The
Microsoft Office 2007 system seems to be catching on in my marketplace.
During recent interviews and meetings with prospective clients, the
topic of Microsoft Office 2007 and its many new features has been
raised more than once. A lot of the Microsoft Office 2007 questions I've heard also deal with Microsoft interaction with Microsoft Office SharePoint Services 2007.
Organizations
planning a migration from Microsoft Office 2003 to Microsoft Office
2007 shouldn't take the migration lightly. While it is easy to dismiss
Microsoft Office as just Microsoft Office, it needs to be known that Microsoft Office can be the center of an end user's primary work and business processes.
Continue reading "Building The Better Office 2007 Migration" »
It is safe to say
that while Microsoft Word and Word documents (*.doc) have the crown as
the most used business word processor and document format in today's
business world there are usage problems that still linger.
However,
despite the wide spread use of Microsoft Word there is a whole lot of
document butchering going on that can make it painful to inherit a Word
document from a previous author.
Continue reading "Inheriting Microsoft Word Document Pet Peeves" »
I've long been a believer in the fact that Office productivity software work for me and not vice versa. In the case of Microsoft Office
, this means I play it by the rules and develop templates (*.dot and
*.dotx) for new Microsoft Word documents I might be creating for new
client projects.
Continue reading "How I learned to Appreciate Word Templates Again" »
So you've outsourced your company's technical documentation to contractors and now you are facing a much tighter budget in 2009?
Continue reading "Recession Proofing your Company's Technical Documentation" »
I still see a lot of value in standardizing even though I've left technical writing and consulting. Document templates make the writer's life easier and help give a consistent and professional look to an organization's internal and external documents.
Continue reading "Kelly's Laws of Document Templates" »
Update: Microsoft to alpha test Office 14 before end of year (from InfoWorld)
Microsoft will begin alpha testing the next version of Office in
November or December, according to a blog posting by a Microsoft
employee that was later pulled from the Web.
Even if the 2007 Microsoft Office system has yet to hit a corporate enterprise near you there is no stopping Microsoft to roll out a new version of their ubiquitous Office suite.
Continue reading "Office 14 to hit Alpha: The Microsoft Office Juggernaut Continues" »
Google Apps for Domains, Google Apps Team Edition, and Google Apps Premier Edition
($50.00 per user per year) have been stealing headlines as many critics and
pundits see the venerable Microsoft Office suite under siege. One of the
beauties of the Web Office is the fact that you can access the applications
from anywhere on any platform from the comfort of your Web browser.
However, the light of today’s geographically disparate
workforce shows that Google Apps and other Web Office suites are going to
complement Microsoft Office versus wiping the venerable Office suite off the
Windows desktop all the while helping organizations of all sizes save on
security, messaging, and infrastructure costs.
Continue reading "When Google Apps Meets the Microft Office System" »
The releases of Microsoft Office 2003 and the 2007
Microsoft Office system saw some of the greatest changes in the venerable
Office suite. This evolution was good news to Microsoft Project because
Microsoft began focusing on making Microsoft Project more usable and
their output more accessible to non-project managers.
One of the drawbacks of project management applications like Microsoft Project is
the fact that their output only makes sense within the cubicle walls of a
project manager and venture outside to developers, engineers, and the rest of
the project team.
Continue reading "Project 2003 versus Project 2007" »
I got my beta invite for Microsoft Office Live Workspace last week and immediately went to kick the tires on it. My initial impressions of the service are favorable including the fact that it is Mac friendly.
While many pundits, analysts, and bloggers ponder the victory of the Web Office over the venerable Microsoft Office Suite, Microsoft has yet to offer a full Web version of their Office suite. Nor have many third parties comes to terms with the retraining required to migrate users from the venerable Microsoft Office to a Web Office suite.
Microsoft Office Live Workspace extends Microsoft Office to the Web --the middle ground I find myself subscribing more and more based upon my work as a technical writer and my experience with today's leading Web Office products.
Continue reading "First Impressions Microsoft Office Live Workspace" »
Microsoft's Office Live Workspace (from news.com)
I've been following the latest Web Office developments on two levels. I've been writing and thinking a lot about the subject due to some upcoming articles in the pipeline. And, as a technical writer, I recognized the value of the Web for technical communications when I saw the Web for the first time way back in 1994.
Continue reading "Microsoft's Office Live Workspace in a Web Office World" »
Are Software Suites Finished? by ZDNet's Dave Greenfield -- IBM’s announcement that Lotus Symphony, the company’s version of OpenOffice, was downloaded by more than 100,000 registered users in its first week, got me thinking whether the value of software suites is coming to a close. For years now, software companies have used product integration as a means of locking users into a given platform. Microsoft [...]
I wonder how many of those 100, 000 + registered users aren't early adopters -- rather they are secretaries, legal assistants, office managers, and others who use a computer to do their work versus working in a computer-related field? I am sure the number is miniscule.
Continue reading "How Sweet Must a Pundit's Eye View Be of the Web Office/MS Office Space?" »
I make my living as a writer and thus have some very definite standards for my word processor and other applications and as such been following the analysis, online blather, and Microsoft haterade spittle over Google Apps for Domains, and Google Apps Premier Edition as a substitute for Microsoft Office.
My experience as a technical writer and consultant working with Federal, commercial, and NGO organizations makes me think that it is not about a Web Office vs. Microsoft Office. Rather there are use cases when a Web Office suite like Google Apps Premier Edition could complement Microsoft Office by acting as an easily accessible online collaboration tool without the overhead and expense of Microsoft servers and accompanying security.
Continue reading "Google Apps Premier Edition as a Complementary Office Suite" »
Gmail keeps adding new and innovative features with the latest being Gmail now being able to render PowerPoint slides as a playable slide show.
Gmail now renders PPT by ZDNet's Marc Orchant -- Gmail is now rendering PowerPoint slide decks as a playable slide show. I've found a few files it's choked on (seems to be graphic density but that's very unscientific data so YMMV). It's very fast and quite useful when it works. I get a lot of PPT files and this is a nice quick way to make a decision whether I need to D/L the file or just leave it in Gmail and reference it there as needed.
Continue reading "Gmail Rendering PowerPoint Presentations" »
A cross platform calendar solution is an on again/off again personal project for me. It sounds like Marc Orchant has solved this issue:
How I solved my Outlook-Google Calendar issues by ZDNet's Marc Orchant -- Working on a number of different PCs and connected devices introduces all sorts of complexity. A constant issue is how to keep all of the information I need access to at hand, regardless of the device I happen to be using. E-mail is pretty easy - between Gmail and IMAP I can access all of my e-mail from any device I use. Calendar info, contacts, task lists, and files all present tougher issues and, as I'm now in full-time platform switching mode using both the Tablet PC and the MacBook as well as the Treo 700P and the Nokia N93, the complexity has increased in a big way.
Continue reading "Moving Towards Outlook/Google Synchronization Bliss" »
Lately, I've been taking advantage of Google Docs new feature enabling the opening and saving of Word document attachments. ZDNet's Garrett Rogers broke the news:
Gmail lets you open Word attachments in Google Docs by ZDNet's Garett Rogers -- Instead of downloading that attached Word document, especially if it's "a keeper", you should try opening it with the brand new Gmail feature available today. It lets you import any attached Microsoft Word document directly into Google Docs with a single click. The "View as HTML" option still exists, but should probably only be used [...]
Continue reading "Opening Word Attachments in Google Docs" »
Office 2007 faces snail's pace migration (from The Register)
Hopes by Microsoft for quick uptake of Office 2007 based on a
redesigned and simpler interface could be dashed - ironically - thanks
to its spanking new look.
Most enterprises will wait between three and five years before
switching from older editions of Microsoft's suite to Office 2007, to
be launched next week, Forrester claims.
Training is one reason, with users apparently requiring "more intense" coaching than expected. Forrester reportedly
said most business users will need up to three hours formal training,
which will be followed by a drop in efficiency for up to four weeks as
they adjust to their new environment.
Continue reading "Office 2007 Migration" »
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