Microsoft Office is a software suite that has undergone many releases and revitalizations during its lifetime. Each time, more features were added, until Office finally became a seriously bloated package. Few people ever used more than a small percentage of its capabilities.

That was then, this is now. All 2007 versions of Office are smaller, less cluttered with useless features, and easier to use. The most important single change is a new streamlined interface, called the Ribbon, which replaces the floating menus and palettes and the gazillion toolbars that cluttered up previous Office applications. Instead, a single toolbar has a scant seven entries: Home, Insert, Page Layout, References, Mailings, Reviews and View. Each entry is actually a tab that, when clicked, causes the Ribbon, which appears just below the tab, to be populated with related tasks.

There has also been a major purge in dialog boxes, with few survivors. Instead of being required to accept or cancel an activity, such as changing the format of a paragraph, you now get a simple live view of how any changes you make will appear. Just let the mouse hover above a control, and the change it would make will instantly display in the document. If you like the change, just click the control; there's no need for previews or thumbnails.

Of course, there's no such thing as a free lunch. The leaner, simpler applications come with a price that may seem especially high to some existing Office users. A new interface means that few controls are where they used to be. Once we got past our initial marveling over the ease of use of the Ribbon system, we found ourselves frustrated at wasting time learning where our favorite controls and tools now live. The good news is that tools are no longer buried within multiple levels of menus and floating palettes. Everything is a click or two away; you just have to relearn which clicks get you where.

The one exception to the new Ribbon interface is Microsoft Outlook, one of the more popular email, calendar, and contact management programs. Outlook looks like its old self when you first open it, but as you delve into it, the Ribbon interface will appear when you open an email, contacts or appointments. This hybrid interface may reflect Microsoft's realization that while individuals can afford to spend some time getting reacquainted with Word, missing an important email or a meeting because they're still figuring out what's up with the new version of Outlook would be a no-go from day one.

Microsoft Office 2007 offers many of the core applications that business users need, in a single software suite.


Pros: New Ribbon interface, smaller applications with fewer bells and whistles
Cons: New document formats make file sharing harder, long-time users may not like learning a new interface

Specifications:
Available for: IBM PCs and compatibles.

Minimum requirements (PC):
500 megahertz (MHz) processor or higher
256 megabyte (MB) RAM or higher1
1.5 gigabyte (GB) ahrd disk; a portion of this disk space will be freed after installation if the original download package is removed from the hard drive.
CD-ROM or DVD drive
1024x768 or higher resolution monitor
Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack (SP) 2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, or later operating system2
Certain inking features require running Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition or later. Speech recognition functionality requires a close-talk microphone and audio output device. Information Rights Management features require access to a Windows 2003 Server with SP1 or later running Windows Rights Management Services.
Connectivity to Microsoft Exchange Server 2000 or later is required for certain advanced functionality in Outlook 2007. Dynamic Calendars require server connectivity. Instant Search requires Microsoft Windows Desktop Search 3.0.
Connectivity to Microsoft Windows Server 2003 with SP1 or later running Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services is required for certain advanced collaboration functionality. Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 is required for certain advanced functionality PowerPoint Slide Library requires Office SharePoint Server 2007.
Internet Explorer 6.0 or later, 32 bit browser only. Internet functionality requires Internet access (fees may apply).
Actual requirements and product functionality may vary based on your system configuration and operating system.
1 512 MB RAM or higher recommended for Outlook Instant Search. Grammar and contextual spelling in Word is not turned on unless the machine has 1 GB memory.
2 The Office Clean-up wizard not available on 64 bit OS.