Microsoft has Vista and Office 2007 on the Launchpad
Microsoft has sent the final versions of both Windows Vista and Office 2007 to manufacturing in the last week. While it may not immediately seem important to you, these are milestones that have been a long time coming.
The last new version of Windows was Windows XP which shipped in 2002. So it will be almost five years between versions. In that same timeframe, Corel has released three versions of the CorelDRAW Graphics suite. Viruses, spam and phishing are non-stop intruders into our lives. Not to mention all of the new computer hardware out there. A new Windows is a very good thing and it has taken Microsoft much longer than expected to get it finished.
So should you upgrade? That is a complex question that I won't even try to answer right now. I have installed the last release candidate on one of my machines and it has run well so far. There are definitely some issues that need to be worked out, but many of them deal with drivers for my hardware and software that isn't ready for Vista.
How does CorelDRAW X3 work on Vista? It works darned well. Again, there are a few glitches. I'm pretty sure some of the things I have experienced are due to a beta version of Wacom's tablet driver rather than CorelDRAW. Others will be addressed by Corel in a service pack that should arrive before Vista hits the stores.
Now let's move on to Office 2007. Office is certainly the most used Office suite in the world. Unfortunately, Microsoft found that many users found no reason to upgrade to the last couple of versions. I've been using the beta of Office 2007 exclusively since last May. I've stumbled onto a few bugs, but nothing that has prevented me from getting work done and certainly no data loss.
The obvious change is the "ribbon" interface that replaces the menus you find in almost all software. This requires adjustment in the way you use the software. While it may hurt your productivity in the short term, I believe it will increase your productivity in the long run. If you are a CorelDRAW user, just think of it as a Property Bar with three rows of icons instead of one.
Where I think most of you will find an improvement in Office 2007 is in the look of the documents and presentations you create. The templates have been redesigned to look a lot more professional and a lot less cheesy. There will still be people who create horrible presentations in PowerPoint 2007, but it will be a lot more difficult to create presentations that aren't graphically pleasing.
That leads me to another big announcement. My next book will be titled PowerPoint 2007 Unleashed. I am currently working on the project with my co-author, Chris Hakim. Like the CorelDRAW X3 Unleashed book, it will be an ebook featuring both written material in a PDF file and tutorial movies. We have yet to set a date for completion, but it should be sometime in the spring. If you are going to be moving to PowerPoint 2007, you'll want this book.
The last new version of Windows was Windows XP which shipped in 2002. So it will be almost five years between versions. In that same timeframe, Corel has released three versions of the CorelDRAW Graphics suite. Viruses, spam and phishing are non-stop intruders into our lives. Not to mention all of the new computer hardware out there. A new Windows is a very good thing and it has taken Microsoft much longer than expected to get it finished.
So should you upgrade? That is a complex question that I won't even try to answer right now. I have installed the last release candidate on one of my machines and it has run well so far. There are definitely some issues that need to be worked out, but many of them deal with drivers for my hardware and software that isn't ready for Vista.
How does CorelDRAW X3 work on Vista? It works darned well. Again, there are a few glitches. I'm pretty sure some of the things I have experienced are due to a beta version of Wacom's tablet driver rather than CorelDRAW. Others will be addressed by Corel in a service pack that should arrive before Vista hits the stores.
Now let's move on to Office 2007. Office is certainly the most used Office suite in the world. Unfortunately, Microsoft found that many users found no reason to upgrade to the last couple of versions. I've been using the beta of Office 2007 exclusively since last May. I've stumbled onto a few bugs, but nothing that has prevented me from getting work done and certainly no data loss.
The obvious change is the "ribbon" interface that replaces the menus you find in almost all software. This requires adjustment in the way you use the software. While it may hurt your productivity in the short term, I believe it will increase your productivity in the long run. If you are a CorelDRAW user, just think of it as a Property Bar with three rows of icons instead of one.
Where I think most of you will find an improvement in Office 2007 is in the look of the documents and presentations you create. The templates have been redesigned to look a lot more professional and a lot less cheesy. There will still be people who create horrible presentations in PowerPoint 2007, but it will be a lot more difficult to create presentations that aren't graphically pleasing.
That leads me to another big announcement. My next book will be titled PowerPoint 2007 Unleashed. I am currently working on the project with my co-author, Chris Hakim. Like the CorelDRAW X3 Unleashed book, it will be an ebook featuring both written material in a PDF file and tutorial movies. We have yet to set a date for completion, but it should be sometime in the spring. If you are going to be moving to PowerPoint 2007, you'll want this book.
posted by Foster D. Coburn III at
8:30 PM
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