I've always liked Michael Meeks. He's Novell's point man on OpenOffice, and is a core committer to that project (which is saying something, since he doesn't work for Sun :-). Michael gives a good interview to ZDNet that uncovers some of the interesting usability work he's been doing with OpenOffice, among other things.
Michael on IBM's involvement in OpenOffice and the value of multiple suppliers:… Read more
Bored of Google Presentations already? If you're looking for something with a little more pizazz, there's Prezentit, a Web-based presentation maker. Like Google, Vyew, and others, Prezentit lets you build, and work on a presentation with several collaborators at once, all in your browser. You can send out the finished product as a URL, or even download it in the form of an HTML file that will run on any computer with a browser installed. These are handy features, but how does it stack up on features? The answer, unfortunately, is not well.
As far as presentation makers go, Prezentit is pretty bare-bones. You can only add text and images, and there are no slide templates like you'll find on PowerPoint. To add content, you can upload image files from your hard drive, which get stored in a free storage locker that holds up to 250MB. There's also a gallery of background art, although you're limited to less than 20 sample shots. Unfortunately, there's also no way to upload a PowerPoint file and have it convert to the editor, which is where these services can be incredibly useful, especially for creating a highly searchable index.
So what sets Prezentit apart from the pack? Despite its lack of features, its interface is wonderfully easy to use. If you're familiar with Microsoft Office 2007's "Ribbon" UI, the idea isn't too far off. There's also a slew of genuinely good-looking transitions, many of which are smooth, and low on the cheese factor (read: there are no glitter graphics or explosions.) While there's no built-in chat client, there are hosting pages for each presentation that double as a place to let others add their two cents about what could be better. The service is also adding an "explore" section soon for publicly shared presentations.
I wouldn't recommend using Prezentit over some of the other Web-based presentations out there simply due to a dearth of features I think are pretty essential to a good presentation app, but the service is young, and there's definitely room for growth. We've got more screenshots after the break.… Read more
I saw this on Digg and just had to laugh. Someone just paid $61.00 for a copy of OpenOffice on eBay. They probably thought they were getting a great deal which, of course, they were. They just didn't realize how much better that deal could have been. :-)
Microsoft on Wednesday is scheduled to launch its PerformancePoint Server, the last server to ship as part of its Office 2007 product launch.
The application, which is expected to be available next week, is aimed at business users who model and run financial operations, such as budget planning. It also includes analytical tools built around Excel and other Office applications.
The suite combines three existing products, said Alex Payne, Director of Office Business applications at Microsoft. It will bundle the latest versions of Microsoft's existing Scorecard Manager application for financial monitoring, the analysis tools it gained through its acquisition … Read more
A new report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office charges that the Department of Homeland Security used biased methods to enhance performance results in tests on a new generation of radiation detectors meant to protect U.S. ports.
At stake are $1.2 billion in contracts to produce advanced spectroscopic portal (ASP) monitors and thousands of lives should they fail to work.
Experts from four national laboratories were consulted prior to publication of the report (PDF) by the GAO, the nonpartisan audit and investigative arm of Congress, which was released yesterday.
The agency found that the DHS' Domestic Nuclear Detection Office &… Read more
Two popular open-source and extensible apps have come out with minor-point updates in the past few days, but some of the changes are worth noting. OpenOffice.org has gained a lot of traction and notice this year as a credible alternative to the Microsoft Office suite, and Pidgin, the program formerly known as GAIM, supports multi-protocol text chatting including Google Chat, Yahoo, AOL, ICQ and others.
Quite a bit of talk has arisen today over two of Microsoft's competitors (Google and IBM) offering free office suites in an attempt to supplant Microsoft as the office king. And now that this is happened, some are wondering if Microsoft will finally face reality and offer its own Office product for free so it can compete.
The possibility of having Word, Excel, PowerPoint and the rest for free sure sounds awfully nice, but if you think Microsoft would give it up for free, you're dreaming.… Read more
An emboldened IBM challenged Microsoft's desktop application dominance with the introduction on Tuesday of IBM Lotus Symphony, a suite of free desktop applications.
Lotus Symphony is made up of three applications--word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation programs--which IBM already ships as part of Lotus 8.
The offering is in beta and is available as a free download with "community support" from IBM's Web site. IBM is considering other support options, according to a company executive.
The name Lotus Symphony is recycled; it was the name … Read more
Tonight the stars have aligned in Mountain View, and the long-awaited Google Presentations is finally live, and a working part of Google Docs for all users. Here are some of the specs from Google's release:
"-Create and keep presentations in one place on the Web that's accessible anytime, from any Internet-connected computer.
- Manage, update, and share presentations with colleagues by sending them a simple e-mail invitation.
- Edit together online and in real time, or contribute at different times to the same presentation on the Web.
- Present and control slide shows for all viewers over … Read more
Microsoft is killing off a feature in Office 2003 that the company said helped save time, but also ran the risk of exposing confidential information.
As part of Service Pack 3 of Office 2003, which will be available Tuesday as a free download from Microsoft's Web site, Microsoft is disabling Word 2003's "fast save" feature, which works by saving the changes made since the last save, rather than rewriting the whole document to disk.
"While the Fast Save feature speeds up the document-saving process by saving only the changes made to a document, the saved … Read more
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