Posts Tagged ‘Office’

Microsoft Office 2010 Beta

So I am going through my email yes­ter­day and I come across an email from Tech­Net announ­cing the beta of Mic­ro­soft 2010.

Even though I am a huge sup­por­ter of Open Office, I deci­ded to give it a try. Since I already had a Hot­mail account, the regis­tra­tion was very sim­ple and within 5 minu­tes I was down­loa­ding the installer.

One of the first things I noti­ced when I began to ins­tall the appli­ca­tion, was the options that were not selec­ted. As seen in this screenshot, very few fea­tu­res are ins­ta­lled by default.

The ins­tall did seem to take a bit lon­ger than nor­mal, how much was part of the ins­ta­ller ver­sus my test machine is unde­ci­ded. None the less the ins­ta­ller did not take more than 20 minu­tes or so. Since I spend more time in the Word appli­ca­tion that was where I hea­ded first. It does appear that MS did lis­ten to a lot of users con­cer­ning the start orb and has repla­ced it with the File tab. The remain­der of the rib­bon bar looks remar­kably the same.

When you do go to the file tab, you get a lot more infor­ma­tion at your mouse point without having to do a lot of digging.

So off I go. As I men­tio­ned I use Open Office by default, so the first thing I did was open one of my docu­ments crea­ted in Wri­ter. It did take a few moments to bring the docu­ment up, but all of my for­mat­ting (such as it was) remai­ned. I could even save it back into the .odt exten­sion. There was the war­ning that the for­mat was not com­ple­tely com­pa­ti­ble. I ope­ned the file in Wri­ter again and everything was gol­den. That was a big check mark in my books right there. Mic­ro­soft has been drug over the coals (right­fully so) for not being more com­pa­ti­ble with other appli­ca­tions, this is a good step forward.

The next thing I wan­ted to look at was how it hand­les wri­ting to a blog (not just Mic­ro­soft Live spa­ces). I rea­li­zed how happy I was for the file menu to be back. With a cou­ple of clicks I was being promp­ted to setup my blog con­nec­tion. I selec­ted Word­press and ente­red the ser­ver and login infor­ma­tion. Next time I know, I am wri­ting the entry right now. One of the great fea­tu­res is the screenshot fea­ture. Like the snip­ping tool in Vista and Win­dows 7, the screenshot tool is won­der­ful. When you go to insert you see the option screenshot, with the down arrow, you have the abi­lity to just grab a full win­dow or use the snip­ping tool. All of the ima­ges in this post were crea­ted using this format.

So far, I must say I am actually impres­sed with the direc­tion of at least the Word por­tion. I will play with the excel por­tion later. Check back…

Abbot and Costello with new style ‘Who’s on First’

You have to be old enough to remem­ber Abbott and Cos­te­llo,
And too old to REALLY unders­tand com­pu­ters, to fully appre­ciate this. For those of us who some­ti­mes get flus­te­red by our com­pu­ters, please read on…
If Bud Abbott and Lou Cos­te­llo were alive today, their infa­mous sketch, ‘Who’s on First?‘might have tur­ned out something like this:

COSTELLO CALLS TO BUY A COMPUTER FROM ABBOTT
ABBOTT: Super Duper com­pu­ter store. Can I help you?
COSTELLO: Thanks I’m set­ting up an office in my den and I’m thin­king about buying a com­pu­ter.
ABBOTT: Mac?
COSTELLO: No, the name’s Lou.
ABBOTT: Your com­pu­ter?
COSTELLO: I don’t own a com­pu­ter. I want to buy one.
ABBOTT: Mac?
COSTELLO: I told you, my name’s Lou.
ABBOTT: What about Win­dows?
COSTELLO: Why? Will it get stuffy in here?
ABBOTT: Do you want a com­pu­ter with Win­dows?
COSTELLO: I don’t know. What will I see when I look at the win­dows?
ABBOTT: Wall­pa­per.
COSTELLO: Never mind the win­dows. I need a com­pu­ter and soft­ware.
ABBOTT: Soft­ware for Win­dows?
COSTELLO: No. On the com­pu­ter! I need something I can use to write proposals,

Track expen­ses and run my busi­ness. What do you have?
ABBOTT: Office.
COSTELLO: Yeah, for my office. Can you recom­mend anything?
ABBOTT: I just did.
COSTELLO: You just did what?
ABBOTT: Recom­mend something.
COSTELLO: You recom­men­ded something?
ABBOTT: Yes.
COSTELLO: For my office?
ABBOTT: Yes.
COSTELLO: OK, what did you recom­mend for my office?
ABBOTT: Office.
COSTELLO: Yes, for my office!
ABBOTT: I recom­mend Office with Win­dows.
COSTELLO: I already have an office with win­dows! OK, let’s just say I’m sitting

At my com­pu­ter and I want to type a pro­po­sal. What do I need?
ABBOTT: Word.
COSTELLO: What word?
ABBOTT: Word in Office.
COSTELLO: The only word in office is office.
ABBOTT: The Word in Office for Win­dows.
COSTELLO: Which word in office for win­dows?
ABBOTT: The Word you get when you click the blue ‘W’.
COSTELLO: I’m going to click your blue ‘W’ if you don’t start with some straight answers.

What about finan­cial book­kee­ping? You have anything I can track my money with?
ABBOTT: Money.
COSTELLO: That’s right. What do you have?
ABBOTT: Money.
COSTELLO: I need money to track my money?
ABBOTT: It comes bund­led with your com­pu­ter.
COSTELLO: What’s bund­led with my com­pu­ter?
ABBOTT: Money.
COSTELLO: Money comes with my com­pu­ter?
ABBOTT: Yes. No extra charge.
COSTELLO: I get a bundle of money with my com­pu­ter? How much?
ABBOTT: One copy.
COSTELLO: Isn’t it ille­gal to copy money?
ABBOTT: Mic­ro­soft gave us a license to copy Money.
COSTELLO: They can give you a license to copy money?
ABBOTT: Why not? THEY OWN IT!
(A few days later)
ABBOTT: Super Duper com­pu­ter store. Can I help you?
COSTELLO: How do I turn my com­pu­ter off?
ABBOTT: Click on ‘START’…

The System Administrator from Hell

Some days I get emails that just have to be sha­red.  This is one of them.  All cre­dit to the ori­gi­nal author, though I don’t know who it is.

Recently someone called me from one of the “Out on the Floor Offi­ces”, an ethe­real place rumo­red to exist only in hypers­pace, popu­la­ted by mys­te­rious beings called Users.

She was quite fran­tic. She was having trou­ble run­ning a pro­gram through the com­pu­ter, and her mes­sage was clear enough, although rather ill-conceived: “My files are full!”

I furro­wed my brow, lit a smoke, and explai­ned to her, “Really now, Miss Rus­sell, I don’t have time for this.” I slowly exha­led the menthol vapors as I stop­ped her pro­cess, crushing any hopes she may have had of ever again seeing that docu­ment she had spent three hours sla­ving over.

“I was typing this really impor­tant let­ter, and it has to be ready in an hour… there’s all this stuff on my screen that I didn’t type… it says something about an error, should I read it to you?”

“No point. Just press return.”

“Oh my, it wants my user­name. Can I res­tart that where I left off?”

“Not a chance.”

I drew another puff and tos­sed the phone aside. It occu­rred to me that if I had to hear one more of those whi­ning com­plaint ses­sions, heads were going to roll. Where do you peo­ple get this stuff? I’m going to tell you what’s really going on here. Now lis­ten up. I’m not going over this a second time:

Com­pu­ter

The black box that does your work for you. That’s all you need to know.

Res­ponse Time

Usually mea­su­red in nano­se­conds; some­ti­mes mea­su­red in calen­dar months. The gene­ral rule is: Shut up your com­plai­ning about res­ponse time.

Hard­ware

See “Com­pu­ter.” Again, not your concern.

Soft­ware

If we want you to know, we’ll tell you about it, other­wise, leave us alone.

Net­work

Don’t worry about it, we’ll take care of it. Use it to send mail among your half-wit sel­ves, and don’t think we won’t read it all. What do you think we do all day? By the way , Rus­sell… shame about your mother’s Pancreas.

Data

The gene­ral rule is: Don’t use any data files and if you find any, delete them before I find out about them. In fact, just stay off the com­pu­ter. (See “Res­ponse Time”)

Sys­tem Crash

Don’t ever call the sys­tem mana­ger to tell him you think the com­pu­ter is down. Don’t call him to ask him when it will be up again. The more you bother him, the lon­ger it takes.

Down­time

Like I said, don’t ask.

Uptime

Be thank­ful for it, use it wisely, and get out of my face.

Over­time

Don’t be ridiculous.

Vaca­tion

A time during which I don’t have to put up with your sni­ve­ling. Don’t try calling. There’s no point.

Com­pu­ter Room

Keep out, you’re not invi­ted. Don’t knock on the door — don’t even think about it. I broke the phone last time one of you jerks called me, and I’m not about to replace it. And keep your greasy fin­gers off the windows.

My Office

The name says it all… it’s mine; stay out.

Your Pro­blems

The name says it all…

Dead­li­nes

The gene­ral rule is: Dead­li­nes are not ack­now­led­ged by me; they’re not my res­pon­si­bi­lity. Go tell someone who cares.

Main­te­nance

1. A valid rea­son for shut­ting down the sys­tem at any time.
2. Much more impor­tant than anything any of you bozos do.
3. Anything I choose to call “main­te­nance” is maintenance.

Soft­ware Upgrades

Far too com­plex for you to com­prehend. If I tell you I’m upgra­ding the sys­tem, just be quietly thank­ful. It’s for your own good, even if it does mean exten­sive down­time during peak hours.

Elec­tro­nic Mail

I delete it before it’s read, so don’t bother sen­ding any to me.

Defaults

We like them just like they are; we chose them for a rea­son. Don’t mess with them; con­si­der them mandatory.

Error Mes­sa­ges

I’m not inte­res­ted. I’m going to kill your pro­cess any­way, so keep them to yourself.

Killing your Process

1. Don’t ever ask why
2. Beyond your control
3. No war­nings are given
4. The high­light of my day
5. If you call, it’s going to hap­pen. No exceptions.

Pass­words

I reserve the right to change them without notice at any time. I choose them, and the more you bother me, the more degra­ding yours will be. (Exam­ple: jrus­sell: SNOTFACE)

Users

1. They slow down the computer
2. They waste my time
3. A gene­ral nuisance
4. Worse than that, actually

Soft­ware Modifications

You don’t know what you want — we’ll tell you what you want. It stays like it is. Period.

Pri­vi­le­ges

I’ve got them, you don’t need them. Enough said.

Prio­rity

Mine is higher than yours, accept it. That’s the rea­son my games run fas­ter than your lousy accoun­ting pac­kage. (See “Res­ponse Time”)

Ter­mi­nals

Before calling me with a ter­mi­nal pro­blem, con­si­der this:

1. Are you pre­pa­red to do without one for weeks?
2. Do you REALLY want your pro­cess killed?
3. Did you just trip over the cord again?
4. Of course you did.

Disk Space

I set the quo­tas, you live with them. If you need more space, check “Data Files”.

Ope­ra­tor

I hired him and I trai­ned him. He does what I tell him to. Usually armed; always dangerous.

Bac­kups

A good idea if I gave a shit, which of course I don’t.

Lunch

The only time that calling my office won’t result in the killing of your process.

Data Secu­rity

That’s your pro­blem. I’m cer­tainly not going to lose any sleep over it. My files are loc­ked up tight. I feel secure.

Jiffy

Length of time it takes me to resolve your pro­blem by killing your process.

Eter­nity

Length of time it takes me to give a shit about any pro­blem that can’t be resol­ved by killing your process.

Impos­si­ble

1. It can’t be done (as far as you know)
2. I can’t be bothered
3. You’re star­ting to annoy me

Ine­vi­ta­ble

1. Couldn’t have been avoided
2. Not my fault (as far as you know)
3. The result of anno­ying me

Menus

If it’s not on the menu, don’t ask for it. It’s not avai­la­ble. If it is on the menu, it’s pro­bably of no use or it doesn’t work. We’re wor­king on it (See “Eternity”).

Uti­li­ties

I find them quite use­ful, you’ll find them quite inac­ces­si­ble. Besi­des, they’re not on your menu, are they. What did I tell you about that?

Nui­sance

You.

Of course, I reserve the right to add, change, or remove anything from the above list. I’m not asking you to accept these mat­ters without ques­tion, I’m telling you.

Now that we all know where we stand, I’m sure there’ll be no future pro­blems. If you have any ques­tions or com­ments please feel free to keep them to your­self. If you feel the need for more infor­ma­tion, I highly recom­mend that you ask someone else.

Sin­ce­rely,
The Sys­tem Manager

P.S. The new disk quota of 30 blocks per user became effec­tive yes­ter­day. Anyone caught excee­ding the quota will lose their accounts (this means you, Russell!)

Forget Park Place, I want to buy the Red Square

In case you have not hear about it, Mono­poly is going glo­bal.  Accor­ding to Daily Mail UK, Goo­gle has been in con­tact with Has­bro to make a new Mono­poly game that uti­li­zes Goo­gle Maps.

With the release of the game, you will not only be able to buy the stan­dard upgra­des – House or Hotel, you will also be able to say, put a sta­dium on your pesky neigh­bors house.  Don’t like your current office buil­ding?  Buy the area, put up a skyscraper.

Not only will there be the stan­dard modi­fi­ca­tions to the lots and upgra­des, the chance cards will now give the option to build a pri­son or a gar­bage dump.  The pos­si­bi­li­ties of where to put that are endless.

Accor­ding the article:

Pla­yers start the free game with three million Mono­poly dollars and can buy Dow­ning Street for $231,000, while Pennsyl­va­nia Ave­nue in Washing­ton, where the White House stands, costs $2 million.

Rent is paid auto­ma­ti­cally each day, from $50,000 for a house to $100 million for a skyscraper.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1211686/Monopoly-goes-global-giant-online-game-using-Google-Maps.html#ixzz0QX6bL8Ps

I for one, look for­ward to pla­ying.  I have been wai­ting for a major change in the game for a very long time.  Next one they need to do is Risk.

Office 2007 Ribbon Bar

As we rolled out Office 2007 in my office, one of the things that came up quite a bit was the new Rib­bon bar.  Per­so­nally, I think the grou­pings of the options are well thought out and very intui­tive.  But, even with all the gui­des in the world, some users wan­ted the clas­sic tool­bar back.

Always on the hunt to make my users happy, I keep loo­king for little tools that they can use.  I came across this one the other day.

It is called Rib­bon­Cus­to­mi­zer and can be found here.  There are two ver­sions, the free and pro­fes­sio­nal ver­sion.  Yes the free ver­sion is very wate­red down, but for the stan­dard user I think it will work fine.   For 30 days you do get a trial of the full ver­sion, but I am not sure if it is worth the $30 to purchase it. Per­so­nally, I would get used to the new inter­face for that price.

The ins­ta­lla­tion seems very straight for­ward and easy to follow.  Please note that if you have Vista and mul­ti­ple users on that com­pu­ter you will have to ins­tall it for each user.  That would be nice in some fami­lies where one per­son likes the bar and the other doesn’t.

After the ins­ta­lla­tion you will notice a new option in the rib­bon bar labe­led Clas­si­cUI.  If you select that tab, the old tool­bar back.

If you know of another option, please don’t hesi­tate to let me know.

Smart Installer

Many PC users as well as the tech­no­geeks out there find them­sel­ves from time to time having to refor­mat. I know that since we are all good and cons­cien­tious peo­ple, we always have good and com­plete bac­kups, so I won’t get into that.

There is, howe­ver, the more pres­sing pro­blem of reins­ta­lling some of those soft­ware pac­ka­ges you can’t do without.  These inc­lude: Acro­bat Rea­der, Flash Pla­yer, Fire­fox, Open Office, as well as some others.

Are these the latest ver­sion of the appli­ca­tions, well since the pro­gram has not been upda­ted since May of 2009, pro­bably not, but they are pretty close and will get you back on your feet quic­ker then having to redown­load these applications.

On the web­site, you can ask for new appli­ca­tions, just how quick or willing they are to handle a request I can not speak to.

I have used pro­gram recently with great suc­cess, since the one 200 MB file is much easier to keep track of then mul­ti­ple ver­sion of mul­ti­ple appli­ca­tions sto­red through a few dif­fe­rent pla­ces.  The one thing that truly made me happy was that it was a one click ins­tall, which for me works fine, since I am an all defaults guy when ins­ta­lling software.

I will say you should give it a try, who knows you may find an appli­ca­tion that you didn’t know was out there, that is help­ful to you.

I have pro­vi­ded a direct down­load link here:

  Smart Ins­ta­ller Pack (227.1 MiB, 168 hits)