[...] The first problem seems to be caused by having Office 2007 installed, then retrograding back to Office 2003. Perhaps because of the costs or maybe because of compatibility issues. [...]

I completely disagree. There is no reason to use Office 2007 if Office 2003 works for me. Why should I be forced to upgrade just because Microsoft wants to make more money by adding more eye candy, and vendor-lock-in features?

If I don’t like a product why do I need to buy it? Just because everyone else is using it? Hell no! We still have choice. And my choice is to stay away from Office 2007.

Actually I stay away from any kind of office as a general rule. The whole WYSIWYG idea is silly. You can’t do any serious work with these kinds of editors. But that’s a whole other story.

Progress is good, but in this case MS is not really innovating. OOXML is inferior to the ODF, and the ribbon is confusing as compared to the old familiar interface. That’s what it is.

Sometimes I wonder how much people are willing to go through just to rebel.

Yes, bad press everywhere. But the products work fine.

I (have) use(d) both Vista and Office 2007. Neither had any real problems and both get the job done.

Sure, it’s not as smooth as Linux, it’s not as secure. Those are the downsides of Windows. Lets not forget there are downsides to both parties.

There is no reason to keep using Office 2003. Imagine the internet if people stuck with Flash 3, Internet Explorer 2.0, etc.

If everyone is stubborn because it is cool, then we might as well stop producing electricity and go back to the stone age.

I saw a guy who was wearing a shirt that said “open xml developer”… first time i have ever seen it…. he was the reason i came to your blog first because i was searching for a blog that talked about it.

LOL! Too bad it’s heavy and would be a pain to carry downstairs.

You know the table near the stairwell where they sometimes put free books? There’s a sign above it that just says “FREE BOOK TABLE.” Since there is nothing on it, it could be taken as if the book-table is being given away for free.

Which reminds me – I still need to grab the books from the office. I will probably stop there tomorrow or Monday.

Yep, we’re teaching 2007. The new books also talk about Vista, but we’re still going to be using/teaching with XP.

Sig… Are we teaching them 2007? I was kinda hoping that it would still be 2003.

Oh well. This means that I will have to read through the lab exercises before I make them do them.

This will be your first semester teaching office 2007, yes?