Monday, September 21, 2009
Do We Need Microsoft Office
I took the challenge of leaving behind Microsoft Office a couple of years ago. I switched to Google Docs, Gmail, Google Calendar, and Remember the Milk. The initial transfer took many days, but I quickly reaped the benefits of improved productivity.
I have met many people that have had a difficult time with the potential or even attempted change. Christopher Dawson ponders the idea of leaving Microsoft Office behind on ZDNet Education.
I have met many people that have had a difficult time with the potential or even attempted change. Christopher Dawson ponders the idea of leaving Microsoft Office behind on ZDNet Education.
Labels: Google Docs, Microsoft, Office, OpenOffice
Friday, March 27, 2009
Microsoft Offers a Deep Discount on Office
Microsoft might have a little fear about losing the next generation of technology workers to Google Docs or OpenOffice. They are offering Microsoft Office 2007 Ultimate for just $59.99. The catch is that you must declare that you are taking a credit-worthy class, and you also must have an email available that ends in .edu.
This is a very good price for a full-featured Office suite that includes Outlook and Access unlike the Student version that is currently available.
Find our more.
This is a very good price for a full-featured Office suite that includes Outlook and Access unlike the Student version that is currently available.
Find our more.
Labels: Google Docs, Microsoft, Office, OpenOffice
Monday, September 1, 2008
Interview with Zoho's Raju Vegesna
As I have posted before, I am becoming more of a fan of Zoho and their suite of business applications.
Robert Scoble of Fast Company has an in-depth interview with Raju Vegesna who is referred to as a Zoho Evangelist. Robert Scoble, a former Microsoft employee, asks many questions comparing MS Office to the Zoho applications. They also broach the subject of storing your data on some unknown server with an relatively unknow company.
Robert Scoble of Fast Company has an in-depth interview with Raju Vegesna who is referred to as a Zoho Evangelist. Robert Scoble, a former Microsoft employee, asks many questions comparing MS Office to the Zoho applications. They also broach the subject of storing your data on some unknown server with an relatively unknow company.
Labels: Microsoft, Office, Scoble, zoho
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Why Buy When You Can Rent - Office
Microsoft has began renting their application suite - Office. The cost is $70 per year for three computers in your home. You can currently rent a copy at Circuit City who is the current distribution partner for Microsoft. The name is a bit odd - Equipt.
From the Microsoft press release
Do not get excited if you are a business owner, though. The only version available is Office Home and Student. You could run into trouble with support as a business owner using this version. Also note that this version does not include Outlook - the popular application for reading email.
This is a good deal for those that love Microsoft Office. A person should consider alternatives such as Open Office or even Google Docs or Zoho, though. All of these alternatives are free, and some as capable as Microsoft Office.
From the Microsoft press release
...latest versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote for their personal and school projects; Windows Live OneCare, the all-in-one security and PC management service; Windows Live tools, such as Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Messenger and Windows Live Photo Gallery so they can connect and share with people they care about most; and Office Live Workspace, a new service from Microsoft that makes it easy to save documents to a dedicated online Workspace and share them with friends and classmates. Anytime a new version of Office or Windows Live OneCare is released, Microsoft Equipt customers will get the version upgrades as part of their subscriptions.If you like to have the latest version of Office around the house for yourself and the kids, this is a good deal. A copy of Office Home and Student 2007 currently costs $129 with Windows Live OneCare costing near $30 per year. Since Microsoft releases a new version of Office every couple of years, then you would be ahead with the rental plan.
Do not get excited if you are a business owner, though. The only version available is Office Home and Student. You could run into trouble with support as a business owner using this version. Also note that this version does not include Outlook - the popular application for reading email.
This is a good deal for those that love Microsoft Office. A person should consider alternatives such as Open Office or even Google Docs or Zoho, though. All of these alternatives are free, and some as capable as Microsoft Office.
Labels: Equipt, Microsoft, Office
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Zoho Spreadsheet
I have spent the last couple of weeks using Zoho Spreadsheets to keep a couple lists. I wish I had a more calculation demanding sheet to try, but I have not had an application recently.
If you are not familiar with Zoho, it is a collection of online applications including spreadsheet, word processor, and many more. It is similar to Google Docs, but has many more applications.
If you are keeping simple lists such as expenses or such the spreadsheet application works well. One complaint that I could offer is the ability to freeze header rows. This can be done in Excel as well as Google Docs spreadsheets. A review of the forums finds that many users have requested the feature. It seems as though the design team is unable to add the feature without a major code change.
One advantage that Zoho has over Google Docs is auto complete of cells. Excel and Zoho both will complete a cell if the information that you type is the same as a cell in the same column. At one time Google Docs had auto complete, but it was disabled by user request in May '08. I am unsure why it was causing problems for some, but Google is trying to bring it back as an optional feature.
As I continue to use the Zoho suite of applications, I will keep the blog updated with my experiences.
Update: Ramesh explains freezing headers...
If you are not familiar with Zoho, it is a collection of online applications including spreadsheet, word processor, and many more. It is similar to Google Docs, but has many more applications.
If you are keeping simple lists such as expenses or such the spreadsheet application works well. One complaint that I could offer is the ability to freeze header rows. This can be done in Excel as well as Google Docs spreadsheets. A review of the forums finds that many users have requested the feature. It seems as though the design team is unable to add the feature without a major code change.
One advantage that Zoho has over Google Docs is auto complete of cells. Excel and Zoho both will complete a cell if the information that you type is the same as a cell in the same column. At one time Google Docs had auto complete, but it was disabled by user request in May '08. I am unsure why it was causing problems for some, but Google is trying to bring it back as an optional feature.
As I continue to use the Zoho suite of applications, I will keep the blog updated with my experiences.
Update: Ramesh explains freezing headers...
Thanks Curtis for trying out Zoho Sheet and writing about it. We will definitely support freeze headers. We have already started on the alternate design, and it would be better to do the implementation in the new design. The new design will give more excel-like experience as well as save us duplicate effort.
Keep using Zoho and get back to us support at zoho dot com for any assistance.
Labels: Excel, Google Docs, Office, spreadsheet, zoho
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Microsoft Office 2003, Service Pack 3
Beware of service pack 3 for Microsoft Office 2003. Microsoft programmers have decided that documents created in competitor's software and older versions of their own can be a risk. If you install this update it does not allow you to open older documents that might be tucked away on your hard drive or in your business.
Fortunately Microsoft has seen the possible problems with this stance and they have created a fix as well as issued an apology. You can read more via John Dvorak's blog.
Fortunately Microsoft has seen the possible problems with this stance and they have created a fix as well as issued an apology. You can read more via John Dvorak's blog.
Labels: Microsoft, Office, Patches
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Google Adds Presentation Software
I posted earlier this year speculating that Google would add presentation software to their portfolio of tools. It has arrived. You can now create documents, spreadsheets, or presentations in the now named Google Docs. The presentation software is also available for Google Apps customers as well.
I briefly tried out the interface. It works very well. Very impressive for a web application. The near-instant ability to share the presentation online is also a big plus for users. It is very difficult to share a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation online without additional software.
You can view the official Google blog post.
Labels: Google, Office, presentation, software
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