Will Kelly

Building The Better Office 2007 Migration

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.

Inheriting Microsoft Word Document Pet Peeves

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.

How I learned to Appreciate Word Templates Again

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.

Recession Proofing your Company's Technical Documentation

So you've outsourced your company's technical documentation to contractors and now you are facing a much tighter budget in 2009?

Kelly's Laws of Document Templates

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.

Office 14 to hit Alpha: The Microsoft Office Juggernaut Continues

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.

When Google Apps Meets the Microft Office System

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.

Project 2003 versus Project 2007

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.

First Impressions Microsoft Office Live Workspace

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.

Microsoft's Office Live Workspace in a Web Office World

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.       

How Sweet Must a Pundit's Eye View Be of the Web Office/MS Office Space?

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.

Google Apps Premier Edition as a Complementary Office Suite

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.

Gmail Rendering PowerPoint Presentations

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.

Moving Towards Outlook/Google Synchronization Bliss

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.

Opening Word Attachments in Google Docs

 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 [...]

OneNote 2003 vs. OneNote 2007

Microsoft Office Online includes a chart showing how OneNote 2003 and OneNote 2007 stack up against each other.

I've been using OneNote 2003 since the beta as a collection point for article ideas and research. While writing an upcoming article about OneNote 2007, I've come to really like the new version so the forecast is high that I will upgrade.

Office 2007 Migration

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.

Microsoft Office Lockdown

Microsoft gets tough on Office fakers (from news.com)

The company introduced Office Genuine Advantage in April as a voluntary way for people to ensure that they only used licensed and legal copies of the productivity software. But as of Friday, Office Online templates downloaded from within Microsoft Office System 2007 applications will require validation of the Office software in use.

Mozilla Should Take Over OpenOffice

While I've written extensively about Microsoft Office, chimed in as the technical editor on some Microsoft Office titles, and supported a major Microsoft Office 2003 deployment in a Federal government agency. Such experience hardly makes me a Microsoft Office fanboy, rather it enables me to see all sides of the Office suite debate. This is a debate with issues that Microsoft and OpenOffice.org seem to gloss over through denial or a detached marketing staff.

There could indeed  be competitors to Microsoft Office but a viable competitor needs  a strong product nd even stronger messaging. OpenOffice.org lacks in both areas and needs to take a page from Mozilla's playbook if not even give themselves over to  Mozilla.

Should Mozilla take over Open Office? by ZDNet's Dana Blankenhorn -- Mozilla should take over Open Office. What do you think?

A SharePoint in Every Portal?

  While doing some homework about the adoption of Microsoft SharePoint for a meeting with a prospective client (and potential article ideas) , I came across an interesting report from Aberdeen Group, a technology industry analyst firm.

Microsoft’s SharePoint portal is certainly not alone in the race for portal technology market share. However, Aberdeen research reveals a strong possibility that Microsoft will win it. In our recent benchmark report, Best Practices in Enterprise Portal Adoption Strategies, Aberdeen looked at portal adoption in the field and at the marketing strategies of over 30 different technology vendors to determine what works and why. The results show that collaboration is the most common reason companies look to portal technology, and that content management and data integration are both the biggest challenges and the key differentiators in the quest for successful implementation. Can Microsoft dominate?