'Net Features : office

The New Office is on Its Way

Michael Garrity — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 06:38:00 GMT

Major news out of Camp Microsoft last week, as CEO Steve Ballmer officially unveiled the customer preview of the new line of Microsoft Office products.

The biggest advancement in the company’s core suite of applications is its cross-platform capabilities, as well as its deep integration with Microsoft’s SkyDrive cloud storage service.

The new Office works seamlessly with touch, stylus, mouse, or keyboard across all new Windows 8 devices, from desktops to tablets to smartphones. Users will be able to create and edit content and access features using touch or a stylus as naturally as if they were using a keyboard and mouse.

It will also come with new Windows 8 applications built for touch-first experiences on tablet devices, such as OneNote and Lync. For ARM-based Windows 8 devices, there is Office Home and Student 2013 RT, which offers new versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote.

But it’s not just about optimizing Office for new devices; Microsoft has been hard at work preparing for the future, which includes social media and cloud technology.

On the social front, Microsoft has integrated Office 2013 (via SharePoint and Microsoft Dynamics) with Yammer, the private social network for businesses, and it now comes with Skype, letting users call or instant message anyone, as well as add their contacts into Lync. Companies can also use SharePoint to follow people, teams, documents, and sites, as well as view embedded pictures, videos, and Office content.

As for the cloud, Office 2013 will be closely tied to Microsoft SkyDrive; so much so that all documents will be saved to SkyDrive by default, making that content accessible across various Windows devices. For example, when users take notes using OneNote, regardless of the device, they can then access them again on whatever they happen to be using at the time. Of course, these documents will be available offline and will sync once the user reconnects to the Internet.

Cloud technology allows Office to roam a user’s personalized settings, which includes recently used files, templates, and custom dictionaries (among other things), to remember where they left off and bring them back in a single click.

Suite offerings and pricing plans will be announced in the fall, as well as new Office 365 subscription services, which (when available) will all feature 2013 versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, and Access. The three announced subscription services will be Home Premium, Small Business Premium, and ProPlus, and each will come with rights to version upgrades and per-use rights for up to five PCs, Macs, and/or mobile devices.

It has been officially announced that Windows 8 will be released on October 26.

Forget Docs - Zoho has Arrived on Google Drive

Michael Garrity — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 15:27:00 GMT

When Google Drive was announced, it was clear that the company had every intention of keeping it closely aligned with its Google Docs office suite. Fortunately for those of you who aren’t too keen on Docs, Zoho is now offering an alternative.

Thanks to an integration using Google Chrome extensions, Zoho is able to tap into Google’s cloud storage service to offer users its Writer, Sheet, and Show products with Google Drive integration, making it available to all of Zoho’s over 6 million customers.

Many users take umbrage with the fact that Google forces them to use all of their products in order to access one, as everything in the suite is so closely integrated. One can click on an attachment in Gmail that will automatically open with Docs. Likewise, files saved in the cloud will be automatically saved to Drive. All of this is useful to a hardcore Google consumer, but for those who don’t necessarily want to use all of these services, it can be a major annoyance.

The downside to this integration is that Zoho users will have to access each package separately in the Chrome Store. Here’s Zoho Writer, Zoho Sheet, and Zoho Show.

Green-up Your Business

Mike Phillips — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 16:07:00 GMT

Every little bit helps when it comes to protecting the environment. And everyone needs to do their part, right?

Here are some resources to help get your business running green ... even your website.

The Green Office: Provides listings of green products for your office - everything from recycled paper to eco-friendly office furniture. There are also links to webinars and tips for making your office a little more environmentally friendly.

CO2stat.com: According to this site, electricity generation required for information and communication techologies (ICT) is now responsible for 2% of global CO2 emissions, exceeding the emissions of the entire aviation industry. This site examines your website and everything related for its carbon footprint and helps you reduce it.

SustainableBusiness.com: Here you can find green industry news, green stocks and networking opportunities with green organizations and businesses. Also provides other green resources and a free e-newsletter.

SUBSCRIBE to Website Magazine and we will plant a tree on your behalf through the ReplaceATree foundation!

Microsoft Office Live Enhanced

Administrator — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 15:25:00 GMT

Microsoft Office Live Small Business today launched new features and enhancements to its Web service. Some of the notable features include Store Manager, a hosted e-commerce tool to help small businesses sell products on their own Web site ($39.95 per month) and an E-mail Marketing solution (200 emails are free during beta) for sending newsletters and promotions. Small businesses that sign up will receive Web hosting, rich site design capabilities, numerous productivity applications, contact management software for performing basic customer relationship management (CRM), and custom domain name registration with 100 business e-mail accounts (custom domains are free for the first year). This release is also compatible with the Firefox 2.0 Web browser, making the service accessible on both Macs and PCs.