The Deluge
Wow! So I take a few days off and open up the suggestion box and boy was I surprised to find over 400 comments!
Suffice it to say that it's going to take me a long time to get through all of these. And thanks to everyone who took a minute to drop a kind word or two in as well--I do really appreciate that!
A lot of the same questions got asked again and again, so I want to take a few minutes today to answer three of the questions which were asked the most.
1) How can I get on the Office 2007 beta?
The best thing for you to do at this point is to visit the 2007 Office system preview site at https://www.microsoft.com/office/preview and click the button marked "Register Now." This will make sure that when Beta 2 is available later this month you will be notified and will have the ability to sign up to receive a copy. Keep checking this web site; I've been told that later this month it will be updated with even newer content and more detailed information.
(While you're there, why not give the UI video a look at https://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/ui/demo.mspx.)
2) What are the system requirements for Office 2007?
The final system requirements haven't been determined yet; generally that gets solidified a bit closer to the product's release date. You can find system guidelines for installing the beta of Office 2007 here: https://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/beta/sysreq.mspx.
Basically, a 500MHz computer with at least 256 MB of RAM is probably sufficient to run one program at a time. Running several programs simultaneously requires more memory, and I think virtually anyone would be happier running Office and the rest of their software suite with at least 512 MB of RAM. But that's just my opinion.
Office 2007 will require Windows XP SP2, Windows Server 2003, or Windows Vista. It will not run on Windows 2000 or earlier operating systems.
3) I have a question or problem with a current version of Office, can you help?
Unfortunately, I'm probably not the best person to do technical support for you--most of the questions you asked were far beyond my area of expertise.
If you are having trouble using Office, you may be able to resolve your problem by visiting the Solution Center for your version of Office located at https://support.microsoft.com/select/.
If this doesn't work, visit https://support.microsoft.com/common/international.aspx to start the process of getting personalized technical support.
Thanks again for so much interest in the Office 2007 user interface and for giving me so many ideas for articles! Many of you will see your ideas turn into posts in the time ahead...