office

I'm sure I'm going to get in trouble with the CNET IT team for this, but I just set up my computer to run Spiceworks, a business network scanning and monitoring application. Spiceworks scans a PC's local network and reports on the health of various items. You can tell which printers are running out of ink, which PCs have out-of-date virus scanners, and so on.

To monitor PCs, you need to be a systems administrator with a network administrator login for the computers in your office. I don't have that access, but I was able to peer into the data the system returned on my own PC, as well as on printers and a few open-access computers here in the office. I found the level of information both deep and clearly presented. For example, administrators with this tool will easily be able to see which applications are installed at the company and which users are running old versions. It can also kick off Windows remote control sessions for hands-on tech support.

Spiceworks also has a full help-desk system through which users can submit service requests. The system then lets you assign and track tickets until they are done.

… Read more

At the Office 2.0 conference next week, I'll take a close look at the iPhone as a platform for business applications. The conference organizers are giving out iPhones to all paid attendees. So everybody will be asking the question: Is the iPhone ready for business?

My preliminary finding: Not completely. And just for one little reason: The iPhone's onscreen keyboard cannot be called directly by a Web-based application. The keyboard pops up automatically whenever there's a form on the screen that needs keyboard input, which is fine--but if the user is running a Web application that … Read more

Zoho, the Web application company that seems to release a new product at every Web 2.0 conference, today launched a tool to make accessing these applications easier: A Start page, Zoho Start, that shows you all your Zoho files (not apps) in one place. This document-centric page is important, since human beings don't tend to organize their projects around the applications they were created in. It's why we have folders and directories, and indeed, Zoho Start lets you create folders that you can put your documents in.

As ReadWriteWeb pointed out, Zoho Start doesn't yet support … Read more

This post has been corrected to provide the correct URL for Red Line Films.

If you thought Kid Nation was pushing the envelope, wait till you hear about this one. Production company Redline Films has just announced that you can now audition for its latest creative masterpiece, Office Fight. It's exactly what you think it is: it'll take co-workers who don't like each other and make them go face-to-face in a boxing ring.

Do you find this as supremely awesome as I do? Of course! To make it even awesomer, getting involved with Office Fight is easy … Read more

Arst Design has a probing article on Microsoft's Open Office XML 'standard.' Yeesh. OOXML is even worse than I thought. And to think I wanted to give Microsoft the benefit of a doubt. Fool me once....

Microsoft is trying to push new file formats that are using ZIP and XML. Are those new file formats any good for Office developers ? In other words, should anyone feel safe to make direct access to file parts, and start getting free of running instances of Microsoft Office and its COM object model, usually through VBA?

They insist on the fact that, provided … Read more

Wired is suggesting that Adobe Systems may launch a competitor to Microsoft Office. Not only would this not be surprising (though I see little evidence in the article pointing to the presumption), but if anyone were to do it well, it would be Adobe.

The only thing better would be if Adobe, Apple, and OpenOffice could get together. Open source plus two of the most innovative makers of software in the industry...I'm salivating. (In fact, don't you think that it makes a lot of sense for Apple to acquire Adobe, given the similar corporate mentalities/competencies? Me, too.)

From the article:… Read more

Gone are the days of needing software to open up e-mail attachments. Between Gmail and a handful of online office tools, the reliance on Microsoft Office isn't nearly as much of a stranglehold as it was in the 90s. This morning Zoho is expanding its format-free nature with a new tool called Viewer that will open up 15 different types of common file formats from Microsoft, Open Office, Open Document, and others such as PDFs, CSVs, and HTML files. There's also a form to submit file types you want supported in future updates.

Once uploaded, files show up … Read more

Jonathan Schwartz is a man on a mission. While at Linuxworld today, I took an hour to visit with Jonathan Schwartz, CEO of Sun Microsystems. After spending an hour prodding Jonathan with questions about Sun's history and future with open source, I was left with one clear impression:

Sun is rising, and open source is the driver behind its rebirth.

Jonathan is an executive who sincerely believes in open source as a fundamental business-model advantage, and not as a cheap complement to throw to the community in order to drive sales of "the real value." It's not a marketing gimmick with him. It's a strategy for winning. Jonathan, despite wearing a tie when we met, clearly understands the importance of community before commercial. Or, rather, he understands that community leads to commercial success.

As he stressed, the open-source battle is not between Red Hat and Sun. They are allies. Red Hat and Sun both want open source to succeed, and both want this phenomenon that started at the edge of the network to define the entire computing landscape.

And so I asked,… Read more

Something is in the air these days, quite literally, in the form of blimps. And we're not talking about MP3 speakers either.

Aeros, a company that produces modern-day dirigibles for military and civilian use, has developed a "private air yacht" that it hopes will revolutionize air travel. The "Aerocraft ML866" isn't necessarily built for speed but makes up for it with space and luxury appointments, including "a computerized office, videoconferencing capability, an advanced communications package, transformable interior, personal state room and a physical conference space," Gizmag says. The Aerocraft boasts an interior … Read more