Jun 13, 2006 | blog
Ok, maybe I was a little quick to dismiss OneNote as a blogging tool. My issue is with the ability to post directly from OneNote something it does not do currently and not with the software itself.
As Chris Pratley noted in a post on his blog, you can use a workaround to post to a blog through Word 2007. Interesting…
Well, Im going to keep using OneNote as a post creation tool, mainly because its great for saving quick notes, ideas and stuff for each post. Once the post is created, Ill do something like copy to w.bloggar to post to my blog.
The combination of Word & OneNote 2007 has huge potential for bloggers, and I hope that the functionality is fleshed out a bit more. To that end, Im going to post a list of feature requests for Word & OneNote specifically for bloggers.
Jun 12, 2006 | blog
I’ve been looking for better tools to write, manage, and post to my blog lately – and I’m still looking. The freebie tools are interesting, but are not working that well for me. w.bloggar is about the best one for post creation, and it lets me save posts as files on my PC, so I could manage them in a set of folders prior to posting.
Writely is another tool I’ve been using to write & manage, but not to post. I had been posting directly from Writely, but it soon started to display this ugly skill of skewering my blog layout. The first time I thought it was something I did and it took me about 2 days to track it down, then I wised up.
So this past week I started trying to use Microsoft’s OneNote 2003/2007 as my blog post manager. While it does not have the ability to post directly to a blog, it seemed to be a great way to organize by folders, tabs, and pages all the research, pictures, links, and posts for my blog.
While OneNote is great at doing exactly the thing I was hoping for – organizing & managing the research and post creation – it failed at the most simply thing. Or at least Windows did – Copy & Paste.
When I copied the post text and pasted it into WordPress, the full HTML formatting followed the text. Now maybe I’m being stupid again (shh…), and there is a simple way in Windows/Office/OneNote to copy only the text – like when you paste in most Office apps, you can choose unformatted text as an option. If there is will someone point that out to this slow IT guy? 🙂
If I can get past the copy & paste issue, I’ll be using OneNote full time. I’m about ready to try and request the product at work, it is that helpful to the way I work. Being able to combine all forms of digital information into one page is huge – makes me want to get a Tablet PC ;).
Jun 12, 2006 | blog
Paul Thurrott has posted a review of Windows Live OneCare on his SuperSite about a week ago (I know, I’m slow). Looks to be a good review of the product, as Paul gives some background information on the product and how it came to its current form.
Along with some shameless self-promotional plugs, Paul covers the product in detail, along with some good screen shots of OneCare in action. Performance, usability, and feature set are covered in this review.
Windows Live OneCare is a $50/yr. service provided by Microsoft. The OneCare product includes a managed firewall, antivirus, anti-malware, and performance tuner in one easy to use package. The annual service cost of $50 includes the license to run OneCare on up to 3 computers, so it ends up being a great deal. Compare this product to Symantec and McAfee’s products – it’ll run rings around them (my opinion).
I’ve been using this product for about 9 months, since some of the early betas, and have been continually impressed with the security it provides, and the performance compared with competitor’s products.
Jun 11, 2006 | blog
Now I read PPCT a lot, they’re always a good source of info, commentary and the like, but once in awhile one of the mods goes off topic and starts a thread that simply shows how ignorant the population can be.
Ed Hansberry rants on how Microsoft’s Windows Genuine Advantage tool is akin to “big brother” and whimpers about about Microsoft trusting him not to be a criminal one day and not the next.
Good God, there are more important things that Microsoft is not doing to bitch about.
UPDATE: Microsoft Watch has a great Q&A on Windows Genuine Advantage that tries to clear the FUD on WGA.
Jun 11, 2006 | blog
So I’m really sad to see Robert leave Microsoft. He has done more for the company than any other person except Gates himself.
The blogosphere has been talking about this all weekend, but I only ran across it on Sunday evening. Reading all the posts about the news, there seems to be a growing consensus that Microsoft is the “loser” in this deal – and to be sure, there currently is no one at Microsoft that can replace what Robert delivered in his position.
The Interesting part is that you could see this decision coming. I mean, this isn’t quite the surprise it seems to be made out to be. If you look back over the last three months or so on his blog, you can quite clearly see that something has been niggling at Robert. You could almost see that he sensed a life change was approaching, and with the passing of his mother last month, it shifted into high gear.
I’m glad for Robert’s move to a new position in a new company, that is focused on a new medium. There are a lot of “news” in there, but I expect that this is what Robert was looking for. So good luck to Robert Scoble on his next adventure!
Robert posts on it here, here, and here.
UPDATE: Microsoft Monitor posts about Microsoft Blogs today as well, and gives some great recommendations on other important Microsoft bloggers.
