It's 2007; do you know where your office apps are?

Microsoft lobbed a copy of Vista over my transom (does anyone have a transom these days?) along with a copy of Office 2007. I've previously seen some of the 2007 office components, so what I saw when I installed Office 2007 wasn't exactly a surprise. But then again—it was. Many things have changed between 2003 and 2007. Microsoft's office applications certainly have. But for better or worse?

So much is new that it's hard to decide where to start.

	The menu was familiar enough, except for 2007 in place of 2003. CLICK THE IMAGES FOR A LARGER VIEW.
	I opened Microsoft Word and found a ribbon in place of the familiar menus I had come to expect and love. (Well, tolerate anyway.)
	The same thing happened with Excel.
	The Outlook screen was totally different.
	And Access had options I'd never seen before.
	Once I opened an Access file, I saw the new ribbon.
	And in Powerpoint? Well, I knew what to expect here.
	Then I opened Microsoft Publisher. I thought this would be a quick, easy kill. After all, professionals consider Microsoft Publisher to be little more than a toy. While that may be true, this is a toy that will amuse some people.
	I started by looking through the canned options Microsoft provided. As I did that, I kept in mind the fact that some languages take more space than English. French, for example, takes about 15% more space than English. This is something that Microsoft designers need to take into account. If I create a design, it's between me and the person I report to. If Microsoft creates a design, it has to work in dozens of languages around the globe. So I looked at this harvest-color newsletter template, the default colors, and the default typefaces.
	Instead of accepting the design as-is, I modified the color scheme and the typefaces. This is easier than it should be.
	After creating the document, I found that I still had options for page layout, colors, and typefaces. Deciding that I didn't like the choices I'd made, I selected other colors and different typefaces. I then plugged in some text from TechByter Worldwide. If you have a document that you print monthly or weekly, you may find that the lack of some high-end publishing functions is a problem. Even so, I was able to create a decent-looking document in just a few minutes. ("Just a few minutes" = "less than half an hour.") If you want to see what I created in less than half an hour, the PDF version of the file is here (it's a 200K PDF document.)

Is Publisher the right tool for you?

If you're a commercial designer or someone who creates a weekly or monthly newsletter, a magazine, books, or other large or design-intensive publications, Microsoft Publisher is not the right choice. But if you're an office worker who is occasionally called on to create a flyer for the company picnic or other basic informational pieces for internal or external use, it might be just what you need.

As long as a tool does the job for which it was designed, it's not a bad tool. You probably wouldn't want to move all of your household goods from Yuma to Scranton in a Mini and you probably wouldn't want to drive a 25-foot moving van from home to the office every day. You'd pick the right vehicle for the job at hand.

Professional designers need InDesign, Photoshop,and other professional tools of the trade. But for one or two brochures per year, investing the money required to obtain Adobe's professional publishing suite and then investing the time in learning how to use the applications just wouldn't make sense.

What hardware do you need

Microsoft says that the Office 2007 applications will "run" on a computer with at least a 500 MHz processor, an 800x600 monitor, Windows XP with SP2, and 256MB of RAM. There is a difference between "running" and "being usable", though. I wouldn't consider installing Office 2007 on any machine slower than 1.5 GHz (three times what Microsoft says is acceptable). Nor would I consider trying to install it on a machine with a monitor smaller then 1024x768 or a machine with less than 1GB of RAM. (If you're running Windows Vista, make that 2GB of RAM.)

Office 2007 is supported only on Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, and Windows Vista. Not Windows 98. Not Windows Me. Not even Windows 2000. Although the applications may well run on some of these earlier operating systems (I haven't tested them) they are not supported on those platforms.

A visit to the Big Apple Apple Store

On a recent trip to New York City, I made a point of stopping by the Apple Store, which I believe occupies space formerly occupied by FAO Schwartz. The famous toy store is still there, but no longer in the storefront space at 59th Street and Fifth Avenue. Instead, there's a large glass structure that extends about 2 stories upward, but contains no commercial space. All of the Apple Store is subterranean.

What's down there? There's a lot of WOW! down there, that's what. The first things I noticed were the graphics on most of the walls. Not so much the graphics, but the quality of the graphics. They are astonishingly good. The resolution is so high on the graphics that, even when inspected a relatively close range, the pixels are invisible.

Counters hold dozens and dozens of Mac computers in every possible configuration, external hard drives, Ipods and accessories. One side of the store is a Genius Bar. When I was there on a Sunday afternoon, the bar was full and people were standing in line, waiting to ask questions and have their problems solved (this is not necessarily a good thing.)

Dozens of Apple employees were available to answer questions but not one of them approached me with "The Question" while I was there. In most computer stores, simply stepping onto the sales floor makes you an immediate target for "May I help you?" questions, to which the appropriate reply is "Nothanksjustlooking." I knew that I could attract an Apple employee within 15 milliseconds, but I was happy not to have to fend off unwanted advances.

Is this Apple's policy, the New York Apple Store's policy, or are the employees just lazy? I suspect that it's either Apple policy or store policy because plenty of Apple employees were working with customers. Whatever the cause, I appreciated the result because I really was "justlooking".)

The Big Apple Apple Store has an entire section with probably a dozen computers for children to play with. The desks are the right height for children. Larger children can stand at taller counters and use computers to check their e-mail (as younger daughter Kaydee did, checking her Gmail account, her home account, her business account, her other home account, her Columbus College of Art and Design account, her third home account, and her MySpace account.)

The Apple Store in New York is open 24/7 so that if you wake up at 3am with an overwhelming urge to buy an Ipod, you won't be disappointed.

Have I mentioned the entrance? I said that the above-ground part of the store is all glass. What I haven't mentioned yet is the round glass elevator which is surrounded by (translucent) glass stairs. The steps are inch-thick translucent glass, which means that you can stand under them and look up without getting any cheap thrills. (Tried it even though my wife and younger daughter were hovering nearby.) I wonder if the designer of the space knows about the translucent walkways at Grand Central Terminal. The effect is different at Grand Central because the glass has a wavy pattern instead of a frosted pattern, but the overall effect is similar.

The Columbus Apple Store at Easton is nice enough, but the New York City Apple Store is well worth visiting when you're in the city. It's an easy walk from the 1 subway line (if you're on the 2 or 3 train, change to the local at 72nd on a downtown train or 42nd on an uptown train) and is relatively close to an A/B/C/D station, and 5 minutes or less from C/E and N/R/Q/W stations. Crosstown buses run on 59th Street and connect to uptown lines on Sixth Avenue and downtown lines on Fifth Avenue. In other words, you have no reason to miss it.

Miscellaneous NYC Notes

There's still no question that the most cost-effective places to stay in New York City are located in Harlem. Hotels, particularly those in Midtown Manhattan, are all expensive or small. Or both. $150 per night will buy the use of a room that's about the size of a walk-in closet for one person. If you're traveling with 2 other people, you'll want something larger. For a room with any amenities at all, expect to pay more than $300 per night, plus tax.

For $150 per night or less, you'll be able to book a Harlem bed and breakfast (I've stayed at 3). Each has its own ambience. One offers a two-room suite with a private bath and a kitchen, a two-room suite without a kitchen, and a single-room with its own bath. The other two provide shared bath facilities and large rooms on the 2nd or 3rd floors (Midwesterners will think of these are being on the 3rd and 4th floors.) One comes complete with cats that will come in and sleep on your bed if you leave the door open at night.

The breakfast part may range from nonexistent to coffee and a muffin at the corner bakery to a bagel and fresh fruit in your room. If you insist on having fresh towels every day, maid service, an exercise facility, a bellman to open the door of your car, and 24-hour Midtown noise, Harlem is not for you. But if you want a good, comfortable room, trees in the back yard, quiet nights, and the occasional cat, be sure to check out Harlem B&Bs.

While in New York City, I could have eaten at Wendy's, Subway, White Castle, Dave and Buster's, TGI Friday's, or any one of dozens of other chain restaurants. Bah! You can find excellent meals at reasonable prices without having to eat the same old stuff you'll find at home.

Take the Stage Deli on Seventh Avenue in the mid 50's, for example. The place has been around for decades and prices seem astoundingly high -- $15 for a turkey sandwich -- until you look at the size of the portions. A single turkey sandwich will easily feed at least 2 people and a single $10 piece of cheesecake will serve at least 3.

I found Pee Dee Steak II, a fish, shrimp, and steak place on 125th Street near Lenox Avenue, that served two large pieces of fish, a baked potato about the size of a softball, enough cole slaw for two people, and a roll for about $10. Maybe Bill Clinton eats there; he has an office on 125th, but I haven't seen him walking around.

New York is an expensive city, but you can use the subway to get nearly anywhere and, if the subway doesn't take you there, an MTA bus will. For $24 per week per person, you have unlimited access to subways and buses, excluding Metro North, the Long Island Railroad, and other systems that serve out-of-town commuters. You can, of course, take a taxi or a limo and spend far more, but you don't have to.

Nerdly News

That was the week that was

Was it the week in which we made enormous strides in the fight against spam or was it just another false start in the feeble attempts to stop the slop? Only time will tell, but the reputed "biggest spammer in the world" was arrested and charged. Robert Alan Soloway will be tried and probably convicted on numerous fraud charges. He will probably lose most of his toys, including what one pundit described as an "expensive Mercedes car" (is there any other kind?) Maybe spam will slack off for a while, but as long as people are stupid enough to fall for the fakery, there's about as much chance of that as there is for drug runners to stop smuggling drugs.

Even reputable news organizations predicted a drop in spam. Did you notice it? Neither did I.

Soloway, 27, started spamming when he was in high school and was once on a top-10 list of spammers according to the Spamhaus Project. Note the past tense. Today the biggest spammers are in Russia, protected by Vladimir Putin. Soloway, arrested Wednesday, is a big spammer but not the big fish he once was. He was charged with mail fraud, wire fraud, e-mail fraud, aggravated identity theft, and money laundering. That's good and he's facing decades in prison. That's better, but it's not like dipping a bucket full of water out of the Atlantic Ocean is going to drop sea level noticeably.

Soloway sent spam using zombied computers. Yours might have been part of his network because most are home computers whose owners have no idea their machines have been infected. Instead of selling fake Viagra or pushing penny stocks, Soloway aimed to sell tools and services for others to send their own junk e-mail.

So goodbye Robert Soloway and good riddance. But don't expect anything to improve much anytime soon.

There's another spammer I wish somebody would arrest. He apparently lives in Stateline, Nevada. Many of the spams I received on June 1 came from his shop. Let's look at a bit of the spew.

JC PENNEY GiftCard Confirmation #126-315 To: clients@blinn.com #126315 To receive your gift, please click on or cut and paste: http://www.pretenseful.com/jcpenneyoffer/ We have been trying to reach you in order to deliver your JC PENNEY Gift Card. Please visit our website: http://www.pretenseful.com/jcpenneyoffer/ Thank you and ENJOY! Sincerely, Mary Henderson -Sierra- 195 Hwy 50, #104 PMB 290, PO Box 7172 Stateline, NV 89449-7172		I'm sure that J.C. Penney employs spammers to increase traffic at their stores. Fur sure, fur sure ....
IPOD NANO OFFER #688721 Dear Clients, http://www.procoelous.com/nanoipod/ We appreciate YOU and to show Thanks we want to give you a *Free IPOD NANO! Simply go to the following website and fill the form out to receive our *free gift to you. http://www.procoelous.com/nanoipod/ Thanks Again and Enjoy Your New IPOD NANO! -Sierra- 195 Hwy 50, #104 PMB 290, PO Box 7172 Stateline, NV 89449-7172		Oooooh! Lookie here! Now they're going to give me a free Nano! Wow. I'm just so totally excited. Like, not.
JC PENNEY GiftCard Confirmation #511-271 To: clients@blinn.com #511271 To receive your gift, please click on or cut and paste: http://www.finedrawer.com/jcpenneyoffer/ We have been trying to reach you in order to deliver your JC PENNEY Gift Card. Please visit our website: http://www.finedrawer.com/jcpenneyoffer/ Thank you and ENJOY! Sincerely, Mary Henderson -Sierra- 195 Hwy 50, #104 PMB 290, PO Box 7172 Stateline, NV 89449-7172		Daggone! It's another free Penney's gift card. Maybe I can afford that new pair of jeans after all. It's a different URL (which I didn't visit) but still from good ol' Mary Henderson at Sierra in Stateline, Nevada.
Shop at Kohls with your $1000! Its easy,simple no strings attached. Curious find out more: http://www.finedrawer.com/kohls/ -Sierra- 195 Hwy 50, #104 PMB 290, PO Box 7172 Stateline, NV 89449-7172		Well now I'm really excited. I have an offer from Kohls!
IPOD NANO OFFER #65778 Dear Clients, http://www.lycopodiaceous.com/nanoipod/ We appreciate YOU and to show Thanks we want to give you a *Free IPOD NANO! Simply go to the following website and fill the form out to receive our *free gift to you. http://www.lycopodiaceous.com/nanoipod/ Thanks Again and Enjoy Your New IPOD NANO! -Sierra- 195 Hwy 50, #104 PMB 290, PO Box 7172 Stateline, NV 89449-7172		Clearly, there are people who fall for these bogus offers; I'm just not one of them. And it's yet another new URL. I'll bet it won't still be active in 72 hours.
Talk about an entertaining trip you and a guest are invited to see The Oprah Winfrey Show live, which includes airfare and your hotel stay. Just click below and get ready to pack your bags. http://www.overhipping.com/oprahfreetrip/ Inner Concepts, Inc | 297 Kingsbury Grade #D | PO Box 4470 | Stateline, NV 89449-4470		Is Stateline, Nevada, the home of trailer-trash spammers? This one must have flunked the run-on sentence unit in middle school before dropping out.

The predicted fireworks didn't ensue

Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were on the same stage for the first time in eons (OK, that's an exaggeration) this week. Some predictions before the event suggested bombastic comments, but that didn't happen. The story is not that the meeting was peaceful, but why some pundits thought it would be otherwise. It's true that Jobs and Gates are competitors, but it's also true that both are shrewd business owners who have worked well together when it was to their advantage to do so.

Steve Jobs on Bill Gates: Bill built the first software company in the industry and I think he built the first software company before anybody really in our industry knew what a software company was, except for these guys. And that was huge. That was really huge. And the business model that they ended up pursuing turned out to be the one that worked really well, you know, for the industry. I think the biggest thing was, Bill was really focused on software before almost anybody else had a clue that it was really the software.

Bill Gates on Steve Jobs: What Steve’s done is quite phenomenal, and if you look back to 1977, that Apple II computer, the idea that it would be a mass-market machine, you know, the bet that was made there by Apple uniquely–there were
other people with products, but the idea that this could be an incredible empowering phenomenon, Apple pursued that dream.
Steve gave a speech once, which is one of my favorites, where he talked about, in a certain sense, we build the products that we want to use ourselves. And so he’s really pursued that with incredible taste and elegance that has had a huge impact on the industry. And his ability to always come around and figure out where that next bet should be has been phenomenal. Apple literally was failing when Steve went back and re-infused the innovation and risk-taking that have been phenomenal. So the industry’s benefited immensely from his work. We’ve both been lucky to be part of it, but I’d say he’s contributed as much as anyone.

Were there tweaks, jabs, and jibes? Well, of course. These are both guys with large egos. But both have played large parts in how the computer industry has grown in the past 25 years and in how it affects our office lives and our home lives. If you weren't there (and I wasn't, either) you'll find videos and transcripts on line.

The transcript is here and, if that someday disappears, I have a PDF of it here.

It's a worthwhile read.

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