn a new way of doing things, no matter how natively intuitive and wondrous it was.
So, while Vista has its quirks, I wouldn’t be too afraid to take the plunge.
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About 2 years ago, I started a new job and to my surprise found an Apple computer on my desk. There were a few gotchas as I got up to speed, most notably realizing how much I’d come to depend on having a 2 button mouse, but actually the transition for a longtime Windows user was quite seamless. These days I’m comfortable with either platform, and the next computer I purchase for home use will probably be a Mac.
My husband the MS fan has a copy of Vista but will shortly be reverting back to Windows XP; even after a year there are just too many hardware and software incompatibilities and gotchas.
I do wonder how much of the we-hate-Vista stuff is a vocal minority. My very brief looks at it suggest that it’s not that different (in terms of user interactions) than XP.
I just go the new Mac Office Suite (2008) and I like the new Word a lot. This week I had to venture into PowerPoint and it’s also quite nice.
Excel, however, I find is a complete disaster; not only are tools for chart options scattered all over the place, making it very tedious to work with them, I find it plotting chart data in the wrong place. It’s just bad.
This time around, instead of making the Windows and Mac versions identical, they did some rearranging to make the Mac version extremely Mac-like (which it is, and which is good). So maybe all of this is better in 2007; what’s your experience with Excel been?
Just a big FYI…
Vista and Office 2007 are in no way related, yet your review makes it appear they are one and the same. For example, you spend the first half of the review writing about Office 2007, then say “This is not meant to be an exhaustive review of Vista - just a word of encouragement to those who fear adopting it.”
Windows is an Operating system. Office 2007 is an application suite that will run on Vista or XP. Office 2007 on XP looks just like Office 2007 on Vista — same ribbon, icons, interface, everything.
Also, they are both completely re-written from the core up. There is no “new coat of paint” involved.
Regards,
Bill
Bill - Thanks for your comment. I do know the difference between an OS and an app suite, but was just lumping them in together because for me it was a lump-in experience: I got a new laptop with Vista and Office 2007. And I didn’t know that Office was re-done from the core-up, thanks for that info. (This was also not meant to be a real “review” - just some impressions.)
Lux - I’ve heard that when Vista is native on a machine, as it was on mine, there tend to be few if any problems, but that when people have loaded it on to a machine running XP, they tend to have issues.
John - With you, I really like PPT and Word in Office - especially Word. Have done very little with Excel,but it sounds like it won’t be that much fun.