After playing with the beta a bit, I am hoping that OpenOffice doesn't follow the same trend. This new user interface may look slick on a Windows Vista box (BTW Public beta is available for that too) but take it from someone who has been trying to use it in a productive manner for the last few days, it's not that slick to use.
I've dumped some screenshots here http://digimatic.plus.com/office/
So the question is, Given that OpenOffice is supposed to be as compatible and familiar as possible for a MS Office user. Will it be forced to adopt this in a similar way...For openoffice what is more important, compatibility and familiarity or getting it "right" ?
On 08-Jun-06 Wayne Stallwood wrote:
After playing with the beta a bit, I am hoping that OpenOffice doesn't follow the same trend. This new user interface may look slick on a Windows Vista box (BTW Public beta is available for that too) but take it from someone who has been trying to use it in a productive manner for the last few days, it's not that slick to use.
I've dumped some screenshots here http://digimatic.plus.com/office/
Subtle reference:
"For those who like *that* sort of thing, that is the sort of thing they like" [Jean Brodie]
Intense reference:
"Yuk"
So the question is, Given that OpenOffice is supposed to be as compatible and familiar as possible for a MS Office user. Will it be forced to adopt this in a similar way...For openoffice what is more important, compatibility and familiarity or getting it "right" ?
Getting it right is always most important. It's essential. Compatibility and familiarity have their uses, for those who are familiar with what it tries to be compatible with, but can be stumbling blocks for others; and when the "familiarity target" tends to intefere with getting it right then there should be secodn thoghts.
Maybe it's not too much to suggest that there whould be two user selectable modes: "getting it right" mode, and "familiarity" mode.
Cheers, Ted.
-------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) Ted.Harding@nessie.mcc.ac.uk Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 08-Jun-06 Time: 19:24:31 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------
On Thu, 2006-06-08 at 19:24 +0100, Ted.Harding@nessie.mcc.ac.uk wrote:
Getting it right is always most important. It's essential. Compatibility and familiarity have their uses, for those who are familiar with what it tries to be compatible with, but can be stumbling blocks for others; and when the "familiarity target" tends to intefere with getting it right then there should be secodn thoghts.
I guess we can take the view that if MS are prepared to change the UI this dramatically (there is no obvious way to enable classic mode that I can see) then it's ok for alternatives to offer a different interface as well.
Maybe it's not too much to suggest that there whould be two user selectable modes: "getting it right" mode, and "familiarity" mode.
Maybe they should be called "fixed" and "broken"
Wayne Stallwood wrote:
So the question is, Given that OpenOffice is supposed to be as compatible and familiar as possible for a MS Office user.
Says who?
Will it be
forced to adopt this in a similar way...For openoffice what is more important, compatibility and familiarity or getting it "right" ?
Define 'right'.
Ian
On Thu, 2006-06-08 at 23:06 +0100, Ian bell wrote:
Wayne Stallwood wrote:
So the question is, Given that OpenOffice is supposed to be as compatible and familiar as possible for a MS Office user.
Says who?
I always thought the goal of the project was to be a OSS alternative to MS Office....If it wants to be that I always thought that as well as file compatibility it had to have a degree of familiarity about it. All I am saying is that if Office 2007 takes off then it means two things
a. People don't care about massive changes to the UI as much as I thought
b. If OpenOffice wants to still look similar to MS Office (as it does currently) it will require a major interface overhaul (and not necessarily for the better)
Alternatively OOo could take this opportunity to stop being a MS Office workalike and do something really innovative with the interface.
Define 'right'.
I am trying to be reasonably pragmatic about Office 2007 because it's unfamiliar and therefore naturally more difficult to use than the version I had previously. However I challenge you to do something relatively simple like print to a printer (other than your default) with the new interface (ok the keypress still works but pretend for the moment you don't know the keypress)
I'm actually quite a fan of the Office for OSX interface..in my eyes that is closer to "right" than Office 2007
Wayne Stallwood wrote:
On Thu, 2006-06-08 at 23:06 +0100, Ian bell wrote:
Wayne Stallwood wrote:
So the question is, Given that OpenOffice is supposed to be as compatible and familiar as possible for a MS Office user.
Says who?
I always thought the goal of the project was to be a OSS alternative to MS Office....
I agree; alternative not a copy.
If it wants to be that I always thought that as well as file compatibility it had to have a degree of familiarity about it.
It does have a 'degree' of familiarity as do most WP apps.
All
I am saying is that if Office 2007 takes off then it means two things
a. People don't care about massive changes to the UI as much as I thought
That IS a good point.
b. If OpenOffice wants to still look similar to MS Office (as it does currently) it will require a major interface overhaul (and not necessarily for the better)
Agreed but I don't think it does want to.
Alternatively OOo could take this opportunity to stop being a MS Office workalike and do something really innovative with the interface.
It is easy to bandy about words like innovative - much harder to do.
Define 'right'.
I am trying to be reasonably pragmatic about Office 2007 because it's unfamiliar and therefore naturally more difficult to use than the version I had previously. However I challenge you to do something relatively simple like print to a printer (other than your default) with the new interface (ok the keypress still works but pretend for the moment you don't know the keypress)
So it's really more a case of what Office does 'wrong' (defined as you don't like it) than OO being 'right'
Ian
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Ian bell -
Ted.Harding＠nessie.mcc.ac.uk -
Wayne Stallwood