Over at ActiveWin you will find a variety of shots, including those of Outlook, Excel, Word etc, from the second beta of Microsoft Office 2003. Our Take: You can clearly see the task-based interface being more prominent than ever in these Office shots, and despite the questionable choice of colors used, Outlook’s three-vertical-pane interface as the default makes sense UI-wise (documents are generally long, not wide).
Microsoft Office 2003 Beta 2 Screenshots
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Eugenia Loli
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I have been able to use multiple profiles with different email accounts in KMail for several years now. It first showed up for Outlook in OfficeXP. Microsoft…innovative as always.
God, do they look fugly, with the ‘tube’ style. Ugh.
I will be reciving the beta kit for this soon, and I am wondering what improvements it will bring over Office 2000. I am also wondering how stable Beta2 is.
The quest to make everything look like MSN Explorer continues!
But seriously, an office application’s external appearance should be near the bottom of the list of considerations. What have they done to promote stability and security? How slow is it due to feature bloat?
Of course it does. If the appearance/interface distracts you from getting your job done, then it is a detriment to the product!
Is MS Office not to much/bloated for about 85% of its users?
Is openoffice.org not a far more better choice for the average user?
Its free and you can download it gratis..what more do you want?
The colors in the Office 11 interface come from the XP theme. If you have your theme set to silver, for example, it will have silver gradients instead of blue.
>Is openoffice.org not a far more better choice for the average user?
No, I prefer either KOffice or Gobe Productive. Lighter, faster, easier, sexier.
Just wondering:
What has MS Office to do with an OS?
Why is there never a post about the new OpenOffice beta or Corel suite?
>No, I prefer either KOffice or Gobe Productive. Lighter, faster, easier, >sexier.
Can you please post more about them then?
How is their status..etc..
This screenshot might explain why… LOL
http://www.activewin.com/screenshots/office2k3b2/error2.jpg
What has MS Office to do with an OS?
Why is there never a post about the new OpenOffice beta or Corel suite?
Count the number of articles on the front page directly associated with OSes. I see about half of them.
I have been able to use multiple profiles with different email accounts in KMail for several years now. It first showed up for Outlook in OfficeXP. Microsoft…innovative as always.
THOR has had it since 1994-ish. It’s nothing new in real email clients. It’s just that Outlook is a toy emailer.
No, this just looks like a beta.
Last I heard of Gobe, there was a pledge effort by the community to offer money for source develoment. It fell though, gobe citing that they didn’t want reciporical competition with the same product- or something similar. Think they don’t want some sort of war of fragmentation to ensue, which is actually pretty valid. I suggested a different approach. A Special NDA, in return for free copy for developers. I don’t know what came of that. I’d like to see that- if at all possible. I know many that would also see that as the sort of compromise that is mutually benificial.
Otherwise, I suggest if you don’t have a copy of GoBE 2 for beos, or gobe 3 for win/linux and can buy a copy, do so. You will not be dissapointed.
>What has MS Office to do with an OS?
Not much. Does it have to?
http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=363
>Why is there never a post about the new OpenOffice beta or Corel suite?
When we do have news about OOo and KOffice and Gobe we DO report on them. Check our archives.
And at the end of the day, MS Office is an even bigger monopoly than Windows is. Which means that more people use it. So, please stop the trolling, you had a similar comment a few days ago.
Is there an uglification division of Microsoft? I mean, who ever designed tbe Office 11 interface should be given a public flogging along with the person who came up with the luna theme.
Simply, clean and efficient. That is what the goals of the interface design team should be. Their goals SHOULDN’T be to try and beat the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Madigra in the area of gaudiness.
I use Gobe (ver. 2) that came with BeOS .
Did they stop developing for BeOS? since there
is a ver. 3 for Linux.
I’m not all that certain about the validity of the pane view. Windows is very good at encouraging the running of applications in full-screen mode. This has led to the creation of all those useless web page designs, where one is supposed to read text from one border of the screen to other. I feel rather alone in having A4-like dimensions on my browser window, and web “designers” like making it feel small.
Likewise (in a way) for the new (?) Outlook layout. Do you really want to run your mailer in full-screen mode, so as to make it all fit?
Naturally, modern interfaces are rearrangable, and I expect no less from M$ either, so it’s not much of a point in any case.
lol is this really Microsoft Office??? Oh my god that interface!! It does not look realistic, not Microsoft-like at all.
>Oh my god that interface
Why? Is OOo better?
At least Office has too much functionality, which kinda pushes the developers to make it a bit “loaded”.
i do not understand people’s enthusiasm for office suites.
-most people lack the skill to use them…any of them, properly. 95%
-the rest are have a dangerous knowledge, and end up creating a lot of “make work”, using features in rediculous ways, and inventing projects just to use some obsure feature(these are the ones that crow about how wonderful their favorite suite is….blah blah blah, on and on, about how suite X has this doohickey and suite Y doesn’t) 4.8% not to mention they are the worst helpdesk offenders. (in corporate america…known as the “go getters”…yea they accomplish a lot…130% efficiency…but they leave a wake of destruction a mile wide…usually halving the efficiency of 100 people around them)
-a few actually are profficient and use their suite of choice with skill….and they don’t say jack about it… their usual sentiment? “it’s just an office suite” 0.2%
if you defend your favorite suite in forums…you need to reevaluate your life.
I kinda like the 3-vertical-pane mail client. Makes sense. However, the colors, gradient abuse, “tube-like” UI – all that is awful.
And yes, MS Office tends to look better than OOo. Then again, I prefer the Gnome Office suite (Gnumeric, Abiword, Dia, Sodipodi, Gimp, etc) since they do what I want without much bloat getting in the way.
> No, I prefer either KOffice or Gobe Productive. Lighter, faster, easier, sexier.
Yeah, I second that. I only need a word processor and a basic spread sheet application now and then, KOffice gets the job done. And it’s fun along the way.
the developer OOo can save and open PDF.
That is the most important feature for me..and
it now can open and write wpd files, it even looks different (to much MS Office i think)
Well, I don’t have to upgrade personally, but in the lab I work at we teach “Keyboarding Skills”. In this class we use a program that uses MS Word to create documents. I don’t know of any Keyboarding program that uses OpenOffice. If anybody knows, I will be spared this embarrassment.
We are currenly using Win98 with Office 2000 (we teach just about all Office programs as well). If there was some linux keyboarding instruction program I MIGHT be able to use OpenOffice and Linux. AAMOF (as a matter of fact, I don’t know if that’s a real acronym), I just bought printers that are Linux Compatible, just in case one day.
However, I am proud that we skipped Office XP. I basically swore to myself never to use it, so I guess using Office 2003 isn’t breaking that promise, is it?
Keyboarding Skills? Do you mean like http://ktouch.sourceforge.net/ ? If I misunderstood, please ignore this
Is there anyway to bring back classic interface option? I do not like the new bevel interface, I like the classic interface. This blue…ish is going to kill my eyes, when I write something long in the word or whatever. I don’t know why, I always like grey and classic; it’s just perfect for my eyes. 🙂
I really hope I can get rid of those shade things on the widgets. I hated it when KDE did that (new interface looks very nice though) and I hate it when Microsoft does it. Stop it, it looks horrible! And I personally love luna otherwise.
>> Why? Is OOo better?
Yes!
At least looks professional. I really did not expect this from MS. They MUST get rid of those colors and those bubley toolbars immediately! It looks childish and very unprofessional. What were they thinking??
No, I am sorry but I am strongly against this new interface of theirs. It looks like it has been created with MS Paint and may be they DID use Paint
lol
>> Why? Is OOo better?
Yes!
At least looks professional. I really did not expect this from MS. They MUST get rid of those colors and those bubley toolbars immediately! It looks childish and very unprofessional. What were they thinking??
I do agree. OOo is not sexy, but I don’t need it. It’s seriours, and looks professional. MSOfficeXP/2003 looks like a toy.
No, I prefer either KOffice or Gobe Productive. Lighter, faster, easier, sexier
I find OOo fast enough to run on a K6-300. And even my parents find it easier than MS Office, I don’t know why, but that’s important, specially coming from typical-users.
Anyway, OO.o has a lot more features than Gobe and Koffice.
is it just me or does the office 2003 beta shots look like kde with it’s keramik theme? i always look at kde with keramik and hate how the toolbars don’t seem to integrate well with the whole window. it always seems like it floats on top of the window, while the menus always look embedded. i always liked how windows has the toolbar flat with the menus. makes it more professional and clean looking. now with these screenshots, the first thing i remember is kde with keramik! sucks.
I agree. I find OpenOffice.org 1.0.2 more that adequate.
As for the colours. Take Solaris CDE 1.4 + OpenOffice.org 1.0.2, the colours and interface scream that “this operating system means business”. Windows however comes accross as a the type of thing one would associate with little children, tickle me elmo and the simpsons.
who noticed the digital rights management thinguie?
SCARY!
WOW, Office beta 2003 looks just like it’s using a knock off of Mozilla’s modern theme! LOL As for OOo I think that Lycoris’s version of OOo looks DAMN GOOD. OOo itself looks just fine, I just want native GTK theme support.
Has anyone seen the theme Macromedia MX uses? To me this is what a professional theme should look like. Or KDE’s light style 3rd edition (or even Office XP). The XP candy coating thing is awful.
Gentlemen,
Multiple profiles have been present in Outlook for years as well. Colors of Office2003 depend on the xp theme. You don’t like the colors? Change the windows theme to classic.
I also thought Outlook had Multiple profiles long ago…
One song comes to mind when looking at the XP themes; “Tinky Winky, Dipsy…..”. The OOo-way is the right way.
> No, this just looks like a beta.
i guess the poster meant
‘large sections of the files you were using are included’
which pretty much makes it obvious it’s a MS product.
How about setting up a bugzilla instead of snooping through my data to debug
It’s pathetic what Microsoft is doing with their franchise. I can’t see anything that is useful to me.
Every year, Office gets bigger, more complex, and has far more bugs, especially those wonderful COM deadlocks with other apps.
Every new version I have to figure out how to turn off (if I even can) the new features that interfere with my work.
How long did it take before Microsoft officially allowed the user to turn off that little desktop virus aka Clippie?
It’s funny as Intel is pushing dual screen systems for the future. I’ve run dual screen since 1992 and I cannot fathom what Intel thinks is going to run on those systems. Run many Office windows and Explorer windows and the whole thing will come crashing down, guaranteed.
Microsoft is doing their best to ensure their own irrelevance. By not listening to their actual customers (human beings) and putting in more senseless features, they are leaving Office open to successful competition.
I’ve also heard rumors that Microsoft’s entire XML strategy was stolen. Turns out if Office crashes and you say it’s okay to send crash info to Microsoft, it sends your document. Using this mechanism, Microsoft stole someone else’s XML strategy. Without this strategy document, they had been floundering with no direction to go.
I am not upgrading to the next version of Office that is for sure. With Microsoft running all the DRM/IRM/BigBrother/whatever stuff on my machine, it doesn’t make any sense to use that machine for important work.
–ms
“I also thought Outlook had Multiple profiles long ago…”
No it did not. It would allow you to setup multiple accounts but if you used Corporate/Workgroup with Exchange it did not give you the option as to which account to send the email through. There was a marginal choice by going into Tools/Services/Delivery and setting a priority account but nothing else. Furthermore it would often screw up and send email to the incorrect server (always Exchange, funny how that works) when attempting to send via an internet mail server.
Kmail and Evolution have always had the ability to choose which server you send your email through. Outlook did not get this ability until OfficeXP, at least in Corporate-Workgroup setup.
WordPefect is the best word processor I’ve used, much better than Word and OOO. OOo biggest problem is they try to be like MS Office. Of course, for monolithic minds it’s something good, that helps people to abandon MS Office. Plus, OOo responds/feels like a big cow in the every day use.
AbiWord is another very good and light word processor.
PS: I don’t hate OOo, it just needs much improvement.
When I buy software, I compare it to buying a new motorcycle. (Some people like cars, I like bikes). There’s a couple of things I have to consider, the way it rides, looks, and of course the price. I love Ducati’s, but at near $20,000 I could never justify buying one. Honda has great bikes that are affordable, but they feel plasticky to me. So I try to buy Triumph. Good price and character, looks decent and rides really well.
Stick with me, I’m getting to my point.
In comparison, MS Office is extremely functional, easy to use, and is the industry format standard, .doc, .xls… Out of my price range, however. StarOffice/Openoffice.org is very functional also, is not quite as easy to use for me, but I’m getting used to it, and the price can’t be beat. I like KOffice and Gnome Office, but I always have to double check the .doc formatting when I use it for business. I rarely use presentation software (when I need to I use OOo Impress), so I prefer the WordPerfect Family Pack. I get a powerful and easy to use wordprocessor and my favorite spreadsheet program QuattroPro, plus the price is right there with StarOffice. The fact they throw in Dragon Naturally Speaking, which makes the book I’m writing easier, is just a bonus. So with my preferences and income, I always check for the WP Family Pack first.
anyone else here think that upgrades to office just don’t matter much anymore. I was happy with the word, excel, etc back in ’95, and i still have not used any of MS’s new functions in office 2000 (which i think is on my pc, not really sure) or in office 98 which my company used.
The extent to which MS is now overcharging for office (yes that includes that ridiculous enforced upgrade cycle) tell me that open source and sun are likely to make some inroads here. Office programs are a commodity and they are easy to make, though i’ll admit that MS’s word and excel are nice.
MS’s profits and sales from that package are the result of one thing and one thing alone, installed base. Well maybe two things, concern over the compatibility of competing programs is the other barrier to success but they price of staying with MS will force users to seek alternatives.
Software components reported to Vole Central
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=7980
http://www.tecchannel.de/betriebssysteme/1126/index.html
The ActiveWin site is not coming up for me right now .. I was wondering if there are any shots of the new OneNote program? That is the only app I am interested in.
Ya, I think we overloaded the servers.
The site is linked on slashdot too, so it’s slashdotted… Let’s hope it’ll be back soon. Does someone have a mirror maybe?
You can check this review (with screenshots) of beta 1
http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/office11_beta1.asp
OneNote isn’t what I thought it was going to be. I was HOPING it would be something like this …
http://www.dasain.com/products.htm
But on a more ‘generic’ scale … a tool that lets you manage all kind of data in hierarchies (not just code data), and then save all this data to one single file.
Is there anything like the above linked program that runs in Linux ?
That’s why they like to change the document format every now and then. They have to force companies to upgrade. This is why they add endless new features that 90% of the users will never use. That’s why they rearrange the interface and make it LOOK different. They have to convince people that there is Newness there, when in fact most people could do just fine without ever upgrading past Office 95.
I’ve used all versions of Office since the last 16-bit version (version 4??). All they do is add features that would be useful if they worked and features that complicate getting basic things done.
I’ll take Gobe Productive any day. If I must use a Windows suite, give me WordPerfect. They’re still behind MS on the bloat and unintentional interactions between useless features.
See this fairly comprehensive preview:
http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/office11_beta1.asp
I don’t see many changes or improvements in Office of much consequence. Except one (if it’s true). They seem to be saying you can store things in XML format (rather than .doc) for example, and then edit the document in other programs that support XML. If true, that would be great. But will it be a fully documented XML format?
Speaking of Gobe, is there any way I can still purchase Productive 3 for Windows?