Microsoft wants you to test drive Office 2007.
Well, sort of, kind of.
What Microsoft will really let you do is to play with a Web-based version of Office 2007. You dont have to install or download anything, but, of course, you really dont get the real thing, either. Instead, you get a fancy Web-demo.
Its a very good demo, mind you. But still, its a demo.
I really dislike all demos. Any demo can, and usually is, rigged to make its program look absolutely fabulous. A demo is about as trustworthy as a used-car salesmans spiel.
This time, however, I think maybe you should give this demo a try. Thats because youre going to quickly see that Office 2007 looks and feels a whole heck of a lot different from earlier versions of Microsoft Office.
How different? I think most users are going to find the new Office confusing, annoying, and not in the least bit better than whats already on their desktop. I dont know about you, but you can take Office 2007s Ribbon user interface and use it for a cat toy, as far as Im concerned.
But, like I said, you try it. Then, download a real, fully-functional free copy of OpenOffice.org 2.0 and try that.
As the OpenOffice crew declares, if you enjoy their test drive, you can keep the car!