Usual Microsoft rubbish, 04 Sep 2008
My partner, a teacher, has just started at a new school. After being informed that the school uses Office 2007, she insisted that I purchase a copy for our home PC. As a software engineer with significant experience with Microsoft products, a tried in vain to persuade her that OpenOffice is not only free but also a superior product.

Microsoft Office arrived in the office post about an hour ago. So far, five people (all reasonably intelligent) have tried and failed to open the plastic box containing the software. When I get home, I will explain to my partner that she'll find the new software about as user-friendly as the box it came in.

I've given Office one-star because I've used it before and, as a software engineer with at least 10 years commercial experience, I know how bad it is.

Hesitant before purchase but now very pleased, 02 Sep 2008
Having the need to source new software for new computer and upgrade others I searched the reviews on Amazon but was worried to see some not so very positive comments about the Home and Student edition. However need and positive past experience with MS Office products overcame concerns and I ordered it. The good news is I had nothing to worry about, it loaded perfectly and is running just fine. Powerpoint is there in its entirety.
One very happy customer and good value for money.

Microsoft office 2007, 21 Aug 2008
I purchased this product over amazon last week for £69.99 and now its gone down to £59.99 I can't belive it, so not fair. This office 2007 is ok the only problem I had with it is finding half of the things I need to use, as its all it sections of folders. If your saving documents make sure to save it with the drop down box of microsoft 1997-2003 as then you can open up this document on other ps which do not have office 2007. Overall its a good product.

Appalling, 16 Aug 2008
I've spent the past four months trying to write a book using Word 2007 - It has proved to be one of the most irritating and complicated pieces of software that I've ever had the misfortune to use.



Brilliant so far - an excellent upgrade, 06 Aug 2008
I have just received Office 2007 Home & Student and Outlook 2007 to upgrade from 2003 - and after reading some of the reviews here I was initially a bit wary. Thank goodness I took no notice. It's a vast improvement and I have adapted to the new format almost instantly.

First - I decided to upgrade over 2003 because unless you are committed to a new software upgrade you are tempted to go back to the familiar. Or so I thought. In any case - running both does have some difficulties unless you make some registry changes (so I've read) so I opted for the complete upgrade. Installation went without a hitch and all my data was there in Outlook - safe and sound.

Now to the infamous ribbon - it's easy to learn (I've only had the software a few hours and I'm using it as if I'd had it forever) and I do find it more intuitive. I had to look up how to compare documents (I do a lot of marking for students and so comparing revised assignments is a major task for me) and the new version is heavenly. My styles transferred across - and virtually everything I've needed to do (insert pictures, add a border to an image, use a spreadsheet, send e-mails, etc) has gone without a hitch. In many cases I found I'd done it without even thinking about it.

My concession to the old way of working was to add all my favourites to the Quick Access Toolbar (I didn't realise from the reviews that you can add anything at all to this) so I can still one-click on the things I use a lot - just like in 2003. Frankly I cannot understand why anyone would go back to an earlier version after trying this. And the price is sweet.

I am looking forward to exploring even more delights. I wish I had upgraded sooner.

Usual Microsoft rubbish, 04 Sep 2008
My partner, a teacher, has just started at a new school. After being informed that the school uses Office 2007, she insisted that I purchase a copy for our home PC. As a software engineer with significant experience with Microsoft products, a tried in vain to persuade her that OpenOffice is not only free but also a superior product.

Microsoft Office arrived in the office post about an hour ago. So far, five people (all reasonably intelligent) have tried and failed to open the plastic box containing the software. When I get home, I will explain to my partner that she'll find the new software about as user-friendly as the box it came in.

I've given Office one-star because I've used it before and, as a software engineer with at least 10 years commercial experience, I know how bad it is.

Hesitant before purchase but now very pleased, 02 Sep 2008
Having the need to source new software for new computer and upgrade others I searched the reviews on Amazon but was worried to see some not so very positive comments about the Home and Student edition. However need and positive past experience with MS Office products overcame concerns and I ordered it. The good news is I had nothing to worry about, it loaded perfectly and is running just fine. Powerpoint is there in its entirety.
One very happy customer and good value for money.

Microsoft office 2007, 21 Aug 2008
I purchased this product over amazon last week for £69.99 and now its gone down to £59.99 I can't belive it, so not fair. This office 2007 is ok the only problem I had with it is finding half of the things I need to use, as its all it sections of folders. If your saving documents make sure to save it with the drop down box of microsoft 1997-2003 as then you can open up this document on other ps which do not have office 2007. Overall its a good product.

Appalling, 16 Aug 2008
I've spent the past four months trying to write a book using Word 2007 - It has proved to be one of the most irritating and complicated pieces of software that I've ever had the misfortune to use.



Brilliant so far - an excellent upgrade, 06 Aug 2008
I have just received Office 2007 Home & Student and Outlook 2007 to upgrade from 2003 - and after reading some of the reviews here I was initially a bit wary. Thank goodness I took no notice. It's a vast improvement and I have adapted to the new format almost instantly.

First - I decided to upgrade over 2003 because unless you are committed to a new software upgrade you are tempted to go back to the familiar. Or so I thought. In any case - running both does have some difficulties unless you make some registry changes (so I've read) so I opted for the complete upgrade. Installation went without a hitch and all my data was there in Outlook - safe and sound.

Now to the infamous ribbon - it's easy to learn (I've only had the software a few hours and I'm using it as if I'd had it forever) and I do find it more intuitive. I had to look up how to compare documents (I do a lot of marking for students and so comparing revised assignments is a major task for me) and the new version is heavenly. My styles transferred across - and virtually everything I've needed to do (insert pictures, add a border to an image, use a spreadsheet, send e-mails, etc) has gone without a hitch. In many cases I found I'd done it without even thinking about it.

My concession to the old way of working was to add all my favourites to the Quick Access Toolbar (I didn't realise from the reviews that you can add anything at all to this) so I can still one-click on the things I use a lot - just like in 2003. Frankly I cannot understand why anyone would go back to an earlier version after trying this. And the price is sweet.

I am looking forward to exploring even more delights. I wish I had upgraded sooner.

So Slow, 30 Sep 2008
It looks good but not the same as before so there is some relearning required. But the biggest surprise of all is that it is frustratingly slow. I have iWorks but bought this because my wife kept saying that MS office was better, but even she now admits it's not.

Only buy this if you absolutely have to, or if you have more patience than me.

Don't upgrade - VBA is off, quite slow, 12 Sep 2008
This product should have never been released. It miss a fundamental subset of Excel, VBA. Suddenly all macros stopped to work after I upgraded, and the unthinkable was correct, yes Microsoft has removed VBA, even from the help! after some online research to confirm, I removed it and re-installed 2004. This is not to mention the huge resources consumption or the new improved, or should say, ugly interface.

They should be ashamed., 05 Sep 2008
I bought this because the kids need it for school and am amazed how dreadful it is.
First of all when installed it needs a 160Mb "critical" update.
This failed using the auto update (at 155MB). I then downloaded the latest update as a stand alone file from Microsoft. This failed at it could not find any office installation on my computer!
I tried the auto update again and this time it worked, but only after a cryptic "Microsoft does not understand this error" message.
This takes it to 12.1.
I now states that a 12.1.1 update is "Critical" and is another 150MB download.
The current version is actually 12.2 so goodness knows how long it will take to get there.
I have used Macs for 10+ years and never have I seen such shoddy, slapdash work.

They should be ashamed and Mr Jobs should have a word in their ear.

I haven't used it yet and it has been a day wasted so far.
Buy anything else unless you really, really need it.
I would give it no stars if this system allowed it.

Don't upgrade, consider not buying Office, 25 Aug 2008
This new version of Office has too many problems. In addition to the slow performance the lack of compatability with other versions (meaning settings have to be changed to save files in the old format) makes day to day operation a pain. Added to that network operation on classic Office files is very uncertain.
I have tried three service pack versions. The first one wouldn't open Excel XLS files through the network, then after the next service pack it did, after the next fix pack it didn't.
Files seem to randomly get saved into last used save folders when they have been opened from somewhere else. If you want basic Word processing and spreadsheet analysis with presentation save money and buy iWork. The learning curve will be shorter than the frustration trying to make Office 2008 work. And you can install on five computers.iWork '08 Family Pack

Something i've found out too late!!, 18 Aug 2008
everyone needs to consider when choosing either iwork or office that when you receive e-mails most attachments will be office documents. so if you choose to only buy one it may be worth your while getting office for the convenience of being able to read sometimes important attachments!!!

Usual Microsoft rubbish, 04 Sep 2008
My partner, a teacher, has just started at a new school. After being informed that the school uses Office 2007, she insisted that I purchase a copy for our home PC. As a software engineer with significant experience with Microsoft products, a tried in vain to persuade her that OpenOffice is not only free but also a superior product.

Microsoft Office arrived in the office post about an hour ago. So far, five people (all reasonably intelligent) have tried and failed to open the plastic box containing the software. When I get home, I will explain to my partner that she'll find the new software about as user-friendly as the box it came in.

I've given Office one-star because I've used it before and, as a software engineer with at least 10 years commercial experience, I know how bad it is.

Hesitant before purchase but now very pleased, 02 Sep 2008
Having the need to source new software for new computer and upgrade others I searched the reviews on Amazon but was worried to see some not so very positive comments about the Home and Student edition. However need and positive past experience with MS Office products overcame concerns and I ordered it. The good news is I had nothing to worry about, it loaded perfectly and is running just fine. Powerpoint is there in its entirety.
One very happy customer and good value for money.

Microsoft office 2007, 21 Aug 2008
I purchased this product over amazon last week for £69.99 and now its gone down to £59.99 I can't belive it, so not fair. This office 2007 is ok the only problem I had with it is finding half of the things I need to use, as its all it sections of folders. If your saving documents make sure to save it with the drop down box of microsoft 1997-2003 as then you can open up this document on other ps which do not have office 2007. Overall its a good product.

Appalling, 16 Aug 2008
I've spent the past four months trying to write a book using Word 2007 - It has proved to be one of the most irritating and complicated pieces of software that I've ever had the misfortune to use.



Brilliant so far - an excellent upgrade, 06 Aug 2008
I have just received Office 2007 Home & Student and Outlook 2007 to upgrade from 2003 - and after reading some of the reviews here I was initially a bit wary. Thank goodness I took no notice. It's a vast improvement and I have adapted to the new format almost instantly.

First - I decided to upgrade over 2003 because unless you are committed to a new software upgrade you are tempted to go back to the familiar. Or so I thought. In any case - running both does have some difficulties unless you make some registry changes (so I've read) so I opted for the complete upgrade. Installation went without a hitch and all my data was there in Outlook - safe and sound.

Now to the infamous ribbon - it's easy to learn (I've only had the software a few hours and I'm using it as if I'd had it forever) and I do find it more intuitive. I had to look up how to compare documents (I do a lot of marking for students and so comparing revised assignments is a major task for me) and the new version is heavenly. My styles transferred across - and virtually everything I've needed to do (insert pictures, add a border to an image, use a spreadsheet, send e-mails, etc) has gone without a hitch. In many cases I found I'd done it without even thinking about it.

My concession to the old way of working was to add all my favourites to the Quick Access Toolbar (I didn't realise from the reviews that you can add anything at all to this) so I can still one-click on the things I use a lot - just like in 2003. Frankly I cannot understand why anyone would go back to an earlier version after trying this. And the price is sweet.

I am looking forward to exploring even more delights. I wish I had upgraded sooner.

So Slow, 30 Sep 2008
It looks good but not the same as before so there is some relearning required. But the biggest surprise of all is that it is frustratingly slow. I have iWorks but bought this because my wife kept saying that MS office was better, but even she now admits it's not.

Only buy this if you absolutely have to, or if you have more patience than me.

Don't upgrade - VBA is off, quite slow, 12 Sep 2008
This product should have never been released. It miss a fundamental subset of Excel, VBA. Suddenly all macros stopped to work after I upgraded, and the unthinkable was correct, yes Microsoft has removed VBA, even from the help! after some online research to confirm, I removed it and re-installed 2004. This is not to mention the huge resources consumption or the new improved, or should say, ugly interface.

They should be ashamed., 05 Sep 2008
I bought this because the kids need it for school and am amazed how dreadful it is.
First of all when installed it needs a 160Mb "critical" update.
This failed using the auto update (at 155MB). I then downloaded the latest update as a stand alone file from Microsoft. This failed at it could not find any office installation on my computer!
I tried the auto update again and this time it worked, but only after a cryptic "Microsoft does not understand this error" message.
This takes it to 12.1.
I now states that a 12.1.1 update is "Critical" and is another 150MB download.
The current version is actually 12.2 so goodness knows how long it will take to get there.
I have used Macs for 10+ years and never have I seen such shoddy, slapdash work.

They should be ashamed and Mr Jobs should have a word in their ear.

I haven't used it yet and it has been a day wasted so far.
Buy anything else unless you really, really need it.
I would give it no stars if this system allowed it.

Don't upgrade, consider not buying Office, 25 Aug 2008
This new version of Office has too many problems. In addition to the slow performance the lack of compatability with other versions (meaning settings have to be changed to save files in the old format) makes day to day operation a pain. Added to that network operation on classic Office files is very uncertain.
I have tried three service pack versions. The first one wouldn't open Excel XLS files through the network, then after the next service pack it did, after the next fix pack it didn't.
Files seem to randomly get saved into last used save folders when they have been opened from somewhere else. If you want basic Word processing and spreadsheet analysis with presentation save money and buy iWork. The learning curve will be shorter than the frustration trying to make Office 2008 work. And you can install on five computers.iWork '08 Family Pack

Something i've found out too late!!, 18 Aug 2008
everyone needs to consider when choosing either iwork or office that when you receive e-mails most attachments will be office documents. so if you choose to only buy one it may be worth your while getting office for the convenience of being able to read sometimes important attachments!!!

What a great programme, 10 Oct 2008
Microsoft Office 2007 Home and Student Edition (3 User Licence) (PC)

Just updated from 2003. what a brilliant programme, easy to install and very easy to use. I am not a professional user so this is great for us silver surfers to have. easy to install, easy to follow.

Another disappointment, 04 Sep 2008
Slower than ever, clunkier, and a weird new menu system detract from this very expensive 'cheap' option.
We returned ours, installed Open Office - amazing value, faster on our installations of XP, more stable and a familiar environment.
Where is Publisher? Why include PowerPoint in a home/student edition? Pointless, really.
MS have shot themselves in the foot, it seems.

Not a cheap option - cynical Microsoft pricing -and you will not get what you should be able to expect!, 29 Jul 2008
Dear All,
A first-time negative reviwer, and a previous admirer of the Microsoft Office stable, I have to register disgust at this particular Microsoft offering. It is misleading, and if you want a comprehensive product, you are going to have to spend a lot more.

As backgound, I am a "silver" post-grad now involved in cardiology related voluntary work with the NHS. My wife is a seving Headteacher. At the turn of last year we decided to update our long sufferring systems, which were struggling to cope with Office XP professional (2003).

As a Sony fan, I bought myself an AR series large screen desktop replacement, together with the ultimate boy's toy -a full powered micro PC (Sony UX-1XN). My wife got a semi-pro CR series. The point is that the first came with Vista home premium operating systems and the others sport full Vista Business, so I thought it appropriate to upgrade to a three user vista compatable Office licence.

I have rated the product 3 stars. In fairness, if you are prepared to put in the learning effort, there are significant improvements in Word, Excel and Powerpoint.BUT:
1)No access to the relational database "Access", or any update to that.
2) Most importantly, the student version does not support or include any version of Outlook. Naively, I thought that they may have substituted Outlook by improving windows Calendar, Mail Manager, contacts etc. That is not the case. I am now dependent on my ISP providers mail manager , with the lack of appropriate security. I have also tried installing my licenced 2003 version, but either I am inept or it is being blocked. I have not been able to find multi-license for outlook, and when I last looked it will cost around £ 80 per computer to bring outlook on board -£240 on top of of your licence.

3)Finally, One Note is in essence a freebie (aka. a marketing experiment) included with the student version. I have played with this a little but conclude that for most users it is not sufficiently developed to be useful. However, as I mentioned, I bought a Sony UX1 - one ofthe world's smallest full-functioning solid state computers. As part of its on-board tricks, it has a touch-snsitive screen, which lets me review and comment(in handwriting - tranlsated to text) on word documents. Some of the concepts in one-note could be developed in that environment, but not for most current users.

Tom Lawson


different interface to 2003 but I like the addition of OneNote, 18 Jul 2008
This is very different from 2003 version - the interface has really changed and today I have spent my time searching for various things like paper orientation.

So far I am happy with the 2007 version - as a student I think the inclusion of OneNote could prove useful. I had seen reviews of it before and was pleased to see it included in the Home and Student version this time.

What is it? Should you buy it?, 17 Jun 2008
This is a licence for a three computer version of
- Wordprocessor - Word;
- Spreadsheet - Excel;
- Presentation Manager - PowerPoint; &
- Note recorder OneNote

In the box, you get one set of installation files on a DVD, and one licence code that can be registered for three computers in the same home.

Called a Home & Student edition, you do not need to have a student in your home in order to legally use this product, but there is a restriction - you are not allowed to use this product for any business reasons. So if you run a business from home this is NOT for you. - Microsoft market an Office Small Business Edition which comes with extra features and web help for small business users.

However, if you just want something to write letters; write notes; and, do the family finances at home, this is a sensible and cheap solution which makes Microsoft Works almost pointless.

An obvious thought here - there aren't many non-commercial reasons to use PowerPoint at home other than for kids homework so why include it? Publisher (used for writing Newsletters and very popular among churches) or the database program Access (although difficult to learn) would have been of more use, whilst the loss of Office Outlook (not to be confused with Outlook Express) is annoying if you already use an older version as your e-mail system.

Note however that Office 2007 only works with Windows XP or Vista, so computers running Windows 95, 98 or ME can NOT run this product.

With a new version, one expects improvements and in this case there are many. The most obvious being the new menu system which takes a bit of getting used to but needs to be learnt as this will be the future.

You get Word, Excel & PowerPoint as in previous versions but not Outline and do not get (in the box atleast)a cheaper upgrade to other useful programs such as Publisher and Access (in previous versions this was an option).

In place you get OneNote - and this is an advantage as it is an excellent new product for writing notes in some sort of order (the program takes words and pictures) and excels at copying words and images off webpages such as an invoice. This program is very useful and worth experimenting with as it is a genuine new approach to storing information.

Worth it? Yes because for three licences, this is cheap, and it is an excellent product that the world uses. If you have kids, then they will need to be able to use this by the time they start work.

If your prime purchase is for your children, then while the above is true, it may be worth changing to this version at the same time as your children's school does - it makes the learning curve of the new interface easier and makes working on files both at school and home easier. Note: schools often change major software such as this during the Summer Holidays - school IT staff do not get the same long holidays as the children.

Faults?

1. No ability to cheaply add on other Microsoft Office products such as Publisher or Access which many students or home users would want;

2. Documents are saved by default as ".docx" and not ".doc" (and also in Excel ".xlsx" etc.) This is a problem if you send a document by e-mail to someone else as their computer can probably not read your .docx file, so you need to either "save as" as a .doc for this document or alter (in options) the default setting to always save as a .doc file. - Easy but annoying.

3. At the top of the window of each application instead of saying "Document 1 - Microsoft Word", it says "Document 1 - Microsoft Word non-commercial use" (or Excel etc.) in this version. This looks naff, and is not easy to remove.

4. The new layout of menus and buttons at the top of each program is a pain to re-learn, but as I said earlier, this will be the future so one needs to bite the bullet on this one at some stage.


Installation Tip: Remove all old versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote before installing this new version, by doing this your registry and hard drive will have less in them and work faster. Remember, you can leave applications such as Outlook and Access 2003 on your computer, to run alongside your Office 2007 applications.

Usual Microsoft rubbish, 04 Sep 2008
My partner, a teacher, has just started at a new school. After being informed that the school uses Office 2007, she insisted that I purchase a copy for our home PC. As a software engineer with significant experience with Microsoft products, a tried in vain to persuade her that OpenOffice is not only free but also a superior product.

Microsoft Office arrived in the office post about an hour ago. So far, five people (all reasonably intelligent) have tried and failed to open the plastic box containing the software. When I get home, I will explain to my partner that she'll find the new software about as user-friendly as the box it came in.

I've given Office one-star because I've used it before and, as a software engineer with at least 10 years commercial experience, I know how bad it is.

Hesitant before purchase but now very pleased, 02 Sep 2008
Having the need to source new software for new computer and upgrade others I searched the reviews on Amazon but was worried to see some not so very positive comments about the Home and Student edition. However need and positive past experience with MS Office products overcame concerns and I ordered it. The good news is I had nothing to worry about, it loaded perfectly and is running just fine. Powerpoint is there in its entirety.
One very happy customer and good value for money.

Microsoft office 2007, 21 Aug 2008
I purchased this product over amazon last week for £69.99 and now its gone down to £59.99 I can't belive it, so not fair. This office 2007 is ok the only problem I had with it is finding half of the things I need to use, as its all it sections of folders. If your saving documents make sure to save it with the drop down box of microsoft 1997-2003 as then you can open up this document on other ps which do not have office 2007. Overall its a good product.

Appalling, 16 Aug 2008
I've spent the past four months trying to write a book using Word 2007 - It has proved to be one of the most irritating and complicated pieces of software that I've ever had the misfortune to use.



Brilliant so far - an excellent upgrade, 06 Aug 2008
I have just received Office 2007 Home & Student and Outlook 2007 to upgrade from 2003 - and after reading some of the reviews here I was initially a bit wary. Thank goodness I took no notice. It's a vast improvement and I have adapted to the new format almost instantly.

First - I decided to upgrade over 2003 because unless you are committed to a new software upgrade you are tempted to go back to the familiar. Or so I thought. In any case - running both does have some difficulties unless you make some registry changes (so I've read) so I opted for the complete upgrade. Installation went without a hitch and all my data was there in Outlook - safe and sound.

Now to the infamous ribbon - it's easy to learn (I've only had the software a few hours and I'm using it as if I'd had it forever) and I do find it more intuitive. I had to look up how to compare documents (I do a lot of marking for students and so comparing revised assignments is a major task for me) and the new version is heavenly. My styles transferred across - and virtually everything I've needed to do (insert pictures, add a border to an image, use a spreadsheet, send e-mails, etc) has gone without a hitch. In many cases I found I'd done it without even thinking about it.

My concession to the old way of working was to add all my favourites to the Quick Access Toolbar (I didn't realise from the reviews that you can add anything at all to this) so I can still one-click on the things I use a lot - just like in 2003. Frankly I cannot understand why anyone would go back to an earlier version after trying this. And the price is sweet.

I am looking forward to exploring even more delights. I wish I had upgraded sooner.

So Slow, 30 Sep 2008
It looks good but not the same as before so there is some relearning required. But the biggest surprise of all is that it is frustratingly slow. I have iWorks but bought this because my wife kept saying that MS office was better, but even she now admits it's not.

Only buy this if you absolutely have to, or if you have more patience than me.

Don't upgrade - VBA is off, quite slow, 12 Sep 2008
This product should have never been released. It miss a fundamental subset of Excel, VBA. Suddenly all macros stopped to work after I upgraded, and the unthinkable was correct, yes Microsoft has removed VBA, even from the help! after some online research to confirm, I removed it and re-installed 2004. This is not to mention the huge resources consumption or the new improved, or should say, ugly interface.

They should be ashamed., 05 Sep 2008
I bought this because the kids need it for school and am amazed how dreadful it is.
First of all when installed it needs a 160Mb "critical" update.
This failed using the auto update (at 155MB). I then downloaded the latest update as a stand alone file from Microsoft. This failed at it could not find any office installation on my computer!
I tried the auto update again and this time it worked, but only after a cryptic "Microsoft does not understand this error" message.
This takes it to 12.1.
I now states that a 12.1.1 update is "Critical" and is another 150MB download.
The current version is actually 12.2 so goodness knows how long it will take to get there.
I have used Macs for 10+ years and never have I seen such shoddy, slapdash work.

They should be ashamed and Mr Jobs should have a word in their ear.

I haven't used it yet and it has been a day wasted so far.
Buy anything else unless you really, really need it.
I would give it no stars if this system allowed it.

Don't upgrade, consider not buying Office, 25 Aug 2008
This new version of Office has too many problems. In addition to the slow performance the lack of compatability with other versions (meaning settings have to be changed to save files in the old format) makes day to day operation a pain. Added to that network operation on classic Office files is very uncertain.
I have tried three service pack versions. The first one wouldn't open Excel XLS files through the network, then after the next service pack it did, after the next fix pack it didn't.
Files seem to randomly get saved into last used save folders when they have been opened from somewhere else. If you want basic Word processing and spreadsheet analysis with presentation save money and buy iWork. The learning curve will be shorter than the frustration trying to make Office 2008 work. And you can install on five computers.iWork '08 Family Pack

Something i've found out too late!!, 18 Aug 2008
everyone needs to consider when choosing either iwork or office that when you receive e-mails most attachments will be office documents. so if you choose to only buy one it may be worth your while getting office for the convenience of being able to read sometimes important attachments!!!

What a great programme, 10 Oct 2008
Microsoft Office 2007 Home and Student Edition (3 User Licence) (PC)

Just updated from 2003. what a brilliant programme, easy to install and very easy to use. I am not a professional user so this is great for us silver surfers to have. easy to install, easy to follow.

Another disappointment, 04 Sep 2008
Slower than ever, clunkier, and a weird new menu system detract from this very expensive 'cheap' option.
We returned ours, installed Open Office - amazing value, faster on our installations of XP, more stable and a familiar environment.
Where is Publisher? Why include PowerPoint in a home/student edition? Pointless, really.
MS have shot themselves in the foot, it seems.

Not a cheap option - cynical Microsoft pricing -and you will not get what you should be able to expect!, 29 Jul 2008
Dear All,
A first-time negative reviwer, and a previous admirer of the Microsoft Office stable, I have to register disgust at this particular Microsoft offering. It is misleading, and if you want a comprehensive product, you are going to have to spend a lot more.

As backgound, I am a "silver" post-grad now involved in cardiology related voluntary work with the NHS. My wife is a seving Headteacher. At the turn of last year we decided to update our long sufferring systems, which were struggling to cope with Office XP professional (2003).

As a Sony fan, I bought myself an AR series large screen desktop replacement, together with the ultimate boy's toy -a full powered micro PC (Sony UX-1XN). My wife got a semi-pro CR series. The point is that the first came with Vista home premium operating systems and the others sport full Vista Business, so I thought it appropriate to upgrade to a three user vista compatable Office licence.

I have rated the product 3 stars. In fairness, if you are prepared to put in the learning effort, there are significant improvements in Word, Excel and Powerpoint.BUT:
1)No access to the relational database "Access", or any update to that.
2) Most importantly, the student version does not support or include any version of Outlook. Naively, I thought that they may have substituted Outlook by improving windows Calendar, Mail Manager, contacts etc. That is not the case. I am now dependent on my ISP providers mail manager , with the lack of appropriate security. I have also tried installing my licenced 2003 version, but either I am inept or it is being blocked. I have not been able to find multi-license for outlook, and when I last looked it will cost around £ 80 per computer to bring outlook on board -£240 on top of of your licence.

3)Finally, One Note is in essence a freebie (aka. a marketing experiment) included with the student version. I have played with this a little but conclude that for most users it is not sufficiently developed to be useful. However, as I mentioned, I bought a Sony UX1 - one ofthe world's smallest full-functioning solid state computers. As part of its on-board tricks, it has a touch-snsitive screen, which lets me review and comment(in handwriting - tranlsated to text) on word documents. Some of the concepts in one-note could be developed in that environment, but not for most current users.

Tom Lawson


different interface to 2003 but I like the addition of OneNote, 18 Jul 2008
This is very different from 2003 version - the interface has really changed and today I have spent my time searching for various things like paper orientation.

So far I am happy with the 2007 version - as a student I think the inclusion of OneNote could prove useful. I had seen reviews of it before and was pleased to see it included in the Home and Student version this time.

What is it? Should you buy it?, 17 Jun 2008
This is a licence for a three computer version of
- Wordprocessor - Word;
- Spreadsheet - Excel;
- Presentation Manager - PowerPoint; &
- Note recorder OneNote

In the box, you get one set of installation files on a DVD, and one licence code that can be registered for three computers in the same home.

Called a Home & Student edition, you do not need to have a student in your home in order to legally use this product, but there is a restriction - you are not allowed to use this product for any business reasons. So if you run a business from home this is NOT for you. - Microsoft market an Office Small Business Edition which comes with extra features and web help for small business users.

However, if you just want something to write letters; write notes; and, do the family finances at home, this is a sensible and cheap solution which makes Microsoft Works almost pointless.

An obvious thought here - there aren't many non-commercial reasons to use PowerPoint at home other than for kids homework so why include it? Publisher (used for writing Newsletters and very popular among churches) or the database program Access (although difficult to learn) would have been of more use, whilst the loss of Office Outlook (not to be confused with Outlook Express) is annoying if you already use an older version as your e-mail system.

Note however that Office 2007 only works with Windows XP or Vista, so computers running Windows 95, 98 or ME can NOT run this product.

With a new version, one expects improvements and in this case there are many. The most obvious being the new menu system which takes a bit of getting used to but needs to be learnt as this will be the future.

You get Word, Excel & PowerPoint as in previous versions but not Outline and do not get (in the box atleast)a cheaper upgrade to other useful programs such as Publisher and Access (in previous versions this was an option).

In place you get OneNote - and this is an advantage as it is an excellent new product for writing notes in some sort of order (the program takes words and pictures) and excels at copying words and images off webpages such as an invoice. This program is very useful and worth experimenting with as it is a genuine new approach to storing information.

Worth it? Yes because for three licences, this is cheap, and it is an excellent product that the world uses. If you have kids, then they will need to be able to use this by the time they start work.

If your prime purchase is for your children, then while the above is true, it may be worth changing to this version at the same time as your children's school does - it makes the learning curve of the new interface easier and makes working on files both at school and home easier. Note: schools often change major software such as this during the Summer Holidays - school IT staff do not get the same long holidays as the children.

Faults?

1. No ability to cheaply add on other Microsoft Office products such as Publisher or Access which many students or home users would want;

2. Documents are saved by default as ".docx" and not ".doc" (and also in Excel ".xlsx" etc.) This is a problem if you send a document by e-mail to someone else as their computer can probably not read your .docx file, so you need to either "save as" as a .doc for this document or alter (in options) the default setting to always save as a .doc file. - Easy but annoying.

3. At the top of the window of each application instead of saying "Document 1 - Microsoft Word", it says "Document 1 - Microsoft Word non-commercial use" (or Excel etc.) in this version. This looks naff, and is not easy to remove.

4. The new layout of menus and buttons at the top of each program is a pain to re-learn, but as I said earlier, this will be the future so one needs to bite the bullet on this one at some stage.


Installation Tip: Remove all old versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote before installing this new version, by doing this your registry and hard drive will have less in them and work faster. Remember, you can leave applications such as Outlook and Access 2003 on your computer, to run alongside your Office 2007 applications.


The education discount makes this software superb value, 27 Apr 2008
Do you have a uni undergraduate in your household. If so, get this : the mother of photo software.

If you are a student why not buy it now. You can use if after you graduate in your work. Many employers these days insist that people have proper licences for software.

If there's a schoolkid in the house you are eligible for this great photo-editing software, 13 Nov 2007
With Photoshop 'extended' you get everything in standard Photoshop CS3, plus tools for editing 3D and motion-based content and performing image analysis [although freebie ImageJ offers more of the latter]. If your child is a school pupil (Primary/secondary) or university student you can use this software once you get their school/university to stamp and sign the form. The software is thus home use only and must be used non-commercially (i.e. for educational use). In fact my 11 year old son uses Photoshop CS3 regularly as I can teach him being a professional user myself. Photoshop Extended does have a steep learning curve, largely as the on-line help is pretty awful (e.g. it never says exactly where to find the command). However once on the PC at home, both parents and offspring are able use this powerful photo-editing software.

Less experienced PC users/photographers may prefer Adobe Elements 6.0 (a cut down version of Photoshop Extended), which is pretty powerful in it's own right - plus student versions of the combined Adobe Elements 6.0 (photos) & Adobe Premiere 4.0 (video) packages are avaiable as cheap student licences as well. Plus there's the powerful Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 10 that comes in at a few pounds more than Elements 6.0 and, although aimed at professional photographers on a budget, it is ideal for anyone with an expensive digital camera. Photoshop is XP/Vista only though and you must meet the minimum Adobe hardware spec or the software won't install. For details of Photoshop extended see adobe.com. So a great way to obtain a full version of Photoshop at a considerable discount.

Usual Microsoft rubbish, 04 Sep 2008
My partner, a teacher, has just started at a new school. After being informed that the school uses Office 2007, she insisted that I purchase a copy for our home PC. As a software engineer with significant experience with Microsoft products, a tried in vain to persuade her that OpenOffice is not only free but also a superior product.

Microsoft Office arrived in the office post about an hour ago. So far, five people (all reasonably intelligent) have tried and failed to open the plastic box containing the software. When I get home, I will explain to my partner that she'll find the new software about as user-friendly as the box it came in.

I've given Office one-star because I've used it before and, as a software engineer with at least 10 years commercial experience, I know how bad it is.

Hesitant before purchase but now very pleased, 02 Sep 2008
Having the need to source new software for new computer and upgrade others I searched the reviews on Amazon but was worried to see some not so very positive comments about the Home and Student edition. However need and positive past experience with MS Office products overcame concerns and I ordered it. The good news is I had nothing to worry about, it loaded perfectly and is running just fine. Powerpoint is there in its entirety.
One very happy customer and good value for money.

Microsoft office 2007, 21 Aug 2008
I purchased this product over amazon last week for £69.99 and now its gone down to £59.99 I can't belive it, so not fair. This office 2007 is ok the only problem I had with it is finding half of the things I need to use, as its all it sections of folders. If your saving documents make sure to save it with the drop down box of microsoft 1997-2003 as then you can open up this document on other ps which do not have office 2007. Overall its a good product.

Appalling, 16 Aug 2008
I've spent the past four months trying to write a book using Word 2007 - It has proved to be one of the most irritating and complicated pieces of software that I've ever had the misfortune to use.



Brilliant so far - an excellent upgrade, 06 Aug 2008
I have just received Office 2007 Home & Student and Outlook 2007 to upgrade from 2003 - and after reading some of the reviews here I was initially a bit wary. Thank goodness I took no notice. It's a vast improvement and I have adapted to the new format almost instantly.

First - I decided to upgrade over 2003 because unless you are committed to a new software upgrade you are tempted to go back to the familiar. Or so I thought. In any case - running both does have some difficulties unless you make some registry changes (so I've read) so I opted for the complete upgrade. Installation went without a hitch and all my data was there in Outlook - safe and sound.

Now to the infamous ribbon - it's easy to learn (I've only had the software a few hours and I'm using it as if I'd had it forever) and I do find it more intuitive. I had to look up how to compare documents (I do a lot of marking for students and so comparing revised assignments is a major task for me) and the new version is heavenly. My styles transferred across - and virtually everything I've needed to do (insert pictures, add a border to an image, use a spreadsheet, send e-mails, etc) has gone without a hitch. In many cases I found I'd done it without even thinking about it.

My concession to the old way of working was to add all my favourites to the Quick Access Toolbar (I didn't realise from the reviews that you can add anything at all to this) so I can still one-click on the things I use a lot - just like in 2003. Frankly I cannot understand why anyone would go back to an earlier version after trying this. And the price is sweet.

I am looking forward to exploring even more delights. I wish I had upgraded sooner.

So Slow, 30 Sep 2008
It looks good but not the same as before so there is some relearning required. But the biggest surprise of all is that it is frustratingly slow. I have iWorks but bought this because my wife kept saying that MS office was better, but even she now admits it's not.

Only buy this if you absolutely have to, or if you have more patience than me.

Don't upgrade - VBA is off, quite slow, 12 Sep 2008
This product should have never been released. It miss a fundamental subset of Excel, VBA. Suddenly all macros stopped to work after I upgraded, and the unthinkable was correct, yes Microsoft has removed VBA, even from the help! after some online research to confirm, I removed it and re-installed 2004. This is not to mention the huge resources consumption or the new improved, or should say, ugly interface.

They should be ashamed., 05 Sep 2008
I bought this because the kids need it for school and am amazed how dreadful it is.
First of all when installed it needs a 160Mb "critical" update.
This failed using the auto update (at 155MB). I then downloaded the latest update as a stand alone file from Microsoft. This failed at it could not find any office installation on my computer!
I tried the auto update again and this time it worked, but only after a cryptic "Microsoft does not understand this error" message.
This takes it to 12.1.
I now states that a 12.1.1 update is "Critical" and is another 150MB download.
The current version is actually 12.2 so goodness knows how long it will take to get there.
I have used Macs for 10+ years and never have I seen such shoddy, slapdash work.

They should be ashamed and Mr Jobs should have a word in their ear.

I haven't used it yet and it has been a day wasted so far.
Buy anything else unless you really, really need it.
I would give it no stars if this system allowed it.

Don't upgrade, consider not buying Office, 25 Aug 2008
This new version of Office has too many problems. In addition to the slow performance the lack of compatability with other versions (meaning settings have to be changed to save files in the old format) makes day to day operation a pain. Added to that network operation on classic Office files is very uncertain.
I have tried three service pack versions. The first one wouldn't open Excel XLS files through the network, then after the next service pack it did, after the next fix pack it didn't.
Files seem to randomly get saved into last used save folders when they have been opened from somewhere else. If you want basic Word processing and spreadsheet analysis with presentation save money and buy iWork. The learning curve will be shorter than the frustration trying to make Office 2008 work. And you can install on five computers.iWork '08 Family Pack

Something i've found out too late!!, 18 Aug 2008
everyone needs to consider when choosing either iwork or office that when you receive e-mails most attachments will be office documents. so if you choose to only buy one it may be worth your while getting office for the convenience of being able to read sometimes important attachments!!!

What a great programme, 10 Oct 2008
Microsoft Office 2007 Home and Student Edition (3 User Licence) (PC)

Just updated from 2003. what a brilliant programme, easy to install and very easy to use. I am not a professional user so this is great for us silver surfers to have. easy to install, easy to follow.

Another disappointment, 04 Sep 2008
Slower than ever, clunkier, and a weird new menu system detract from this very expensive 'cheap' option.
We returned ours, installed Open Office - amazing value, faster on our installations of XP, more stable and a familiar environment.
Where is Publisher? Why include PowerPoint in a home/student edition? Pointless, really.
MS have shot themselves in the foot, it seems.

Not a cheap option - cynical Microsoft pricing -and you will not get what you should be able to expect!, 29 Jul 2008
Dear All,
A first-time negative reviwer, and a previous admirer of the Microsoft Office stable, I have to register disgust at this particular Microsoft offering. It is misleading, and if you want a comprehensive product, you are going to have to spend a lot more.

As backgound, I am a "silver" post-grad now involved in cardiology related voluntary work with the NHS. My wife is a seving Headteacher. At the turn of last year we decided to update our long sufferring systems, which were struggling to cope with Office XP professional (2003).

As a Sony fan, I bought myself an AR series large screen desktop replacement, together with the ultimate boy's toy -a full powered micro PC (Sony UX-1XN). My wife got a semi-pro CR series. The point is that the first came with Vista home premium operating systems and the others sport full Vista Business, so I thought it appropriate to upgrade to a three user vista compatable Office licence.

I have rated the product 3 stars. In fairness, if you are prepared to put in the learning effort, there are significant improvements in Word, Excel and Powerpoint.BUT:
1)No access to the relational database "Access", or any update to that.
2) Most importantly, the student version does not support or include any version of Outlook. Naively, I thought that they may have substituted Outlook by improving windows Calendar, Mail Manager, contacts etc. That is not the case. I am now dependent on my ISP providers mail manager , with the lack of appropriate security. I have also tried installing my licenced 2003 version, but either I am inept or it is being blocked. I have not been able to find multi-license for outlook, and when I last looked it will cost around £ 80 per computer to bring outlook on board -£240 on top of of your licence.

3)Finally, One Note is in essence a freebie (aka. a marketing experiment) included with the student version. I have played with this a little but conclude that for most users it is not sufficiently developed to be useful. However, as I mentioned, I bought a Sony UX1 - one ofthe world's smallest full-functioning solid state computers. As part of its on-board tricks, it has a touch-snsitive screen, which lets me review and comment(in handwriting - tranlsated to text) on word documents. Some of the concepts in one-note could be developed in that environment, but not for most current users.

Tom Lawson


different interface to 2003 but I like the addition of OneNote, 18 Jul 2008
This is very different from 2003 version - the interface has really changed and today I have spent my time searching for various things like paper orientation.

So far I am happy with the 2007 version - as a student I think the inclusion of OneNote could prove useful. I had seen reviews of it before and was pleased to see it included in the Home and Student version this time.

What is it? Should you buy it?, 17 Jun 2008
This is a licence for a three computer version of
- Wordprocessor - Word;
- Spreadsheet - Excel;
- Presentation Manager - PowerPoint; &
- Note recorder OneNote

In the box, you get one set of installation files on a DVD, and one licence code that can be registered for three computers in the same home.

Called a Home & Student edition, you do not need to have a student in your home in order to legally use this product, but there is a restriction - you are not allowed to use this product for any business reasons. So if you run a business from home this is NOT for you. - Microsoft market an Office Small Business Edition which comes with extra features and web help for small business users.

However, if you just want something to write letters; write notes; and, do the family finances at home, this is a sensible and cheap solution which makes Microsoft Works almost pointless.

An obvious thought here - there aren't many non-commercial reasons to use PowerPoint at home other than for kids homework so why include it? Publisher (used for writing Newsletters and very popular among churches) or the database program Access (although difficult to learn) would have been of more use, whilst the loss of Office Outlook (not to be confused with Outlook Express) is annoying if you already use an older version as your e-mail system.

Note however that Office 2007 only works with Windows XP or Vista, so computers running Windows 95, 98 or ME can NOT run this product.

With a new version, one expects improvements and in this case there are many. The most obvious being the new menu system which takes a bit of getting used to but needs to be learnt as this will be the future.

You get Word, Excel & PowerPoint as in previous versions but not Outline and do not get (in the box atleast)a cheaper upgrade to other useful programs such as Publisher and Access (in previous versions this was an option).

In place you get OneNote - and this is an advantage as it is an excellent new product for writing notes in some sort of order (the program takes words and pictures) and excels at copying words and images off webpages such as an invoice. This program is very useful and worth experimenting with as it is a genuine new approach to storing information.

Worth it? Yes because for three licences, this is cheap, and it is an excellent product that the world uses. If you have kids, then they will need to be able to use this by the time they start work.

If your prime purchase is for your children, then while the above is true, it may be worth changing to this version at the same time as your children's school does - it makes the learning curve of the new interface easier and makes working on files both at school and home easier. Note: schools often change major software such as this during the Summer Holidays - school IT staff do not get the same long holidays as the children.

Faults?

1. No ability to cheaply add on other Microsoft Office products such as Publisher or Access which many students or home users would want;

2. Documents are saved by default as ".docx" and not ".doc" (and also in Excel ".xlsx" etc.) This is a problem if you send a document by e-mail to someone else as their computer can probably not read your .docx file, so you need to either "save as" as a .doc for this document or alter (in options) the default setting to always save as a .doc file. - Easy but annoying.

3. At the top of the window of each application instead of saying "Document 1 - Microsoft Word", it says "Document 1 - Microsoft Word non-commercial use" (or Excel etc.) in this version. This looks naff, and is not easy to remove.

4. The new layout of menus and buttons at the top of each program is a pain to re-learn, but as I said earlier, this will be the future so one needs to bite the bullet on this one at some stage.


Installation Tip: Remove all old versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote before installing this new version, by doing this your registry and hard drive will have less in them and work faster. Remember, you can leave applications such as Outlook and Access 2003 on your computer, to run alongside your Office 2007 applications.


The education discount makes this software superb value, 27 Apr 2008
Do you have a uni undergraduate in your household. If so, get this : the mother of photo software.

If you are a student why not buy it now. You can use if after you graduate in your work. Many employers these days insist that people have proper licences for software.

If there's a schoolkid in the house you are eligible for this great photo-editing software, 13 Nov 2007
With Photoshop 'extended' you get everything in standard Photoshop CS3, plus tools for editing 3D and motion-based content and performing image analysis [although freebie ImageJ offers more of the latter]. If your child is a school pupil (Primary/secondary) or university student you can use this software once you get their school/university to stamp and sign the form. The software is thus home use only and must be used non-commercially (i.e. for educational use). In fact my 11 year old son uses Photoshop CS3 regularly as I can teach him being a professional user myself. Photoshop Extended does have a steep learning curve, largely as the on-line help is pretty awful (e.g. it never says exactly where to find the command). However once on the PC at home, both parents and offspring are able use this powerful photo-editing software.

Less experienced PC users/photographers may prefer Adobe Elements 6.0 (a cut down version of Photoshop Extended), which is pretty powerful in it's own right - plus student versions of the combined Adobe Elements 6.0 (photos) & Adobe Premiere 4.0 (video) packages are avaiable as cheap student licences as well. Plus there's the powerful Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 10 that comes in at a few pounds more than Elements 6.0 and, although aimed at professional photographers on a budget, it is ideal for anyone with an expensive digital camera. Photoshop is XP/Vista only though and you must meet the minimum Adobe hardware spec or the software won't install. For details of Photoshop extended see adobe.com. So a great way to obtain a full version of Photoshop at a considerable discount.

NICE PACKAGE, BUT MS VISTA DOESN'T LIKE IT!, 21 May 2008
Have just loaded MS Office 2007 pack into my PC (XP system) and am very impressed with the new Word 2007 & Excel 2007 layouts. Unfortunately, I also tried to load the software into my wife's laptop (Vista operating system) but Vista doesn't like it - everytime she clicks on the Word 2007 icon the software starts installing itself all over again. Vista is really pretty awful - where's that nice button on Control Panel which says 'Install New Programs' - seems to have disappeared in Vista.


Hateful!, 01 Apr 2008
Not a word I like to use, but the only one I can think of to apply to WORD 2007. I have been using WORD since Microsoft introduced it, probably getting on for 20 years ago. Now I am faced with a completely new interface. It is like learning a new word processing program and I really don't think any firm has the right to thrust something like that on its customers. I am told that Microsoft programmers have designed the interface in a way that responds to the way people actually do things. Really? Didn't it occur to these geeks that THEY were the people who introduced us to WORD in the first place? We use WORD in the way we have learned to use it over the years. So why not just buy another program instead, because with WORD 2007 you will be starting from scratch, your productivity will be down. If you still want one, have mine. I won't be using it.

Out with the old...., 27 Mar 2008
I must say that I DID (read underlined and bold) agree with the comments about it being a terrible system, until that is, I really practiced with it. At first it is very difficult to switch from a previous version of Office to this one, but, with a little practice and a lot of, initial, patience, I feel that the rewards of this system far outweigh the hassles!

I LOVE the new flexibility that has been added to the various parts of the system, and the way the 'Ribbon' (after initially being a bit frustrating due to my using 2003) puts all the tasks you are used to, and more, in easy access tabs. I know that there are those out there who want it to look like the 2003 system as that is the system they are used to (go do a search on the net and you'll find lots of free add-in downloads to do exactly that for you!!). And if you are one of those who likes to move all the icons around, or add your own, then you'll either need to learn how to write in XML, or just add them to the quicktask menu (no different than adding them to a toolbar in 2003!!).
And there is the fact that you can make template packages (Themes) that you can use across the board (Excel, PP, Word, Publisher, et al), the 'Live Preview' function to see what the formatting will look like in your document (it changes the formatting in the document as you hover over the options, not changing it until you click it), et. al.

And don't even get me started on the amazing capabilities of One-Note!! I have a PDA and can now chat away, draw diagrams and scribble notes while away from my computer, then have them import automatically when I cradle it. I have to say that this is one of the most amazing tools I have used for my project work and personal study that I have ever found - It alone makes the price of this worth it to me!

In conclusion, just take your time - leave 2003 installed until you get used to this version (all the programs in the suite will run side-by-side without conflict, bar Outlook) - and get to know the new system! You'll be amazed at the power that has been added ....

.... if you let yourself! ;-)

CJ

The Next Step of Control, 02 Nov 2007
The title can be read in two ways.

If you think that Microsoft are here to control you then you will think that this is the case with this product, however, this is down to a very narrow view point.

I am a Senior Lecturer and work with a range of students who can be very confident with computer but also can be very nervous with them.

Yes if you are use to the earlier versions of Microsoft Office then you might feel frustrated that the items you want are not in the same place, however, on a personal front then I feel they have made it a lot more common sense.

If you want an older version style then why do you want an upgrade to a more modern one? Surely it would be a waste of money and people would be complaining that there is nothing new for the money spent, whereas at present it is a completely different style and a lot more user friendly.

Dealing with one of my specialism subjects, people do not like change as they are forced to come out of their comfort zone. As a result of this then people will complain and want to go back to what they feel comfortable with. If this is the case then I would suggest that you do not consider this package, however, if you are wanting to have a user friendly and better overall package then this is your package.

One element which was a little frustrating was that if you saved the documents and then opened them in an earlier version then all what was seen was machine code. I know that this is always a problem with software when older and newer version are on offer, however, I would have thought that Microsoft would have resolved this in such a manner you do not have to be a technical person to resolve this. There is no problem with respect to an earlier version being read by this version. It is for this reason that I have not given it all of the stars.



You would be mad to buy this, 24 Oct 2007
The title says it all. You really would be mad at the moment to buy this package.

Why? Well do a search on Amazon for "Microsoft Office 2007 Home and Student Edition" At the time of writing this review that package costs £81.48.

It includes Word 2007, Excel 2007, Powerpoint 2007 and One Note 2007 - thats 4 products in one box. You also get a licence to install them onto 3 Computers!

As a result this pack is very poor value for money

Usual Microsoft rubbish, 04 Sep 2008
My partner, a teacher, has just started at a new school. After being informed that the school uses Office 2007, she insisted that I purchase a copy for our home PC. As a software engineer with significant experience with Microsoft products, a tried in vain to persuade her that OpenOffice is not only free but also a superior product.

Microsoft Office arrived in the office post about an hour ago. So far, five people (all reasonably intelligent) have tried and failed to open the plastic box containing the software. When I get home, I will explain to my partner that she'll find the new software about as user-friendly as the box it came in.

I've given Office one-star because I've used it before and, as a software engineer with at least 10 years commercial experience, I know how bad it is.

Hesitant before purchase but now very pleased, 02 Sep 2008
Having the need to source new software for new computer and upgrade others I searched the reviews on Amazon but was worried to see some not so very positive comments about the Home and Student edition. However need and positive past experience with MS Office products overcame concerns and I ordered it. The good news is I had nothing to worry about, it loaded perfectly and is running just fine. Powerpoint is there in its entirety.
One very happy customer and good value for money.

Microsoft office 2007, 21 Aug 2008
I purchased this product over amazon last week for £69.99 and now its gone down to £59.99 I can't belive it, so not fair. This office 2007 is ok the only problem I had with it is finding half of the things I need to use, as its all it sections of folders. If your saving documents make sure to save it with the drop down box of microsoft 1997-2003 as then you can open up this document on other ps which do not have office 2007. Overall its a good product.

Appalling, 16 Aug 2008
I've spent the past four months trying to write a book using Word 2007 - It has proved to be one of the most irritating and complicated pieces of software that I've ever had the misfortune to use.



Brilliant so far - an excellent upgrade, 06 Aug 2008
I have just received Office 2007 Home & Student and Outlook 2007 to upgrade from 2003 - and after reading some of the reviews here I was initially a bit wary. Thank goodness I took no notice. It's a vast improvement and I have adapted to the new format almost instantly.

First - I decided to upgrade over 2003 because unless you are committed to a new software upgrade you are tempted to go back to the familiar. Or so I thought. In any case - running both does have some difficulties unless you make some registry changes (so I've read) so I opted for the complete upgrade. Installation went without a hitch and all my data was there in Outlook - safe and sound.

Now to the infamous ribbon - it's easy to learn (I've only had the software a few hours and I'm using it as if I'd had it forever) and I do find it more intuitive. I had to look up how to compare documents (I do a lot of marking for students and so comparing revised assignments is a major task for me) and the new version is heavenly. My styles transferred across - and virtually everything I've needed to do (insert pictures, add a border to an image, use a spreadsheet, send e-mails, etc) has gone without a hitch. In many cases I found I'd done it without even thinking about it.

My concession to the old way of working was to add all my favourites to the Quick Access Toolbar (I didn't realise from the reviews that you can add anything at all to this) so I can still one-click on the things I use a lot - just like in 2003. Frankly I cannot understand why anyone would go back to an earlier version after trying this. And the price is sweet.

I am looking forward to exploring even more delights. I wish I had upgraded sooner.

So Slow, 30 Sep 2008
It looks good but not the same as before so there is some relearning required. But the biggest surprise of all is that it is frustratingly slow. I have iWorks but bought this because my wife kept saying that MS office was better, but even she now admits it's not.

Only buy this if you absolutely have to, or if you have more patience than me.

Don't upgrade - VBA is off, quite slow, 12 Sep 2008
This product should have never been released. It miss a fundamental subset of Excel, VBA. Suddenly all macros stopped to work after I upgraded, and the unthinkable was correct, yes Microsoft has removed VBA, even from the help! after some online research to confirm, I removed it and re-installed 2004. This is not to mention the huge resources consumption or the new improved, or should say, ugly interface.

They should be ashamed., 05 Sep 2008
I bought this because the kids need it for school and am amazed how dreadful it is.
First of all when installed it needs a 160Mb "critical" update.
This failed using the auto update (at 155MB). I then downloaded the latest update as a stand alone file from Microsoft. This failed at it could not find any office installation on my computer!
I tried the auto update again and this time it worked, but only after a cryptic "Microsoft does not understand this error" message.
This takes it to 12.1.
I now states that a 12.1.1 update is "Critical" and is another 150MB download.
The current version is actually 12.2 so goodness knows how long it will take to get there.
I have used Macs for 10+ years and never have I seen such shoddy, slapdash work.

They should be ashamed and Mr Jobs should have a word in their ear.

I haven't used it yet and it has been a day wasted so far.
Buy anything else unless you really, really need it.
I would give it no stars if this system allowed it.

Don't upgrade, consider not buying Office, 25 Aug 2008
This new version of Office has too many problems. In addition to the slow performance the lack of compatability with other versions (meaning settings have to be changed to save files in the old format) makes day to day operation a pain. Added to that network operation on classic Office files is very uncertain.
I have tried three service pack versions. The first one wouldn't open Excel XLS files through the network, then after the next service pack it did, after the next fix pack it didn't.
Files seem to randomly get saved into last used save folders when they have been opened from somewhere else. If you want basic Word processing and spreadsheet analysis with presentation save money and buy iWork. The learning curve will be shorter than the frustration trying to make Office 2008 work. And you can install on five computers.iWork '08 Family Pack

Something i've found out too late!!, 18 Aug 2008
everyone needs to consider when choosing either iwork or office that when you receive e-mails most attachments will be office documents. so if you choose to only buy one it may be worth your while getting office for the convenience of being able to read sometimes important attachments!!!

What a great programme, 10 Oct 2008
Microsoft Office 2007 Home and Student Edition (3 User Licence) (PC)

Just updated from 2003. what a brilliant programme, easy to install and very easy to use. I am not a professional user so this is great for us silver surfers to have. easy to install, easy to follow.

Another disappointment, 04 Sep 2008
Slower than ever, clunkier, and a weird new menu system detract from this very expensive 'cheap' option.
We returned ours, installed Open Office - amazing value, faster on our installations of XP, more stable and a familiar environment.
Where is Publisher? Why include PowerPoint in a home/student edition? Pointless, really.
MS have shot themselves in the foot, it seems.

Not a cheap option - cynical Microsoft pricing -and you will not get what you should be able to expect!, 29 Jul 2008
Dear All,
A first-time negative reviwer, and a previous admirer of the Microsoft Office stable, I have to register disgust at this particular Microsoft offering. It is misleading, and if you want a comprehensive product, you are going to have to spend a lot more.

As backgound, I am a "silver" post-grad now involved in cardiology related voluntary work with the NHS. My wife is a seving Headteacher. At the turn of last year we decided to update our long sufferring systems, which were struggling to cope with Office XP professional (2003).

As a Sony fan, I bought myself an AR series large screen desktop replacement, together with the ultimate boy's toy -a full powered micro PC (Sony UX-1XN). My wife got a semi-pro CR series. The point is that the first came with Vista home premium operating systems and the others sport full Vista Business, so I thought it appropriate to upgrade to a three user vista compatable Office licence.

I have rated the product 3 stars. In fairness, if you are prepared to put in the learning effort, there are significant improvements in Word, Excel and Powerpoint.BUT:
1)No access to the relational database "Access", or any update to that.
2) Most importantly, the student version does not support or include any version of Outlook. Naively, I thought that they may have substituted Outlook by improving windows Calendar, Mail Manager, contacts etc. That is not the case. I am now dependent on my ISP providers mail manager , with the lack of appropriate security. I have also tried installing my licenced 2003 version, but either I am inept or it is being blocked. I have not been able to find multi-license for outlook, and when I last looked it will cost around £ 80 per computer to bring outlook on board -£240 on top of of your licence.

3)Finally, One Note is in essence a freebie (aka. a marketing experiment) included with the student version. I have played with this a little but conclude that for most users it is not sufficiently developed to be useful. However, as I mentioned, I bought a Sony UX1 - one ofthe world's smallest full-functioning solid state computers. As part of its on-board tricks, it has a touch-snsitive screen, which lets me review and comment(in handwriting - tranlsated to text) on word documents. Some of the concepts in one-note could be developed in that environment, but not for most current users.

Tom Lawson


different interface to 2003 but I like the addition of OneNote, 18 Jul 2008
This is very different from 2003 version - the interface has really changed and today I have spent my time searching for various things like paper orientation.

So far I am happy with the 2007 version - as a student I think the inclusion of OneNote could prove useful. I had seen reviews of it before and was pleased to see it included in the Home and Student version this time.

What is it? Should you buy it?, 17 Jun 2008
This is a licence for a three computer version of
- Wordprocessor - Word;
- Spreadsheet - Excel;
- Presentation Manager - PowerPoint; &
- Note recorder OneNote

In the box, you get one set of installation files on a DVD, and one licence code that can be registered for three computers in the same home.

Called a Home & Student edition, you do not need to have a student in your home in order to legally use this product, but there is a restriction - you are not allowed to use this product for any business reasons. So if you run a business from home this is NOT for you. - Microsoft market an Office Small Business Edition which comes with extra features and web help for small business users.

However, if you just want something to write letters; write notes; and, do the family finances at home, this is a sensible and cheap solution which makes Microsoft Works almost pointless.

An obvious thought here - there aren't many non-commercial reasons to use PowerPoint at home other than for kids homework so why include it? Publisher (used for writing Newsletters and very popular among churches) or the database program Access (although difficult to learn) would have been of more use, whilst the loss of Office Outlook (not to be confused with Outlook Express) is annoying if you already use an older version as your e-mail system.

Note however that Office 2007 only works with Windows XP or Vista, so computers running Windows 95, 98 or ME can NOT run this product.

With a new version, one expects improvements and in this case there are many. The most obvious being the new menu system which takes a bit of getting used to but needs to be learnt as this will be the future.

You get Word, Excel & PowerPoint as in previous versions but not Outline and do not get (in the box atleast)a cheaper upgrade to other useful programs such as Publisher and Access (in previous versions this was an option).

In place you get OneNote - and this is an advantage as it is an excellent new product for writing notes in some sort of order (the program takes words and pictures) and excels at copying words and images off webpages such as an invoice. This program is very useful and worth experimenting with as it is a genuine new approach to storing information.

Worth it? Yes because for three licences, this is cheap, and it is an excellent product that the world uses. If you have kids, then they will need to be able to use this by the time they start work.

If your prime purchase is for your children, then while the above is true, it may be worth changing to this version at the same time as your children's school does - it makes the learning curve of the new interface easier and makes working on files both at school and home easier. Note: schools often change major software such as this during the Summer Holidays - school IT staff do not get the same long holidays as the children.

Faults?

1. No ability to cheaply add on other Microsoft Office products such as Publisher or Access which many students or home users would want;

2. Documents are saved by default as ".docx" and not ".doc" (and also in Excel ".xlsx" etc.) This is a problem if you send a document by e-mail to someone else as their computer can probably not read your .docx file, so you need to either "save as" as a .doc for this document or alter (in options) the default setting to always save as a .doc file. - Easy but annoying.

3. At the top of the window of each application instead of saying "Document 1 - Microsoft Word", it says "Document 1 - Microsoft Word non-commercial use" (or Excel etc.) in this version. This looks naff, and is not easy to remove.

4. The new layout of menus and buttons at the top of each program is a pain to re-learn, but as I said earlier, this will be the future so one needs to bite the bullet on this one at some stage.


Installation Tip: Remove all old versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote before installing this new version, by doing this your registry and hard drive will have less in them and work faster. Remember, you can leave applications such as Outlook and Access 2003 on your computer, to run alongside your Office 2007 applications.


The education discount makes this software superb value, 27 Apr 2008
Do you have a uni undergraduate in your household. If so, get this : the mother of photo software.

If you are a student why not buy it now. You can use if after you graduate in your work. Many employers these days insist that people have proper licences for software.

If there's a schoolkid in the house you are eligible for this great photo-editing software, 13 Nov 2007
With Photoshop 'extended' you get everything in standard Photoshop CS3, plus tools for editing 3D and motion-based content and performing image analysis [although freebie ImageJ offers more of the latter]. If your child is a school pupil (Primary/secondary) or university student you can use this software once you get their school/university to stamp and sign the form. The software is thus home use only and must be used non-commercially (i.e. for educational use). In fact my 11 year old son uses Photoshop CS3 regularly as I can teach him being a professional user myself. Photoshop Extended does have a steep learning curve, largely as the on-line help is pretty awful (e.g. it never says exactly where to find the command). However once on the PC at home, both parents and offspring are able use this powerful photo-editing software.

Less experienced PC users/photographers may prefer Adobe Elements 6.0 (a cut down version of Photoshop Extended), which is pretty powerful in it's own right - plus student versions of the combined Adobe Elements 6.0 (photos) & Adobe Premiere 4.0 (video) packages are avaiable as cheap student licences as well. Plus there's the powerful Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 10 that comes in at a few pounds more than Elements 6.0 and, although aimed at professional photographers on a budget, it is ideal for anyone with an expensive digital camera. Photoshop is XP/Vista only though and you must meet the minimum Adobe hardware spec or the software won't install. For details of Photoshop extended see adobe.com. So a great way to obtain a full version of Photoshop at a considerable discount.

NICE PACKAGE, BUT MS VISTA DOESN'T LIKE IT!, 21 May 2008
Have just loaded MS Office 2007 pack into my PC (XP system) and am very impressed with the new Word 2007 & Excel 2007 layouts. Unfortunately, I also tried to load the software into my wife's laptop (Vista operating system) but Vista doesn't like it - everytime she clicks on the Word 2007 icon the software starts installing itself all over again. Vista is really pretty awful - where's that nice button on Control Panel which says 'Install New Programs' - seems to have disappeared in Vista.


Hateful!, 01 Apr 2008
Not a word I like to use, but the only one I can think of to apply to WORD 2007. I have been using WORD since Microsoft introduced it, probably getting on for 20 years ago. Now I am faced with a completely new interface. It is like learning a new word processing program and I really don't think any firm has the right to thrust something like that on its customers. I am told that Microsoft programmers have designed the interface in a way that responds to the way people actually do things. Really? Didn't it occur to these geeks that THEY were the people who introduced us to WORD in the first place? We use WORD in the way we have learned to use it over the years. So why not just buy another program instead, because with WORD 2007 you will be starting from scratch, your productivity will be down. If you still want one, have mine. I won't be using it.

Out with the old...., 27 Mar 2008
I must say that I DID (read underlined and bold) agree with the comments about it being a terrible system, until that is, I really practiced with it. At first it is very difficult to switch from a previous version of Office to this one, but, with a little practice and a lot of, initial, patience, I feel that the rewards of this system far outweigh the hassles!

I LOVE the new flexibility that has been added to the various parts of the system, and the way the 'Ribbon' (after initially being a bit frustrating due to my using 2003) puts all the tasks you are used to, and more, in easy access tabs. I know that there are those out there who want it to look like the 2003 system as that is the system they are used to (go do a search on the net and you'll find lots of free add-in downloads to do exactly that for you!!). And if you are one of those who likes to move all the icons around, or add your own, then you'll either need to learn how to write in XML, or just add them to the quicktask menu (no different than adding them to a toolbar in 2003!!).
And there is the fact that you can make template packages (Themes) that you can use across the board (Excel, PP, Word, Publisher, et al), the 'Live Preview' function to see what the formatting will look like in your document (it changes the formatting in the document as you hover over the options, not changing it until you click it), et. al.

And don't even get me started on the amazing capabilities of One-Note!! I have a PDA and can now chat away, draw diagrams and scribble notes while away from my computer, then have them import automatically when I cradle it. I have to say that this is one of the most amazing tools I have used for my project work and personal study that I have ever found - It alone makes the price of this worth it to me!

In conclusion, just take your time - leave 2003 installed until you get used to this version (all the programs in the suite will run side-by-side without conflict, bar Outlook) - and get to know the new system! You'll be amazed at the power that has been added ....

.... if you let yourself! ;-)

CJ

The Next Step of Control, 02 Nov 2007
The title can be read in two ways.

If you think that Microsoft are here to control you then you will think that this is the case with this product, however, this is down to a very narrow view point.

I am a Senior Lecturer and work with a range of students who can be very confident with computer but also can be very nervous with them.

Yes if you are use to the earlier versions of Microsoft Office then you might feel frustrated that the items you want are not in the same place, however, on a personal front then I feel they have made it a lot more common sense.

If you want an older version style then why do you want an upgrade to a more modern one? Surely it would be a waste of money and people would be complaining that there is nothing new for the money spent, whereas at present it is a completely different style and a lot more user friendly.

Dealing with one of my specialism subjects, people do not like change as they are forced to come out of their comfort zone. As a result of this then people will complain and want to go back to what they feel comfortable with. If this is the case then I would suggest that you do not consider this package, however, if you are wanting to have a user friendly and better overall package then this is your package.

One element which was a little frustrating was that if you saved the documents and then opened them in an earlier version then all what was seen was machine code. I know that this is always a problem with software when older and newer version are on offer, however, I would have thought that Microsoft would have resolved this in such a manner you do not have to be a technical person to resolve this. There is no problem with respect to an earlier version being read by this version. It is for this reason that I have not given it all of the stars.



You would be mad to buy this, 24 Oct 2007
The title says it all. You really would be mad at the moment to buy this package.

Why? Well do a search on Amazon for "Microsoft Office 2007 Home and Student Edition" At the time of writing this review that package costs £81.48.

It includes Word 2007, Excel 2007, Powerpoint 2007 and One Note 2007 - thats 4 products in one box. You also get a licence to install them onto 3 Computers!

As a result this pack is very poor value for money

Good Quality Service, 21 Dec 2007
I got the box a day earlier than estimated and also there was a Bonus CD included ("Adobe Creative Suite 3 Video Workshop") with a lot of useful tutorials ...
You will have to send proof of eligibility (you will find the details in the box) to Adobe in order to get a serial number. I got mine 10 days later although it's not supposed to take more than a week according to Adobe's notes...
The software works very well so far and the price is very low compared to the non-student edition.