MSDN - Office 2007 - Limited Activations

[Administrator]

MSDN used to allow 10 activations IIRC. I downloaded all of the Office System 2007 products and I'm loading up Vista and now Office System 2007 RTM. The odd thing is as you go through and activate each Office 2007 application, i.e. infopath 2007 and OneNote 2007, it eats up your activations and stops activating other office suite products! So even though they all use the same activation code from MSDN, you can activate everything you downloaded from MSDN! Odd! I haven't called in yet to see what's up, but it looks like Microsoft has really tighted up activation, and to the point developers can't even activate each product ONCE as downloaded from the subscriber downloads! I had to uninstall the programs that wouldn't activate as trying to get Office updates (sounds for Outlook) would fail vailidation with an office 2007 app NOT activated! Wow, has the tides changed at Microsoft - they are hugely protecting their software to the point we can't even use it within our own licensing!!!

 

[Raven65]

Might be a mistaken in the activation system here. I mean, whats the point of giving developers the Office Suite if we can't develop in it?

What level subscription are you on? As I recall the MSDN Universal subscription includes a fully licensed personal copy for actual use (out side of development)...or has there really been some massive change?

 

[Administrator]

I called Microsoft, they said their MSDN "stuff" was all screwed up, it should be resolved hopefully starting today. MSDN should still be at 10 activations per product, I don't want to test that!

However, on another note, Outlook 2007 has the appearance of being very slow. I think this is a case of an application excessively using background threads. Sure, .NET makes it easy, this is a prime example where having a user "wonder" what's going on because the UI is still functional but they are still waiting for their actions to complete. From simply checking for e-mail, seeing the e-mail counter but not seeing the actual messages appear until a delay, to moving messages among custom folders, etc.

 

[Raven65]

Ah, good to hear that it was a 'bug' not a 'feature'.

Speaking on the actual things IN Office 07, what do you think of Ribbons?

Im not as big a fan in Word of Outlook but in Excel, from a user POV, they rock! (imo) Everything's presented so well and tidy, I love the new layout. Just my $.02

 

[Administrator]

I haven't spent a lot of time with the Ribbon, and more importantly, it hasn't got in my way. I have had to fiddle around to see where things are. As a developer I've seen features of it, I don't think Mom and Pop are going to know where to find the old File...Exit.

I have a 24" LCD running 1920x resolution, so it's not eating my of my real-estate, but I'd like to see how much that ribbon eats up a 1024x768 res display!

 

[Raven65]

I've much the same...three heads up, 19inches, 1280x1024 for realestate isnt a big deal, but we tested the setup at work with Office 07 running on our standard 17 inch CRT's @ 1024, and didn't feel that the space for the ribbon was excessive even then.

It's nice to see Microsoft getting creative with how they display office documents even though they have a "fine" layout now. I hope the ribbon isn't something thats brushed aside, resulting in future hesitance to challenge the norm.