Office 2007 has arrived and with it the main questions: what are the big differences between this version and other Office versions? when should we make the jump?

ETS has put together a Task Force led by Doug Varney, Carol Caldwell-Edmonds, and Mike Fitzgerald to explore the new Office suite and determine ways to ease the transition. The Task Force consists of ETS staff, departmental IT support staff, and people who use Office applications on a regular basis. The plan is to test the applications and collect information on changes, pitfalls, tips and tricks, then analyze the data and make recommendations. Members would like to work with volunteers who would like to try the products to build a comprehensive picture of what works, what doesn't, what may cause trouble, and what may be a fantastic new feature.

The collection/analysis phase will be through mid-June, then the group will be publicizing that and opening up publication/commenting to the broader UVM community. Ideas on the best way to spread the news and provide support for the transition are welcome. Current ideas include space on ETS web site, a blog devoted to this, publicly-accessible areas of the Sharepoint site, all/any of the above.

Would you like to see some workshops at the CTL on any of these products? Let us know! And if you would like to volunteer a few minutes of your time to try out your favorite Office application feature and report your reactions to the Task Force, let us know that too!