Resource/Misc

Office 2010 Officially Launched (to large corporate clients)

Last week Microsoft officially rolled out Office 2010 (and SharePoint 2010) is in big staged event. Don’t get to excited, it is the official launch/release to large corporate clients not the general public. Next month in June it will be available to everyone. I have been running Office 2010 for several months (one of the perks of being a Microsoft MVP) and HIGHLY recomend new verion over any previous version – it is really that good.

There is a good article at BetaNews about the launch event. Microsoft as a whole has changed a lot of its development focus and marketing strategies. Earlier this year at the MVP Summit hosted at Microsoft in Redmond, WA they had several MVPs (ie. not employees) demo Office 2010 and give their real-world use opinion of it (which was refreshing from scripted marketing speak by a spokesperson). It obviously was well received as Microsoft did the same thing at the official launch, letting real clients explain their reasons for moving to Office 2010.

(Office MVP Beth Melton on stage at the 2010 MVP Summit talking about PPT 2010)

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-16T11:35:56-07:00May 16th, 2010|Resource/Misc|

Defending PPT – Easy When This is the Sample Slide

Recent headlines quote Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who heads U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, criticizing PowerPoint presentations for creating “the illusion of understanding and the illusion of control. Some problems in the world are not bullet-izable.” When I looked a bit further I found this is the slide being referenced as not providing clear information.

hmmm…… I think action should be taken – and it has nothing to do with PowerPoint as an application, but against the company that decided this was worthy of being included in a presentation.

The offending “slide” was sourced from MSNBC. And I am confident it was not created in PPT, but by another application and imported as a graphic. Last, here is a really good webpage with a lot of people’s comments in defense of PPT. Among my favorites are:

This tool is highly misused and abused by presenters, secretaries and supposed PowerPoint ‘experts.’

It’s not the tool on the computer, it’s the tool AT the computer

I think a good strategy is to drop old PowerPoint slides from military briefings behind enemy lines. This should really confuse them…”

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-16T11:38:31-07:00April 30th, 2010|Resource/Misc|

Facebook and Office Files with Docs.com

Well it has happened. The first application I have seen that takes advantage of the new Microsoft Office 2010 Web Apps launched Wednesday. Docs.com lets you upload Office docs (PowerPoint, Word, Excel) either on your computer or using the MS Web Apps and then share them with your Facebook friends.

It was easy to start using. I opened Facebook and logged in. Then opened a new tab and went to docs.com and was automatically setup with the Facebook connector. It is a beta, so get on the waiting list.

And if you have not seen the MS Web Apps in action, just click on any of the available docs and it will open in the MS Web App. Here is one of the PowerPoint decks viewed in the MS Web App on Docs.com

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-16T11:46:19-07:00April 23rd, 2010|Resource/Misc|

Roll Call on Microsoft Office 2010 Blogs

If you are viewing this post, you may have some of these other blogs already bookmarked. Here is a list (aka ‘Roll Call’) of blogs by Microsoft teams:
Microsoft Access 2010 Team Blog
Microsoft Excel 2010 Team Blog
Microsoft Office 2010 Engineering
PowerPivot Team Blog
Microsoft Outlook 2010 Team blog
Microsoft PowerPoint Team Blog
Microsoft Word 2010 Team Blog
Office Web Apps
Microsoft Project Team Blog
Microsoft Publisher 2010 Team Blog
Microsoft SharePoint Team Blog
SharePoint Workspace Team Blog
SharePoint Designer Team Blog
SharePoint for End Users Blog
PerformancePoint Services
Microsoft Visio 2010 Team Blog
Microsoft InfoPath Team Blog
OneNote
The Office Blog

By |2016-08-16T11:49:44-07:00April 13th, 2010|Resource/Misc|

Buy Office 2007 Today and Get Office 2010 Tomorrow – Free!

Microsoft announced a program last month that allows you to purchase Office 2007 (full version, not upgrade) and be eligible to download and register Office 2010 when it is available this June for Free. Details are at the Microsoft Technology Guarantee page:

Office 2010 Technology Guarantee – is the following:
• Purchase Office 2007, or a new PC with Office 2007, and activate it between March 5, 2010 and September 30, 2010.
• Have, or create a Windows Live ID.
• Redeem your Tech Guarantee before October 31, 2010.
• The Office 2010 Technology Guarantee will be fulfilled online, via download, at no additional cost.

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-16T11:50:24-07:00April 11th, 2010|Resource/Misc|

PowerPointMaps.com

This is another option for adding a map to a presentation. Reviewing the PowerPointMaps.com website virtually every country/region is represented.

The site offers 2 types of downloads; free and premium. To download a free version you need to register first. I downloaded a few free maps to review the quality. Unfortunately the free version is unusable as it is a flat .jpg image with the website name watermarked across the middle. Here is one of my free map download of the United States, which has an ad for the premium version with a .jpg of the map (I added the red outline to highlight the .jpg)

The premium maps are vector based with each state/region as separate elements which is very usable. Each premium map is 49euros (approx. $66 U.S.) and is definitely a premium price. You can search for “map” to find reviews of other options.

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-16T11:51:10-07:00April 9th, 2010|Resource/Misc|

Free PPT Templates at templateswise.com

Templateswise.com has a variety PowerPoint templates that are all easily previewed and free.

The template designs I viewed are professional and fresh designs. Each has a variety of slide background options. My sample has 4 background options.

But the templates are not true templates. There is a big difference between a nice slide and a full featured template that has master slide formatting, custom color scheme, and more. The files downloaded do not have any master slide formatting…

One nice feature is the download includes the .pot and large 1600x1200px .jpg’s of each background.

Also, the templates I downloaded are PowerPoint 2003 .pot files.

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-16T11:54:10-07:00April 5th, 2010|Resource/Misc|
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