Experiment With Excel 2007
Using Only a Web Browser

As you probably know, Excel 2007 differs significantly from previous generations. You now can use only your web browser (with a Citrix plug-in) to play around with the new version of Excel.

In fact, you can follow this link to play with any of the Office 2007 products. When you do so, you might have minor problems installing the plug-in and starting an Office 2007 session. When I tried it, the process stopped at least four times. But I clicked the Back button, and tried again. The process usually worked the second time.

Of course, if you want, you also can download and install the full beta version of Office 2007. To do so, follow this link to the Office 2007 preview site.

After you try Excel 2007, I hope you'll share your reactions to it. You can email your thoughts to this link.

When you try the web version of Excel 2007, here are things to keep in mind:

• Several non-English languages are enabled. For example, you'll see Japanese commands throughout the English product. This means that the scaling you'll see (which commands show up in what form at which resolutions) is not what you'd normally see in the English product.
   
• You might see a large Business Contact Manager tab. This doesn't reflect what you will see in the final product.
   
• Because you're running the software over a network, the fonts are black-and-white and aren't anti-aliased.
   
• Other issues surface from running Windows software in a web browser. I found that performance was quite sluggish using DSL. And performance of graphics-intensive features was quite slow.

As you play with Excel 2007, try to keep a mental tally of what you like and dislike about the product:

• On the one hand, Excel looks great and has many new features. For example, Excel offers more than one million rows in a spreadsheet.
   
• On the other hand, you'll need to learn a completely new user interface. More troubling, perhaps, is that Excel's new user interface might not be as efficient as the current one.

After you've had the chance to play with Excel 2007, I hope you'll share your reaction to it. Specifically, please answer these questions:

1. While you and your co-workers are learning Excel's new user interface, how efficient will you be compared to the current version of the product? For example, if you expect to be 25% more efficient, report 125%. If you expect to be 30% less efficient, report 70%.

2. After you learn Excel's new user interface, how efficient do you think you'll be compared to your current version of Excel? For example, if you'll be 10% more efficient, report 110%. If you'll be 20% less efficient, report 80%.

3. How many months do you think it will take you and your co-workers to learn the new user interface reasonably well?

4. On balance, should your company upgrade to Excel 2007? Answer "Yes" or "No".

Please email your answers to this link. To make it easy for me to tally the results, please answer by entering the number, a period, and a space for each question (like "2. ") followed by your numeric or one-word answer. Put each numbered answer on a new line. And please put any comments you care to make after your answer to the last question.

Finally, please forward this message to others who use Excel. The more opinions we have about Excel 2007, the better.