'I'm Julie Larson-Green, and Windows 7 was my idea'

Keltik THC

Keltik THC

Keltik THC

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technolo...e-Larson-Green-and-Windows-7-was-my-idea.html

not sure if any of you guys caught this article yesterday.

Obviously this is just Microsoft continuing their advertisement campaign and our press jumping on the 'women know best' bandwagon because Win7 was not this ladies idea, i believe its was the idea of the millions of consumers who complained about how crap vista was/is, i mean Win7 is really just a fixed version of Vista but thats not my complaint.

i mean this lady can claim whatever she wants... but what gets me is this part:


"She eventually reapplied for a role at Microsoft, working on the Visual C++ team and Internet Explorer before joining the Office team, where she took the bold step of replacing the menu-driven interface with context-specific "ribbons". Consumers loved it, so it was little surprise when Microsoft asked her to lead the Windows 7 project."



HUH!?? can any of you guys out there who use or have used Office 2007 tell me if you 'love' the ribbons toolbars in office 2007?

Pretty much everyone at my work picked up a copy of Office 2007 for like £10 through MS's corporate offers and EVERY single one has said how annoying/ridiculous/retarded the ribbons are.

I mean, office 2003, in word, you want to create a table, you click the insert table box, one click. You want to add bullet points, you click the bullet point button. Office 2007 you have to click like 2 or 3 icons and dig until you get the option to select what you want. I mean i find myself literally on a hunt for the button im looking for, is it under 'references', 'page layout', 'insert'?

i just wanted to vent my frustration, how can ANYONE say they love the ribbons in office 2007 i have no idea, i could not hate them anymore than i do... i infact went back to 2003 because its SO MUCH MORE USER FRIENDLY! and every single person i have spoken to about this agrees, just wanted to see what you guys though of the Ribbons? if you 'love' them or despise them.
 
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And breath.....

However i'd have to agree that I much prefer the Office 2003 menus compared to Office 2007. I've only just installed 2007 which i bought via a work promotion very much like you've said.
 
I like the ribbons. They take some getting use to but after a while their much better than before. I seem to recall a fair few people on here also like the ribbons.
 
I think the bulk of the forum likes the ribbons. I do. Sure, it's more clicks, but it's less carpy menus which is the main thing.

If you don't like it, that's your problem I guess.
 
The ribbons are great. An example of proper usability driven design.

They just take a bit of getting used to. That's all.
 
The ribbons are very good and well laid out, the problem is being so used to the old system it takes time to become used to the ribbons.

If the ribbons were there from the start you'd love it, and never understand how the old system worked.
 
Keltik THC said:
[i believe its was the idea of the millions of consumers who complained about how crap vista was/is, i mean Win7 is really just a fixed version of Vista but thats not my complaint.
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Win7 was in the pipeline long before Vista was released, so I don't think it could have been the 'idea' of millions of consumers who complained about Vista.

Also, there's nothing wrong with Vista, and even back at release there weren't nearly as many issues as some people claim.

The reason Vista was derided by many users, was because of the poor driver support for programs that were well supported under XP. The change from Vista to Win7 is much smaller, and so the programs which are now well supported in Vista, are much better supported by Win7.
 
Ribbons are awesome, you don't even have to think or dig deep to find anything.

My mum, who is usually kinda scared of pc change, she's been using PC's since Windows 3.11, with MS Works, and has gone from Office 97 > 2000 > 2003 > 2007.

She switched to 2007, the same time as Windows 7.

"Why didn't they make it like this before?!" was her question :).
 
The Ribbon interface is the BEST upgrade MS have made to Office for a long time.
We rolled Office 2007 out here at work and only 2 people got upset with the new interface and even they, after a little time, now admit Ribbon is best.

Thankfully the Ribbon interface is here to stay and this is a good thing.
 
I think the MS Office 2007 ribbons were a very bold but correct step in the right direction for the evolution of the Windows UI.

Some in the HCI world argue that Microsoft was more bold than any other major software developer in radically changing their previosely successful design by actually embracing some of their more radical ideas in the ribbon concept.

Personally I love it, I think Office 2007 is far superior to 2003 due to the ribbon. I also like the new Paint and even Wordpad in Windows 7 because of their ribbons.

If she really was resonsible for convincing ppl high up at MS about Office 2007 then she absolutely deserved to take control of launching Windows 7 and tbh, given Windows 7 is just a slightly tarted up version of Vista (lets be honest for most ppl Windows 7 really isn't much of a change from Vista, certainly wasn't for me I use both daily and both feel basically the same for all the things I do, though I never had a problem with Vista) she has done an amazing job of getting the whole industry behind the product.

Clearly someone who is very good at her job!
 
The problem with the ribbon is its so different to the old menu driven interface which has been a de-facto standard for decades now, having used anything for that long will always be met with stubborn resistance.
Its taken me a good 2 years to actually get used to it, but it doesn't help that the users i support all use 2003.
 
I'm slowly getting used to the ribbons. However changing the keyboard shortcuts is a pain because I have Office 2007 at home and Office 2003 at work. What's even worse (for me) is I'm starting to use OpenOffice at home on my netbook. :eek:
 
Happy that Office:mac 2008 doesn't have ribbons.. at work I'd been a use of Office 2003 on XP along with Visio.. it worked and wasn't annoying..

The simple fact is that business users know 2003 backwards and it does the majority of tasks. Ribbons are seen as a change for change's sake and isn't worth the impact on productivity.
 
Really like the ribbons, much more efficient IMO
Although it does get annoying when using both versions (2003 and 2007) daily
 
Really hate the ribbons, been using the classic menu since ~93 I just can't find a damn thing in them, hence I went and got the add on that turns it back to the classic menu system

MS should have at least given people the option rather than forcing them :s
 
feriso said:
Really hate the ribbons, been using the classic menu since ~93 I just can't find a damn thing in them, hence I went and got the add on that turns it back to the classic menu system

MS should have at least given people the option rather than forcing them :s
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There is good genuine scientifically proven user accessiblity in the design of the Office (and now Windows) ribbon interface. It may seem OTT, but that ribbon interface is a reasonable take on what the HCI research communities have been pushing for nearly a decade.

Of course people who are used to the old system will find the new one unusual for a while, it all depends what type of mentality the person has as to whether they embrace the change or see it simply as a chore too far to be bothered trying out something new.

However, legacy support is something that dogs the computer industry, if you give the option to people to use the old way, invariably a number always will, even if the new way is provably better. So this gives us two scenarios:

1) Support every single design decision ever made in the past as well as adding new ones and give people the choice to revert to the old systems. Clearly thi is un-workable, it would make software horribly bloated simply to pander to those who do not wish to move on.

2) Make a decision to progress the product and remove legacy support. This will always recieve derision from those who do not yet wish to move on and indeed it may lose you custom.

So the usual choice is a mixture of both, legacy support is left in for a generation or two. What MS did with Office 2007 that was quite unusual was to go for option 1 without ever trying the mixture of option 1 and 2. Personally I like the attitude and its why, when asked by people "what have MS ever done that is good" (and lets be honest they have basically shaped the PC industry as we know it, but thats a different argument), I cite Office 2007. It's a genuinely good product.
 
NickK said:
Happy that Office:mac 2008 doesn't have ribbons.. at work I'd been a use of Office 2003 on XP along with Visio.. it worked and wasn't annoying..

The simple fact is that business users know 2003 backwards and it does the majority of tasks. Ribbons are seen as a change for change's sake and isn't worth the impact on productivity.
Click to expand...

But the Ribbon increases productivity!

All of our users lost maybe a morning of work while they figured out the new interface.
Those not wanting to "go it alone" we offered a couple of hours training.
So it's possible every single member of staff lost a morning's worth of "productivity".

However they now all know the new interface, like it and save time in tasks - they have easily made back their "lost morning".
Also support calls have fallen, becuase user's are finding the features they need - so helpdesk are having to deal with less calls.

Basically Ribbon has been all win.
 
stoofa said:
The Ribbon interface is the BEST upgrade MS have made to Office for a long time.
We rolled Office 2007 out here at work and only 2 people got upset with the new interface and even they, after a little time, now admit Ribbon is best.

Thankfully the Ribbon interface is here to stay and this is a good thing.
Click to expand...

I totally agree. The ribbon is one is the best innovations MS have done to a flagship product. I look forward to the release of Office 2010 where Outlook gets the ribbon.
 
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