In the Palm of your hand
18 February, 2008
By Marc Swan
For the past few months I have been using the new Palm® Treo™ 750 as my PDA/phone.
At first glance this Windows Mobile 6 device sports a generously sized screen, but a rather small keyboard.
Transitioning from my previous phone, with a larger screen and bigger keyboard, my initial feeling was; this would be hard to get use to.
The screen on the Treo is a touch screen and responds well to both your fingers and the supplied stylus. The screen is clear and bright and is large enough for all your email needs.
Below the screen are the navigation keys which allow the user to quickly select menus, answer and hang up calls and get around using the 5 way centre joy pad. The buttons have a nice feel to them and provide an additional navigation tool to the touch screen.
Underneath the navigation buttons you find the keyboard. With my large fingers I thought that I might have some issues using the Palm, but it has proven that with a little perseverance it can be quite functional.
The keyboard is small and the spacing between the letters is near non-existent, which does make for slow replies to emails. One certain advantage to the Treo keyboard is that it is a QWERTY keyboard. Unlike some other devices out there, you won't get confused using this, as it is the same layout as your computer keyboard.
Using the Palm as a phone; the device has all the features you come to expect. It can be a little slow responding when the button is pressed to answer calls but this is an occasional problem and does not affect the functionality, just causes a little lag. The one thing I will mention is answering calls and then trying to get them to speaker phone does require a touch of the screen and it can take a few seconds to respond. I haven't yet used all the phone features but to date it is coping well with my needs.
Using your Palm as a PDA; to surf the internet and read emails this unit is quick and easy and works extremely well. I use the Palm for emails every day and it has never missed a beat and has every feature you could ever ask for. You can download attachments of almost any format, open & view them, forward them; you can do the lot. It's worth noting that you will have to zoom to read PDFs, but this doesn't really pose a problem.
The device copes quite well with day to day business and generally with spending an hour a day on the phone and receiving and viewing emails, you will get 2 to 3 days out of the battery. You can only charge the Palm using its charger and not using USB like many other PDAs, this is a little disappointing as you need to carry the cable with you. Having said this, it generally only takes about 3 hours to have a full charge.
The verdict...The Palm Treo 750 with Windows mobile 6 is a good PDA with loads of features. The only thing letting it down, in my personal opinion is the small QWERTY keyboard and slight lag that occurs from time to time when using the device as a phone.
I wouldn't necessarily recommend this to people who need to reply to large volumes of emails on their PDA, but if you only need to read and reply to the occasional email this is for you. It's a nice, lightweight device, which means it can be placed comfortably in a pocket or handbag for everyday use.
What's happening with Microsoft Office?
1 February, 2008
Microsoft offers a number of ways to obtain the licensing or "right to use" their software. Three of the most common license types are FPP, OEM and Open Licenses.
FPP - Full Package Product; the boxed, shrink wrapped product available from retail outlets. This is a single copy of a license such as a consumer might purchase for their home PC.
OEM - System Builder software; designed for preinstall on a new PC. This is a common way of purchasing software because the licensing is relatively inexpensive, however it does have its limitations. The license is valid only for the life of the machine onto which it is originally installed. Once that machine dies, the license dies with it.
Open/Volume Licensing - This type of licensing is an Agreement between you, the client and Microsoft. It entitles you to use the software, to exercise downgrade rights, to access previous versions of the software and to transfer the software to a new machine, if need be. If Open Licensing is purchased with Software Assurance it also entitles you to upgrades of new software versions and provides other benefits such as training and phone support. There is a minimum entry level of 5 licenses to start an open license agreement and a number of different Open Programs. Your specific needs and the size of your business will determine the right Open Licensing program for you.
So, what's happening with Microsoft Office?
Office 2007 has been available for some time now and the OEM version of Office 2003 has been discontinued. The only way to access Office 2003 licensing is to purchase 2007 Open Licenses and exercise the downgrade rights by installing Office 2003 media.
It is human nature to resist change. However at some point, most businesses will need to execute a change over, either PC by PC or in a roll out to the new version.
Office 2007 will work in a mixed environment; our own staff members are running different versions to test the theory. Office 2007 has a different file format to 2003, however because documents can be saved in 'compatibility mode' we have not experienced issues with sending and receiving documents via email or opening and saving across the network. Files that were created in 2003 can be opened, edited and saved using Office 2007.
The user interface is new and will look and feel a little different. The functionalities are all still there with some new ones to boot (like being able to save documents as a PDF) and in most instances they are more logically set out than in Office 2003 - that in fact was the whole point of the revision!
The best way to adjust to the new user interface is to visit some of the online resources. A really great starting point is the 2007 Microsoft Office System Courses; these provide an overview of the new layout and some great tips for navigation. You can access these courses via this link: click here
Another tip is to remember to use the Help button. Use the Help button when you've "lost" a feature; Help will tell you where to find it in the new version. You can type your question right into the search bar and it will return a list of results that point you in the right direction.If you wish to purchase Office 2003, we can still arrange this for you, but if you don't have an existing Open Licensing Agreement you'll need to establish one. More and more, customers will find that moving to the new 2007 platform is not as daunting as first thought. If you would like to discuss this in further detail, feel free to contact us.
2008, The Year To Come
1 January, 2008
Let me start off by saying Happy New year, by now most people will be back at work and wishing they could go back on holiday again!!
But let's look forward to the year. This year will see some big changes to IT yet again. Microsoft will be releasing their new Server 2008 product, which means they will also be releasing their new Small Business Server version too; it's called "SBS Cougar" at the moment, but will be given a standard name before launch.
Whilst we can't talk too much about SBS Cougar due to Non Disclosure Agreements with Microsoft, we can say that it is built on the next version of Windows Server 2008 and inherits a number of the security and performance enhancements that are part of that product. In addition, SBS Cougar promises to extend the functionality with Exchange 2007 for email, inbuilt AntiSpam capabilities, enhancements to Remote Web Workplace and other really cool features that are yet to be publicly announced.
While there are far more products coming out, I would also like to let you know about the year ahead for Correct Solutions.
The end of 2007 saw us install ConnectWise, CW is a support and ticketing system designed for IT companies only. This platform will help give us more transparency with how we support you as well as giving you greater insight as to the current status of any jobs we are completing for you. By now we would have spoken directly with you about this change, how you can log into the system to add work, print invoices and check on a status of a job, however if you still have questions or would like more information, please give us a call, we are more than happy to get feedback, both good and bad on areas where we can support our clients better.
And what would all these changes be without us changing and updating our website? One of our clients has helped us re-design our website to give it a new fresh look and to help us get away from the "geek" feel of the old site. Over the coming weeks and months we will be adding more content to the website as well as blogs and news items to keep the content fresh and current.
Lastly and most important, I would like to thank all our customers, suppliers and staff for their work during 2007 and look forward to working with you again in 2008.
A prosperous year to all!
Ryan Spillane
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