All you Microsoft users doesn’t have to wait any longer as one of the better things about Microsoft Office 2010 is it’s online ability where you can create, edit, save office documents online.

The primary Office 2010 programs like the Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Ms OneNote all includes web applications. The Office 2010 applications is going to be available for users with Windows Live Account.

Aside from these, you should be able to save your documents to the free Windows Live SkyDrive account.

This should be awesome and I wonder how Microsoft is going to synch-up the license from your desktop to the online account. I guess that once you install the desktop application, you would be taken to the online account and be able to login using your license key for initial verification.

Image from Office 2010.

Post from: EveryJoe

Online Ability of Office 2010

The tasks found in the backstage view of Office 2010 includes saving of file, printing of document, and some of the quick information given to users which include time, author, description, etc.

The backstage view also provides a small button where you quickly preview your document, choose printer settings like margins, paper size, etc.

Most of the things outlined above are all present in Office 2007 but you’d get lost finding them in the interface. The all in one interface of Office 2010 should give users far better user experience.

Another feature of Office 2010 is it’s revamped copy and paste utility wherein it provides a preview on how it would look like. This I am not thrilled about, how difficult is it to hit the Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V, and if you don’t like what you see just hit the Ctrl+Z for undoing the paste.

Anyways, Microsoft just keeps on making the copy and paste functionality more complex and difficult and I just like it the way it is.

Image from Office 2010.

Post from: EveryJoe

Office 2010 Backstage views

Applications are able to share a common ribbon interface which includes Outlook, OneNote and the rest of the Office apps. The ribbon includes those of SharePoint. That’s something I probably wouldn’t like. I love SharePoint the way it is and doing the whole Office one interface look makes it look common.

The button on the upper-left corner of the screen is a small rectangle compared to the old circular button. the rectangle button makes the user experience less obtrusive.

From a user interface standpoint, Office 2010 delivers on target.

Image from Microsoft Office.

Post from: EveryJoe

Office 2010 Ribbons

Today, Microsoft is most likely to bring the clip back as evidence on their Microsoft Office 2010  movie advertisement previews.

In the latest movie, the initial scene shows the grave of Clippy and moved into an interrogation of missing fonts. The Office 2010 build excitement is getting hotter and intense and in the coming days, Microsoft is bound to release a technical preview of Microsoft Office 2010.

Go and watch the Office 2010 movies here – Office 2010 movie trailers.

Image from CNET.

Post from: EveryJoe

2010 Microsoft Clippy

Jayvee inspects the culture of FAIL on the Internet and finds that video advertising is going to decline. Actually, the rate of growth of online advertising has reached a saturation point even though online advertising itself is continuing to rise.

In these tough times, when the economy has been slowing down, Clair suggests that choosing Linux and open source software has become more necessary. For those who are already in that path, there is a free Ubuntu training course. Ubuntu is Linux for human beings, isn’t it?

A survey found that only 1% of people are using Google Docs, and many of those use Microsoft Office already. However, Colleen feels that the Microsoft’s stranglehold on office suites may be slipping away with Microsoft promising and postponing their next release and the availability of too many options for the users.

Juan says that 2008 is the year of iPhone, which is not very debatable in the user sense though this is also the year for RIAs, Twitter (@bsravanin) and cloud computing. But then, he is an Apple guy. :-) He also shares the offer that MacUpdate is having as a holiday promo. A good offer, far better than dreaming about the Apple 24″ LED display which is about $900!

Speaking of promos, Jason has a post about the Sears Wish Promotion, similar to the HP Magic Giveaway which has recently ended. There is already several Top 10 lists too, like the top 10 viral videos of 2008. I personally don’t like the fact that these lists do not consider the rest of the year that is still to be lived through. The more important news is, in case you haven’t already heard, that a serious security flaw has been exposed in the Internet Explorer and it is advised to not use it for financial and other sensitive transations of any kind.

While you wait for the security update, be sure to take note of the 8 security bulletins that Microsoft is ending the year with. Various OS users may want to check out the 2008 Service Pack 2 beta releases.

Post from: EveryJoe

Tech Channel Roundup of Year End Retrospections and Forecasts

First, a question (or two) — What is the worst situation that you have experienced while dealing with an IT department? What is the worst situation that you have experienced while working in an IT department? Now as you can see, I want your stories from both sides. I believe in what my father used to say, “I don’t pick favorites between you and your brother. I dislike both of you equally.” So please, leave a comment below and I promise, I’ll read it.

Now, on to the story. Just a couple of weeks ago I had a wonderful coworker ask me:

How do I fix my monitor?

I started to rattle off a canned answer before I realized that they had not told me any information about what the issue was. When I pressed them for more information, they had no idea of how to respond. As we went back and forth with questions like, “Is the monitor on? Is it dim? Does it have lines across it?” I came to realize that this issue stems from a much larger problem — We in IT don’t have all the answers. I know it’s hard to believe but it’s true. This is especially true when we don’t have all the information.

The reason I’m telling you this is that most of the time when a problem arises relating to a computer, people grab the closest tech-savvy person and ask them to fix it. This does not work. People are trained in different aspects of IT. If you were an accountant, you probably wouldn’t want me running to you each time I was short on cash. Why? Because you’re not a loan shark. Sure you deal in money but that doesn’t make you qualified nor interested in what it is I have to say. The same rings true in IT. A desktop support guy (or gal) is probably trained in desktop computer issues. This doesn’t include servers, networks, car engines or your blender. So please, be kind to your IT guy and give them the information that they need so they can either solve your issue or point you in the right direction.

By the way, in case you were wondering — This user had unplugged the VGA cable from their computer while cleaning. They didn’t think it did anything so they coiled it up, nice and neat, and taped it to the back of the monitor.

Post from: EveryJoe

A new way of thinking