Here's a question, if it doesn't break any NDAs: Is everything Microsoft produces from here on going to have this sort of fluffy, rounded, friendly XP-esque feel to it? Are we ever going to see a return to the more expert-user-oriented days of Win2k, when a piece of software didn't seem designed to make me feel good, but rather to get a job done?
From the descriptions I'm seeing floating around on the net, there's a minimal increase in [end-user] functionality. All they've done is redefined the interface and made it more like OSX (and by doing so, they're forcing the consumer base to adapt to a (in the consumer's eyes) new product). The name of the game isn't supposed to be "win grandma over to Microsoft". It's supposed to be about redesigning and significantly improving the tools we use for productivity's sake. I'm sure MS Office 12 has some improved code to allow it to work more robustly, but this product seems nothing more than a ploy to get people to upgrade. Show me some significant end-user productivity enhancements and I'll show you a product I could learn to respect.
I suppose we might also consider the possibility that this is the only version of Office that MS will allow to run on Vista (:
The name of the game isn't supposed to be "win grandma over to Microsoft". It's supposed to be about redesigning and significantly improving the tools we use for productivity's sake.See, I was thinking about this, and I don't know. I'd be thrilled to hear about a large corporation that was interested in making good products for the sake of making good products, but unfortunately that's not the way it works. Microsoft's first and foremost interest is, and has to be, making money. It occurs to me that they have probably (and Jesse, correct me if I'm wrong about this) found that striving to improve the functionality of their products is much less profitable than expending the same amount of energy improving their attractiveness. Increasing the functionality of their software isn't going to win them grandma's business, but grandma is exactly who they're trying to sell their software to- grandma and the rest of the basically computer-illiterate world. I've got to think that there are a large number of people out there to whom computers are
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I think eventually, though, this business model won't be as effective as it is right now. At this point in time, there's a clear separation between those who've ALWAYS had computers in their lives and those who grew up BEFORE their popular movement into everyday life. It's the same as with video games: once the old, intimidated generation dies off, the need to lure in the wary will wane quite a bit. Productivity and expert-level software will gain the spotlight, and we'll start seeing emphasis being placed on innovation over ease-of-use. I'm not entirely sure whether this will spell doom for MS (I suppose I highly doubt it) or if they'll shift their business model accordingly, but one day, grandma's going to be just as comfortable using the more complex features of computing as a 20-some-year-old is today.
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Here's a question, if it doesn't break any NDAs: Is everything Microsoft produces from here on going to have this sort of fluffy, rounded, friendly XP-esque feel to it? Are we ever going to see a return to the more expert-user-oriented days of Win2k, when a piece of software didn't seem designed to make me feel good, but rather to get a job done?
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I suppose we might also consider the possibility that this is the only version of Office that MS will allow to run on Vista (:
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