Archive for: office

The Great Office War: Its Like Skermish But With Nerf Guns

This is one of the coolest videos I have seen in a while.

Microsoft Looking for Testers for Office 2010

Microsoft Office 2010 is the next release of Microsoft’s popular Office suite. Microsoft is looking for participants for the Microsoft’s Office 2010 Real Life Stories program.

Eligible are families, students and small businesses that own 5 PCs or less from the United States. Each selected participant will receive a preview copy of Microsoft Office 2010, access to web versions of Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint plus dedicated support by a program manager and various other sources.

Participants specifically get:

  • Microsoft Office 2010 pre-installed on a “loaner” laptop PC – before it ships!
  • 24-hour unlimited e-mail support Monday – Friday, with phone support for escalations
  • Monthly webcast training and Q&A sessions
  • Community site access, so you can connect with other participants and easily use resources like feature videos and announcements
  • FREE copy of Microsoft Office 2010 (when available)

The Microsoft Office 2010 Real Life Stories program is available to US citizens only at this point in time. They can submit an application at the official website until June 30.

Docx File Converter: 3 Ways to Convert and View Docx files

Docx is the new file format of Word 2007 and this is the default format of Word 2007. This format cannot be opened in previous versions of Word unless you have the office compatibility pack installed. Incase you do not wish to install the compatibility pack, there are online converters to do the job of converting to .doc format. Here are the top 3 online converters.

Docx Converter:  This is again a good service to Docx file and the output file is in html format so that it can be read in all systems. There is also a desktop widget for converting.

Docx2Doc: As the name indicated, this service converts docx formats into doc files so that it can be viewed in Word 2003 or lower. The major disadvantage with this service its that there is a one hour delay in downloading the converted files to reduce website bandwidth.

Zamzar: Zamzar can convert variety of file formats and Docx is one of them. Select the file and format to be converted and enter your email id, the file will be converted and a link will be sent to your email ID for download.

Office 2010 Images Leaked: So, What’s New?

office2010logo So, as for most of Windows 7 unofficial builds, the Office 2010 Technical Preview has leaked through the web and hit several BitTorrent sites; available for the first time in x86 and x64 platforms.

This brand new suite will be available in 2010 and not before, so don’t get all that excited on having a final version hitting the market at Christmas, like Windows 7 will. But those two boys will have, indeed, a lot in common considering the images that leaked from the web. Let’s take a quick look.

Installation process: nothing new, the same procedure. Side note: Total space required for a default installation 1.8GB.

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Word 2010 starting up. Hmmm… not sure about those colors being the right choice.

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Word 2010. Yep, the same thing as Office 2007 at first glance.

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That’s new. A left pane as a quick access for common places.

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All products have the same usability, the same ribbons used in Office 2007 (including Outlook, that now does include the same ribbon) and with the left quick access new.

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But, here’s an important thing that I’ve found. Outlook 2007 has a glitch when you are using it with Windows 7 taskbar, they are not fully compatible. Also, if you have any add-on for Outlook 2007 like Xobni (or even Microsoft’s Outlook Connector), and if you minimize the Window, you’ll see that the add-on feature from the bar disappears. With this version, you’ll have a nice Taskbar integration.

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Seems that’s new Office will also bring the Web version of this suite. Microsoft is planning to ship “Office Web” at the same time, that will include Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote “in the clouds”.

So, you were expecting big changes in this version? Not me. The transition that some users made (and some of them are still struggling) from Office 2003 to Office 2007 was huge, there is no need to add more complexity when you also want to settle a fresh new operating system in the same year.

Do you remember the code name for Office 2007? Office 12. And this one is called Office 14. So, where’s the Office 13?… the number says it all.

Ronin: Affordable, Easy, Web-Based Invoicing Tool

This morning I came across a new service called Ronin. Ronin is a flexible application designed for creative professionals looking for an easy, affordable, web-based way of managing clients and invoices. Ronin is more than just software, they are a service.

With the Ronin service there are no fees or update costs involved. All data is protected using industry standard SSL encryption and nightly back-ups.

There are a lot of different companies within this specific niche, but I do think Ronin is worth a try. I would also like to see them produce a few more services similar to this invoicing application, then they will have a nice little package that will hopefully moves users amoungst each product.

Sumo Lounges Should Be The Centrepiece Of Your Office

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to have the guys over at Sumo Lounge send me an email and ask for us to test out their new Sumo Omni.

After receiving our samples we of course had a really tough week of testing and found that the products were amazing. Currently, they are sitting pride of place in our group headquarters and all the guys seem to be really enjoying them.

The bags themselves seem to be a lot more comfortable than normal bean bags, maybe it has something to do with the types beans in the bags. One of the best things is that the fabric used is great for taking outside. The exterior material seems to be fully washable and will mix great with outdoor weather, plus inflammable (which is always a good thing).

I have been thinking about making the office into a Google type headquarters with just giant inflatable balls and pillows everywhere. However, even if this doesn’t happen, I’m sure that the Sumo Omni Lounges will be the center of our office for some time to come.

I must also high commend Andrew from Sumo Lounge on a great promotional strategy. I think more product orientated companies should be sending samples to bloggers to generate some buzz. If anyone else is wanting to send some products to us to sample, we would be happy to provide a review!