Healthy Living Books Software

Rating: - Office 2007 Downgrade
It's just awful. I have been using office suits for years and this one is dreadful. Slow to load, too many graphics, not intuitive. From a compatibility point of view it doesn't use existing macros and templates, it has a new file format which thankfully can be overwritten but worst of all it messes up Outlook Express (unless you happen to be French). During the installation it installs a new English dictionary which is incompatible with Outlook Express which then defaults to French - c'est terrible (which ironically means brilliant in French). The new version of Outlook also changed my phone speed dials so for example my daughter's mobile phone speed dial was changed to her house line. Should have a safety warning - INSTALL AT YOUR OWN RISK - take a look at openoffice.org it's free and probably more compatible with earlier versions of MS Office.

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Rating: - A pleasure to use
I have used Office 97 for years and know it inside out and was ready to learn a more up-to-date package. It's to easy to stick with what you know and then suddenly find yourself left behind. I read all the reviews and they seem to be split 50/50. I am really pleased with this new version and am throughly enjoying learning my way round. Everything is there, plus more and it looks so nice! I would definately recommend it.

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Rating: - Very Good
Just upgraded from office XP, the new interface is a bit of a shock a first but once you've got used to it it's a lot more intuitive than the old one, just takes a bit of time to falimiarize yourself with where all the commands are now. Offers a number of useful features over the old version, though OneNote doesnt seem to have much use.

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Rating: - Call me old fashioned
You may call me old fashioned, many do, but why must things be 'fixed/improved/funked up for the kids' when they weren't broken in the first place. The program itself is very good, Excel is still the best spreadsheet there is. Unfortunately, having used it for the last ten years in one version or another I much prefer the old image and menu system, I knew what I was doing with it, now I feel lost. Please microsoft issue an update so that all us oldies can have the front end that we know and love. I would have prefered to have had Access instead of Notes too. But, if like me, you can't live without Excel then get it you must.

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Rating: - A Waste of Money
I bought this to upgrade from Office 2000. This upgrade is a waste of money. It is extremely frustrating for the experienced user. The familiar menus have all but disappeared. The Ribbon, which has replaced the menus is impossible to modify. Old macros, styles and auto text that were created in previous versions, are no longer supported. You have to re-create them. I cannot find or make anything a default. The outline numbers lists cannot be changed, even when I try to make a new style - the numbers are all over the place. you cannot change the date default format - when you do, you end up with your own date and another date format following it i.e. 23rd September 2007-09-23. In summary, this is an abomination! I now have to use the space bar after the date before I press RETURN. Stupid, or what?

I have written to Microsoft Head Office, in London, to ask for a refund, so I can purchase Office 2003 instead.