Re: Is anybody else disgusted about the piece of junk called Micro

Sounds like a pretty long list of cons. But more incentive for me to just
upgrade this machine to XP rather than get a new one with Vista installed
(though I'll still do that down the road a piece).

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"Herb Tyson [MVP]" <herb@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:%23F8TVa%23pHHA.4132@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
In some ways, yes. In others, no. I really like the ease of working with
Windows Explorer in Vista, and its integration into the Office 2007 file
dialogs. I've also grown to like the look of the Aero Glass display.
Networking is also much less hassle than I've had in any other version of
Windows. In fact, it was no hassle at all. It simply worked without my
having to jump through hoops. I like the way Windows Update works in
Vista--fewer problems than in XP (for me, anyway).

On the other hand, the IntelliPoint and IntelliType drivers for mouse &
keyboard are AWFUL, particularly the mouse driver. Zooming does not work
correctly, and I basically scrapped my Laser Mouse 6000 because so much
about it didn't work. I've replaced the IntelliPoint driver with something
called X-Mouse. It's not great, but at least it works.

MSFeedsSync.exe crashes 5 to 10 times a day. No clue why. I keep googling
for a solution but nothing I've seen/tried has fixed it yet.

I've tried several times to upgrade my C: partition from Premium to
Ultimate. But, it fails without saying why.

Other hardware, such as my DVico HDTV device is only partially supported,
and freezes/crashes at odd times.

And UAC is a real pain in the posterior. It constantly asks permission for
this and that. I don't feel more secure, just more annoyed.

Also, frequently, Vista sits here and denies me access to various
folders --
for no good reason I can fathom. Some, I can whittle away at and
eventually
gain access. Others, however, steadfastly remain beyond reach (even when I
gave up and turned UAC off).

So... yes and no. :-)



--
Herb Tyson MS MVP
Author of the Word 2007 Bible
Blog: http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com
Web: http://www.herbtyson.com


"Suzanne S. Barnhill" <sbarnhill@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:%238Scth9pHHA.588@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Do you now consider it an "upgrade"?

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup
so
all may benefit.

"Herb Tyson [MVP]" <herb@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:06A410AE-3E0E-478B-9F14-7322BA4F36F2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
That's correct. And, at the time, I'm not sure I would have used the
word
"upgrade"... more like "install and use" ;-)

--
Herb Tyson MS MVP
Author of the Word 2007 Bible
Blog: http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com
Web: http://www.herbtyson.com


"Suzanne S. Barnhill" <sbarnhill@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:ubf8AZ3pHHA.3368@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
IIRC, Herb said that when he was taking screen shots for his Word
2007
Bible, MS Press insisted that they be made in Vista, so he had little
choice
but to upgrade.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup
so
all may benefit.

"Lee" <bunwillis@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:A14C5870-6431-4732-8828-2FA863D594CD@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Thanks for your very polite and helpful input, Herb. I have not
deployed
Vista yet because of the unavailability of drivers for so many
things.
The
Upgrade Analyser is another joke. It leads one to believe that his
or
her
system is all ready for Vista, then in the area of drivers and
compatibility
of other software, it makes some vague references to checking with
the
vendors. I find that very misleading, to say the least. I
understand
that
Bill Gates has been pleading with the third party vendors to upgrade
their
drivers and non-compatible programs. That is a good start but I
have
been
waiting until the Vista OS is really supported by most third party
vendors
before putting my systems into a tizzy. I also run three systems
here
at
home and I build new systems for clients. My experiences with XP,
when
it
was brand new, have made me more than a little reluctant to step out
of
the
pot into the kettle with Vista, although I would enjoy some of the
new
features.. LOL Have a nice day.
--
Lee0078


"Herb Tyson [MVP]" wrote:

Hi, Lee,

I'm mostly using Vista, so I've no clue about OE's spelling. Vista
uses
Windows Mail instead of OE, and handles spelling just fine (and
I've
kept
Word 2003 and its proofing tools on my Windows XP machines, so I
haven't
noticed anything missing).

But, using Word 2007's spelling checker, I'm not seeing what
you're
seeing.
It's not tagging correctly spelled words incorrectly and ignoring
misspellings. Spelling, for what it's worth, is working fine
here --
and
we
have Office 2007 installed on four different computers -- two
running
Vista,
and two running Windows XP. On three of these, I use English,
Spanish,
and
French proofing tools, and all are working correctly.

As for the grammar checker being a joke... I agree completely, but
it's
nothing new. I've never seen any version of Word's (or any other
program's)
grammar checker that's even worth turning on. I suspect that
artificial
intelligence is still a decade or more away from being able to be
helpful in
the grammar department. The new "contextual spelling" checker is
about
the
only useful new spelling/grammar feature, since it does seem to
flag
*some*
words that are used incorrectly. Even the contextual checker,
however,
misses a lot more than it catches.

I've never been what could be described as a "loyal Microsoft
customer."
I'm
a critical consumer. I get annoyed and frustrated, just like
anyone
else,
but I like to dig until I find a solution to any given problem, or
until
I
hit a brick wall. I suspect that most other MVPs are very much the
same.

Office 2007 has its good points, and its bad points. But, at this
point
for
me, it has enough good points that I've chosen to stick with it.

Good points for me include: instant search in Outlook, more robust
file
formats (harder to break and accidentally corrupt), live preview
formatting,
better chart/graphics creation tools, the ability to blog (with
automatic
picture handling) directly from Word, much better equation editor,
better
ability to set Word-wide formatting defaults, bibliography feature
in
Word,
use of themes and style sets, and the addition of trusted
locations
(which
makes working with macros a LOT less frustrating).

Bad points include: lack of customizability in the UI, less
accessible
style
tools in Word, still-broken numbering and master document
features,
horribly
confusing handling/finding/setting of options, and too many
features
that
are buried too far down in the UI, requiring many more steps to
access
than
in Office 2003. Much of this I can solve with the QAT and custom
keyboard
assignments, easing the frustration a bit for me personally.

Under Vista, the file dialogs are now all integrated into the OS,
making
it
ridiculously easy to add frequently-accessed folders to the
Favorite
Links
area (Vista's replacement for the Places feature). This, along
with
other
new features in Vista, adds immeasurably to my own productivity
and
how
I
work, making a Vista/Office 2007 combination a net productivity
booster
for
me.

But, as in all things computing-wise, YMMV. If I were still using
Windows XP
(it's what I use on my laptop when traveling), I suspect I
wouldn't
be
quite
so sanguine about Office 2007 (except for Outlook 2007, which IMO
is
vastly
improved over 2003).


--
Herb Tyson MS MVP
Author of the Word 2007 Bible
Blog: http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com
Web: http://www.herbtyson.com


"Lee" <bunwillis@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:50FFA4D8-20FE-4F06-A61C-BC5C3BF4C37B@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The Office 2007 software suite is a productivity stopper.
First
it
only
provides a French dictionary for OE7. Then while in Word
2007,
both
the
English grammar and spell checkers are very poor. It tags
simple
english
words as incorrect and misspellings of simple three letter
words
as
correct.
The grammar checker is simply a joke. The spell checker is
an
even
worse
joke on Microsoft's loyal customers. Fire the fools that
signed-off on
this
conglomeration of bad programs.
Speaking from 30 plus years experience developing government
command
and
control software, I would have been fired for fielding this
bundle
of
useless
zeros and ones. Although I have been a loyal Microsoft
customer
since
its
beginning, I am very angry about this.
--
Lee0078








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