Garbage

From: Dave (anonymous_at_discussions.microsoft.com)
Date: 09/09/04 

Date: Thu, 9 Sep 2004 06:54:13 -0700

I have read the responses to my message. First, my
current software is not relevant. If Office had the same
(or better) functionality, this would not be an issue. To
make matters worse, Microsoft chose VB to make up for the
lack of functionality instead of developing decent
software in the first place. All this does is add more
complexity to using Office.

Second, "work arounds" are needed because the
functionality is not there. I need to use more steps in
Office to accomplish the same task, if it can be done at
all. Just because Office MAY do something in a different
way, does not make it the "right way" to do it. I need to
be comfortable with the way something is done, not take it
for granted that Office will do the task the way I want it
done.

Third, my "tirade" is that there are so many users that
have gotten dupped into using software that is so much
extra work to develop a spread*** or database
application. I just don't understand how this can
happen. I always thought that the user would help govern
what software "made it" in the marketplace. Either I am
naive or someone besides the user was involved.

Fourth, as a small business, I do not have the resources
to put into converting my spreadsheets and databases to
Office that larger businesses have. Because of the extra
work involved to develop an Office application, I am
liable to go out of business because I cannot afford to
keep up with it. [I would be curious to know how many
small businesses have folded because of this.]

>-----Original Message-----
>I am a small business owner/operator who purchased
>Micosoft Office about a year ago for the first time. The
>only reason is to try to be more compatible to my
>clients. In the time I have had Office, I have attempted
>to convert a spread*** and a database application to
>Office and have run into more problems than if I had not
>purchased Office in the first place.
>
>Functions that are part of the software do not produce
the
>same results as comparable functions in my current
>software. So I am constantly trying to create "work
>arounds" to make up for that. In many cases,
capabilities
>of my current software simply do not exist in Office.
>Again, more work arounds.
>
>Unfortunately, it appears that the standard answer to
this
>type of problem is "Write a VB script". For people like
>me, that is no help--I do not know VB and do not have the
>time to learn it. Why should I have to write a script to
>do something my current software will do via a menu
>option? My business does not have the funds to pay
>professional programmers to do conversions for
>applications that are already working.
>
>I have looked as some of the messages in the various
>Office Newgroups to see if some help is there. There
seem
>to be similar questions to mine, but I am seeing that no
>responses are given in a lot of the cases after about a
>week of checking. I cannot wait a week or more for an
>answer to a problem. It is obvious that the "experts"
>cannot produce an answer to some of these problems, so
how
>are the novices supposed to cope?
>
>It is bad enough that I had to pay over twice as much for
>Office as I did for my current software. I end up with
>less functionality which decreases my productivity. Now
I
>need to pay to have functionality added? Functionality
>that should be part of the sofware in the first place. I
>cannot wait on the "experts" for help. All of this is a
>cost to my business and my clients. It is more cost-
>effective for my clients to buy compatible software than
>it is for me to spend money on converting to Office.
>
>I wish I had never attempted to use Office and to try to
>convert these applications. I have stopped any work on
>these conversions and will not deal with this garbage
>called Office. Microsoft must have paid off the people
>making software-purchase decisions. It is obvious to me
>that the end-users of the software must have had no idea
>what they were being forced into using. If they were, I
>cannot see Office being used anywhere.
>.
>