BlogOffice

Get 2007 Microsoft Office system beta 2 now!

Just a little while ago, Bill Gates announced at WinHEC 2006 in Seattle the immediate availability of the new 2007 release! It's a free, public download available in English, Spanish, French, German, and Japanese so far--and it's something you've just got to see. Click here to download beta 2(or sign up to have it sent by mail).

On a related note, the book I wrote for Microsoft Press on this release, First Look 2007 Microsoft Office System, will be available as a free downloadable PDF from the public beta site later today. How cool is that?! A demonstration of the power, speed, and flexibility of software at its best!

[Edit 5/30/06: Here's the link for the free downloadable PDF of First Look 2007 Microsoft Office System!]

Microsoft At Home and At Work

Are you familiar with the Microsoft At Home and At Work sites? I found out about them because they asked us to prepare a few articles from our book Share Your Story: Blogging with MSN Spaces. So far they've published three articles, "Create an Online Photo Album," "Get Started Blogging," and today's new article, "Mobile Blogging Made Easy."

If you haven't yet seen the site, you may want to check it out. They publish a really good mix of fun, interesting, and practical tips for computer users of various experience levels. Plus they have a great newsletter (our article will be included in the next edition).

One other quick note: I'm writing the chapter on Office Groove 2007 right now. My one word review: fabulous. If you work as part of a team (especially a team that's spread across multiple locations), this might be the virtual workspace solution for you. Low overhead; no fancy servers needed; files are resident on team members' computers and synced automatically for you. I'm thinking it would be a great way to do online communications training for small groups. The possibilities are endless...

You can find out more about Office Groove 2007 by clicking here. And then come back and let me know what you think! I'm seeing the wave of the future...

Note: I just noticed that on the Office Groove 2007 home page, they are advertising that you can get a free Groove license for helping to spread the word. This is a good deal! Check it out by clicking here.

Come back to Office Access 2007!

Some days I love what I do so much I can't imagine any life better than being a professional computer geek. This is one of those days. In the 20 years I've been writing about software, I've seen it go through lots of changes. From the toddler and tantrum stage (read: blue screen of death) to the pimply adolescent stage (awkward stages in Word's growth process) to the tall, slender, self-assured, elegant, and accessible adult (2007 Microsoft Office system). On Maslow's hierarchy of needs, I'd say the 2007 Microsoft Office system is almost self-actualized. :)

For the last couple of days, I've been working with Office Access 2007. Now wait--before you turn away, consider this. What if your data fascination could be channeled in a managable, palatable, and smart way that actually saved you time and reduced (rather than increased) your frustration level? What if you could use a simple-to-navigate interface to get quick answers to questions you used to have to dig endlessly for? What if your database program promises to figure out the whole data-typing thing for you, automatically let you have more than one answer in a field, and include things like file attachments as a file type? Sounds a little better than trying to force your data into a rigid system of rules that rarely produce what you hoped for, doesn't it?

That's what I'm finding in Office Access 2007. From complete, full-featured trackable applications to a super easy Navigation Panel to tabbed windows, Office Access 2007 has given me an excuse to fall in love with data all over again. If you gave up trying to design a database a while back and have been dumping all your data into long lists in Excel, it's time to come back to Access 2007 and give it another chance.

And my favorite feature--you can gather data via e-mail messages using HTML forms or Office InfoPath 2007! As soon as you get the return e-mail from respondents, your database tables are updated automatically. And that's a great feature for a geeky writer like me--think of all the interviews I can do and store up for future books!

If you want to find out more about Office Access 2007, click here. It really will knock your socks off.