May 25, 2015

Word 2016

Filed under: Main — admin @ 12:01 am

The Word 2016 beta is now available. I’m not sure whether that’s exciting or not.

I obtained my beta copy because I’m a (reluctant) subscriber to the Office 365 service. Click the button, whoop!, Office 2016 beta is installed.

Actually, I’m not a reluctant subscriber. The service is worth it for me. I run Word on several computers. When I need to upgrade or buy a new computer, I pay for Office. So the cost of the Office 365 subscription is far less than repurchasing Word over and over.

Bottom line: Word 2016 looks a heck of a lot like Word 2013, which looks a heck of a lot like Word 2010. This similarity is nothing new.

Word 2007 was new. That wasn’t fun for a lot of people.

Going back farther, Word 2003 was essentially a minor update to Word 2002, which was eerily similar to Word 2000, and back on through about Word 97. Before that, who cares?

Anyway, I’ve downloaded Office 2016. It’s not a surprising move; I must update one of my key titles, Word For Dummies.

Usually the upgrading experience is peppered with dread and confusion. Word is pretty much finished as far as software is concerned. The bells and whistles were added in the 1990s and refined in the 2000s. Little is left to do to improve the program, but that doesn’t stop Microsoft from trying.

For my first peek at the new version, I look for anything obnoxiously new. I could find nothing.

Next, I check to see which deck chairs have been rearranged. None of them.

Finally, I look for new and unusual items. I see a few. My guess is that, naturally, Mail Merge is different. That’s not surprising.

Here’s a quick test. Without looking at your own copy of Word (assuming you have one), compare the screenshots in Figure 1 and tell me which is Word 2013 (the current version) and which is Word 2016 (the beta)?

Figure 1. Which is Word 2016 and Word 2013?

Figure 1. Which is Word 2016 and Word 2013?

Yeah, I know the pictures are fuzzy, and each uses a different layout style so one has blue on top and the other blue on bottom. BUt specifically, the Ribbon remains unchanged between the two versions. It’s really just the same program. In fact, I’m having a tough time determining what exactly is different.

For my book, obviously, I’ll need to know the differences and highlight whatever improvements have been brutally inserted. I assume some collaboration tools are new, since sharing documents online and working together is a big deal. It’s something that Google Docs does well, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Word does it too.

By the way, in the figure, Word 2016 is on the left. Click here to view Word 2016 full-size. Click here to view Word 2013.

2 Comments

  1. I still use Word XP(or 2002) with the docx convertor installed, I don’t see the point in trying anything new if I don’t need the functionality!

    Comment by glennp — May 25, 2015 @ 3:32 pm

  2. My philosophy exactly!

    Comment by admin — May 25, 2015 @ 9:17 pm

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