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Microsoft Announces the release of Office for Mac 2011

2010-02-11T12:09:00.000-08:00

Microsoft provided the most extensive look yet into the next version of the Mac version of its popular Office suite on Thursday at Macworld 2010. The new product, Microsoft Office for Mac 2011, will arrive in time for the 2010 holiday season.

Compatibility, collaborationMacworld spoke with several representatives of the company’s Mac Business Unit, who told us the company is focusing on three things with this new release: better compatibility across platforms, improved collaboration tools, and a more refined user interface. Also, as Microsoft announced last August, the suite will include Outlook for Mac, which replaces Entourage as Office’s e-mail client. And, in keeping with Microsoft’s 2008 promise, the new version of Office will offer renewed support for Visual Basic, which was dropped in the 2008 version of the productivity suite.
To the Mac Business Unit, compatibility means more than making sure that documents, spreadsheets, and presentations created on one platform open and render correctly on the other. Noting that roughly three quarters of their Mac users use Windows at least occasionally, Microsoft’s Mac team says it's also working to make the new Office for the Mac morefunctionally compatible with the Windows edition.
“Nowadays, compatibility means more than just file formats,” Microsoft’s Kurt Schmucker toldMacworld. “It’s also workflow, collaboration, and user interface.”
To that end, the new version of Office will incorporate document-collaboration features that take advantage of Microsoft's online storage features. With Office for Mac 2011, Mac users will be able to share files and collaborate on documents with other Mac and Windows users via Microsoft's SharePoint, SkyDrive, and Office Web Apps.
Those online tools will allow users to collaborate on documents with other Windows and Mac Office users in real time, much as you can in Google Docs now. You could, for example, create a document in Word on your laptop, save it to SkyDrive, then share it with others. A pop-up in Word will show you who’s working on the document; click on that list, and you’ll be able to send them a message (as long as everyone is using Outlook or Microsoft’s Messenger IM application). The paragraphs your collaborators are working on will be locked out until they’re done. You’ll also be able to edit those same documents from any computer, using Office’s Web apps. Mac users will have the same experience in the their versions of Safari and Firefox as Windows users get with their browsers, Schmucker said.

In this preview image from Word 2011, you can see the new Ribbon, a paragraph being edited by another user, and a list of all users editing the document.

Lessons learned
Microsoft also says it’s learned from user feedback about Office 2008 and has tweaked the user interface accordingly in Office 2011.
Most notably, there’s a new Ribbon at the top of each document window. (If you want a preview, check out Office for Windows; the ribbon is already in there, although the Microsoft Mac team members we spoke to said they had learned a lot from the criticism the Ribbon took when launched on Windows.) The Mac version of the Ribbon doesn’t replace any menu bars, but it does replace Office 2008’s controversial Elements Gallery, which took some fire from Mac users for its size and inflexibility. This new Ribbon is designed to give users quick access to each program's most commonly used tools. Unlike the Elements Gallery, the ribbon is customizable and, if you want more screen space, completely collapsible.
The new suite will also feel more Mac-like than Office 2008. For example, the Ribbon is built entirely using Apple’s Cocoa development framework, and takes takes advantage of Apple’s Core Animation system. (As a result, Ribbon tabs will slide smoothly when you rearrange them.) If you click on some Ribbon tools, they will expand smoothly into popovers that don’t obscure the document you’re working on. We even spied a non-modal search box on the right side of the toolbar, right where you’d expect it to be, allowing you to quickly search through documents without having your content blocked by a floating box.

A closer look at the new Ribbon in Office for Mac 2011.

Summarizing the interface changes, Microsoft's Han-Yi Shaw likened Office 2008 to a teenager—“a little quirky”—but said the new edition is Office matured. “This is the version that everyone wanted,” he said.
Shaw added that the Mac team at Microsoft worked hard to adopt Apple technologies while also making sure their product was recognizably Microsoft Office. “We’re at a cross-section of Mac and PC, and because we’re die-hard Mac users, we look at the [Office] technology and try to translate it,” he said. “Following the Apple design philosophy really takes you in the right direction.”
Outlook and Visual Basic
The other big news in Office 2011 is the demise of Entourage and the return of Outlook.
The new Outlook will support PST imports (allowing you to move an Outlook installation, including all your old e-mails, from a Windows PC to a Mac). It will also support Microsoft’s Information Rights Management (IRM), which allows senders to specify what recipients can do with messages (print, forward, and so on). Previously-Windows only, IRM is required in some corporate settings. IRM support in Office 2011 is aimed at Mac users in cross-platform environments, Schmucker said: “It’s been a blocker for some companies because the Mac support was not there.”
And Microsoft has re-engineered the Outlook message database system to be a series of small files, so it’s more easily backed up with Time Machine and searched in Spotlight. “Outlook’s new database is more reliable, faster, and fully supports Time Machine and Spotlight,” Schmucker said.
Finally, power users will be glad to see the return of the Visual Basic macro language. Visual Basic was dropped from Office 2008 in part because it was too technically difficult to port it to the Mac’s then-new Intel CPUs. Microsoft says it began work on that port as far back as 2008—before the last Mac Office shipped. That work is now complete. And the Mac suite will be using the most up-to-date version of Visual Basic, so it’ll be much more compatible with Office for Windows than the Visual Basic in previous versions of Office for Mac.

Key improvements: compatibility, collaboration, and user interface.

Microsoft provided the most extensive look yet into the next version of the Mac version of its popular Office suite on Thursday at Macworld 2010. The new product, Microsoft Office for Mac 2011, will arrive in time for the 2010 holiday season.
Macworld spoke with several representatives of the company’s Mac Business Unit, who told us the company is focusing on three things with this new release: better compatibility across platforms, improved collaboration tools, and a more refined user interface. Also, as Microsoft announced last August, the suite will include Outlook for Mac, which replaces Entourage as Office’s e-mail client. And, in keeping with Microsoft’s 2008 promise, the new version of Office will offer renewed support for Visual Basic, which was dropped in the 2008 version of the productivity suite.

Compatibility, collaboration

To the Mac Business Unit, compatibility means more than making sure that documents, spreadsheets, and presentations created on one platform open and render correctly on the other. Noting that roughly three quarters of their Mac users use Windows at least occasionally, Microsoft’s Mac team says it's also working to make the new Office for the Mac morefunctionally compatible with the Windows edition.
“Nowadays, compatibility means more than just file formats,” Microsoft’s Kurt Schmucker toldMacworld. “It’s also workflow, collaboration, and user interface.”
To that end, the new version of Office will incorporate document-collaboration features that take advantage of Microsoft's online storage features. With Office for Mac 2011, Mac users will be able to share files and collaborate on documents with other Mac and Windows users via Microsoft's SharePoint, SkyDrive, and Office Web Apps.
Those online tools will allow users to collaborate on documents with other Windows and Mac Office users in real time, much as you can in Google Docs now. You could, for example, create a document in Word on your laptop, save it to SkyDrive, then share it with others. A pop-up in Word will show you who’s working on the document; click on that list, and you’ll be able to send them a message (as long as everyone is using Outlook or Microsoft’s Messenger IM application). The paragraphs your collaborators are working on will be locked out until they’re done. You’ll also be able to edit those same documents from any computer, using Office’s Web apps. Mac users will have the same experience in the their versions of Safari and Firefox as Windows users get with their browsers, Schmucker said.

In this preview image from Word 2011, you can see the new Ribbon, a paragraph being edited by another user, and a list of all users editing the document.

Lessons learned

Microsoft also says it’s learned from user feedback about Office 2008 and has tweaked the user interface accordingly in Office 2011.
Most notably, there’s a new Ribbon at the top of each document window. (If you want a preview, check out Office for Windows; the ribbon is already in there, although the Microsoft Mac team members we spoke to said they had learned a lot from the criticism the Ribbon took when launched on Windows.) The Mac version of the Ribbon doesn’t replace any menu bars, but it does replace Office 2008’s controversial Elements Gallery, which took some fire from Mac users for its size and inflexibility. This new Ribbon is designed to give users quick access to each program's most commonly used tools. Unlike the Elements Gallery, the ribbon is customizable and, if you want more screen space, completely collapsible.
The new suite will also feel more Mac-like than Office 2008. For example, the Ribbon is built entirely using Apple’s Cocoa development framework, and takes takes advantage of Apple’s Core Animation system. (As a result, Ribbon tabs will slide smoothly when you rearrange them.) If you click on some Ribbon tools, they will expand smoothly into popovers that don’t obscure the document you’re working on. We even spied a non-modal search box on the right side of the toolbar, right where you’d expect it to be, allowing you to quickly search through documents without having your content blocked by a floating box.

A closer look at the new Ribbon in Office for Mac 2011.

Summarizing the interface changes, Microsoft's Han-Yi Shaw likened Office 2008 to a teenager—“a little quirky”—but said the new edition is Office matured. “This is the version that everyone wanted,” he said.
Shaw added that the Mac team at Microsoft worked hard to adopt Apple technologies while also making sure their product was recognizably Microsoft Office. “We’re at a cross-section of Mac and PC, and because we’re die-hard Mac users, we look at the [Office] technology and try to translate it,” he said. “Following the Apple design philosophy really takes you in the right direction.”

Outlook and Visual Basic

The other big news in Office 2011 is the demise of Entourage and the return of Outlook.
The new Outlook will support PST imports (allowing you to move an Outlook installation, including all your old e-mails, from a Windows PC to a Mac). It will also support Microsoft’s Information Rights Management (IRM), which allows senders to specify what recipients can do with messages (print, forward, and so on). Previously-Windows only, IRM is required in some corporate settings. IRM support in Office 2011 is aimed at Mac users in cross-platform environments, Schmucker said: “It’s been a blocker for some companies because the Mac support was not there.”
And Microsoft has re-engineered the Outlook message database system to be a series of small files, so it’s more easily backed up with Time Machine and searched in Spotlight. “Outlook’s new database is more reliable, faster, and fully supports Time Machine and Spotlight,” Schmucker said.
Finally, power users will be glad to see the return of the Visual Basic macro language. Visual Basic was dropped from Office 2008 in part because it was too technically difficult to port it to the Mac’s then-new Intel CPUs. Microsoft says it began work on that port as far back as 2008—before the last Mac Office shipped. That work is now complete. And the Mac suite will be using the most up-to-date version of Visual Basic, so it’ll be much more compatible with Office for Windows than the Visual Basic in previous versions of Office for Mac.

Hasselblad announces the 40-megapixel H4D-40 camera

2010-02-04T14:01:00.001-08:00

Hasselblad announces the 40-megapixel camera

On Tuesday Hasselblad announced its new 40-megapixel medium-format DSLR camera, the H4D-40. The announcement, originally scheduled for Febuary 9th, was moved up to the 4th after details of the camera were leaked early online.

The H4D-40 is the latest in Hassselblad's H4D line of medium-format DSLRs. Aimed at professional, 35mm photographers, the H4D-40 camera will have 40 million pixels in a 33-by-44mm CCD sensor. That's about twice the size of a typical full-frame 35mm DSLR sensor.

Like other cameras in the H4D line, the H4D-40 will have Hasselblad's Absolute Position Lock processor (APL) and True Focus AF system which tracks camera movement to calculate and predict proper focus during recomposition.

The H4D-40 will also feature new low-noise color filters and an 80mm HC/HCD lens which will allow for an increased depth of field. The lens features digital lens correction (DAC) for any color aberration, vignetting, or distortion.
The H4D-40 kit will sell for $19,995 and includes the camera body, the 80mm lens, and a viewfinder. For photographers who want a little hands-on time before parting with 20 grand, Hasselblad is doing a series of demonstrations and events at across the world. The camera will also come with Hasselblad's latest Phocus 2.0 image processing software to handle the enormous RAW files (approximately 50MB) produced by the H4D-40.

Apple announces iPad

2010-01-27T12:08:00.000-08:00

Apple announces iPad

New tablet splits difference between smartphones, laptops.

by Dan Miller, Macworld.com

Today Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad, the company's much-rumored tablet device.

Steve Jobs shows off Apple’s iPad on Wednesday.Demonstrating the iPad at an event in San Francisco, Jobs showed how it could be used for e-mail and Web browsing, viewing photos, managing calendars and contacts, listening to music, viewing video, and more. Senior Vice President Phil Schiller showed off a new version of iWork, specifically designed for the new device.

When the iPad begins shipping at the end of March, it will come in three sizes: A 16GB model for $499, a 32GB for $599, and a 64GB for $699. You'll be able to add 3G connectivity to each of them for $130 more.
The iPad looks like a supersized iPhone. It's a half-inch thick, weighs 1.5 pounds, and has a 9.7-inch LCD screen. It will use a custom-made 1GHz CPU and flash storage and, Jobs claimed, will get up to 10 hours of battery life.
For connectivity, in addition to the optional 3G, it has 802.11n, WiFi, and Bluetooth 2.1; it syncs to a Mac via USB. To feed those 3G connections, Jobs also announced two new cellular data plans from AT&T: $14.99 a month for 250MB of data, $29.99 a month for unlimited data; both are prepaid, neither requires a contract.
In addition to demoing the iPad's calendar, Web, and e-mail clients, Jobs also introduced a new app, called iBooks, which will manage e-books on the iPad. While crediting Amazon for its pioneering efforts with the Kindle, he announced that Apple was opening its own e-book store for the iPad. He said that Penguin, Harper-Collins, Hachette, Simon & Schuster, and other publishers were already signed up to supply titles. Those titles will use the ePub format—an open e-book standard.
Tthe iPad will also run third-party software. Senior Vice President Scott Forstall said that the tablet will run most existing iPhone apps unmodified, right out of the box. Those apps can run at their existing size in a black box or can be doubled to run in full-screen mode. Apple is also making a software development kit available to developers, to help create apps specifically for the new device. To demonstrate what vendors could do with those tools, Forstall introduced representatives from Gameloft, Electronic Arts, the New York Times, and MLB.com to show off iPad apps they'd already built.

Check out the new App for the Iphone and Itouch

2010-01-20T10:16:00.001-08:00

Today, MobileMe introduced a new Gallery app for iPhone and iPod touch. The app features iPhone- and iPod touch-optimized controls and beautiful gallery displays that make browsing photos and videos easier and more interactive than ever before. The Gallery app is free for MobileMe members and available now on the App Store in iTunes.

Top 10 Must Have Gadgets

2010-01-07T08:08:00.000-08:00

1.Apple IPOD Touch: Though the updates are subtle, the third-generation iPod Touch leaves its competitors in the dust.
2. Asus Eee PC 1005HA: Asus hits nearly all the marks in the 1005HA, the latest version of its iconic Eee PC, highlighted by a 6-hour-plus battery life.
3. Flip Untra HD: The Flip Video UltraHD may not be the sexiest mini camcorder out there, but it offers a respectable feature set and some of the best video we've seen from this type of cheap, YouTube-friendly camcorder.
4. HTC Hero: While it could use a boost in the performance department, the HTC Hero is the most feature-packed Google Android device to date, bringing some notable improvements and a highly customizable interface.
5. LG enV Touch: The LG enV Touch's combination of great design and top-notch features makes it one of the top Verizon Wireless phones we've ever seen.
6. Logitech Harmony One: While it's missing an RF option, Logitech's Harmony One is one of the best--if not the best--universal remote we've ever tested.
7. Logitech Squeezebox Boom: The Logitech Squeezebox Boom is the best all-in-one tabletop Wi-Fi radio we've seen to date.
8. Monster Terbine Pro In-Ear Speaker: The Monster Turbine Pro earphones offer a sleek and stylish design and plenty of deep, thumping bass. If you have money to burn, these are a nice choice.
9. Nitendo DSi: While not all previous DS owners should upgrade, the DSi is an ambitious and solidly designed portable gaming system.
10. Panasonic TC-P50G10: With excellent picture quality marred by only a couple of flaws, the Panasonic TC-PG10 series sits near the head of the class of 2009.

Safari vs. Chrome

2010-01-07T07:30:00.000-08:00

I’ve been following the news and reviews of Google’s new web browser, Chrome.

Chrome is actually based on the same browsing engine that powers Safari, an open source project called WebKit. WebKit isn't a complete browser; it’s a rendering engine used by popular browser applications, including Safari, KHTML, and now Chrome.

Chrome looks to be an excellent browser, one I may very well use as my default browser in Windows once it exits beta testing. One thing I noticed right off was that Google has tweaked the JavaScript engine used in Chrome to produce incredibly speedy results from web sites that use JavaScript. Google wants fast JavaScript capabilities because it wants Chrome to be the browser for choice for individuals who use Google-based services, which use a lot of JavaScript.

Handling JavaScript-heavy web sites is one area where Safari could use a good tuneup. So I decided to test Safari against Chrome on Google's JavaScript test site. This site only tests how quickly a browser can run Google's JavaScript tests; it's not indicative of how fast a browser actually performs. Still, it was an interesting comparison. The JavaScript test site uses five tests to check various types of JavaScript performance.

Here are the results of my test of Safari 3.1.2 and Chrome, on a 2.4 GHz IMac.

Overall score: 1592/3719
Richards: 3272/3914
DeltaBlue: 1880/3914
Crypto: 2590/3144
RayTrace: 2665/5789
EarleyBoyer: 2469/6655
RegExp: 857/972
Splay: 289/5657

As you can see, Chrome, which is heavily optimized for JavaScript, left Safari in the dust, at least when it comes to running JavaScript. Most banking sites and many online services, such as web-based email and other web-based applications, use JavaScript.

All I can say is I hope Apple decides to give Safari a JavaScript tuneup in the near future.

Importance of Pixels in Choosing Digital Camera

2009-12-15T19:11:00.000-08:00

   At this time of year, many of us are out there looking for christmas presents. One of the top electronic items that are purchased for christmas presents are digital cameras. There are a few things that you look for when purchasing digital cameras and more importantly pixels.
   What is a pixel? A pixel is very small rectangle of material that changes its characteristic when briefly exposed to light. When millions of them are applied to a flat rigid surface, they become "film" in the digital camera. Almost immediately, the camera's built-in computer reads the information, clears the sensors so that it is ready to accept another image, and then processes the data, creating a photo file, so that image can be viewed on the camera's LCD screen and saved for further future use.
   Are all Pixels the same? No, there are two major factors that need to be looked at: (1) material used to make the pixel and (2) the size of each pixel.
   But here is the bottom line. Camera manufacturers and sellers have sensitized us to pixel count as some sort of categorical measure of a digital camera's capabilities; that is wrong! While an 8MP point & shoot, pocketable camera may be capable of making many photos suitable for such as illustration on a Web site, an 8MP sensor in something such as the Canon Rebel series, or Sony D-SLRs, will, under similar conditions, make significantly superior images. Indeed, a 10MP sensor, in something such as a Canon EOS-1Ds (which has the largest available CMOS sensor) is capable of making photos dramatically better than those made similarly, but using a 20MP sensor in a pocketable camera (if such was possible). So you see, the number of pixels isn't as important as you might have thought it was.

Google Chrome - What is it all about?

2009-12-11T06:31:00.000-08:00

Chrome is the newest internet browser from Google. So not only can you use google for all your popular searches, not they have created their own browser. A beta version was released this past tuesday for mac. it is lacking some features that it counterpart on windows has, such as bookmark sync, bookmark manager, and office capability. But I assume these will be coming soon for the mac version. I have read numerous article on the mac version of chrome and I will hold off testing it until it has more features.

CyberMonday: Did you shop at the most visited sites?

2009-12-02T08:21:00.000-08:00

A new concept or at least a concept that has been out since there has been such an increase in online shipping. We have BlackFriday for all the brick and mortar stores, where you can go an get all your great deals. But now we have CyberMonday for all the online stores. Yikes! What will be next. Will we have special names for each day of the week after Thanksgiving. But the numbers are out. Drum Roll Please!
Amazon was the top online store on CyberMonday. Amazon has been the top store for the last four years The sales for CyberMonday only totaled $887 million. Well lets continue to do our online shopping. It definitely beats standing in line.

2009-11-18T08:26:00.000-08:00

Top 10 reasons to buy Windows 7

Get quicker access to all of your stuff—usePin and Jump Lists to keep the programs and files you use the most right at your fingertips.
Manage open windows more easily—resize and arrange windows simply by dragging their borders to the edge of your screen.
Quickly find what you're looking for—use Windows Search to find a specific file, program, or e-mail in a few seconds.
Share files and printers among multiple PCs—from one Windows 7-based PC to another, you can share files, music, photos, and even printers across your home network.
Stay entertained effortlessly—with Windows Media Center you get one place to enjoy your photos and music, watch and record live TV, and watch free Internet TV.
Easily create and share movies—create great looking movies and slideshows and share them on YouTube in minutes.
Connect to networks easily—view and connect to any available wireless network in as few as three clicks.
Do more and wait less—improvements that can accelerate sleep and resume and make your PC more responsive help you get more done.
Touch and tap rather than point and click—Windows 7 makes PCs with touch screens easier and more intuitive to use.
Manage devices more easily—manage printers, cameras, music players, and other devicesfrom a single, consistent, place.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/compare/top-ten-reasons.aspx

The 10 Things to Do First for Windows 7

2009-11-13T12:32:00.000-08:00

1. Get to know Windows 7 on a first-name basis.

Obviously, the first step is to gain personal experience. And that means more than just puttering around in the lab. Install Windows 7 on every workstation in your organization and on the machine you use at home for remote-access trouble calls. Force yourself to find ways to make everything work.

2. Learn Windows PowerShell.

It's safe to say that the single most important skill a Windows administrator will need in the coming years is proficiency with Windows PowerShell. Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 both have Windows PowerShell version 2 baked into the operating system and it's enabled by default. You should plan on installing Windows PowerShell v2 on your remaining servers and desktops so that you can use one script technology to manage your entire fleet. (Note that you won't be able to install PowerShell v2 on Exchange 2007 servers or workstations. These machines require PowerShell v1.1. But even v1.1 gives you access to a wide range of functionality.)

3. Plow through licensing.

If your organization didn't deploy Vista, you may not be familiar with the latest volume-activation requirements in Windows. If you're an admin in an enterprise with more than 25 desktops and/or five servers, if your organization takes advantage of a volume-license program such as an Enterprise Agreement or Select Agreement, and if you purchase Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate (or you upgrade to those versions as part of Software Assurance), you should do the following: Print out a short stack of Volume Activation documents from tinyurl.com/volact, pour yourself a few ounces of a bold Tuscan wine and start studying.

4. Focus on strategic improvements.

Once you're familiar with system administration using Windows 7 tools and you've set up the technology to activate your desktops, it's time to start planning for deployment to end users. The most important thing to do at this point—and I know you don't want to hear this—is to hold a meeting.

5. Expand the deployment scope.

Some of the best features in Windows 7 may require a few changes to your infrastructure. For example: High on my list of favorite features is the combination of Federated Search and Libraries in the new Explorer shell. These work together to provide a centralized and flexible view of distributed data.

6. Prepare for distributed security.

During your initial strategy meeting, set aside time to discuss how you want to handle the many distributed security features in Windows 7. You'll want to determine a course of action early in the project because those decisions will have a substantial impact on your test matrix.

7. Virtualize your desktops.

Imagine this: You've spent a few weeks or months designing your standard Windows 7 desktop image. You've worked hard to resolve technical issues and you've found ways to quickly move applications and user data between machines, reducing the migration's impact. (The User State Migration Tool, part of the Automated Installation Kit, is a good place to start for this kind of work. For a walkthrough demo, visit tinyurl.com/usmtwt.) Your field technicians are trained. The help-desk team is mollified with all the guidance you've posted on its SharePoint site. You're finally ready to start the rollout.

8. Evaluate enterprise features.

VHD boot, along with BitLocker and AppLocker, fall into a class of features that require Windows 7 Enterprise or Ultimate. The Enterprise SKU can only be obtained via a volume license agreement. If you own Enterprise or Ultimate, you should consider deploying a few additional features to improve security and streamline operations.

9. Build compatibility safety nets.

One issue that you should definitely hash out at your meeting of big brains is whether your organization is ready to deploy 64-bit desktops. New machines deployed as part of a refresh cycle are virtually certain to be 64-bit capable. You're probably putting at least 2GB of RAM into them at today's RAM prices, more likely 4GB if you were able to convince Finance to approve the slightly higher unit costs. The machines are likely to have dual-core processors, possibly even quad-core, with enough video memory to support Aero. These machines will perform very well with a 64-bit OS.

10. Remove your users' local-admin rights.

If you haven't already pried away your users' local-admin rights, now is the time. Yes, I know it's hard. Laptop users are especially difficult to wean because the help desk can't walk them through complicated fixes over the phone. But there's also that "shadow" IT organization—department gurus and admin wannabes who find applications that meet certain tactical needs, then scurry around with thumb drives installing the apps with no regard for interoperability testing. And don't even get me started on the kind of trash that average users install on their machines when they have local-admin rights. It's amazing how the most unsophisticated user, incapable of so much as a password reset without help-desk support, can find a way to install complex multi-tiered client-server front-end applications if the reward involves shopping or sports.

You Can Be Heroes—for More Than One Day

It's going to take a lot of work to prepare for and deploy Windows 7, but it helps that users really want the new OS. Those who have tried it like the new interface. They appreciate the fit and finish, the responsiveness and the new features.

The opportunity to be popular as a system administrator doesn't come along very often. I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts. You should, too. Good luck with your Windows 7 deployment. Let me know how it turns out.

By: Bill Boswell (billb@microsoft.com) is a senior consultant for Microsoft Consulting Services in the Phoenix, Ariz., office. Bill's current assignment is serving as an IT Architecture and Planning (ITAP) advisor for a major airline.

The New Apple "Magic Mouse" is for real!

2009-11-11T07:47:00.000-08:00

The new "Magic Mouse" is amazing! It truly enhances your computer experience. In the past, your computer mouse had a singular purpose that is to click. But, today with the "Magic Mouse" you can do the following:

scroll right, left, up, down with swiping your fingers on the mouse
zoom in and out by just moving your fingers on top of the mouse

This mouse has a definite advantage for those who work with graphics.
As I have starting using the "Magic Mouse", I have decided that I will never go back to a normal mouse.

BetterBuysNow.com: Your Discount Electronics Store

Microsoft Announces the release of Office for Mac 2011

Lessons learned

Outlook and Visual Basic

Key improvements: compatibility, collaboration, and user interface.

PEOPLE WHO READ THIS ALSO READ:

Compatibility, collaboration

Lessons learned

Outlook and Visual Basic

Hasselblad announces the 40-megapixel H4D-40 camera

Hasselblad announces the 40-megapixel camera

PEOPLE WHO READ THIS ALSO READ:

Apple announces iPad

Apple announces iPad

New tablet splits difference between smartphones, laptops.

Check out the new App for the Iphone and Itouch

Top 10 Must Have Gadgets

Safari vs. Chrome

Importance of Pixels in Choosing Digital Camera

Google Chrome - What is it all about?

CyberMonday: Did you shop at the most visited sites?

The 10 Things to Do First for Windows 7

The New Apple "Magic Mouse" is for real!