MS Office Goes Online... Sorta

With free solutions for productivity coming from the likes of Open Office and Google Docs, Microsoft seems to be feeling the heat, and thus have now come up with Office Live Workspace. This new tool, being apart of Windows Live, will allow users to access online tools to view, but not edit, files such as Word documents and Excel spreadsheets.

It makes sense, since there will probably be no chance in hell that Microsoft will give up its favorite hoe for free while it can make the easy money pimping (forgive the lame reference). However, keeping it free has its price. While a beta is only going to start later this year, Microsoft has supposedly designed the program to support ads.

Whether this read-only tactic will actually work is still debatable. Microsoft has a firm grasp on the offline office productivity side, but will they have enough time to grab it online as well? Stay tuned to Devicing for updates.

The New Zune Just Got Cool

Microsoft annonced today the second generation of thier Zune portable media players, and it seems they took all of our complaints to heart and actually made the player that much more attractive, design wise and functionality wise.

So, lets start off with the big one, called the Zune 80, obviously since it is now updated to a 80 GB hard drive. The screen is overall a bit larger then the original, while the entire device itself is much smaller, with dimension of 2.4 x 4.25 x 0.5-inches. The device also features a new design of its d-pad, so it doesn't fool the consumers that it is a clickwheel or something, but it still has a very similar layout.

The other models are either a 8 or 4 GB flash player, which as you can see is a bit smaller, and offers all of the software perks of the larger one. One thing to note is that screen size is smaller, and unit size is larger then the recently announced Ipod Nano, so keep that in mind. The original Zune will still be around, with the name Zune 30, for its 30 GB hard drive, but thankfully it is also getting a full software upgrade just like the other models. If you already have one, check for a firmware update since you also get the upgrade.

The software is probably the most important change, since you still get the same features as the original, but now with more support. You get h.264 and MPEG-4 video support, as well as podcast support. Wi-fi is actually used now, where you can sync it with a PC, but can not download songs directly from an online store. Also, that whole 3 day or 3 play policy for music sharing, its now only 3 plays, which gives us a little bit of freedom I guess. Finally, the interface has been redone, and is supposedly much easier and faster.

Another nice change is that the Zune store is going DRM free for all of its songs, which is a big plus, but still no word if previously bought songs can be changed, or even what labels are being supported.

Overall, $250 for the Zune 80, $200 for the Zune 8, and $150 for the Zune 4 are not bad deals, and may actually be a contender against Apple this holiday season. Expect these things to ship sometime in November.

(Source)

A Close look at Vista without drinking Haterade

Since it's suddenly cool to rip into Windows Vista; I'd thought I'd give my take on it. I've had Vista Basic for close to a month now and I've gotten the recent security and compatibility updates. After getting everything just the way I want it I have to say that's it's a Love-Hate relationship with Vista. I'll go on....

I unboxed my copy of Windows Vista with much glee and excitement (after crying about having to pay for Windows, that's another story) and read the manual. Simple enough to install, within twenty minutes my home built machine was brewing something of the Vista variety and I was pumped. I was greeted by a fresh crisp GUI that was easy to navigate. I uploaded a few programs (Avast, Spybot, VLC) to get myself started. Everything went nice and smoothly.

I ran into my first annoyance when I went to open these programs and was told that as an Administrator I needed to okay the running of said program. No biggy, I'll adjust the account settings later. I uploaded all of my music in little to no time flat.

I installed some games and for the most part they went great; DX10 really is worth it for visual intense games that support it. I did have the occasional random slowdown on some games that was only fixed by rebooting the machine. These slowdowns would even affect navigating menus! I was very annoyed.

These complaints and compliments come and go like every other budding iteration of Windows. Driver incompatibilities, new graphic support, random problems that cant reproduced and others are to be expected. My only really bug with Vista is the amount of privileges Administrator accounts are given. As an Administrator I expected to be able to do anything I wanted, not have to wait in line like everyone else. I upside though is that Vista "claims" to offer improved security. I haven't run into many problems yet but I think most of it is geared towards anti-piracy, yarrrr.

For the power users on the other hand Vista may just seem awkward and unresponsive for some things. Drivers and security problems are annoying, but nothing users can't find a way around after awhile. Given the nine months since Vista's launch these users are getting hungry for more support and are quite happy to stick with XP for now and I'd agree with that decision.
My take is all about where you and your PC are currently. I think that you should take the plunge to Vista if you

1.) Just got a new computer with the recommended requirements
2.) Really want to show off your Directx10 hardware
3.) Just upgraded your current machine to a Multi Core Processor

I would wait to upgrade to Vista and stick with XP if you...

1.) are a power user
2.) don't plan on getting or upgrading your machine for some time
3.) are not a big PC Gamer
4.) are constantly installing programs and want to make sure they are supported

For me I'm quite happy with Vista. Sure there are times when I wish I was still running XP, but there are times when I'm glad that I have Vista. I'm not WOWed by Vista, but I am definately satisfied; even a little pleased. At the end of the day it all comes down to what you want to do on your computer; and only YOU can answer that

DX 10.1 Won't work with current DX 10 hardware

Leave it to Microsoft to screw over consumers.

For all of you like myself who just plunked down a couple hundred bucks on a spiffy new DX10 card, be prepared because DX 10.1 isn't "supported" by the current slate of DX10 cards on the market. What does that mean, well nothing TOO bad but if you thought you had the latest and greatest you might just be out of luck.

At Microsoft's annual SIGGRAPH conference, they gave a lecture on Directx10 and the eventual Directx10.1. Directx10.1 wont require SP1 for Vista, improves rendering and is not "supported" by the current Dx10 cards as the lecture stated. It's interesting why the current hardware won't be able to "support" Directx10.1 and whatever "support" means. Is it a software issue or is it truly a hardware problem?

This news could render the current DX10 cards out of date within six months time. Details are scarce on exactly why DX 10.1 is not supported. The validity of this information is still up for debate but until further news.