Why I Don't Use Google Docs By Rob Griffiths, Macworld.com When you need to collaborate with others on a project that involves word processing, spreadsheets, and/or presentations, Google Docs is an excellent solution: the ability to work with others in real time is something that's hard, if not impossible...

Microsoft has kicked in its technology guarantee for customers who are waiting to upgrade to Office 2010 but haven’t upgraded to Office 2007.  The simple thinking is that there is no reason for businesses to delay rolling out and familiarizing themselves with common UI elements like the Ribbon and...

My colleague Andrew Fryer (@deepfat) was annoyed at BETT 2010 conference by the number of older teachers, headmasters, and IT professionals whining about the Ribbon UI.  I told him that some people just can’t be convinced and will only go kicking a screaming.  I said this after spending about...

Use the Backstage view for quick access to the essentials The new Microsoft Office Backstage view replaces the traditional File menu, helping you quickly get to operations such as save, share, print, and publish with just a few clicks. Take advantage of the rich, intuitive set of commands to help you...

Pilot SharePoint Workspace! Ever open your computer, ready to work from home, and realize you forgot to download that one crucial SharePoint document? Work on any teams where emailing version after version of a document takes up half of everyone’s inbox? Try out SharePoint Workspace 2010—it’s the new...

Ars Technica has a done some reading in the in the “product use rights” document pertaining to Office 2010 Standard and Professional Plus.  The interesting bit is the wording around Office Web Apps usage.  I’ll admit that this license model is a no-brainer, but then again I work for the company...

The world has too much information.  If you query any search engine for any topic, you will likely be greeted by millions of links of results.  Everyone knows that text cannot possibly be the end all, be all of data discovery.  Surely as the volume of unmanaged data grows, which grows...

Get a backstage pass to vibrant diagrams Microsoft Visio 2010 gives you fast and easy access to a rich set of diagram templates that meet your needs. Choose the right template for the job and you’re on your way to creating a professional-looking diagram that simplifies complexity and gets everyone on...

What language barrier? Find improved tools for translation in Word Word 2010 has great tools for anyone who’s ever worked with someone—a coworker, customer, or entire market segment—who speak a language different than their own. The improved translation tools in Word 2010 provide easy options for translating...

A home for your favorite shapes and functions! Microsoft Visio 2010 gives you fast and easy access to shapes for your diagrams. The new Quick Shapes area at the top of every stencil – above a faint dividing line – holds the shapes you use most often. Simply drag shapes into or out of the Quick Shapes...

For October we are releasing 13 bulletins (eight critical and five important), addressing 34 vulnerabilities, affecting Windows, Internet Explorer, Office, Silverlight, Forefront, Developer Tools, and SQL Server. Most of these updates require a restart so please factor that into your deployment planning...

Break out the director’s chair Embed and edit video files directly in PowerPoint 2010. Easily bookmark and trim your video to show only relevant sections. Video triggers let you insert text and captions to call attention to scenes. Style effects such as fades, reflection, soft bevels and 3-D rotation...

Discover an improved search and navigation experience Locating the information you need is easier and faster in Word 2010. With the new and improved find experience, you can now search for content by graphics, tables, footnotes and comments. The improved Navigation Pane provides you with a visual representation...

Personalize the Ribbon In Microsoft Office 2010, the enhanced Ribbon is available across all the applications, including OneNote 2010, SharePoint Workspace 2010 (formerly known as Microsoft Office Groove), Publisher 2010, InfoPath 2010 and even the new Office Web Apps.  Customizing the Ribbon is...

Techcrunch has a really good preview of our new browser-based version of Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Onenote.  At the moment it is being rolled out for free to some Live Skydrive users.  The public beta is happening in early 2010 but if you’re a religious Skydrive user, it may be worth checking...

Zero in on the right data points, faster. Excel 2010 delivers new and exciting slice-and-dice capabilities. The Slicer feature provides you with a rich visualization of your PivotTable view so you can dynamically segment and filter the data to display just what you need. With the search filter, you can...

Faster search in Excel Tables and PivotTables Microsoft Excel 2010 gives you new and faster searches in Tables, PivotTables, and AutoFilters with a streamlined way to look through large amounts of data and create new filters. So even if you have a report with more than 1 million items you need to search...

Simple. Efficient. More ways to connect. Outlook 2010’s new Quick Steps get you through your inbox faster.  Cut down on the number of steps to your common actions and find better ways to respond to your messages, easier and faster. Then explore Contact Cards to connect you to your colleagues instantly...

Create eye-catching visual effects in a flash Throughout Microsoft Office 2010, you’ll find new and popular tools to create high impact visuals to make your work really pop.  And they take just moments to use.  Pictures speak a thousand words New picture editing tools in Word , PowerPoint,...

Share presentations quickly, easily, virtually PowerPoint 2010 is no longer just for creating presentation or presenting in face-to-face meetings. Allow your ideas to shine even when you aren’t in the same room as your audience—or even running the same program. Broadcast Slideshow streams your slides...

Share and Analyze Data Faster Use Excel 2010 as your Business Intelligence tool. New features like Sparklines and Data Bars help you present and compare trends in seconds. Whether sorting through sales revenue results or your favorite team’s last few seasons, these new tools in Excel 2010 help you make...

Outlook Conversation View: Make it Work for You The new Conversation View in Outlook 2010 is one of the most talked-about new features—but how can you get the most out of it? Conversation View is designed to connect relevant information on a topic, allowing you to track email threads without diving into...

Find, organize and share information all in one place Use OneNote 2010 for much more than your typical note taking. Collect content—anything from typed text to a copied photo—and use search and tags to find it once it’s stored.  Stop wasting time looking through folders and get what you need at...

Cut the stress out of scheduling group meetings Tip: Use the Group Scheduling View feature to quickly find that open slot for your next team meeting! This view shows the individual calendars of everyone on your team, all at once. Step by Step: 1. Select Calendar view 2. Click on the check boxes next...

The Microsoft Office Backstage view enhances the traditional file menu experience. It provides you a rich, intuitive set of capabilities to help you complete your work more efficiently. Tip: Get to print faster. Printing, previously spread across several commands (page layout, preview, print), are all...