I was quite happy with the rather outdated version of Microsoft Office that I’ve been using at work for the past few years. It hadn’t changed a lot since the 90s, apart from some cosmetics. Everything was in a sensible place and reasonably quick to use.

At home, I’ve been using Open Office or Libre Office for years. They’re nicer to use than the Microsoft package, but work in a similar way. Most important, they’re free.

But today my world has changed. At least at work. A rather beautiful new computer arrived today, with two large screens. It does all look rather nice, although I’ll miss Windows XP. I’ll also miss Office 2003 (or whatever it was).

While I only use Windows 7 at home for iTunes, I can tolerate it. But the new works Office (2013?) is horrendous. It seems to be an exercise in cosmetics rather than productivity. Hardly any of the familiar functions are easy to find and everything takes much longer than it used to. I know I’ll get used to it, but it’s not at all intuitive. I just hope that the open source alternatives don’t follow Microsoft’s lead.

And, yes, I needed to work late because Word trashed the formatting of the paper I was working on.