Tag Archives: Microsoft

I’m in Good Company with My “No More Microsoft OS and Vista” Decision

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My father is converting to Linux. It’s something he’s considered for awhile, but he’s all bent about the new MS Vista release. I told him my concerns about the use of the CPU to be “big brother” to be sure you were doing nothing wrong — and my concerns that my own iTunes and ripped CD content would no longer be playable on Vista (among a plethora of other concerns).

They may have fixed this by now… I’m beyond caring. I quit researching the new Vista OS when I hit “saturation” point on the issues I wasn’t willing to accept. I’ve made my plan to scoot away from Windows-based computing completely. Pops is going to make the OS swap before I am, but I’m well on my way with applications already.

I saw an article today that referenced the fact that the US government is also moving away from the MS model. It quoted, in particular, the FAA and the DOT as they consider a move toward Linux.

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Open Source Gems: Microsoft Replacements and Others

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I’ve made the choice to start to move away from traditional closed-source software as much as possible in my business. I’m working on adopting the software this year with the idea that in 2008 I will move to Linux.

With all the stuff I use, this is a pretty bold plan. I hope I can make that deadline for the complete switch before the end of 2008. In the meantime, I’m searching for (and finding) a number of fantastic programs. And, over the next few weeks and months, I plan to share my findings in the hope that it makes the transition easier for others.

This means my findings (for the most part) will be limited to those programs that offer both a Linux and a Windows version, unfortunately. As I have it figured, there’s no way I can learn a new operating system, address software/hardware conflict issues, learn new software packages and keep a business going. Thus, I’ll be limited to cross-OS offerings for now. I’m looking for the best reviewed of the options and will pass along my findings as well as my resources for the reviews and the download pages.

Whether you are changing for ethical, moral, technical or financial reasons, I hope my findings will help your own transition.

I’ll keep the header “Open Source Gems” for each find to make it easy to search and I’ll tag them all with “open source” as well.

Making OneNote Better: Word Count Tool

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As a power-user (or at least a constant user) of OneNote, I miss two things.

  1. A word count tool – to help me as I compose and edit and work inside the OneNote program
  2. A formatting “paintbrush” tool offered by the rest of the office apps – to make my notes look prettier and become more organized.

Good news: There is now a powertoy plugin that offers the word count functionality.
Bad news: Apparently I’m still the only one that wants/needs a formatting paintbrush.

To get your own word count option…Visit descapa’s blog and download his OneNote Word Count Powertoy. (Thanks descapa!)

Zoho Competes with Microsoft with Online Notes Program and Google’s New Apps Suite

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While Google is competing with Microsoft’s products online, Zoho is competing with Google’s offerings and is raising the ante. Zoho already has Zoho Writer (word processing online) and Zoho Sheets (spreadsheet online).

But Zoho also offers a PowerPoint competitor: Zoho Show and a OneNote competitor: Zoho Notes (coming in March).

Zoho is also increasing the buy in with products such as…a customer relationship management product, a project management program, a “virtual office” solution, a calendar and email program, a wiki and an online database application.

For small business owners, this may be just the ticket to lowering the cost of software. And for those considering the launch of an online business, this may lower the cost for startup. For anyone collaborating across geographic boundaries, this is another way online work can lighten the load.

And isn’t it nice to have options?

Want to Learn More about OneNote?

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So you have listened to me blabber on and on about OneNote and you want to learn more — you want to determine if this is something that may be a benefit for you? I’ve found a resource that may help. Descapa from One Note Extensibility has released links to a couple of “in house” PowerPoint OneNote tutorials from Microsoft’s training department for your use.