Last year, Microsoft released a new version of their popular Office software for Mac OS X: Office 2008. Unfortunately, after playing around with it for a bit, I discovered a few unpleasant flaws. 

The biggest mistake most people make when buying Office 2008, is thinking that they are simply getting a Mac version of Office 2007. Sorry to disappoint, but that’s far from the truth. Office 2008, along with a completely different UI, has a different featureset than Office 2007. It works more like iWork's "Pages" application.

One of the other most notable differences is that Microsoft Office 2008 only comes with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Entourage (Outlook). One application I was shocked to see wasn't in the Mac version was OneNote. It’s disappointing for users that require more powerful tools, such as Access and InfoPath, are not included. 

Word's interface was not up to par either. In Both Office 2003 and 2007, whether it's simply a toolbar or integrated into the Ribbon, there are an abundance of formatting options available, out-of-the-way of your content. In Office 2008, those formatting options and tools are in a floating toolox on top of the content by default. With some time spent on configuration, it's easy to get it the way you want it, but it’s a little disappointing it was not integrated into the application’s toolbars by default. If you are running Office 2008 and would like the 'classic' toolbar, use: View -> Toolbars -> Formatting. 

Additionally, up in the menu bar, they actually have a menu to choose your font. I found this quite redundant; why is it needed? The tabs in the top toolbar area contain functions such as charts, wordart, and themes. To the common user who is quickly firing out a document, these wouldn't even be touched. Maybe there's something more useful that could take place of the current icons?

While the spell checker (Office has its own) is pretty decent at picking things up, right click option is “Help.” Why they would put that there is beyond me. Who right clicks on their document for help? 

The toolbox and spell checker are consistent in all applications. 

Excel for Mac isn’t too bad to be completely honest. My biggest rant here has to be how it starts you out in print layout view (pictured) versus classic. This is extremely odd looking for people used to viewing their spreadsheets in normal view instead. It seems they are really liking the idea of having nothing integrated into the interface given you can't even get the formula bar to snap in place! I was also rather annoyed with how the cells pop out when you edit them.

PowerPoint was actually pretty decent and is my favorite out of all of the applications. My biggest rant here is that you cannot apply a theme to a single slide, like you could in every other edition of office. Instead, you must apply the same theme to the entire show. 

The last application, Entourage, has no use for 90% of its users. Basically, Entourage is a combination of Mail, iCal, and Address Book. There are a lot of powerful tools in it such as the ability to set up projects, events, etc. which may prove useful to business users who require complex management tools. But for the average Joe, why over complicate things? 

Office 2008 has most of the functionality that the Windows version has, but the overly-cluttered interface is definitely a step back. It seems that they don't consider it a top priority, given how most of Office's applications are only available on the Windows version. The ribbon interface in Windows offers a rather simple overview of what tools you have available, contrary to what you see in the Mac version. Maybe Office 2011 Microsoft? 

If you're in the US, Canada or Japan, you're in luck! Pre-orders are now being accepted at the Microsoft Store. Two versions are selling for 50% off; the Ultimate version remains at $219.99, slightly lower than that of Windows Vista. 

If you'd like a piece of this gold, you'd better act fast; the deal ends on July 11 in the US and Canada, and on the 5th in Japan. If their "supply" runs out prior to that date, the deal will end as well. we have no clue how many copies there are, but it's Microsoft; they're more than likely prepared for a huge amount of buyers.

Ars Technica has available a list of other retailers that are authorized to distribute the pre-orders. Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Office Depot, and Amazon are among them.

If you're a resident of the UK, France, or Germany, you're not out of luck either. Your gold will be ready to dig on July 15.

Yesterday, the first screenshots of Microsoft's "Morro" Anti-Virus software leaked to the web, and today, the whole application followed suit.

With a UI similar to that of Windows Defender, Microsoft Security Essentials (aka. "Morro") is Microsoft's upcoming free Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware solution, based on the core of Microsoft's current paid solution, OneCare. Windows Live OneCare will be yoinked off of store shelves on June 30th this year, with MSE's final release anticipated shortly after.

I decided to take the opportunity today to gather some basic performance statistics on Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) including what kind of impact it has on system performance. I installed MSE on my own system with the following specifications:

• Intel Xeon E3110 overclocked from 3.0Ghz to 3.6Ghz
• 8GB DDR2-1066Mhz RAM
• Nvidia GeForce 9600GT
• 64GB Solid State Drive
• Windows 7 build 7229 x64 (Completely fresh installation)

I analyzed the total boot time, from the moment the boot screen appears to the moment the desktop finishes loading, shut down time, total system memory usage and total disk usage. Here are the results:

Before Installation:

• Boot time: 18.084 seconds
• Shut down time: 5.316 seconds
• Memory usage: 11% (929 MB)
• Disk usage: 21.507 GB

After Installation:

• Boot time: 18.342 seconds
• Shut down time: 5.714 seconds
• Memory usage: 12% (983 MB)
• Disk usage: 21.673 GB

If that wasn't enough to impress, MSE took only a mere 25 seconds to install. It is quite clear from these results that MSE has very little impact on system performance and only takes up roughly 170MB of disk space once fully updated, which is more than reasonable compared to other security software.

A few notes about these results however. First and foremost, this is still pre-release software. MSE's impact on system performance may differ in the final release, and these results should not be used to judge the final product. Second, the memory usage results are based on a system with 8GB of RAM. Applications are designed to allocate more memory on systems with more RAM, therefore it is more important to look at the percentage of RAM used and not the total amount, as the results will vary on systems with less RAM. Finally, all of these tests were performed on a system with a Solid State Drive, which are still fairly uncommon in most systems today, and the timing may differ on systems with Hard Disk Drives.

All in all though, so far, MSE is showing the signs of a true competitor. Of course, nothing can really be said until the scanning engine is put to the test.

Download: Microsoft Security Essentails (Build 1.0.2140.0) for Windows Vista and 7 32-Bit
Download: Microsoft Security Essentails (Build 1.0.2140.0) for Windows Vista and 7 64-Bit
Download: Microsoft Security Essentails (Build 1.0.2140.0) for Windows XP 32-Bit
View: Microsoft Security Essentials Screenshot Gallery
Discuss: Microsoft Security Essentials Leaked

Just a quick post here for those of you looking for some images to support the Opera Boycott and spread the word, feel free to use any of the following if you'd like:

And of course, don't forget to keep spreading the word over Twitter and your other favorite social networking sites! Tell your friends and family to tell their friends and family to get rid of any Opera software on their computers and devices.

For you Twitterers, keep using the hash tag #DownWithOpera to spread the word!

Thank you to everyone who has been supporting the Opera Boycott and who have helped spread the word! And a special thanks to westwood32, mmkai and Link for providing us with these great images.

Boycott Opera!

First off... Wow. When I proposed a boycott of Opera Software yesterday, I wasn't entirely sure how successful it would be, but I sure as hell didn't expect this much attention so quickly. I guess news spreads a little faster than I thought on these intertubes.

With that said, I'd like to clear up a few things about this whole situation.

First off, and most importantly, I was the one who yesterday proposed the boycott. I did so without consulting any other members of staff here at JCXP and did so at my own discretion. That was wrong of me to do, and I should have run this by the other members of my team first. I won't hesitate to say that I have now learned I do not have full support of the JCXP team on the Opera Boycott and I should not have used JCXP's name when proposing the boycott. 

I accept all responsibility for this boycott, and I sincerely hope that yesterday's proposition has not affected your views of JCXP in any way. If anyone is to blame, it is me, and if anyone is to lose any credibility, it is me - not JCXP.

Now, a few notes about the boycott itself. One question I have seen over and over again has been, why Opera? Ars Technica, as well as some comments here and there, have brought up the point the both Google and Mozilla later joined in the antitrust case against Microsoft, so why pick on Opera? To put it simply (and as Ars Technica put it): they started it. Opera Software was the company who filed the antitrust against Microsoft, not Mozilla and not Google. Ever since Mozilla and Google joined the antitrust as "interested parties", they have remained relatively silent on the matter, and regardless of what some may say, it is still my opinion that Opera is still the primary party in this entire case. Picture Mozilla and Google as the little guy that stands behind the big guy (Opera), and peers out every so often and says "Yeah!", then goes back into hiding.

Another question I've seen come up quite often, is why only start a boycott for this? Microsoft filed an antitrust case against Google, and vice versa. That's true, in fact, there have been many, many, many more antitrust cases. So why not boycott them all? Because that would be stupid. If we were to boycott every company that has ever done something disagreeable, we would all be living in shacks made up of hay and mud with two cans and very long segments of string as our primary method of communication. Everyone picks their battles, and this is one issue I feel somewhat passionate about. That being said, just because an antitrust complaint has been filed against a party or parties, doesn't always mean they're in the wrong. I'm not saying I agree with the Microsoft > Google and Google > Microsoft antitrust cases (in fact, I know very little about them), but some antitrust cases are legitimate. However, it is my personal belief that this antitrust case filed against Microsoft is unfair, unjust and simply wrong.

"But it's against antitrust laws!". Good to know. I'll gladly admit I know very little about European antitrust laws (ie. barely anything). All I know, and this has been my stance since the very beginning, is that Microsoft has (or should have) every right to include their own Internet Explorer web browser as the only and default option in Windows. This applies to any and all companies on any matter, not just Microsoft. If Microsoft were to file an antitrust complaint agaisnt Apple for including Safari as the default browser in OS X, I would be just as peeved. Many have been saying that Microsoft has been taking advantage of its dominance of the market by bundling IE with Windows and that they are forcing it on customers. I do not see how that is true in any way. Nothing has changed in the last 15 years. Internet Explorer has been an integral and key feature of Windows ever since Windows 95, before Microsoft "dominated" the market. It's not like Microsoft only recently started bundling IE with Windows, it has been there all along. 

"But all Opera wants is a ballot screen, what's so wrong with that?" The idea of having a ballot screen as a whole is a ridiculous idea. The entire purpose of this ballot screen would be to promote competing products within Windows. Hello!!! Do I really need to explain to you how ridiculous that is? You can't honestly look me in the eyes monitor and not laugh a little inside at the thought of this. To use some of my wacky (and somewhat amusing!) analogies again, that's like Pepsi putting a label on their drinks saying "Have you tried Coke lately?" or General Motors hanging a little air freshener in all of their cars with the message "Perhaps you would prefer a Toyota?" Come on, it's crazy! 

Let's play a little "pretensies" for a minute here. Imagine that one day you created a small company, you called it Contoso. Then, you work all of your life to build Contoso. Before you know it, Contoso is a worldwide multi-billion dollar company with a huge chunk of the market (whatever market it happens to be). Then one day, some little company, called Osotnoc, comes up to you and demands you to advertise their product as an alternative to your own product. You would be absolutely thrilled and joyous at the opportunity, wouldn't you? Of course you would! *insert sarcastic nod and grin here*

I would like to make one thing clear though. I don't hate Opera and I don't hate their browser (Opera 9 was my main browser for most of 2008). Opera has introduced many fantastic innovations to the browser market over the years, and I applaud them for that. But I don't agree with what they are trying to do here. I definitely agree that Opera should have a larger market share, but not by forcing Microsoft to advertise their product in Windows. I think Opera would be able to make a fairly large splash in the market if they simply invested in some proper advertising. Put some commercials up on TV, start a viral ad campaign, advertise on some web sites. Spread the word that you're out there, the world should know, but not by taking down your competitors - that's just silly.

There's one last point I would like to bring up in regards to Internet Explorer. Many have been quick to agree with Opera and bash IE simply because of IE's, um, "less than favorable" past. I'd like to ask you something, what would the browser market be like today if IE (regardless of how good of a browser it is) didn't have such a large market share? Whether or not you like IE, you have to agree that it is the fuel behind much of the competition and innovation in the browser market today. If there wasn't such a big competitor, do you truly believe that we would see Mozilla and Apple and Google and Opera striving so hard to create a better browser? Competition works both ways, and sometimes the market needs a challenge in order to grow. Just some food for thought.

Anyways, yes, the boycott is still on. Hopefully this editorial has cleared up some of the misconceptions and will change a few minds. Just please remember, that at the end of the day, it's your choice. Nobody is holding a gun to your head and forcing you to drop Opera. I'm not going to come and find you. This is a matter of personal opinion, and I'm simply asking you to join in the fight for Microsoft's right as a company to not have to advertise competing products and their right to include their own browser as the default option in their own operating system.

Twitter: Spread the word on Twitter (or use the hash tag #DownWithOpera)

Discuss: Opera Boycott: Clearing up a few things

Discuss: That's enough. Down with Opera!

Read: Opera Boycott: Spreading the word!

And regardless of any differing opinions, I would like to say that this has already been a very enjoyable few days. I have had great pleasure in reading many of your replies from all over the web and have found them to be very interesting and informative, and I hope you have as well. I would like to thank all of those who have taken their time to provide their input on the matter and who have helped spread the word of the boycott.

Update: Please also see "Opera Boycott: Clearing up a few things"

You may have heard it in the news recently, Microsoft is currently the target of an antitrust lawsuit by the EU for bundling its Internet Explorer web browser as the default browser in Windows. That's right, they're being sued for including their own browser in their own operating system.

Who is behind all of this? Opera Software, makers of the Opera web browser. In December of 2007, Opera pushed the EU to open a case against Microsoft as Opera believed it to be anti-competitive for Microsoft to include its own browser as the default browser within their own OS.

For some unknown reason, instead of combating the lawsuit, Microsoft decided to settle, and on Thursday announced that they would no longer include Internet Explorer in versions of Windows 7 (Microsoft's next operating system) sold in Europe, and would leave it up to OEM builders to decide which browser to install.

Well, things took a turn for the worse today when Opera made a statement saying this was not enough, and have now pushed the EU to pursue with the antitrust case. Opera believes the only reasonable solution is for Microsoft to include a "ballot screen" for users to select which browser to use.

That's enough. And it's time we do something about it.

Today, we are proposing a complete boycott of all Opera software.

This is absolutely nothing more than a company, who can't legitimately gain market share, trying to squeeze their unpopular browser onto Windows systems. Opera is simply upset because their browser is dead last in market share, and has already been surpassed by the recently released Google Chrome browser and Apple's Safari browser for Windows.

Microsoft is entirely within their right to include Internet Explorer as the default browser within their own OS, just like Apple includes their own Safari as the default browser in Mac OS X, and just like Opera Software would be free to include Opera as the default browser in their own OS, should they ever make one.

No company should be forced to include a competitor's product within their own products. This is as ridiculous as suing Coca-Cola to include Pepsi in their cans and bottles, or suing Toyota to use engines manufactured by General Motors in their vehicles.

Please join in the boycott, and remove all Opera products from your computers and devices. Opera needs to learn that this is completely unacceptable, and since they refuse to listen to us, it's time they learn the hard way. If they're disappointed with their current market share, they ain't seen nothing yet.

Please consider these great alternatives to Opera Web Browser:

• Internet Explorer
• Mozilla Firefox
• Google Chrome
• Apple Safari

Use Opera on your mobile device? Here are some fantastic alternatives:

• Skyfire
• Iris
• Bolt

And most importantly, spread the word! Use whatever means necessary to get the word out there, Opera doesn't deserve your business. Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and share it on your favorite forums!

Boycott Opera!

Update: Please also see "Opera Boycott: Clearing up a few things"

Twitter: Spread the word on Twitter (or use the hash tag #DownWithOpera)

Discuss: That's enough. Down with Opera!

Discuss: Opera Boycott: Clearing up a few things

Read: Opera Boycott: Spreading the word!

In a rare treat for developers at this year's WWDC, Apple is showcasing 20,000 of the most popular iPhone apps on a massive hyperwall built out of Cinema Displays -- one that pulses in sync with each and every App Store download.

The array, mounted on a wall inside San Francisco's Moscone Center West, is made up of twenty edge-to-edge 30-inch Apple LED Cinema Displays, each of which are powered by a Mac Pro running Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. One eyewitness says the systems are pooled together in one large, monolithic black box.

Quartz Composer is employed to render the icons rapidly and to automate their behavior. All of the icons are sorted by color and, importantly, aren't there just for show. While not quite a by-the-second recreation of what's happening at the App Store -- as the results are delayed by five minutes -- the "live" mural has each iPhone app's icon pulse light outwards in a ripple whenever someone downloads that app. 

While certain apps tend to pulse more often than others due to popularity, the effect produces an animated digital landscape that draws the attention of nearly everyone in its path. 

Apple's intention with the grid is not just to show the popularity among developers of the App Store -- which has swelled to over 50,000 apps in total -- but to illustrate that many of the apps they publish are frequently downloaded. The company reminds WWDC attendees that 3,000 apps are downloaded every minute, guaranteeing that the influx of developers descending on San Francisco this week are very much in demand.

Check out the display gallery after the break

Source: AppleInsider

Windows 7 isn't even on store shelves yet, and Apple is already taking a few preemptive measures to hinder its image. While announcing their Snow Leopard update at WWDC today, Bertrand Serlet, Senior VP of Software Engineering at Apple, took the stage and decided to use the opportunity to try and take a few swings at Windows 7.

"What a big hole Microsoft has dug" (refering to Windows Vista), "they're trying to get out of it with Windows 7."

Serlet then went on to say that Windows 7 introduces "even more complexity" because it's based on the "same old tech as Vista" and still makes use of items such as the system registry and disk defragmentation.

That's right Apple, be afraid, be very afraid.

We know, you know, and everyone on Twitter who was laughing at your feeble attempt knows that Windows 7 is infact a dramatic upgrade over Windows Vista and that it is going to create some serious competition for you.

In the end, you only hurt your own image and made yourselves look like fools today, Apple. Next time you hold an event, stick to focusing on the strengths of your own products for once.

Image courtesy of Engadget

Check out Engadget Live at these times today!

07:00AM - Hawaii
10:00AM - Pacific
11:00AM - Mountain
12:00PM - Central
01:00PM - Eastern
06:00PM - London
07:00PM - Paris
02:00AM - Tokyo (June 9th)

Use this post in the forums to discuss your reactions to what is happening, live. Hopefully it'll be a good showing.

Another week and another Windows 7 leak. Last week build 7137 leaked and this week it is 7201's turn. This time around the build tag is 7201.0.090601-1516 meaning this build is only 3 days old. It's been rumored since the beginning of the day that the build would leak, but just minutes ago, the torrents were posted.

Microsoft Netherlands employee Ruud de Jonge twittered "Installing Win 7 build 7201" a few moments ago to confirm the build's authenticity.

Microsoft revealed yesterday that it will sign off final RTM code in mid to late July with a general availability and release date of 22nd October for Windows 7.

Download x64 build 7201 for Windows 7 here

Download x86 build 7201 for Windows 7 here

In the latest iPhone Dev Team post on their blog, they hint at having found an exploit in the 3.0 firmware to use with YellowSn0w. However, they stress that it will not be released until 3.0 becomes GM so that it can work for the public release, and not just with the few select developers who are using 3.0.

"If there is a yellowsn0w update for firmware after 2.2 (or basebands after 02.28), there is no way it would ever be released before 3.0 is official. It just wouldn't make any sense to release an exploit for something that only those who have beta 3.0s (NDA signers) could use. Most people in the world arent NDA signers. Any yellowsn0w update for 3.0 would need to happen *after* 3.0 is officially available." 
-Post from iPhone Dev Team Blog

Obviously this is not confirmed even in the least bit, it just shows that the team is hinting at the possibility. There is no word if the new iPhone will be unlocked OOTB, but it will most likely take some time because of the new hardware that is rumored to be used in the new device.

Stay tuned as we learn more!

After Microsoft recently released their Live Search replacement and brand new search platform, "Bing," they've followed with an update to the "Live Search Club" service.

They've aptly named it "Club Bing". Aside from some links to Bing, an updated interface, and the snazzy "bing" logo at the top of the page, nothing seems to have changed.

Microsoft bought the domain (http://clubbing.com) name from two Irish owners named Kevin Healy and Simon Heaslip, who previously hosted a website dedicated to providing advice for people going clubbing in various countries. We don't know how much they bought it for, but it's Microsoft, so it was probably a decent sum.

Your Live Search Club accounts have been maintained, and your Live Search Club login will continue to work on the bing search club. It's recommended that you update your bookmarks to "http://www.clubbing.com/" but using the old live search club URL will also continue to work.

Visit: http://www.clubbing.com

Microsoft has announced that it would deliver instant on 1080p movies and TV with 5.1 surround sound direct to consoles connected to compatible HD TVs through the Xbox LIVE social entertainment network. There will more than double the number of markets where Xbox LIVE offers its TV shows and movies, growing from eight to 18, by adding Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. Xbox LIVE members in these countries will have access to instant on 1080p video.

The new Xbox LIVE Video Marketplace upgrades also came for the U.S., U.K. and Ireland.

Starting with the U.S. There will be more choice of titles to watch with Netflix you can watch and share supported movies with up to seven friends on Xbox LIVE Party. Debating between comedy and horror? Recommend your favorites to friends and see your virtual you as an avatar on the silver screen.

For the U.K. and Ireland though Microsoft is offering Live TV with BSkyB Ltd. With a Sky Subscription you can watch live or on-demand TV from Sky on the Xbox 360, including Sky Sports. Also like Netflix you can share your favorites with up to seven friends in an Xbox LIVE Party. You can also sign up for a Subscription though the Xbox Live Interface.

News Source: Microsoft Press

Unveiled for the first time to the public was “Project Natal,” pronounced “nuh-tall” and a code name for a revolutionary new way to play, no controller required. See a ball? Kick it, hit it, trap it or catch it. If you know how to move your hands, shake your hips or speak, you and your friends can jump into the fun. The only experience needed is life experience.

Compatible with any Xbox 360 system, the sensor is the world’s first to combine an RGB camera, depth sensor, multi-array microphone and custom processor running proprietary software all in one device. Unlike 2-D cameras and controllers, Project Natal tracks your full body movement in 3-D, while responding to commands, directions and even a shift of emotion in your voice.

In addition, unlike other devices, the sensor is not light-dependent. It can recognize you just by looking at your face, and it doesn’t just react to key words but understands what you’re saying. Call a play in a football game, and players will actually respond. Want to log onto Xbox LIVE? Simply step in front of the sensor.

Steven Spielberg who is the visionary and producer of Project Natal said:

“This is the next step in interactive entertainment With ‘Project Natal,’ we’ll see games that bring everyone together through technology that actually recognizes us.”

Image Courtesy of Engadget

News Source: Microsoft Press

Quite some time ago we were teased with a very early version of Visual Studio 2010 and the .NET 4.0 Community Technology Preview. Microsoft's been working hard since then, and they were pleased to announce yesterday, the availability of these two new betas.

They are both available in the Microsoft Download center; links are below.

Visual Studio:

Download: Visual Studio Professional 2010 Beta 1 (1121MB)

Download: Visual Studio Team Suite 2010 Beta 1 (1213MB)

View: Visual Studio 2010 Official Web Page

.NET

Download: .NET Framework 4.0 Beta 1