Title:	A USABILITY STUDY OF MICROSOFT OFFICE 2007 AND MICROSOFT OFFICE 2003
Author(s):	Edgard Velez, Nestor J. Rodriguez
ISBN:	978-972-8939-52-6
Editors:	Katherine Blashki
Year:	2011
Edition:	Single
Keywords:	Usability, user interfaces, office software, upgrades
Type:	Full Paper
First Page:	146
Last Page:	152
Language:	English
Cover:
Full Contents:	click to dowload
Paper Abstract:	Software vendors need to update their products periodically to improve functionality and add value to them. The expectations from the users’ point of view are that the upgrades result in an improved interaction experience and better functionality and performance. These were the expectations of millions of users of the Office suit with the major changes in the user interface made to the 2007 version as compared to the 2003. The main objective of this study is to assess the effect of these changes in the usability of the Office applications. The study compares the usability of the 2003 and 2007 versions of the Word, Excel and Power Point applications based on five dependent variables: completion time, number of tasks completed, errors committed, difficulty in performing the tasks, and user satisfaction. The study followed a within subjects design. Fifty participants were asked to perform typical tasks in both versions of the three applications. All had at least one year of experience using the 2003 and 2007 versions of the three applications. The results of the study indicate that Excel 2003 is significantly superior to Excel 2007 in all the dependent variables. This supports the conclusion that the user interface of Excel 2007 worsened in comparison with the user interface of Excel 2003. However, it could not be concluded that the user interface of Word 2007 and Power Point 2007 improved in comparison to Word 2003 and Power Point 2003 respectively. Strictly from the point of view of usability, the users were left behind on the Office 2007 upgrade. They would have been better off keeping their 2003 version of the Office suit.
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