ZDNet UK Office applications Toolkit

Google Wave Developer Preview: screenshots

editorial@zdnet.co.uk (Simon Bisson) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 10:58:02 +0100

As Google Wave prepares to move into public beta, we take a look at how the Developer Preview has been shaping up.

Office 2010 Beta: a first look

editorial@zdnet.co.uk (Simon Bisson) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:00:00 +0000

How does the first public beta of Microsoft's next productivity suite differ from the Technical Preview? We have a hands-on evaluation.

Adobe's Acrobat.com adds organiser, mobile app

editorial@zdnet.co.uk (Josh Lowensohn ) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:04:02 +0000

The company is improving its Acrobat service with a new organiser and a mobile app for the iPhone and BlackBerry that lets users access their files on the go

Photoshop Bloater

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:50:51 +0000

I tried to edit an Adobe Photoshop file the other day. It had sparkling stars created using Layer Effects, so I couldn't use GIMP. I found out this is what you have to go through to get a trial...

Office 2010 beta released to the public

editorial@zdnet.co.uk (Ina Fried) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:45:02 +0000

Public availability of the test version was announced at PDC in Los Angeles. New features include a mechanism for connecting Outlook to social networks

Office 2010 Beta: screenshots

editorial@zdnet.co.uk (Simon Bisson) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:00:00 +0000

Microsoft has given the public beta of Office 2010 a subtle interface makeover. Check out our screenshot gallery to see whether it improves usability.

Office 2010 beta made available to developers

editorial@zdnet.co.uk (Ina Fried) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:18:02 +0000

The updated test version is now available to members of Microsoft's MSDN and TechNet developer programmes

Microsoft introduces Excel for supercomputers

editorial@zdnet.co.uk (Ina Fried) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 08:32:02 +0000

At the SC09 supercomputing conference, Microsoft released a test version of its Excel spreadsheet redesigned to run on powerful clusters of servers

Grappling Tectonic Decisions with Thinking Rock

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:19:53 +0000

After reading Adrians blog post Mind mapping software as a lifecycle management tool, I thought about how much of a mess my life is. Not a bad mess, I hasten to add, but a diaphonous morass of...

Microsoft to let multiple pupils work from single PC

editorial@zdnet.co.uk (Ina Fried) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:24:02 +0000

The software maker is working on new option that will let will let several students work independently off a single PC, each with their own screen, mouse and keyboard

Cloud helps Skype to 'business grade', says exec

editorial@zdnet.co.uk (Vivian Yeo) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 09:03:01 +0000

The cloud-computing revolution and consumers driving IT adoption provide an opportunity for VoIP player to shake off non-enterprise grade label, says a Skype Asia-Pacific exec

UK collaboration firm gets worldwide HP deal

editorial@zdnet.co.uk (David Meyer) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:34:01 +0000

HP's new small-business desktop PCs will come with Huddle's cloud-based collaboration, project management and document-sharing tools

End of the line for Microsoft Office Accounting

editorial@zdnet.co.uk (Ina Fried) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 09:06:02 +0000

The software maker has announced it is ending the latest in a series of efforts to rival Intuit in the business-accounting software

Very handy PDF tool

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 18:19:57 +0000

A friend of mine had to email a multi-page document that they had scanned in. Rather than send it as separate files, they were trying to create one PDF file to attach to the email. But Adobe...

Enterprising AirMagnet goes 802.11n

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:57:29 +0000

AirMagnet, the wireless LAN infrastructure monitoring company bought earlier this year by Fluke, has announced today a version of its monitoring system specifically designed for 802.11n. The new...

Share(Point) The Developer Love

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 01:35:30 +0100

We're currently at Microsoft's SharePoint 2009 conference in Las Vegas. With a new SharePoint release (and a new Office) in the offing, it's not surprising that there's a lot going on - after all...

Visual Studio 2010 release date confirmed

editorial@zdnet.co.uk (Ina Fried) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 09:18:01 +0100

Microsoft has announced it has reached the Beta 2 milestone for its collection of developer tools, and says it is simplifying the number of versions it sells

SharePoint and Office betas to arrive soon

editorial@zdnet.co.uk (Mary Branscombe and Simon Bisson) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 08:38:02 +0100

People will be able to test out the SharePoint 2010 document management platform and all the software in Office 2010 in November, Steve Ballmer has announced

I ate all the PyRoom!

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:27:05 +0100

Ever hot on the stone cold trail of innovative software, I stumbled across WriteRoom the other day, a bare-bones pared-down text editor for the Mac. I like it. It appeals to my ascetic...

Microsoft hints at second low-cost Office option

editorial@zdnet.co.uk (Ina Fried) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 09:07:02 +0100

A close look at a Microsoft blog post appears to suggest the software maker is readying a lower-cost option for Office Home and Student productivity suite

Honey, I Shrunk The Flash Player

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 07:42:41 +0100

There are two Adobes. One is the company that produces the design tools that give our image-saturated world its glossy look and feel. Its the Adobe of Photoshop and InDesign, of Premiere and...

Microsoft completes code for Exchange 2010

editorial@zdnet.co.uk (Ina Fried) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 09:07:02 +0100

The email and communications server becomes the first of the 2010 wave of Office products to be finished

IBM takes on Google with LotusLive iNotes

editorial@zdnet.co.uk (Larry Dignan) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:24:02 +0100

IBM's cloud-based email and calendar service is more than 10 percent cheaper than the rival Google Apps Premier

GroupMail Business Edition v5.2

editorial@zdnet.co.uk (Christian Harris) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:25:02 +0100

If you need to manage an email newsletter and don't want to go with a subscription-based online solution, you should consider GroupMail.

IBM pushes into Africa with Ubuntu alliance

editorial@zdnet.co.uk (David Meyer) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:52:02 +0100

Canonical and IBM have teamed up to provide businesses in emerging markets with an office suite that works on-premise and in the cloud

Microsoft to make case in Word injunction appeal

editorial@zdnet.co.uk (Ina Fried) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:41:01 +0100

The software maker is due to go before an appeals court to argue that an injunction banning it from selling Word should be lifted

Google Wave: a First Look

editorial@zdnet.co.uk (Simon Bisson) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 11:03:02 +0100

Google Wave is about to break. So what is Wave, and what does it actually do? We bypass the hype with a hands-on look at the Wave Developer Preview.

ABBYY PDF Transformer 3.0

editorial@zdnet.co.uk (Christian Harris) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 16:15:01 +0100

PDF Transformer 3.0 is fine for individuals with basic PDF-handling requirements, but it's underpowered for all but the most straightforward business tasks.

Corel Digital Studio 2010

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 09:04:53 +0100

With its new £59 Digital Studio 2010 photo and video software, Corel is trying out multi-touch features that it will bring to professional graphics tools in the future. But the software also...

Microsoft tries to stave off Word sale ban

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 17:30:03 +0100

Microsoft has filed an emergency motion with a US court in the hope of being allowed to continue selling Word in that country. Last Wednesday, Judge Leonard Davis of the US District Court for...

A Not-so-Stupid Nerd Trick in Windows XP Pro

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 03:48:17 +0100

or How to Drive Someone Batty with Windows Basically setting up a custom User Shell has been fairly well documented. It takes changes to 2 registry keys, one in HK_Current_User and the other...

Microsoft missing out on User Feedback 2.0

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 17:39:58 +0100

I'm not quite sure Microsoft gets this customer-feedback-in-the-modern-age thing. After two Microsoft Office employees started an unofficial suggestion site, MakeOfficeBetter.com, we sought...

Microsoft Wave has ups and downs

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 07:36:10 +0100

Those of us who search for green shoots in Microsoft's garden have had some pleasant moments of late. Software coming out under the GPL, the recognition that 'none' is not an adequate answer to...

Notepad++!! Rocks!!

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 19:58:28 +0100

Back on the crusty Windows XP and my favourite part is using Notepad++, my most favourite text editor on Windows, ever, official. It rocks. Not only does it rock, it floats my boat. Simultaneously....

Adobe open sources Flash platforms

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 17:17:26 +0100

Adobe has announced that it has open sourced two of its Flash player platforms. Adobe's core technologies will remain proprietary. On Tuesday Adobe launched the Open Source Media Framework...

Alphabetical CSS!

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 10:46:03 +0100

I'm back at The Agency, undergoing covert operations on a top secret redesign. Jonny, a new recruit to the team, came up with a brilliant working practise: Alphabetical CSS. Er, what? I asked....

Simplicity is a feature

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 09:49:30 +0100

New contract, new Windows machine, fresh install of Open Source software (from the OpenDisc project, if only I'd remembered the DVD…). I went to download Sumatra PDF reader, and came...

Zoho socialises Projects 2.0

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:22:25 +0100

After a teaser campaign that mentioned integrated Zoho web-based services and a 'popular Microsoft product', Zoho has unveiled Zoho Projects 2.0, which brings together Microsoft Project and a...

Microsoft, the NHS, licence fees and oddness.

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:06:22 +0100

While looking around in the strange and interesting world of Microsoft and the NHS, I found this; a page offering NHS employees in England and Scotland (sorry, Wales and Norn) downloadable MS...

It's All About the Tools

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 07:16:32 +0100

Yesterday I was working with some PDF documents, and realized that what I actually needed were a couple of pages which were buried in the middle of one multi-page PDF file. Fortunately, some time...

Fair is Fair - Ubuntu Netbook Remix

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:43:18 +0100

Ok, so I realized that if I'm going to be fair about this, in addition to trying Moblin on the nettop, I really should try the Ubuntu Netbook Remix (UNR). I've mentioned several times that I have...

Reboot bandicoot!

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 08:40:17 +0100

An old friend of mine, Download Dave, used to shout out “Reboot bandicoot!” every time his mac used to crash. This was a cultural reference to Crash Bandicoot, a computer game from...

O2's Joggler: the digital fridge door

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:41:27 +0100

I love it when kit does something innovative, something Ive not seen before. So in theory I ought to love the O2 Joggler. But Im finding it a bit difficult to get a warm glow going. O2 is...

GNOME DO does, Firefox SiteLauncher launches sites

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Mon, 18 May 2009 14:21:46 +0100

I'm a huge fanboi of GNOME Do, a keyboard shortcut application launcher. It's great, gets rid of the need for an application menu. I installed the Firefox web browser at the youth centre,...

Interesting times for OpenOffice

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 16:06:35 +0100

In troubled economic times the attractions of free software become increasingly obvious, and even for die-hard users of Microsoft Office, the prospect of upgrading to Office 2010 in Q1 next year...

OpenOffice.org 'optimistic' over Oracle's Sun buyout

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 17:08:27 +0100

The OpenOffice.org team has welcomed Oracle's acquisition of Sun Microsystems, following the buyout's announcement on Monday. John McCreesh, OpenOffice.org's marketing lead, told ZDNet UK that...

OpenOffice to the Rescue

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 15:08:34 +0000

I got a call earlier this week from the son of a close friend. He had received a Word document which he urgently needed to open, and MS Office refused, complaining that it was damaged or corrupt....

SuSE Linux Enterprise 11 Released

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 14:57:26 +0000

Novell has released SuSE Linux Enterprise 11, both the Desktop (SLED) and Server (SLES) versions. I am interested in this distribution because SLED is one of the factory-installed options for my...

Bits of Shiny Broken Windows

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 02:22:37 +0000

I've been poking at Windows 7 Beta at work. The flying monkeys in Redmond might have something going. Comparing it to Vista makes Vista look really pathetic. First off Windows 7 Beta runs just...

Wiki-Wage!

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 03:35:43 +0000

I have been enraged by a piece of software that should have never been released and it wasn't anything written by Microsoft. Its the first time I have ever written or published anything in a wiki....

VectorLinux 6.0 Released

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 13:43:59 +0000

VectorLinux made their 6.0 final release over the weekend. The first thing that is noteworthy about this release is that they have developed their own GUI installer, and it is quite nice. ...

HP2133 & Ubuntu - Sometimes You Just Have To Laugh

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 13:46:52 +0000

I have spent a lot of time this weekend trying to get Ubuntu 8.10 installed on my HP 2133 Mini-Note. I couldn't even get the LiveCD to bring up the GUI properly, the X server just wouldn't work,...

Wrestling with Sumo Paint

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 09:47:35 +0000

Most of us are familiar with Google's web-based applications, but useful as they are, Google Spreadsheet and its perpetual-beta brethren don't yet deliver the look and feel of a desktop...

The GIMP and image batch processing

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 19:49:57 +0000

On my onward journey with learning GIMP, I wanted to do some batch image processing. I built a web site for the artist Ken Campbell many years ago, when tables were layout tools and transparent...

OpenOffice.org, the 'dying horse'

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 15:28:28 +0000

A very interesting post from OpenOffice.org contributor Michael Meeks makes the whole OO.o project look rather shaky - according to him, the total number of active, core developers is currently 24:...

openSuSE 11.1 Released

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 09:43:26 +0000

The openSuSE Project made their 11.1 release available yesterday. I have downloaded and installed it on both of my laptops, and it looks very good. At least for the specific hardware and...

New Gizmo5 Utility - GizmoCall

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 14:27:09 +0000

I've just received an announcement from the Gizmo5 people of their latest feature - Gizmocall. It is an Adobe Flash based utility for making audio calls, either free PC-to-PC for other Gizmo5...

User Visasters

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 14:57:00 +0000

This blog entry admittedly has little direct relationship to home servers but it does have a relationship to the user experience as the Redmond Gorilla likes to call it. Do not discount the...

OpenOffice 3.0 - 5m downloads and counting

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:40:02 +0000

According to OpenOffice.org evangelist John McCreesh, the free office productivity suite has seen more than 5m downloads since it was made available two weeks ago. A week ago, McCreesh blogged...

OpenOffice.org 3.0 - Stop Paying Microsoft for Bug Fixes!

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 13:37:44 +0100

OpenOffice.org 3.0 was released on Monday, and the demand was so massive that it crashed their servers. The crash is not good news, of course, but the tremendous demand for the new release...

Microsoft launches subscription Office

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 16:43:04 +0100

Microsoft, continuing its fine tradition of making major announcements at the end of the day, has begun selling its "all-in-one security and productivity software subscription service for home...

OpenOffice.org 3 Released - But Please Be Patient

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 07:22:21 +0100

OpenOffice.org 3.0 was released yesterday (Monday), on schedule. That's the good news. The bad news is, the demand for it has been so massive that their download servers have been swamped! It...

ISO's OOXML committee in ODF takeover bid?

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 22:36:55 +0100

The standards world continues to surprise us - this time with what has been described as a "coup". Those in charge of OOXML are, we are told, actually trying to take over the rival ODF standard. ...

Idea - ISO's World Standards Day is 14 October

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 10:03:27 +0100

In two weeks, ISO is celebrating World Standards Day, along with IEC and ITU. That might make a good day to focus attention on efforts to improve its work in IT standards. "World Standards Day...

Open Office to the Rescue

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 10:53:44 +0100

Case #1: I was just working with Vista booted on my laptop (running one of the few remaining programs I have that requires Vista), when I got a call from one of our service technicians. A...

GNOME Do What?!

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 23:04:56 +0100

On my quest for ever smaller icons and ever smaller finger movements on my Acer Aspire One Natty Book, I have come across GNOME Do. This is an application launcher based on the Mac's Quicksilver...

Taming the Usability Monster, one button at a time

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 15:40:30 +0100

Talking of silicon/carbon interfaces, let's return to the curious case of usability. It has been known forever in IT that there's no point in having smart technology if it's unusable and,...

My Chrome honeymoon is over...

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 14:28:33 +0100

Chrome looked good, but after a few days, the missing features, and poor performance meant I've relegated it to an optional browser. Despite the promise that tabs would run independently, I...

Google patents wave-powered server farm

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 14:12:24 +0100

Eco-geek.org is reporting that the search giant put out a patent application last year for a wave-powered server farm. http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/2086/ According to another article on...

Google Chrome - nine things we've found since launch

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:13:19 +0100

Google must be very happy with the coverage Chrome has gathered. But it's not all good news. Here are eight of the more interesting things to come out of the woodwork since the browser broke cover....

The Chrome comic

editorial@zdnet.co.uk — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 12:14:04 +0100

Google's Chrome browser will succeed if we understand it, like it and use it. And before the browser even appears, the company has taken a masterful step to achieving that. I'm talking about...