Shocker, eh? But yes, Office 2007 is going to include some new formats that we can all find useful - the most important of these being PDF and ODF (Open Documents Format). They are to be covered with service pack 2 for Office 2007 and what is interesting is Adobe originally fought Microsoft to not include the pdf format as default in Office 2007. Adobe, not the creators of the pdf format, being one that everyone recognises as being associated with Adobe, can’t do anything about it as it is now officially a “standard.”

In a shock move today, it appears Microsoft are really trying to make a dent in the other markets out there. What with the imminent acquiring of Yahoo, Microsoft have announced that it is making available certain documentation & APIs for Windows & Office that were only previously given to it’s Gold Partners. On the face of the move, it appears that Microsoft are giving everyone in the open-source community a “break” by not suing the ass off them for using the APIs. However, I think on closer inspection it still has everything to do with the Yahoo takeover. They are looking to make a break into the search market in a BIG way, and want to be the next Google - with or without Yahoo. Of course that means it needs the support of the community. After all, Google are nice, Microsoft are bad. Everyone knows that, right?

Think about it - Microsoft aiming for the search market. Also, they want open-source developers to know that they won’t be punished for using their APIs, and in fact are given access to documentation previously secret. To top that, Microsoft are allowing students free access to their programming apps.. Looks like Microsoft are looking to gain support from all levels of the community. Maybe the idea of Linux & other OS’s eating lumps out of their market share has made them get off their seats and make sure Microsoft will continue to be the most dominant software manufacturer out there. [SHOW ME]

A recent post shows that some people are starting to get access to IMAP features within Gmail. This surely points to a staggered roll-out for the facility for all users - although obviously we don’t know the time frames involved.

This means that, if you choose, you can access your Gmail through your email client on your desktop - without the need to use the archaic POP3 protocol. Using IMAP is slicker because the inbox on your desktop is syncronised with the inbox in your Gmail. If you read a message on your desktop, it’s flagged as read in Gmail. If you delete a message, it disappears online too. Compare this to POP3, where the messages are simply downloaded and stored locally, with any changes you make locally staying that way.

This is good news for users, but is it in Google’s best interest? Advertisement revenue will disappear for those people using POP3 or IMAP when they move away from the website. Do Google have different plans to to use some other way to deliver advertising? It’s purely conjecture, but I’m assuming ads within emails if they are still going to get users to click-through. How else could Google do it? Maybe Google think the number of users will be insignificant to their cause. Only time will determine the facts.

Microsoft appears to be making a move to get in on the online document rush to hopefully take something away from Google with their Google Docs and Google Spreadsheets. Microsoft have announced an office live webspace that can be used by users to collaborate and share documents whilst also being able to view the documents online. All for free, but without the ability to edit.

When OpenOffice can pretty much do everything on the desktop with Microsoft compatibility, and online with Google where you can do things like open and amend spreadsheets created in Excel, you have to ask yourself, "Is it too little too late for Microsoft?" They can see non-corporate (and some corporate) customers moving away from their products in search of something that delivers what it promises, but doesn’t bring your computer to it’s knees - anyone that has a copy of Office 2007 will know what that feels like. And as it seems everything is going online to make your information truly portable, Microsoft are trying to make an online appearance at the 11th hour, looking to reverse the trend. And all this shortly after the rumblings that Adobe are about to announce the acquisition of a small team responsible for buzzword - an online word processor. The writing is on the wall for Microsoft Office, I think. [SHOW ME]

YouConvert is the name of the website that lets you convert your files between all the well known file formats. You can convert audio files, documents, videos and images. It’s really simple and do you know the best thing? It’s all for free! Firstly you select the type of media you want to convert, find the file on your PC, enter your email address and away it goes into the youconvert servers for conversion. When the conversion is complete, you are sent an email (it took about a minute after I uploaded a wav for conversion to mp3) and this gives you a link to download your new file from the website. All in all, very painless and smooth. I wonder what the business model is?? [SHOW ME]

I found [this link] today which details software, available for free, either under freeware or GPL licenses. The spirit of Open Source software is, of course, to contribute in some way - so if you find yourself with a few hours a week of spare time, maybe you can help the cause. Detailed below I’ve singled out some of the more obvious replacements. Ideal if you’re on a shoe-string, are anti-big corporation or just like the ideals of open source:

[OpenOffice] - Microsoft Office Replacement

[Dia] - Visio Replacement (A little basic and doesn’t share file types)

[Paint.NET] - A great replacement for MS Paint with more features than it’s smaller cousin. A good alternative to Photoshop if all you do is basic editing/resizing.

[Dr. DivX] - A DivX replacement encoder.

[7-Zip] - The one program you need for all your archiving needs. It doesn’t compress to .rar, but does decompress from it.

[Audacity] - Great Audio editor, and can be used for podcasting too. There is no mp3 encoder included with the program, but details are available on the website where to get one from.

[Filezilla] - A fully featured FTP client & server.

[Gimpshop] - A photoshop replacement based around the Gimp platform.

[Notepad++] - Already on a [previous post] once you use this over Notepad, there is no going back..!

[PDFCreator] - The name says it all!

[Free Extractor] - A program for creating your own self-extracting archives. Replacement for Install Shield

Hopefully you can get some use for these, and if you have any suggestions of other replacements let me know.

I found this utility today when I was looking for a different widget to display my tasks on the desktop. This small app (less than 500Kb download) displays any of your outlook panes (Calendar, Contacts, Inbox, Notes or Tasks) on your desktop in a slightly transparent version. Everything is fully adjustable from size, position & transparency, with the added advantage of automatically loading when windows starts. It only works from Outlook 2000 onwards, but then I don’t know anybody who still uses Outlook 97! The link takes you to the homepage, but when downloading I had problems until I found [this] alternative source. [SHOW ME]

Windows Vista has finally been launched. Unfortunately it’s only for the volume licensing business market. But at least it’s coming! I guess they’re going to iron out any kinks with their corporate customers first before releasing it into the home. Also Office 2007 has been released - again only to corporate customers. Exchange 2007 and retail versions are expected to ship in the new year.

[link]

A lucky stumble… There have been so many times when I’ve gone into Microsoft Word looking for a particular template, and the ones they have are either poor or non-existent. Thankfully now, there is one place where we can all go in our hour of need..

[link]