Office 2007... Why Isn't It Truly Online?

As usual, Slate nails it....

Office 2007 is still driving me nuts because I don't know where things went. But now I can see where it's going, and I can see the future me happily pecking away in Word 2007. But that leaves me wondering: If they really wanted to redesign Office from scratch, why not do like Google Docs & Spreadsheets and offer a full-featured Web-based version? I'd be happy with that right now, not in some indefinite future.

Ballmer dispels notion that Vista is last client OS

Why do you feel the need to be so defensive about this, Steve?

Microsoft Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Steve Ballmer on Monday attempted to end rumors that Windows Vista will be the last Windows client OS, claiming that Microsoft has "plenty more where that came from" at a press event to mark the consumer launch of the new OS and Office 2007 in New York.

Sitting alongside executives from some of Microsoft's most important partners -- such as Intel, Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Dell -- Ballmer said there is plenty of room for innovation on the PC, and Microsoft plans to continue to build upon the user-interface, security and multimedia enhancements in Vista.

"We've got a very long list of stuff our engineers want to do, a long list of stuff all of the companies here want us to do," he said. "There are so many areas where we need innovation."

However, Ballmer was hesitant to talk much about what comes after Vista, dodging a question about if and when customers will see the first service pack for Vista. "We'll put one out if we need to," he said.

-- From Elizabeth Montalbano of IDG News Service

Reasons to Give Vista a Chance

Here's the teaser from the San Jose Mercury News...

Little things matter.

Vista, the new computer operating system from Microsoft, is a collection of little improvements that will save you a lot of time and grief in your daily computing.

Microsoft is billing Vista as making it ``easier, safer and more fun'' to use your PC. Nobody can be sure that Vista delivers on this until it's battle-tested in the real world, but early tests by millions of guinea pigs so far suggests Vista meets its goals. It's the first real makeover of Microsoft's Windows operating system for computers since Windows XP debuted in 2001.

Consumer versions of Vista debut Jan. 30: Home Basic for $199 and Home Premium for $239. Ultimate, for $399, is for power users or small businesses. I've played around with Vista on four different machines and know enough to say what I like about it.

It hasn't crashed on me. On reliability, compatibility or security, it should be better than previous versions of Windows, says Joel Durham, author of ``Windows Vista Ultimate Bible,'' (Wiley, 2007) an upcoming book on the most expensive version of Vista. We'll find out for sure once hardware and software companies finish shipping thousands of ``drivers,'' or programs that ensure Vista works with the computer's hardware. When I asked Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates how he felt about developing Windows Vista over five years, he said, ``Best $6 billion I ever spent.'' Is it worth your money? Well, lucky for Bill, it is.

Get on the Vista Bus...

As Hunter news notes, Microsoft’s Windows Vista is launching with this cool bus tour thingy, for whatever its worth...

It's a tour bus wrapped in a desktop theme, carrying a band of self-styled “Vista influencers” to Cincinnati, Charlotte and other third-tier cities. I mocked this wannabe-rockstar idea savagely on IM yesterday: “Alright Gainesville! Are you ready to get CRAZY for Windows Vista!” but woke up this morning feeling guilty. These guys are getting on a goddamn bus to meet their customers. It could be a Cluetrain adventure. At worst, it’s a lot cheaper than a Vista Gulfstream Tour.

Naked Emperor: Microsoft & Novell Deal

Mary Jo Foley interviews Jeremy Allison who is free to dish on the Microsoft Novell deal now that his tenure at Novell has ended. One of many good lines:

A nagging doubt is that if I had just spoken out louder against the deal I might have been able to change something, but I was too quiet until too late. It’s *hard* to be the one saying the emperor has no clothes, especially whilst listening to others praising the finery of the silk stitching :-) .

(originally cited by Microsoft News Tracker

Vista: Kinda Secure, Maybe

Under the headline "Vista's Secure, Not Perfect", the CRN network is publishing this comment from the Vista Product Manager:

"The finding of vulnerabilities in any software is to be expected," said Stephen Toulouse, senior product manager with Microsoft's security technology group, in a blog posting earlier this week. "This is all part of the process of creating complex software today, and no one is immune to it. It's not, as they say, big news to us in the security industry."

No big news here, huh?

Vista Released, Ho Hum

Even with all the touted improvements, analysts expect Vista to only gradually appear on corporate PCs, especially in big organizations where upgrading can be a costly, complicated affair. Gartner Dataquest predicts that it will be 2010 before Vista outnumbers the previous operating system, Windows XP, on business computers.

Big companies need to test internal business applications on Vista before a company can switch its PCs to the new operating system, a process that Gartner analyst Michael Silver estimates at 12 to 18 months in many cases.

In the meantime, the last operating system, Windows XP, works just fine for most companies -- especially with a security-enhancing patch known as Service Pack 2 that Microsoft released in 2004.

Kamal Anand, chief technology officer for TradeStone Software Inc., a Gloucester, Mass.-based provider of supply-chain software, examined test versions of Vista and Office and found ''no compelling need'' to upgrade his company's 100 PCs and laptops anytime soon. Instead, Anand expects Vista and Office to slowly permeate TradeStone as it buys new PCs for employees in coming years.

''Nobody wants to go through the extra time and effort and money to upgrade an existing, well-working system,'' he said.