Microsoft Office 2007 Faces Tough Times

Hopes by Microsoft for a quick embrace of Office 2007 based on a redesigned and simpler interface could be dashed - ironically - thanks to the brand new look. Most companies will wait between three and five years before switching from older editions of Microsoft's suite to Office 2007, Forrester Research claims. Forrester monitors corporate spending and notes that companies take on average up to five years to embrace new software solutions.

Of course one of the main reasons for this lag is the training. Apparently many users require "more intense" coaching than expected. Forrester reportedly said most business users will need up to three hours formal training, which will be followed by a drop in efficiency for up to four weeks as they adjust to their new environment.

This will be uncomfortable reading for Microsoft. The company is pegging the combined launches of Office 2007 and Windows Vista on ease of use and productivity gains through its global "People Ready" advertising and media campaign.

Microsoft places great hope on the re-designed interface - the biggest change to Office in years - helping users and speeding uptake.

Office is a notoriously sluggish product to ship, taking years to percolate down through the user base. For example, Microsoft had expected two thirds of its 400 million Office users to be on Office 2003 by the time Office 2007 shipped.

That in itself would mean up to one third of customers were still on the seven-year-old Office XP, or - very probably - something older. Worse, The two-thirds number was the goal Microsoft had hoped to hit way back in 2005, two years after Office 2003 launched. But just 15 per cent of PCs were on Office 2003 in 200. Chris Capossela, then vice president of Microsoft's information worker product management group, told The Register that Office 2003 was "way behind" targets.