Windows Keeps Getting Better

to Eugen M, f4denz, Brandon Leblanc:

/fun on /  Initially I was going to sign on as "Grumpmeister3000", but then I thought that "Ultratechmonster9000" would give me way more credibility.   /fun off/

Overall Windows 8 is an amazing technology.  Got Wow factor, sick, yeah, baby! and such. So creative, and so playful. Wonderful. Lovely.  

But it is not very useful for the following groups of consumers:  

1) People who use computers for work.  I mean, the humdrum type of "accounting, taxes, billing, payroll, accounts payable, accounts receivable" work.  I don't see how a column of numbers can entered via a touch screen.  It's not that I am that dumb or (imagine air quotes) "out of touch".  There is still lots of data that exists on paper and

needs to be entered into a computer.  Inconceivable to you, but real in the real world.  

2) People who are older than, say 45 years or so, that "baby-boomer" crowd inching toward retirement.   As you know, that demographic group is growing, growing, growing.  And, if you don't mind, ask Bill Gates, who somehow got a lil bit older too,  to answer truthfully about which input device he uses on his computer for basic, everyday, down-to-earth tasks.  I bet he likes a mouse and keyboard, he just can't tell you for marketing reasons.

(and Warren Buffett of course does not even use a computer, but that is way off the old tangent)

Nonetheless, I venture to say that many, not all, but many older people have trouble with the "youthful fluidity of motion" required to successfully interact with a touch screen.   Does Microsoft even have a "focus group of older people"?  You know, the ones who forget what to focus on, like me.  If not, then it should.

So, now, then:  Given that group 1 and group 2 above make up a huge, HUGE, part of potential Microsoft

Windows 8.3 consumers, why is it so hard for Microsoft to understand that ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL.

Next: Given how comparatively easy, EASY, EASEY it is to modify software, why would Microsoft insist that only

ONE FLAVOR of Windows 8 is allowed.  It really would be VERY EASY for MS to accommodate the "Touch crowd"

and the "keyboard and mouse" crowd.    

To imagine that in front of your very eyes, I have to describe it for you:  

You boot up Windows 8.3, and on the  first screen you are given three (reversible) choices:

1) I use Touch screen only. I am so cool.  Keyboards and Mouse are for unteachable boring old folks only.

2) I use Touch screen as well as Keyboard and Mouse.  I am so flexible and fantastic.

3) I use Keyboard and Mouse only.   Touch screen is for unproductive touchy feely artsy folks only.

And, thus, depending on your choice you get booted into the operating environment of your choice.

How hard can that be, really ?

And if you wonder why I am talking about Windows 8.3, which does not exist as yet :  It's because I am looking ahead and can tell from experience that it takes Microsoft on average at least 3 revisions to get things workable enough.   I remember using Windows version 3.11 and Win 95 came along.  I tried to upgrade, but it was a "no go".  Back to Win 3.11 until Win 98 v2 came along. Then I gladly skipped Windows 2000, as well as Win XP SP1, and Win XP SP2.    I jumped from Windows 98 to Win XP SP3.  Good move.  Then I skipped Vista (excellent move), had no need yet for Windows 7, and now I am waiting for a Win 8 version worth jumping to.   May be in 2015.

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Participation on Tuesday Office 15-minute Webinar: better PowerPoint presentations

This week Webinar, we show you some nuggets for better PowerPoint presentations. We start to 9: 15 A.m. follow Pacific time with a Q & A. Click on the link below or go to http://aka.ms/offweb for more information on the webinar series.

Attend online meeting

https://Join.Microsoft.com/Meet/dougt/F274WBQZ

There are two ways, you can join: full sound and video, use the Lync participants free of charge. If you are using the Web browser, you must call for audio,: (888) 320-3585, Conference ID: 84172528.

A video of the webinar will be announced soon after completion.

What you learn Webinar on Tuesday:

How PowerPoint as your resume with the notes is in PowerPoint using Presenter view in PowerPoint tips section for the presentation in a conference room

References for this Webinar:

Learn more about Office 15 minutes Webinar series at http://aka.ms/offweb.

--Doug Thomas

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App of the Week – Better Homes & Gardens

App of the Week – Better Homes & Gardens « Adobe Digital Publishing function clearSearch() {document.search_form.s.value = "";} adobe.com      Adobe Digital Publishing / App of the Week – Better Homes & Gardensby Adobe Digital Publishing Suite Team  

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Better search in Outlook 2010

A common problem with e-Mail addiction is that they may return too many results. For example by typing someone's name may return matches where appears the name in parts of the body of the message, even though you should search for messages from that person. There may be other criteria to narrow help enter your search how hard, whether it has an attachment or that a certain category has applied. It would not be great, if you simply specify this parameter and get a better results - find what you want, or faster? Outlook 2010 makes it easier!

Outlook 2010 helps your mailbox searching more efficiently with two new features: search search contextual tab in the Ribbon and the suggestion list.

Contextual search tab

The contextual search tab is displayed every time that you click in the search box. It allows you, your search results with a variety of parameters, including filter:

· The sender name

Subject keywords ·

· Presence of attachments

· Categories

· Sent date

· Flagged messages

· The name of the recipient in the to or CC

· Importance

Read/unread status ·

•... and much more!

You can use this tab so that you can quickly and easily find news. For example, suppose you are looking after a message with the phrase "Food Blog", but more than 100 elements return the search query. Let's assume that you also remind you that this message has an attachment. Now you can limit immediately, to find the results to a much smaller what you seek, by clicking the attachments in the contextual tab set search:

And this is just one of the many filters in search contextual tab available!

Search suggestion list

A combination of keywords, along with the name of the sender or a well-known phrase in the subject line contain the vast majority of the search. Restrict the results to a specific sender is a powerful filter which helps often quickly narrow down results.

If you start a query, you see a list below the search field to Outlook 2010. You can just type and then Arrorw after the search to e-Mail from a person or to a specific topic below limited. The results returned are only those who show a match in the name (or subject) against your query!

This is just a taste of the new powerful search capabilities integrated into Outlook 2010. We hope you enjoy this new experience and that it helps you more productive every time you will need to find a message in your mailbox.

Nelson Siu
Outlook program manager

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Aching for better iOS app integration

[Disclosures: If I had any inside info, I obviously couldn't share it here, and I've been hopeful/disappointed on this subject before.]

Poor integration leads to bloated apps: if jumping among apps/modules is slow, customers gravitate towards all-in-one tools that offer more overall efficiency, even if the individual pieces are lacking.

Today I saw Neven Mrgan writing, of iPad photo apps,

[I]t’s just so much more convenient to stay in the canonical photo store; importing and exporting photos to and from another app is clumsier.

I experienced the pain, over and over, on my trip to Guatemala.  Having taken just my iPad & Camera Connection Kit, I was eager to put a variety of photo tools to the test.  Moving among apps was far & away the crappiest part of the experience.  For example:

I’d review images in Photos, where I can see them nice and large. But I can’t say “Open in App X,” so…I’d leave Photos, launch Snapseed, bring up the tiny, default image browser component, navigate to the same point in my photo library, and then try to pick the same image I’d just been looking at in Photos.After editing, I’d hit Save, and images would go into the Camera Roll (not Imports, where I’d been browsing them).  Thus I couldn’t see the edited images alongside the originals.After repeating the process many times, I’d go to Flickr Studio, then carefully & laboriously add photos from various albums.  (The app doesn’t let you re-order images, so I had to dive into the albums again & again just to get the sequence right.)At last I’d upload.

This really, really sucked.  Far more desirable:

Browse the images in the browser of my choice (Photos or something else–one that could, say, flag/sort/whittle down images, local or remote).Tap one or more images and say “Send to App X” (to build a panorama, composite in PS Touch, apply a tilt shift blur, whatever)–no manual navigating to the other apps, no navigating back to the photos.Be able to save, return to my browser, and see the edited image alongside the original.Hand off one or more images to the sharing tool of my choice.

Let’s not bloat PS Touch with every damn filter we can think of; rather, let’s have a great way to pass data back and forth, so that apps can function as plug-ins to one another. (PhotoAppLink is a nice start, but we need something universal.)  And let’s not all bloat our apps reinventing the image browser, integrating the same sharing services over & over, etc.  There’s a far more elegant way to proceed.

Tangential: Neven also writes,

The iPad is too big to shoot with; the iPhone is too small to edit on. Bridging the two is fine in theory, but in practice there’s the hairy matter of extremely large file sizes.

But why is it that my phone or tablet can send HD video streams instantly to my TV, yet they can’t send photos or video to each other (or to my Mac)?  To put a phone video onto my Mac, I have to upload the whole thing to something like Dropbox, then download it again; isn’t that kind of bizarre?  I really thought that AirDrop would sort things out; hope springs eternal.

Posted by John Nack at 12:00 PM on March 06, 2012

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Ten tips to make better Bebo skins

Flash and the City - NYC Better than Ever!

This year once again I will be speaking at Flash and the City in New York, June 9-12.  This year I will be teaching a 6 hour hands on code camp for anyone wanting to become a Flex or AIR developer.  In addition, Flash and the City will be part of Internet Week NY, a very popular and highly marketed festival that attracts citywide attention. Internet Week is a week-long festival of events celebrating New York’s thriving internet industry and community.   Internet Week New York is presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences in cooperation with the City of New York and The Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment.

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