Another key selling point [according to Microsoft]: if you choose to use Google Apps, your formatting may be screwed up when you inevitably have to work with others who are using Microsoft Office. When all else fails, turn to FUD.

This isn’t FUD.  When it comes to collaborating with Microsoft Office users, Google Apps (and Zoho Writer, for that matter) do screw around with formatting.

Like many people today, I’m looking for work, so I’m sending my CV/résumé out several times each week to recruitment agencies.  Most recruiters and job sites will insist on having CVs sent to them in Word format, so I have to export my document as a .doc file.

And there’s the problem: a document that looks fine in Google Docs can be all over the place when it’s saved as Word document. Inconsistent tab- and line-spacing; random hieroglyphic characters in place of bullet points; disobedient font sizing are just some of the problems I’ve encountered.

It would be great to be at a point where I could simply share a link to my CV with a recruiter, a job site or an HR department, but we’re not; Microsoft’s Office document formats are still what most businesses use today. My CV is usually my first means of introduction to a prospective employer, so there’s just no way I can afford for it to look untidy – it would be like turning up to a job interview with breakfast down my jacket.

If there’s one feature that cloud-based word processors absolutely must get right, it’s making sure that exporting to the most widely-used document format works faultlessly.

My fascination with computers started more years ago than I care to remember, with the likes of the Sinclair ZX80 and the BBC Micro. After graduating, I found myself writing COBOL code for mainframe systems, and remembered the first DOS-based PCs arriving in the workplace – I was given the job of installing  software like Lotus-123, writing easy-to-use applications menu systems (using DOS batch files) and figuring out how to get these new-fangled machines to talk to the company mainframe.

Then, sometime in the mid-80s, something called Windows turned up. Not only could you run more than one application at a time, you could switch between those applications without having to exit.

Everyone at the office was blown away; even the hardcore mainframe-curmudgeons had their eyes opened and knew the landscape of  computing was about to change massively.

When the company shut its doors some years later, we had to go through the awful process of clearing the whole place out (if you’ve ever had to close a company down, you’ll know what I mean). In one of the cabinets I found this copy of Windows and was allowed, by the IT Manager, to keep it as a memento.

After all these years, it’s still unopened and in its original shrink-wrap. Reading the system requirements makes me smile:

• 512k memory (yes; that’s kilobytes!)
• two double-sided diskette drives (the media, by the way, is 5.25″ diskette! Remember those?)
• a graphics adapter
• a hard disk (just “a hard disk”; no mention of capacity)

And the version number? (I’m not sure if it’s legible on the bottom line of the label in the picture below, but it reads VERSION 1.03):

It’s not much, I know, but it’s my piece of computing history!

I’m sure I’m not the only one who has kept bits of computing memorabilia from days past, and I’d love to hear about the stuff you’ve accumulated over the years. Leave a comment and let me know.

Any group capable of producing a product that generates $300 million worth of sales in it’s first week is, surely, the thing you want to hold to the most?

Perhaps that’s the problem; maybe Microsoft was holding on a little too tightly:

… Bungie is like a shark.  We have to keep moving to survive.  We have to continually test ourselves, or we might as well be dolphins.  Or manatees,” said Jason Jones, Bungie founder and partner.

It’s easy to see what’s in it for Bungie – “unleashed” from Microsoft, they will be free to develop titles for Sony and Nintendo – but it’s harder to see what Microsoft might get out of this.

Hot on the heels of the news that Google is about to expand on their efforts in the social networking services space, with the goal of out-Facebooking Facebook, the news that Microsoft is waving their cheque book around isn’t really news. This is Microsoft at their most predictable:

• identify a space they want to occupy
• identify a company who is already doing great stuff in that space
• try and buy them before someone else does

In this case, buying Facebook outright might not be an option. Yet.

That might change when/if Google do publish an API that would enable open and cross-platform access to the social graph. Microsoft may feel that they have little alternative but to dangle a big enough carrot in front of Mark Zuckerberg to ensure they don’t lose any more ground to the mighty “GOOG”.

Technorati Tags: Microsoft, Google, Facebook, social networking, social graph

Being a beta version, it’s not without its quirks – it doesn’t allow you to add new categories, for example; and displaying my categories as one long, drop-down list is annoying – but, for off-line drafting and editing of blog posts and off-line web preview, I haven’t found anything quite as good.

Live Writer was released at a point in time when Microsoft seemed to be catching the blogging bug in a really big way, which is why I’m surprised and little disappointed that the development of a potentially great app seems to have tailed off. The Spaces page for Live Writer hasn’t been updated since November 2006 when then last update to the beta was released, and searching for Live Writer at Microsoft.com shows that it doesn’t even have its own home page:

Even the activity on the Live Writer MSDN forum seems to have dried up – which, I’m guessing, is because people are losing interest in an application that isn’t being – or, doesn’t appear to be – actively developed.

What do you think? Do you use Live Writer, or do you prefer alternative products that allow for off-line editing? What do you use to update your blog?

[tags]Live Writer, blogging tools, development[/tags]

I was going through my news feeds this morning and noticed this post at Major Nelson’s blog. The post links off to an article on the Live Messenger blog, about a new emoticon that you can add to your Live Messenger display name:

By adding the I’M emoticon to your display name, a portion of the advertising revenue, generated by Live Messenger will go to the charity of your choosing. From the article:

What are the i’m emoticon codes and causes?

• American Red Cross — ready to help, code = *red+u
• Boys & Girls Clubs of America — providing a positive place for kids, code = *bgca
• National AIDS Fund — fighting AIDS, code = *naf
• National MS Society — joining the MS movement, code = *mssoc
• ninemillion.org — helping 9 million refugee kids, code = *9mil
• Sierra Club — exploring and protecting the planet, code = *sierra
• StopGlobalWarming.org — stopping global warming, code = *help
• Susan G. Komen for the Cure — finding the cure, code = *komen
• UNICEF — helping kids survive, code = *unicef

The more IMs you send and receive, the greater the portion of ad revenue goes to the charity. Although the donations only apply to users in the States at the moment, the Live Messenger team are encouraging people outside the US to add the I’M emoticon anyway to show their support. It’s worth pointing out that:

If you are in the US and you are IMing with a contact in another country your IM activity will be counted towards the donation.

So, get your Stateside MSN friends to add the emoticon to their display name and get chatting! The Live Messenger team are also asking people in other countries to sign-up, I’m guessing to expand the program to beyond the US.

With the use of IM so widespread (1/4 billion users, worldwide, for Live Messenger alone), this is an easy way for all users to make a contribution – the sooner this gets rolled out to all Messenger regions the better.

[tags]instant messaging, I’m initiative, Live Messenger, MSN, IM, charity, good cause[/tags]