Office 2007 vs. ????

Could it be that the biggest competition the next version of Microsoft Office will face could be it’s older siblings? That and time itself! Every time a new version of the office suite comes out, the big question on everyone’s mind is what’s the new gotta have feature in the new version.

Undoubtedly, the new feature in 2007 is the user-interface itself, but do you really upgrade because of a new interface? I’ll be honest with you, I’ve been playing with the beta for a little while now and really love the functionality of everything. Granted I’m still finding new things and old things alike, but I really like it.

Paul Thurrott has stated:

But Microsoft’s biggest competition in the office productivity space, ironically, comes from within: Older versions of the Office suite, including Office 2000, XP, and 2003, are often cited by customers as being good enough. Thus, businesses aren’t upgrading to new Office versions as quickly as they used to. And most now skip a version or two before upgrading.

With all that being said, why are you upgrading? For those of you that have been participating in the beta, what features are you using that will make the upgrade worthwhile by itself? So, far I’m most impressed with the new functionality and operations of Outlook 2007.