Here’s an instructional video on how to start with Windows Live Writer. It covers how to do basic authoring, how to manage images, videos and other plugins, as well as on how to manage and publish.

Video: Windows Live Writer

Microsoft recently updated their Microsoft Security Bulletin MS07-025 which is “Vulnerability in Microsoft Office Could Allow Remote Code Execution (934873)”.

Please check the list below if your Microsoft Office  version is affected:

• Microsoft Office 2000 Service Pack 3 — Download the update (KB934526)
• Microsoft Office XP Service Pack 3 — Download the update (KB934705)
• Microsoft Office 2003 Service Pack 2 — Download the update (KB934180)
• 2007 Microsoft Office System — Download the update (KB934062)
• Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac — Download the update (KB936749)

Please read more details about this issue here.

Few years back (that’s around 2005, if I am not mistaken), we heard about Office 12 and made a buzz in the office suite industry since, of course, it’s from Microsoft? Partly, I suppose, but it is due to the many advanced features it has and most noticeably its new user interface. Well, that was (again) few years back.

As the trend today, most applications are going web-based, commonly labeled as SaaS (Software as a Service), Microsoft also aims to bring their Office suite online but limited.

Bill Gates, the ever rich and ever famous man, delivered a speech during the last Microsoft Office System Developer Conference in San Jose, said something like this:

“Outlook Web Access is not the full version of Office, but if you want to go into a kiosk or an Internet cafe and browse and connect, it gives you plenty of functionality. As we look at all the modules [in Office 14] we have in mind the equivalent of Outlook Web Access.” [ source ]

Well, I guess Gates sees the tight competition with the current key players of the online office suite arena (Google Apps, Zoho Online, etc.) and will try to rule it out with this move. Appropriate as it may seem and let us just hope that it will be a of quality and of course cheap, yet better if free, online applications.

*Image Credit due to Stephen Chapman at Aero Experience. 

By the way, Office 14 is said to be shipping in the early 2009. Betas will be released late this year 2008.

So, basically, Office 14 will be the updated version of Office 2007 (after 2 years hopefully). And for more in-depth FAQs about Office 14, please click here and here.

Just stumbled with an intriguing blog post from OpenOffice.Org Ninja, asking if Microsoft Office Adware? What basically is an Adware? Well, basically it is a software with some integrated advertising schemes. It goes with the software package unaware, commonly to those which are free. Thus defines Adware = advertising + software.

But read the whole post so you can understand why the author claimed such.

Is Microsoft Office Adware?

Personally, I believe that we can categorize Microsoft Office under Adware given the definition. Worst, users pay the license but such approach of integrating advertising with the software is no good, authorized or not authorized. It may be unnoticeable.

Well, people have different perceptions about Adware. What’s your say?

It is official, Microsoft Office for Mac 2008 now already available. At the MacWorld Conference & Expo, Microsoft already introduced Office 2008 for Mac which is an update for the earlier version, Office 2004 for Mac.

The Expo is not over yet, you can still catch up. Here’s some quick links that you might want to check out about the product:

• Discover the right Mac Office 2008 version for you
• The new Expression Media
• PCWorld Mac Office 2008 review
• and, something about the Art of Office

Check out more about this product here and its official website.

Just recently, the software giant, Microsoft had announced its new addition of Microsoft Live Office Workspace from its Office Live service suite. Now, integrating Office Live Workspace to its Live@edu suite will bring a powerful learning environment.

“Our continued aim is to offer education institutions the best choices of tools to meet the evolving needs of their organization, educators and increasingly tech-savvy students. Tools such as the expanded e-mail, calendaring and IM functionality of Live@edu and the Microsoft Office capabilities of Office Live Workspace give students a rich ‘connected learning’ experience, putting them at the center of a vibrant, collaborative teaching and learning community,” said Alan Yates, general manager for the Worldwide Public Sector Education at Microsoft.

Finally, Microsoft is stepping up to compete with the rival Google’s Online Office Suite, Google Docs. With the announcement of Microsoft Office Live Workspace beta,the software giant aims to offer Microsoft Office its web companion, allowing users work with their Microsoft Office files online. And since it is online, anywhere access and file sharing is also guaranteed. But currently, this is under the pre-registration stage which means that Office Live Workspace beta will initially be available in English to a limited number of people. Pre-register now to be one of the first to try it. They will keep you posted about when your workspace will be ready.

According to JESSICA MINTZ of The Associated Press,

Workspace wasn’t intended as a standalone program, said Chris Capossela, a corporate vice president in Microsoft’s business software division, but rather a “companion service.” At a media event last week, Capossela and Jeff Raikes, president of the division, stressed that users were most interested in using the power of the Web to access their documents from any computer, and for collaborating, and not for creating sophisticated documents. Office Live Workspace is not to be confused with Office Live, a set of tools Microsoft first developed to help small businesses build Web sites and manage online advertising campaigns. Office Live will be renamed Office Live Small Business, Microsoft said.

Visit Microsoft Office Live Workspace and pre-register now. Click here to visit.

Last week, Microsoft made an announcement about their new free online service - the Microsoft Office Live Workspace beta. According to The Official Live Blog (the official blog for Microsoft Office Live for small businesses), “Live Workspace gives you a single online place to store, access and share Microsoft Office documents you create in Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. That means you can get to your files from any computer with Internet access… at anytime … from anywhere (like the airport, coffee shop, your in-laws’ house). What else can you do in an Office Live Workspace? You can let other folks – including those who can’t access your company’s network—look at and comment on your documents. Or share meeting agendas and presentations. This is really useful stuff – for work, for school, even organizations you belong to.”

Office Live Workspace beta will initially be available in English to a limited number of people. Pre-register now to be one of the first to try it. We will keep you posted about when your workspace will be ready.

Google has recently released a premium version of their Google Apps functionality. The new version provides additional storage capabilities as the main difference between the free version, along with their not being ads on the paid for service. The cost of the service is $50/yr per employee using the application.

Today, it introduces Google Apps Premium Edition, a software suite for companies that provides e-mail, instant messaging, calendar, word processing and spreadsheets. The cost is $50 per worker per year vs. about $500-$600 for Microsoft Office.

The question still remains though, is any significantly sized company going to actually begin using this as a serious alternative to having the actual Office software installed on their machines. Even if you don’t like Microsoft Office, I’d think OpenOffice would be a much more valid and workable solution to this need.

Privacy still remains the biggest issue with the Google Apps option as well. Erica Driver, an analyst at market tracker Forrester Research had this to say about the privacy concerns.

Driver says companies will have to weigh cost benefits vs. privacy concerns. With Google Apps, the files will be stored on Google servers, as opposed to internally.

Article Source: Google goes after Microsoft with software suite

You know what I think would be great? Being able to access my complete Outlook Inbox mail, settings, preferences and folders from any internet connection where I’ve got access to Outlook. That’s not just it though, I want Outlook to run as normal when I’m sitting in front of my own computer working as well.

I’d envision something along the lines of your local .pst file being uploaded to the Office Live server somewhere and synchronizing with your local file whenever a network connection is present. This would allow me to access mail I’ve download on my local machine from anywhere if I’m away from that machine and doing work somewhere else.

The settings in Outlook for data file management would allow me to specify a remote location to store the file and it’s synchronization settings as well.

Why can’t that type of functionality be the sort of thing you get with an Office Live account?