Vista & Office 2007

[Rennhack]

Well, I did it, today I upgraded to Vista and Office 2007.

I have to tell you, I like it.

However, I do not suggest others upgrade.  Rather, I suggest you wait untill you buy a new computer.

[JessJen]

found any of microsofts notorious first release bugs yet?

[shayne]

I have liked what I have seen of them both, but I too will wait for a new computer.

[vikingfan]

Think i will upgrade soon to new office since i'm currently running a office version thats reallly old. anyone tell me what new things are included in the new office system ?

[Rennhack]

The 'big' differance form 2003 to 2007 is the 'Ribbon' bar along the top, where all the commands are.  It's suposed to make the 1,500 functions easier to discover and use.

The new Excel is multithredded, which means that it can use both cores of a dual core rig, to think faster.  It also allows larger spreadsheets.

You don't need to wait to upgrade to office, but I would suggest to everyone to wait for a new computer to upgrade the operating system.  Typically, a computer can only handle the OS it was built for.

I have a rather new Alienware, that I upgraded.  The upgrade went mostly smooth. 

[shovelheadred]

..I have been using Vista for the last week, and have found a few problems, especially with adding printers, and other hardware, they arent all compatible using the installation disc, but the HP website is helpful..I also understand there are some problems with IPOD interface... I am like Rennhack,  Office 2007, the tool bar takes a little getting used to..red

[Rennhack]

My onboard audio didn't work with Vista... but it was crap anyway.  I added an old Soundblaster Audigy card and now I have sound.

My FTP program didn't work with Vista, so I had to upgrade to a newer version

My UltraMon program (makes working with 2+ monitors nice) didn't really work with Vista too well, so I had to upgrade that as well.

For some reason, my Small Buisness DB server for Outlook 2007 had to be reinstalled.

My network printers stoped working, so I had to connect them via USB, no big deal.

[Chimera]

Wow - you guys are brave.  I just bought this laptop computer (Pentium Centrino Core 2 Duo T7200 [2 Ghz], 1 Gb of RAM, 200 Gb hard drive, etc.) and I have no intention of "upgrading" to Vista until the beta wrinkles have been worked out (maybe in about 6 months).  I get a free upgrade to Vista and Office 2007, but I ain't in no rush.  I'm not a big fan of Microsoft and their tendency to release programs before they've worked out the bugs (and their unrelenting string of service packs and bug fixes).  I'll probably add another Gb of RAM before I do.  Perhaps if Microsoft would release a good, tight program, I wouldn't have to hide behind a firewall, virus scanners, spyware detectors, popup blockers, spam blockers and all that other security stuff that slows down this poor old computer.

[Evilpixie]

I agree with Chimera... you guys are brave!  I tend to wait to upgrade until I'm forced into it... mostly because I don't like the headache it sounds like Renhack is dealing with having all of his programs stop working.  BTW, you might want to look at developer forums like Code Project and Code Guru, some of the guys there have dealt with these problems and might be able to help. 

I wouldn't suggest upgrading Office while still using XP, if you upgrade, upgrade both the OS and Office.  My company upgraded to Office 2003 while we were still using Windows 2000 and it slowed computers down considerably.  I mean, like a point at the computer and laugh kind of slow, it was terrible!

[Roll Tide]

My company upgraded to Office 2003 while we were still using Windows 2000 and it slowed computers down considerably.  I mean, like a point at the computer and laugh kind of slow, it was terrible!

That explains what has happened here. I noticed they announced a 4 year project to transition to Vista has just been rolled out. 4-years! If I didn't know that there are computers here STILL running 98 because of incompatibility issues, I would be dismayed.

Personally, I will never try to upgrade an OS again. When I get a new computer, then I will have the new OS. Best computer advice I have seen on this site!

[Evilpixie]

Windows 98!!!  Hoooo-eeeee!!!  We still have some machines that run Windows NT, but they are servers that run some older software and they just chug along out in the plant gathering data.  They're pretty much single function servers, so they don't need Office on them (thank goodness... it'd be a nightmare if they slowed down!)

I think "upgrading" anything is a bad idea.  Whenever I switch to a new OS, I start from scratch... reformat all disks and start over.  And that's only when I'm forced!

[Rennhack]

Personally, I will never try to upgrade an OS again. When I get a new computer, then I will have the new OS. Best computer advice I have seen on this site!

That is the advice I typically give people.  Most people don't buy a REALLY REALLY high end computer, and upgrading an 'old' computer is almost asinine.

I have a 3 Ghz Dual Core Pentium D, 4 Gig of Ram, several huge & fast (10,000 RPM) hard drives and a fancy Nvidia 8800 GTX (DirectX 10) video card, so my computer can run Vista without a problem.  I wouldn’t suggest anyone else rum it on anything less than a new Core 2 Duo, with a nice video card that supports DirectX 10.

As for office 2007, there is a steep learning curve for those of use that have gotten used to the old office interface.  I personally have upgraded now, because I'm going to need some time with both to learn them.  Invariably, someone will have a question for me, and I typically have answers… I just want to stay ahead of the curve, and retain my status as computer wiz.

I'll continue to post my experience on this thread,

[Rennhack]

Whenever I switch to a new OS, I start from scratch... reformat all disks and start over.  And that's only when I'm forced!

That is the only way to do it.  To much legacy clutter otherwise.  (of course, I didn't do that, )  Honestly, I really only recomend getting a new OS when it comes on a new computer.  If it isn't broke, don't 'fix' it.

[vikingfan]

ok I just FINALLY upgraded to the 2007 microsoft suite, now here comes the question since i have installed it is it safe to uninstall my previous version ? in my case it was the 97 version i know its like an ancient relic but will my old files i.e. ones that were created with the old version aotomatically update to the new version ?

[Rennhack]

Office 2007 can open Office 97 documents.  It will prompt you to save them in the new format.

You can choose to save them in the old format as well.  I have actually set my programs to default to save in the old format for everything, as it will be years before I can share my office 2007 fiules with others.

[raymcginnis]

I was on the Vista beta testing team, so I have been playing with different flavors for the last year.

The only thing I have left to resolve, is my VBA programming issues.

They did not even have the major issues resolved with Visual Studio 2005 (VS 2005) until "Release Candidate 2"  I was on the beta team for VS 2005 SP1 and they asked us not to test it on Vista.  Good luck with that.

I have no intention of "upgrading" to Vista until the beta wrinkles have been worked out (maybe in about 6 months). 

I'd say longer than that.  If you follow the XP path, the real system was not out until a new CD was released that included SP2.  That was over a year after first release.

The fact that they cut off kernal access (the O/S foundation) seems hopeful about slowing down hackers, but that is also at the foundation of software incompatibility.  McAfee and Symantec were whining about this because their programs operated at this level, the same level as the worms, but if the worms don't work, they don't need that access anymore either.  A better antivirus program, Eset's Nod32 works fine on Vista.

Adobe CS-2 works fine.  Norton Ghost 9 and 10 do not work and there is no fix in site.  The good news is that Rad Pro Calculators works  .

I get Vista Ultimate for cheap, but I am not using it every day until the second CD comes out, (next year?)  My advice is, you only want Ultimate if you do go for it.  I had the most problems with the other flavors during testing.

BTW, suposedly the new Excel is multithredded, which means that it can use both cores of a dual core rig, to think faster.

I've never had an Excel calculation that wasn't instantaneous.  I can't see the need unless you have a VBA application with the search loop from Hades embedded.

Most people don't buy a REALLY REALLY high end computer, and upgrading an 'old' computer is almost asinine.

Not necessarily.  I just did it.  All that it took was a new motherboard, CPU, memory and a new box to fit it in 

[Evilpixie]

I saw this article and thought that it would be good to pass on to those who might be purchasing a new computer with Vista on it...

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9011523

Apparently some machines are being marketed as Vista compatible and in reality they don't really have enough RAM.  So much for truth in advertising!

RadPro Guy, how did you get to be part of the Vista beta testing program?

[raymcginnis]

RadPro Guy, how did you get to be part of the Vista beta testing program?

Connections.  An ex-coworker and fellow Rad Pro Engineer got degrees and certifications in IT and went to work for Microsoft in 1999.  He is now in mangement there.  I recently got a Masters degree in IT and he told the Vista team about me and they sent me an invitation.  If you watch the Microsoft Developers Network pages (http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx), sometimes they have open invitations for beta testers, but you have to catch it at the very beginning.  I'm not sure if they had that for Vista or not.  I jumped in during the middle of the beta testing program.