Enterprise applications Toolkit

Story: Microsoft Office 12 pre-Beta 1

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Three comments, based on the meagre information in the pre-beta preview:

1. The ribbon and tabs at the top of the window are eerily reminiscent of the ancient text-based Lotus 1-2-3 interface (1980s vintage). That was an elegant interface: functional, sparse, rapidly mastered. I hope Microsoft have captured those attributes.

2. I hope the "smart" tabs feature can be properly disabled. It sounds like an annoyance at best, and potentially an impediment to productivity. Predicitve tool suggestions have NEVER presented me with a tool I actually wanted. When I have a pause in keyboard or mouse activity, it's because of either (i) an interruption, or (ii) I'm thinking about what content to enter. Groping for the right tool is a symptom of beginners, not of experienced users. Let's hope Microsoft has not given Office 12 a beginners-only interface, as they did with Office 2003.

3. The floating formatting toolbar dogging the mouse pointer sounds very suspicious. It may have potential, but I hope it can also be disabled or called up on-demand rather than on its own volition. Otherwise it will probably fall into the same category as Microsoft's other usability "improvements" - an irritant.

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