Still officially being a Uni student, Deb managed to get a full copy of Office 2007 for $75. According to the articles I've read, that's a 93% discount off the retail price (although who
really uses Publisher and
Onenote anyway?)
So, we got home from dinner last night and installed everything, and I've got to say, it's pretty damn cool. There's loads of little details that make the whole experience nicer. When you select a block of text and then go to change the font, the text changes to the different fonts as you roll over them. It doesn't sound like a big thing, but trust me, it is.
![](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_XgKT4PzHykE/Rf0BZqWit2I/AAAAAAAAAGQ/-l9OrO86whM/s400/font_select.gif)
The colour palette has had an upgrade as well. Instead of just the standard crappy (and weird) colour selection, you can also select a theme, which will give you better and more consistent looking colours. Sweet!
![](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_XgKT4PzHykE/Rf0C46Wit3I/AAAAAAAAAGY/x6KxSdvOpxQ/s400/office_themes.jpg)
Excel is probably where I'll spend most of my time though, it now has over a million rows and 16,000 columns to work with. It give you a full selection of functions when you begin typing, as well as an explanation of what each one does.
![](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_XgKT4PzHykE/Rf0HA6Wit5I/AAAAAAAAAGo/z8B3w999HfM/s400/excel.jpg)
Obviously, unless you actually
use Excel on a regular basis, you won't see why this is neat. Also, if you're as old as a high percentage of people in my department, it won't be neat, it will be scary and unsettling. Maybe that means it's time to cash in your super!
verdict: very cool. Shame I won't see it at work until at least next year