| Microsoft
Word upgrade leaves some students frustrated
By Christy Jensen
October 29, 2007 | The students at Utah State University
might have found themselves perplexed their first few
times using Microsoft Office when they came back to
school this fall.
Computers in the Merrill-Cazier Library, Taggart Student
Center, Ag Science, Family Life and University Reserve
Lab were updated with the latest version of Microsoft
Office in an effort to keep students up to date with
new technology. But the update hasn't been easy for
many students who have found the new interface of Microsoft
Word to be confusing and not user friendly.
John Call, an engineering student at USU, said "It
[Microsoft Word] freaking sucks! It does all of the
same things it used to, they've just moved everything
around so now you're a beginner at something that you
were proficient [at]. It's really frustrating. Why change
something and make is worse? That's the real question."
Many students have echoed Call's opinion, saying the
program is "user hostile," frustrating to
use and not compatible with older versions of Word.
Steven Wagner, an art major, said "I can't pull
up any of the documents I save on Word 2007 on my computer
at home because I have an older version. I feel like
the university is forcing us to upgrade our computers
when not all of us have the money to do that."
Associate Vice President for Information Services
Stacie Gomm said she had not heard any complaints about
the new Microsoft Office program from the student body,
or about about the sudden switch in programs.
Gomm said, "Any time you have a change you have
an adjustment period. It's like when Word Perfect and
Microsoft Word were both being used. People will have
to adjust."
The information technology department informed the
student body about the change at the end of the spring
2007 semester when bulletins about the switch of software
went up on information technology Web site, which is
the home page for all the labs that are controlled by
the IT department.
Gomm said there are guides to using the new program
in all computer labs, and the IT department can help
any student learn the new program.
Students who are having trouble finding their saved
documents should go to "save as" on the Word
menu bar and select the version of Word they have on
their home computers.
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