PSA to IT admins: don't upgrade to Office 2007 in crunch time

[andylawcc]

our IT dept just force ppl to upgrade to Office 2007, and all the managers have been bitch and moaning about it. Especially now it's Budgeting time, every little change in Excel could mean FUBAR time.

case in point:
normally in Excel 2003, when you merge two cells together, the data in one cell will be ceded, ie: if cell A2 merge with A3, the data in A3 will be gone.
not so in Excel 2007, the data for both A2 and A3 are still there, but visually you only see one data.

so, if A2 is $100 and A3 is $200, and then you merge them, you will only see $100 (or $200) in the merged cell. But if you place a =sum(A2:A3), the result would be $300. Same thing if you highlight the cells A2 and A3, it will show the sum as $300, even though on the LCD you will only see $100 (or $200).

 

[rh71]

you mean managements' only skillset is compromised?

 

[nageov3t]

Topic Title: PSA to IT admins: don't upgrade to Office 2007

fixed.

hate 2007 with a fiery passion.

 

[andylawcc]

Originally posted by: rh71
you mean managements' only skillset is compromised?

don't expect everyone to be as tech-savvy as the average ATOT-er. Heck, even to me 2007 is a huge challenge cuz I have to re-learn where all the icons are located, good thing 2003 hot-keys are still valid.

 

[RedFiveSW]

We are getting ready to do this but there is a massive push for spreadsheet compatibility testing and user training first.

LOL at your company's change control.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Wow that sounds like a really retarded change.

Glad we don't use that where I work. Thing is, if you upgrade to it then nobody can open documents you send them, though on the other hand, people also occasionally get some docx document then they call the help desk because they can't open it. So guess it goes both ways.

I can never see the company I work for actually switch to it. It would be pure chaos. The average user is like the stupidest user at any other company. Half of them don't even know what they want and can't even properly tell us what a certain issue is. If they can't figure something out in word or excel they'll probably say their computer can't boot up.

 

[andylawcc]

Originally posted by: RedFiveSW
We are getting ready to do this but there is a massive push for spreadsheet compatibility testing and user training first.

LOL at your company's change control.

it's "LOL at your company's DIAF change control"

there's no training at all, and compatibility? who gives a shit until the shit hits the fan.

 

[andylawcc]

Originally posted by: RedSquirrel
Thing is, if you upgrade to it then nobody can open documents you send them, though on the other hand, people also occasionally get some docx document then they call the help desk because they can't open it. So guess it goes both ways.

actually, our IT install the compatibility pack in all PC with Office 2003, so we can still open 2007 files. BUT, some "2007-unique" features are not, for example, and most importantly, Pivot Table done in 2007 are not backward-compatible in 2003.

 

[AlienCraft]

LOL @ trading in a perfectly functioning hammer for one that has yet to be proven to be p to the task at hand.

This is why most MANAGERS are simply MANGLERS. Whoever is responsible for such chaos will be promoted up, and everyone under them will be dinged, for not "catching" the mistake.
Corporate-Think America is Evil, personified. It will turn a College Graduate into a blithering idiot. Problem is, they still have the outward appearance of competance.

At least with your normal,run-of- the- mill Blithering Idiot, you have some warning.

Proves The Peter Principal, and is precisly why Juristic Persona (Corporations) should never attain parity, in terms of Constitutional Rights as actual PEOPLE.

 

[RichUK]

Originally posted by: RedFiveSW
We are getting ready to do this but there is a massive push for spreadsheet compatibility testing and user training first.

LOL at your company's change control.

Or lack thereof, lol.

Your company needs to employ some sort of change management.

Did your I.T. department not even considering carrying out an Impact Assessment to understand the impact of this change?

 

[KMFJD]

Originally posted by: AlienCraft
LOL @ trading in a perfectly functioning hammer for one that has yet to be proven to be p to the task at hand.

This is why most MANAGERS are simply MANGLERS. Whoever is responsible for such chaos will be promoted up, and everyone under them will be dinged, for not "catching" the mistake.
Corporate-Think America is Evil, personified. It will turn a College Graduate into a blithering idiot. Problem is, they still have the outward appearance of competance.

At least with your normal,run-of- the- mill Blithering Idiot, you have some warning.

Proves The Peter Principal, and is precisly why Juristic Persona (Corporations) should never attain parity, in terms of Constitutional Rights as actual PEOPLE.

All our Office 2007 upgrade has done is provide a shit load more work, and made 80% of the clients system's slower than molases when they had been running fine with Office 2003, thereby alienating the userbase even more. So where are the benefits in this change other than having to buy new hardware to keep up with a shitty new Office product?

 

[andylawcc]

in my company of 60 white collar staff, spanning three locations (2 in LA, 1 in NY), there are only two IT Admins.

 

[arcenite]

Sounds like a failure to communicate

 

[RichUK]

Seems a bit strange that two I.T. admins are allowed to drive this sort of change if so many people are complaining about it.

At present, is there actually a valid business case for upgrading from office 2003 to 2007? I?m curious, because I don?t think there is.

- Does Office 2007 actually provide more functionality over 2003 ? in the sense of enabling you as the individual to work more efficiently / the organisation to operate more effectively?

- Is Office 2003 soon to be unsupported by MS?

I?m a heavy Excel/Word/Project/Outlook 2003 user with light use of powerpoint and would prefer to stick with this edition of MS office to ensure continuity in my own work, but undoubtedly there will be a time in the future when I am forced to change for one reason or another.

Anyway, your I.T. guys should really be managing this transition appropriately to mitigate the risks associated with the change, because evidently the risks have manifested into issues impacting business continuity.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

2007's terrible. I beta tested 2007 and I force myself to use 2 months of exploring. I had 2 classes where I for once really needed a computer to take notes and I learned on the spot for a lot of things.

By the time 2007 RTM came out I was more than ready to get out of 2003.

Edit: Our company's a small one so all our new laptops just come with Office 2007. There's no downgrade policy. However, if we NEED to install, we only have 2003 licenses. I always try to use the 2007 computers when possible.... especially if our labs have some older computers.

 

[her209]

2007 should be shot into the sun and never mentioned again.

 

[Syringer]

Originally posted by: andylawcc
our IT dept just force ppl to upgrade to Office 2007, and all the managers have been bitch and moaning about it. Especially now it's Budgeting time, every little change in Excel could mean FUBAR time.

case in point:
normally in Excel 2003, when you merge two cells together, the data in one cell will be ceded, ie: if cell A2 merge with A3, the data in A3 will be gone.
not so in Excel 2007, the data for both A2 and A3 are still there, but visually you only see one data.

so, if A2 is $100 and A3 is $200, and then you merge them, you will only see $100 (or $200) in the merged cell. But if you place a =sum(A2:A3), the result would be $300. Same thing if you highlight the cells A2 and A3, it will show the sum as $300, even though on the LCD you will only see $100 (or $200).

Uh I just tried that in 2007--A1 is 100, A2 is 200, merged them, see 100..and in col B I put =sum(A:A) and it's 100.

2007 is superior to 2003 in most ways, if only for it's ability to show more than 65k rows.

 

[Fenixgoon]

office 2007 rocks. sounds like your IT picked the wrong time to make the switch though

 

[xSauronx]

30 seconds into a new Word 07 document and I already want to murder someone. awesome.

 

[andylawcc]

Originally posted by: Fenixgoon
office 2007 rocks. sounds like your IT picked the wrong time to make the switch though

actually, that was the point I really wanted to make. I don't want to dog on 2007, cuz I am sure there are some improvement, but the learning curve is just too steep especially after all these year where we were so accustomed to 1997-2003 edition.

 

[andylawcc]

Originally posted by: Syringer
Uh I just tried that in 2007--A1 is 100, A2 is 200, merged them, see 100..and in col B I put =sum(A:A) and it's 100.

Eh? WTF. I swear to god that's what I saw on my coworker's screen.
yes, you are right though, I did that in my home PC with Excel 2007 and it is what you said.
wtf.... plot thickens

 

[jlee]

I like Office 2007..

 

[xSauronx]

Originally posted by: JLee
I like Office 2007..

BURN THE HERETIC

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: xSauronx

Originally posted by: JLee
I like Office 2007..

BURN THE HERETIC

There's nothing wrong with Office 2007. I like and use OpenOffice more, but Office 2007 isn't bad, if you need to pay for an office suite.

 

[SacrosanctFiend]

Originally posted by: JLee
I like Office 2007..

How often do you have to use it in your line of work?