Office 2013 - like/hate

[papaof2]

Got a good deal on a 5 pack of Office 13 licenses - not the "latest and greatest" but somewhat newer than Office 2003 (flixeasy.com has keys for sale for most Windows software, although they did have to send me a another key for Office 2013 that had not been used).

Caution: rants ahead!

Likes:

Word 2013 seems a bit more intelligent about spelling and grammar than Word 2003 - at least it hasn't (yet?) suggested "You is" as a replacement for "You're" (and some other things that are obviously from a non-native speaker - not the correct person to be handling the Grammar check part of a word processing program).

You can build a "Custom" taskbar so you could make one with just the bits you need - but I should NOT have to do that for basic functions of type in text, format, check spelling and grammar, save, print - but they do NOT offer a simplified taskbar like that. Wonder if I could build one and sell it as an add-on? I'm not yet willing to spend a huge amount of time on a program I'm not sure I'll be keeping :-( And Office 2013 is a space hog - the install file itself is over 2GB.


Dislikes:

nearly everything else

There are far too many taskbars that are too filled with large graphics so if you're looking for a familiar icon... it's probably not there.

There are 8 options for taskbars, except that "File" is full screen and wants to show you all the options, the places and a long list of recent files and their locations. At least you can click "VIEW" to turn the graphic task bars off - but when they're on, they cover the first inch or so of the document instead of pushing the document down. With all the other jerking around of the document display, why does that work differently?


Excel is annoying because it seems to redraw portions of the screen on every keystroke - screen flicker is a problem that was solved YEARS ago so that should not happen - and it doesn't when using Excel 2003. For that one reason, I prefer Excel 2003 over 2013. 2013 can handle much larger files and the 64 bit version of Win 10 can see the 8GB of RAM this laptop has so that's a pretty big file - but I'd rather work without the flickers...

Haven't yet tried the other products but I expect a mixed bag - and I don't want to be constantly searching for "How do you fix <whatever> in Office 2013?"

I still have the CD (amazing, it all fit in less than 0.7GB) and the site license for Office 2003, even if I don't like the Grammar "support" in Word 2003. At least it does NOT get in my way or make me hunt for things such as "Print".

Perhaps it's just that the Crotchety Old Curmudgeon is in need of more pain relief but that's several hours away by the doctor's schedule or perhaps it's just too much "Help" (screen clutter?) being presented in Office 2013... If it's not of immediate use, it is "screen clutter" and most of the taskbar content would be better served with a task bar that had dropdowns for the details of the various bits and pieces and not trying to get all the details where Microstupid thinks they should be.

[feralferret]

What you are offering is a good deal if you are in a situation where for whatever reason you are in a position where you are forced to use Microsoft Office, such as by an employer.

The last version of Office that I used that I didn't absolutely despise was Office 98. When I was forced to upgrade from Windows 98 and Office 98, I went to Linux. I find Libre Office to have a much less awkward and clumsy interface. It is much more similar to Office 98 than the later versions of Microsoft Office. Libre Office is also available for Windows.

To me, the later versions of Office were like using a semi-truck to move a couple of boxes across town when a small car will do it better.

Besides, since Bill Gates seems to think the planet is overpopulated, I'm still waiting for him to volunteer to put his body where his mouth is and volunteer for euthanasia. The hypocrisy of the "elites" never fails to amaze me.

[papaof2]

Microsoft could improve people's response to its snafus with much of their software IF Microsoft Word could actually do "GLOBAL Search and Replace" (it's listed that way ;-)
The they would just need to search out ALL instances of "Microsoft" and replace the "of" with "hi" and people would have the proper level of expectations.

There are several free "office" packages" that are nearly identical to Office 2003 (or later) - right down to the keyboard shortcuts but some are one character different to not infringe on the MS copyright. Keyboard shortcuts are another thing they screwed up in Word 2013 - Alt-I, Enter, Enter does NOT insert a new page. Their method requires using the mouse which means I have to take one hand from the keyboard - the sole reason for the keyboard shortcuts is to keep your hands in place for typing. Most definitely a Microstupid moment...

[papaof2]

And then there are the "smarter than you" events such as in spell checking. We all say "One more minute" but we're talking about the "minute" of time, not the "minute" of tiny things.
Apparently, Word 2013's spell check doesn't have the ability to look at things in context, it just looks for word combinations that it can "fix".

www.jecarter.us/files/minuter-microstupid.jpg

[feralferret]

"they would just need to search out ALL instances of "Microsoft" and replace the "of" with "hi" and people would have the proper level of expectations."

How very true!