I checked on the known issues list and didn’t see these little annoying gems. Here are two things I’ve run into with PowerPoint 2007:

1. The slide footer functionality from PowerPoint Presentation templates doesn’t work in PowerPoint 2007. Thus for the many clients where we used formal footers (so that they could update them in one place for the whole document), those footers will not work at all in PowerPoint 2007. Even worse, when someone opens a file in PowerPoint 2007 with footers that were created in PowerPoint 2003, the footer fields immediately become text fields–which means that if you save them in PowerPoint 2007 (even in compatibility mode!!) you permanently lose the ability to edit all footers at once–even when you open that file in PowerPoint 2003. No warning–just zap, and the footer fields (date, too!) are gone!
2. The Custom Animation tool is quite forgetful. Often I had to select “Start with Previous” when Start with previous was already selected–in order to get the event to take place right away in the sequence. This came up when I previously had delays set at other places that pushed the timeline on my animation back. The easy workaround for this is to look at the Advanced Timeline view and then just re-set the setting you’re trying to get to work–just right-click and again choose “Start with Previous” for instance.

I’m really enjoying PowerPoint 2007′s aesthetics and drawing tools–but I do wish Microsoft could address these couple issues.

Well, I did manage to get Vista installed. The advice here worked like a charm, and I was able to install Vista clean with an upgrade product key. No, Microsoft never did follow-up with a solution…but at least it worked.

I’m really enjoying Windows Vista. Sure, a few programs don’t work (I don’t want to upgrade QuickBooks and iTunes isn’t even upgraded) but the visual improvements are stunning. Sure, Mac may have had similar features for a while…but it’s great for us PC users to finally get a break.

Some of my favorites: the integrated search, the new Windows Media Player, the lovely Aero interface, the massively improved wireless and network connection management, the better display options, the weather gadget… I really dig it.

On the other hand, I’ve been seriously disappointed with Apple. The majority of my gripe is that I purchased a lemon of a MacBook. I’ve spent about 5 or 6 hours on the phone in the last week with a unit that is now officially considered DOA. Now I have to run between a few places to get it repaired. And I’m going to think twice before purchasing from MacMall again. When business is so busy, as it is now, this is a horrible waste of time.

But, for the record, when this MacBook was working it was no panacea, no magnificent wonderful machine. It wasn’t necessarily more intuitive to work with, and I’m not in any way sold. Some of my least favorites: error messages that are immensely unhelpful, no manual way to eject a CD (and no eject button that works without software), a remarkably sparse online support, no visual or audio indication when important statuses changed (like connecting to a network or disconnecting from a network), and about a million compatibility issues with Office. But I’m going to take a deep breath and get this machine (for SET’s designer; it’s running Vista, as well) repaired…

So this week has seen a great deal of upgrades. A MacBook. A Vista install on my primary machine. A gorgeous new notebook (Dell XPS M1210) with all the bells & whistles. Now it’s time to update the infrastructure a little bit–redo the server, clean up a dedicated XP box for use as a computer-to-be-dialed-into, and figure out some more features in OneNote 2007 and Groove Server…

Update: I’m going to try the hack suggested here for how to install an update without installing an old OS first. Sure, it requires two installs, but it may be an easier option than trying to get XP running again. I’ll keep you posted. IT WORKED!

Well I’m not in much better of a position than when I started. I called Microsoft the next morning (2/2) and they offered a number of good ideas. The most likely idea they mentioned was that by attempting to install Vista I had overwritten the master boot record with one that the XP installer couldn’t use…and thus I could no longer install Vista. The solution was to restore the boot record to the XP one. I followed the steps listed on a few websites and discussed it with the Microsoft tech, but had no luck reinstalling XP.

I was on the phone with Microsoft for about 2 hours, being juggled around between different people, all of whom were very friendly. Unfortunately, they all said that the solution for me was a product key that they couldn’t provide. Funny how much time Microsoft is willing to spend to avoid the potential of giving out a license to someone who already legally purchased their software.

So, in short, purchasing an upgrade can be a real waste of time. You have to have the previous OS running, and if you don’t, you’re SOL.

I guess I’m going to purchase another copy of the software. Buying it OEM is still cheaper than using their online purchase. Something just doesn’t sit right with me about the whole experience.

I’ve had Vista Beta RC2 running on another box for a while, but I thought it was time to take the real plunge and put it on my primary computer. But I’m not completely insane–I did what any logical person would do–set it up on a clean partition (so I could dual boot unless until programs like iTunes and who-knows-what-other utilites are supported by Vista…).

So I whipped out the ‘ole PartitionMagic, created 25gb of NTFS space. And got ready for whatever Microsoft was going to throw at me.

Pop the CD/DVD in. Change the boot order. No more nasty blue screen–the setup engages. It didn’t even want my RAID drivers–Vista’s cool like that.

Then the Product Key Screen appears. So I enter my Vista Business Upgrade product key. Naa-aah. Microsoft pleasantly lets you know that you can’t perform an upgrade unless you’re in the operating system you intend to upgrade. No longer can you just stick in some old CD from Win98, Win2000, or WinXP to prove that you own it–WTF?

But it gets worse. Continue reading…

Word geeks have long loved impressing our audience during demos by typing “=rand(x,y)” where x is the number of paragraphs and y is the number of sentences per paragraph. What it would do in version of Word through Word 2003 is repeat the sentence “The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.”

Not so in Word 2007. Now it uses this mundane and “helpful” set of Word instructions–boo. You’d think they’d just go with lorem ipsum if they wanted to use different sentences. Anyhow, the new result repeats the following paragraph over and over:

On the Insert tab, the galleries include items that are designed to coordinate with the overall look of your document. You can use these galleries to insert tables, headers, footers, lists, cover pages, and other document building blocks. When you create pictures, charts, or diagrams, they also coordinate with your current document look. You can easily change the formatting of selected text in the document text by choosing a look for the selected text from the Quick Styles gallery on the Home tab. You can also format text directly by using the other controls on the Home tab. Most controls offer a choice of using the look from the current theme or using a format that you specify directly. To change the overall look of your document, choose new Theme elements on the Page Layout tab. To change the looks available in the Quick Style gallery, use the Change Current Quick Style Set command. Both the Themes gallery and the Quick Styles gallery provide reset commands so that you can always restore the look of your document to the original contained in your current template.

I understand that this offers better demo text than repeating a single sentence, but I wish it could’ve been a little more creative. This is just begging me to write a new random generator that takes lines from Stairway to Heaven or The 9/11 Report or something like that…

I hear people talking all the time about how different Word’s interface looks. But the skeleton of documents looks completely different as well. Here are some initial observations on the differences in default fonts/behavior:

Here’s how it looks:

This is a huge change. People aren’t used to having the cursor skip a line when they press Enter. (Even though After Spacing is more precise and better maintains consistency). I wonder how long it’ll take people to find this command:

On the one hand, they’ll find it and fix their problem…but then if they use it I think people are going to have trouble deciding when to use the Before command when to use the After command. I’m just afraid consistency is going to be difficult for people to achieve at first–when things are unfamiliar and the old way no longer ways.

Well, Microsoft, you’re certainly going to give me work as a trainer…

I’ve recently upgraded my primary workstation to Office 2007, Internet Explorer 7, and Firefox 2. I took the necessary precautions, but honestly everything has worked out smoothly (partly because I’d been using the products in our demo environment for some time). Okay, the only problems I’ve run into are Treo sync issues and Firefox crashing. But while these upgrades are likely fodder for their own post, I’d just like to thank Microsoft for finally allowing the user to resize the Cross-Reference window. I’ve complained about this for years–nothing was more painful than a cross-reference window that was tiny and constantly lost its place when inserting references. Finally it’s been fixed–both problems! Thank you, Microsoft.

I must confess to be quite enamored with the latest round of Mac advertisements, even though they poke fun at PCs. The ads keep things simple and hone in on some very specific ideas. As Niall Kennedy explains:

The messages are simple and conversational with just one or two competitive points each. Less viruses, less restarting, better applications built-in for editing photos and websites, as easy as your iPod, simple connectivity, and a really good value are the themes communicated throughout.

Niall Kennedy has recently joined Microsoft’s Windows Live team. I spend most of my day consulting and developing solutions around Microsoft products. But there’s something about the simplicity of the Mac, or at least their advertising, that it’s hard not to love. Many of you probably saw this video (supposedly created by Microsoft) describing what would happen if Microsoft designed the iPod’s packaging, and it’s in many ways dead-on–Microsoft, as evidenced in their failed Origami campaign, just doesn’t have the innovative branding & marketing that they should.

I think that Microsoft and the PC community have a leg to stand on, and look forward to the day when their advertising and PR rivals Apple’s. If you look at the media right now, all the buzz is against Microsoft (what’s going on with the ultramobile PCs, the delays in Vista, the latest Internet Explorer vulnerabilities), but Microsoft has things that could theoretically turn that around: Continue reading…

Last week I was lucky enough to see Chuck Geschke, a co-founder of Adobe Systems, speak at Loyola College in Maryland. Not only was he passionate and insightful, but he offered some lessons that I found particularly valuable. His main message was that if you treat your customers, vendors, and employees with respect and kindness then they won’t come back to bite you when you need them. However, one of his specific analogies I found to be particularly helpful immediately afterwards. I’m likely going to butcher its explanation, but please don’t let it reflect poorly on him. He explained that

Engineers can often be classified as Arrow Shooters, Scouts, and Road Pavers

Arrow Shooters are the ones who see an idea in the distance as a worthy target. They’re the visionaries who recognize a possibility for a new product but aren’t necessarily the best suited to determine how to get there or whether there will be financial rewards in the end.

Scouts are the people capable of surveying the market, considering what resources need to be assembled, and determining if there’s a viable path to the target. They wouldn’t know where to look if it weren’t for the arrow shooters, and they’re not necessarily the folks who can dig in and make the product happen.

Road Pavers are those who get their hands dirty with the real development. With a little bit of the overall vision and some general landscape of the situation, they’ll get you from point A to the target. And if they’re a great road paver they’ll be able to step one foot in front of another until they get things done, on schedule and on budget.

Mr. Geschke used this analogy to explain one of the ways that Continue reading…

A little while back I wrote about a different approach to an iPod car stereo. I just read a rather informative article in the Post offering a series of suggestions for iPod integration. I should give Apple some more credit–offering integration in 40 percent of 2006 cars is quite a testament to their ubiquity.

The article makes reference to the “gold standard” in iPod connectivity:

A single, tangle-free dashboard jack simultaneously pumps high-quality audio out of the iPod and keeps it juiced up while allowing tracks to be selected directly from the car stereo or controls on the steering wheel. The iPod, itself, can hide in the glove compartment or nestle into a convenient holster on the dashboard.

I am genuinely curious if this is the level of connectivity that is included in that 40 percent, or whether it’s merely a 1/8″ headphone jack to allow plugging any mp3 player into the car stereo. The article suggests going to this Apple page to see the list of cars offering iPod integration. It also points to this Crutchfield tool that narrows the iPod configurations available for your specific vehicle. In a few quick look-ups I had difficulty figuring out exactly what was available. For instance, I was looking at the 2006 Jetta, a car listed on the Apple site as iPod-ready, and it sounded to me like one would need an aftermarket iPod controller installed to offer connectivity. Continue reading…