Microsoft Updates Software
by Edward K. Zollars, CPA
Early this year, Microsoft released updates to its major software products—Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office. In both cases the software represents a significant change for software that has not seen significant changes for years. In the case of Windows the last major change was the release of Windows XP back in 2001, while office has seen only minor updates since the last major change in Office 97.
There are significant improvements that Microsoft has made to this software, but there are also significant changes to the interface for each product. These changes mean that firms beginning to use these products will face some training and compatibility issues that will have to be dealt with.
Microsoft has invested a lot of effort and expense in these upgrades, and definitely will push vendors and firms to move to the new products as soon as possible. Eventually firms will be forced to adopt these products, unless they plan to move away from these products as firm standards—a step that will not likely prove practical for most firms. And, honestly, there are features in each that will give future benefits that will eventually serve to offset the initial investments in firm training.
Microsoft Windows Vista
The upgrade that has gotten the most press has been the release of Microsoft Windows Vista, the first version upgrade to Windows in five years. This release was originally scheduled to be available much earlier with a different set of features, but Vista had a number of changes from its original conception to its final release.
Vista was impacted by the developments during the period from Windows XP’s release, especially by issues that arose regarding security of computers on the Internet—or, more appropriately, the lack of security for computers. In its initial release, Windows XP was not a terribly secure system out of the box, with a number of default settings that were exploited—it shipped with a number of services turned on by default and with the built in firewall turned off.
Vista offers significant changes to the security model in Windows. First, the operating system now sports a “user account control” that prompts users to give programs that are making certain changes in the operating system permission to do so. In prior versions of Windows programs that were invoked by users working under administrator accounts (the default account type in Windows XP and arguably the only really usable type in that version) had virtually unlimited rights to modify the system.
Malware used that right to get itself installed, especially by making use of Web browsers such as Internet Explorer 6 either directly by enticing users to visit booby-trapped web sites or through its indirect use in preview panes of email clients. In Vista, users will be prompted when software attempts to make these changes. As well, by default Internet Explorer 7 under Vista runs in a special safer mode and no longer doubles as the engine running the file explorer.
As well, it is now practical to run Windows Vista using accounts that are not administrator accounts for day-to-day operations. When users running an account other than as an administrator get prompted by user account controls, they can still authorize the operation (unlike in Windows XP) but such a user has to supply the administrator’s password (a step not required for an administrator account). Firms can set up their systems so that users run under accounts without administrator access, which will help serve to control the ability of users to install unauthorized software.
While available for Windows XP, Internet Explorer 7 ships with Microsoft Windows Vista and is much improved over the prior version of the browser both from a functionality and a security standpoint, especially when running under Vista. The browser adds support for RSS feeds and tabbed browsing, features that have been in competing browsers for quite a while. Like other items in Windows Vista, the program sports a default interface that eliminates drop down menus as the key interface component.
In versions other than the very base version, the program supports an enhanced graphical interface known as “Aero Glass” that provides interface features similar to those found in MacIntosh OSX, such as translucent windows so that windows behind the current window can be noticed, the ability to use the mouse to select programs from the “Alt-Tab” program switching display and “live” icons when a program is minimized that show a miniature and constantly updated version of the window that would be displayed if the window was made visible.
Like Windows XP, Windows Vista ships in a number of different versions. Low cost systems ship with Windows Vista Home Basic, which has a much more restricted feature set and does not support Aero Glass or other features that would be of interest to business customers.
Compatibility with existing hardware and software may prove to be a problem. The operating system may not be reasonable to install on older hardware—in fact, you should be looking at a system acquired in the past year or so and which has (or can be upgraded to) at least two Gigabytes of RAM. But for most users the best way to acquire Vista will be to buy a new PC with the system loaded—and, in fact, that will be the operating system that will be installed on new PCs in most cases unless you special order a PC with Windows XP installed.
Why might you ask for the older version of Windows? The primary reason is that a limited number of programs (including some major tax software programs) do not run under Windows Vista.
Despite the fact that the vast majority of programs work fine under Vista, if a single mission-critical application that your firm runs does not run under Vista, you will need to make sure any machines you acquire until that software is updated have Windows XP installed. At the very least, you will need to test all of your software under Vista before you acquire machines that will only have Vista running on them. You may also need to bring all of your software “up to date” with current versions and replace any incompatible software that is no longer being manufactured with something else.
Hardware incompatibility is a more troublesome issue. While most peripherals work under Vista, if you have an older piece of hardware that is not currently supported, it is very possible it will never be supported. Thus, you may find that you will need to replace certain peripherals if they do not have Vista-compatible drivers.
Microsoft Office
Microsoft was also busy releasing updated versions of the Office suite, which gives us new versions of Excel, Word, Powerpoint and Outlook. For the first three programs of the suite, Microsoft has introduced a totally revamped user interface—in Outlook the transition is only partially completed. As well, the programs for the first time in a decade sport new file formats—meaning that prior versions of Word and Excel will not be able to read files saved in the new native format unless you obtain the compatibility pack from Microsoft for Office XP or Office 2007.
Microsoft decided that a new interface was needed because their research showed that the most requested improvements asked for in Word and Excel were for features that actually already existed in the program. The design team came to the conclusion that the older drop-down menu interface hid the program’s functionality and did little to encourage users to explore the program to find features that might be useful in their work.
In the new interface, tabs run across the top of the screen. When a table is selected, a “ribbon” consisting of blocks of icons and text shows for that tab. Those ribbons stay visible even after the user has selected an item from the ribbon to apply to the item in the editing window. Thus, the user gets a continuing view of “similar” functions the program can perform, as well as quick access to related commands without having to reselect a menu as was true before.
As well, when performing certain functions (like editing a header or footer), specialized context-sensitive ribbons appear. These context-sensitive ribbons disappear when the user leaves the specialized context.
Both Word and Excel also support “themes” that control the fonts and colors used in the document, allowing you to apply widespread changes to the document with the click of a mouse. In reality, these themes are supercharged groups of styles that can be changed very simply. The programs also often offer “previews” of the effect of selecting specific functions that appear when you mouse over the command, so you can “try out” the impact of a change without actually making the change.
The new interface generally is easier for new users of the program to pick up, but may prove troublesome for experienced users of the program who will need some retraining. As well, you will need to take into account the new file formats and their impact on your firm if you do not do a wholesale upgrade to the new version of Office (so that you add Office 2007 only as you update equipment). Even if you do a wholesale changeover to Office 2007, you will still likely run into issues exchanging documents with users outside your firm who have not yet upgraded or with users running the MacIntosh versions of these programs. The Macintosh update that will use the new formats natively, which will be known as Office 2008, is not due to be out until later this year and at the time this article was written Microsoft had not yet released Office 2007-compatible import filters for the MacIntosh Office 2004 versions that are now current.
The ASCPA has prepared videos that show the new interfaces and options in Excel and Word that you can view on the Society’s new video Web site. See page 12 for more information on this service.
Ed Zollars, CPA, a tax and technology guru, is an active participant on the ASCPA Tax List Serve and the Tax and IT Section Committees. He is a shareholder in the firm of Thomas & Zollars, Ltd. He can be reached at ed@tzlcpas.com.
AZ CPA – July/August 2007
