The following post is likely to be construed as treason by a lot of different groups. However, here it goes……
I Like Microsoft Office 2007!
There, I said it. I feel much better now.
Yes, I know, Microsoft is evil. Yes, I know Office isn’t a true “development platform”. Yes, I know all this. However, because of several serious personality flaws, I like it. The overriding flaw is….I am horribly lazy. When I am approached to help someone with a problem, they usually say something like…”Can Excel do this? I am really good at using Excel.”
I know many who take a comment like this as an insult. “How dare a non-techie suggest I use an inferior, non-OO tool for app dev. They will take what I give them. Office….hmmph!”
I, on the other hand, think it is extremely smart to give someone a solution using a tool they understand and feel comfortable with. Allows me to help them…and move on. Cool. They don’t call me every time they need a new chart, or report, or a mail merge. Not bad. Sure, I may miss out on some extra $$$ for these tasks. But, in the end, people like the idea I deliver apps to them in a way they can use and extend, that they ask me to do more for them. Really cool.
I have used Office for many, many years. However, once Microsoft starting dropping VBA into all of the tools (except that damn Outlook) I started seeing some opportunities. Access, Excel, and Word…with some Outlook automation…can get you pretty far in the world of small-scale apps for small groups or individuals.
I know….Office apps aren’t scaleable….they can promote poor development practices…yah yah yah. But, in these situations, those aren’t compelling arguments. At least not to me or the office clerk who just wants “their Excel” to do something that takes them a couple hours every week.
I just recently installed Office 2007. Unlike many of the previous version of Office, this one has some compelling reasons to upgrade. The UI for most of the core apps has undergone a significant facelift (much overdue), and the new default file format is XML…not the old binary format.
I haven’t tried tweaking the new UI ribbons much yet….but have played around quite a bit with the new XML file format. Having followed along with some online labs….I have to say the new formats are a tremendous improvement in terms of programatic manipulation. I know, this is nothing a user should or would see….but this is such a cool improvement for someone developing with the tools.
As I started this post….so I will finish it…. I know Office is expensive. I know Office is a huge, fat client app. I know there are “free” alternatives. But MS Office is the bread and butter of almost everyone I help. And I do think it is something Microsoft done well with this version.
Footnotes: No, I do not work for Microsoft. No, I have never been paid to post about Microsoft. Yes, I am a dork.
Filed under: MS Office, Tools, programming
