electro-textual

Well the organisation may be upgrading to windos7 and MS office ‘07.. but i’m jumping ship.

Migrate to “The Ribbon“? Send people “docx” files that word’03 can’t open? i say no. (Ironically Open Office can open these word 2007 files, even though microsoft office 2003 cannot.)

• For operating system, i’ll try Linux and apple.
• For an office suite, i’ll continue to learn Open Office and google docs. Open Office has a portable version i can run from the USB drive.

Every time microsoft upgrades, they try to make life easier for newbies, and end up making things more annoying and difficult for people who know what we’re doing.

This can be liberating however, as i’m compelled to find alternatives.

For example, when i upgraded to microsoft office ‘03, the program disabled all my macros and keyboard shortcuts. Yes the company promised an easy conversion but it just didn’t work. So i’ve ended up switching all my “auto-text” shortcuts to “AutoHotkey“.. which means i can now use them in any windows program, on any windows PC. i have gained much freedom and power as a result.

Next step: find a way to export the list cross-platform so i can use them on apple mac and linux as well. Open office runs on all platforms.. maybe there’s a way to export AutoHotkey scripts too.

My ideal situation is not to be tied to any one physical computer, or any particular operating system.

However, i’m sure in time i’ll have to use windows 7 at work. And i suppose i’ll get used to it. i’ll probably learn to enjoy it.

Eyes Roll.

photo credit: Jason DeRusha

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