OT- Microsoft Office 2010 or Microsoft Office 2007?

[aznkillabeezZz]

Which one is better? Which one should I get?

Do you guys know how Office 2003 was incompatible to 2007 vice versa sometimes. That annoyed the hell out of me. Do I have to be worried about getting 2010 and it being incompatible with 2007?

I rather get 2007 because it's what most colleges are using right now. But I DON't feel like paying double when the time has come when companies change to 2010.. Especially for some OVERPRICEd word processing software that gets upgraded every other year.

So what should I choose?

ps: I have Office 2003 which is why i'm in this dilemma.

Advise please.

[MaxRider]

Use OpenOffice if you don't want to deal with Microsoft. I don't remember having problem open 2003 version file in 2007. I do have some problem open 2007 file in 2003. Always the case when you trying to use newer version in older version. Go with 2010. My company is still using 2003 and we are skipping 2007 go straight to 2010. I'm just using my company software. If you know someone who's still in school (college), you can ask them to get you the student version (at discounted price).

[aznkillabeezZz]

Well opening a 2003 version on 2007 is fine most of the time, but the formatting and font (sometimes) are a bit different in 2007 so the header and footer and fonts always mess up. And the dimensions and format are different from 2003, so that messes up. And apart from that, Powerpoint and Excel configurations of 2007 are alot different as well. I do prefer the 2007 version from the 2003 one but it would suck if i get 2010 and the formatting is different too.

[TMU]

I have both 2003 and 2007 versions. Aside from the new interface, there's absolute nothing special about Office 2007. Well to be fair, Outlook 2007 is significant step forward, but if you're just a Word/Excel/Powerpoint user, I don't see a reason to purchase Office 2007.

Like Max said, go with Office 2010.

[PocketRockets]

Yeah. All the functions are still there, they just hid them in 2007 and you have to click like 3 or 4 tabs to do certain functions initially. But if you customize the toolbars you can get it just about the way you like it on previous versions of office. I'm sure 2010 is the same way but I haven't played with it so IDK.

And the formatting thing, that will always occur as you go in between software. I use iWork and it always messes up when i open office docs. =/ Even opening docs between Office for PC and Mac gives you those formatting problems. It's just the nature of the beast.

[MaxRider]

I only use 2007 if I'm working on some work doc at home. No problem open them up back at work with 2003. I don't print them out so I'm not sure about the formating. Mostly used are word and excel. Don't use powerpoint much.

[MigrainePatrol]

dude the patch to make 2003 and 2007 compatible has been out for years. Go to the office website or google it. Sometimes, but in not all cases you can simple drop the x in the file extension. .docx to .doc.

[moofs]

as you're just in college, what's wrong with Google docs and/or openoffice?

[aznkillabeezZz]

I need Microsoft Office because it has powerpoint and excel. But if its just a word processor, i can use open office.

[Joseph17]

I need Microsoft Office because it has powerpoint and excel. But if its just a word processor, i can use open office.

Doesn't open office have something similar to that? I made a few presentations on open office and I was able to open it on powerpoint at my school. I was also able to view my teacher's ppt presentations on open office. I don't know about excel, but I know that open office definitely has something similar to it.

[M4P]

I need Microsoft Office because it has powerpoint and excel. But if its just a word processor, i can use open office.

Open Office has both.

[jove9]

I've been using Office 2007 at work for a few years now, and over the last year I was invited to the Office 2010 beta. Here's what's different between the two versions:

Office 2010 replaces the logo button that was in 2007 on the top left with a traditional "file" tab. Microsoft found that that logo button was a bit confusing for some users.

Office 2010 has added functionality and user enhancements in all of its programs. One example that I've found especially convenient is improved image editing built directly into PowerPoint and Word. Yes, older versions had image editing, but not like this.

Finally, Office 2010 makes general stability fixes and other minor perks to improve on the general 2007 framework. As such, it's not as radical a leap from 2007 as 2007 was from 2003, but if you're in the market for a new Microsoft office suite I'd highly recommend it.

Of course, if you don't want to pay money for an office suite, people have already recommended Open Office. Zoho Office and Google Docs are also fairly popular free alternatives.

EDIT: 2010 : 2007 :: 2003 : 2000. 2003 was a better product overall than 2000, but it was still very similar.

[aznkillabeezZz]

Well the reason I had some issues with the formatting was because I had to do some assignments for excel, publisher and ppt and i was given a set of instructions under the Microsoft Office 2007 format. And it's not just the basic functions that you can easily do with both versions. They gave me specific instructions for the office 2007 format to create a letter, flyer, or use different kinds of formulas, graphs and tables on excel. I know all versions can create those documents but there's different tabs, toolbars and functions.