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Microsoft Office 2010 Initial Impressions

Last week I finally decided to try Office 2010 and while this isn’t a complete review I thought I would provide my initial impressions. I installed the software on my primary computer with an expectation of seeing how difficult it would be to transition from Microsoft Office 2007 to Microsoft Office 2010—this is a working test and as such I consider it a day in the life of the average manager rather than pushing the limits of the new software since I think this is the most valuable way to test usability and transition.

My first and most prominent observation is Office 2010 hasn’t changed that much from Office 2007. There is nothing earthshattering and nothing shocking, like the transition to the ribbon in 2007, and this is great news for those looking to upgrade! The biggest change is the ribbon is now ubiquitous, including Outlook, and it is used rationally and sensibly in Outlook to make the software easier to use.

Equally important to the lack of major changes in the software is the fact that the file formats have not changed from Office 2007 to Office 2010 so in my testing it is fully backward compatible with my coworkers running the prior version. This point has made it much easier to make the transition individually without worrying that I won’t be able to interact efficiently with my coworkers.

Among the biggest changes to Office 2010 was an overhaul of Outlook which makes it much more intuitive:

• Microsoft transitioned the menu from the traditional menu that was still in use in Outlook 2007 to the ribbon that became the standard in most other Microsoft Office applications on the same. For those who are running Office 2007 this is an easy transition and it simplified the menu layout so more functions are displayed in the menu context.
• Another great function that has been added to Outlook is the “Quick Steps”. This is a wizard driven macro builder that is similar to the mail rules but is intended to run “on-click”. One of the most popular blog posts on my site is Outlook Macro: Flag and Move Message to Follow-up Folder and Quick Steps allowed me to eliminate the need for code and quickly enhance the functionality of what I was using the macro to accomplish. Without a doubt I would say this is the single most powerful feature added to Outlook.
• The second most helpful function I have found in Outlook is the implementation of “Conversations” within the folder view. This is similar to grouping a view by subject in earlier version but the feature now allows you to consolidate a conversation regardless of which folder it appears within. By using conversation you can easily consolidate the never ending e-mail strings that frequently fill out inboxes into a single view only showing the most recent—this allows the user skip the messages leading up the most recent without looking at the interim messages.
• As a fan of using “Getting Things Done” and making my storage process simple I have become a fan of using full text indexing and search features in Outlook and Windows I have found with Outlook 2010 the way that the search functions are organized they are more intuitive to use and find information.

After my first week of use one of the questions that come to mind is, “Is the upgrade worth the money?” My response would need to be, “It depends.”

I would say that if you are a power use of Office, or more specifically Outlook, it is probably worth the upgrade to take advantage of the new Outlook functions. This is especially true you are a GTD’er who uses flags and categories extensively. As radical as the suggestion sounds I find the new functions in Outlook would likely pay for the upgrade alone.

The next question that comes to mind, as an IT executive, is, “Is a corporate wide upgrade worthwhile?” My response would need to be, “It depends.”

In my experience the average corporate user is not a power user and doesn’t use their tools effectively to begin with—in fact the average user probably doesn’t extend their use of Outlook beyond e-mail into the contacts or calendar functions. If you have already made your corporate standard Office 2007 most uses will not find the upgrade compelling enough to bother but Office 2007 and Office 2010 are very close in functionality, look, and feel so they can probably live happily in the same environment. If you have not yet upgraded to Office 2007 the upgrade may be worthwhile since Microsoft has proven the ribbon (one of the single most disruptive changes in Office 2007) is here to stay for at least one more version.

The bottom line for me is the verdict is still out if Office 2010 is worth the upgrade for the average user or average company currently running Office 2007 since very little changed on the surface.

Technorati Tags: GTD, Microsoft, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Office 2007, Microsoft Office 2010, Microsoft Outlook, Office 2007, Office 2010, Outlook 2010, review

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