November 17th, 2009

Microsoft offers Office 2008 promotion for the holidays

Posted by David Morgenstern @ 6:52 pm

Categories: Microsoft, Office

Tags: Apple Macintosh, Microsoft Corp., Microsoft Office, Desktops, Office Suites, Software, Hardware, David Morgenstern

Microsoft on Tuesday said customers can now purchase versions of Office 2009 for Mac with a discount ranging from $20 to $50.

The deal was promoted on Microsoft’s Mac Business Unit blog with a post by senior marketing manager Amanda Lefebvre. She called it the “gift of productivity,” which for some may not have quite the same heartfelt resonance as the famous O’Henry story.

So here’s the deal…starting today (November 17), you too can add a little productivity to your life AND save a few bucks. At participating resellers you can save:

- $20 on Office 2008 for Mac Home & Student Edition
- $50 on Office 2008 for Mac Business Edition
- $40 on Office 2008 for Mac Business Edition Upgrade

The promotion will run through January 5, 2010.

September 30th, 2009

iWork '09 adds security to Web service

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 9:21 pm

Categories: Microsoft, Office, Software, Software Update, iWork

Tags: Security, Web, Web Service, Apple Inc., Apple iWork, Apple Mac OS, Microsoft Office, Operating Systems, Software, Office Suites

Apple’s iWork ‘09 productivity suite ($79) enjoyed an upgrade to version 9.0.3 today. The update addresses general compatibility issues, improves overall stability, updates the help, and fixes a number of other minor issues in Keynote, Pages, and Numbers according to Apple.

The 66MB update addresses issues with the size of images and movies, working with dates and durations, exporting to CSV and improves the comment notification and security in Apple’s companion cloud service iWork.com.

Keynote is the best presentation application for the Mac OS – bar none. It blows PowerPoint out of the water. I like Pages because it comes with a lot of nice templates for flyers and such, but must confess that I rarely use Numbers.

What’s your take on Apple’s competitor to Microsoft Office? Do you use it?

August 13th, 2009

Coming in 2010: New Mac Office, and finally, Outlook

Posted by David Morgenstern @ 11:47 am

Categories: Microsoft, Office

Tags: Apple Macintosh, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Office, Desktops, Hardware, David Morgenstern

In a conference call on Thursday, Microsoft’s Mac Business Unit said it will add Outlook to its next release of Office for the Macintosh, due in the fourth quarter of 2010.

According to a post on the Office for Mac Team blog, Eric Wilfred, general manager of the division, said the next version of Office for Mac will launch in time for the 2010 Holiday season. The current version is called Office 2008 for Mac.

This next version includes a new application – Outlook for Mac. Outlook for Mac is being built from the ground up as a Mac OS X application using Cocoa. It will have a new database that delivers a reliable, high performance, and integrated experience with Mac OS X. Users will be able to back-up with Time Machine and search email, calendar and contacts with Spotlight.

Additionally, Outlook for Mac and the rest of Office will include Information Rights Management, which helps keep sensitive information for only audiences that you intend. IRM compatibility will make it possible for Mac users to share and receive sensitive information using Microsoft Office tools.

In addition, Wilfred said will reduce its SKUs for the current Office 2008 for Mac, leaving two configs: Office 2008 for Mac Home & Student Edition, and the new Office 2008 for Mac Business Edition.

Read the rest of this entry »

August 7th, 2009

Microsoft releases XML fix for Mac Office, Open XML converter tool

Posted by David Morgenstern @ 11:00 am

Categories: Microsoft, Software, Software Update, Windows

Tags: Apple Macintosh, XML, Microsoft Corp., Office Open XML, Tool, Microsoft Office Open XML File Format Converter, Microsoft Office, Office Suites, Software, David Morgenstern

Microsoft on Thursday released a pair of updates to fix a problem with Open XL documents: Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac 12.2.1 Update and Microsoft Office Open XML File Format Converter 1.1.1.

According to Microsoft’s Knowledge Base article of the issue,  users of MS Office 2008 for Mac couldn’t open Open XLM documents or templates. They found an error message like this:

Microsoft Excel cannot open the file. You may have to download the latest updates for Office for Mac. Do you want to visit the Microsoft Web site for more information?

Of course, visiting the Microsoft Web site really wasn’t what they wanted.

The Microsoft Office Open XML File Format Converter is a stand-along tool that lets users of older versions of MS Office open and edit documents created in Office 2008 for Mac or Windows 2007 Office.

July 21st, 2009

Microsoft poaches Apple VP of real estate

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 8:22 am

Categories: Apple Retail Store, Microsoft

Tags: Strategy, Retail Company, Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp., George Blankenship, Retail, Real Estate, Business Operations, Jason D. O'Grady

George Blankenship, Apple’s former Vice President of real estate is now consulting with Microsoft for its retail store strategy. Apple hired Blankenship in 2001 to help it acquire property for its controversial retail store strategy.

The Apple strategy was deemed risky at a time when PC retail stores like Gateway Country were closing their doors. Apple’s retail stores broke the mold and have proven wildly successful, selling more per square foot than any other retailer in the world.

Blankenship’s location choices are widely considered to be instrumental in the Apple stores’ success. Blankenship bucked the trend and chose locations in affluent neighborhoods, instead of focusing on low-end or technlogy-centric shopping areas. His concept was based on the real estate axiom “location, location, location” and he set out to offset high-price leases with volume associated with high-traffic areas.

While it’s tempting to label this another example of Microsoft’s “start your copiers” strategy, Blankenship maintains that Microsoft won’t imitate Apple and that Microsoft’s stores will be more about branding, rather than sales. Really? If that’s the case, then I wonder why some of the new Microsoft stores might be located near Apple Stores as Microsoft COO Kevin Turner mentioned last week.

Tip: AppleInsider, Image: Venture Chronicles

June 9th, 2009

Apple vs. Microsoft: Yet another upgrade pricing fiasco

Posted by David Morgenstern @ 10:15 am

Categories: 10.6, Mac OS, Microsoft, WWDC, Windows

Tags: Apple Macintosh, Microsoft Windows 7, Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp., Pricing Strategy, Microsoft Windows, Pricing, Marketing Research, Operating Systems, Software

Once again, Apple shows Redmond how it should be done on pricing upgrades, especially ones with plenty of internal fixes. Will Windows users feel grateful when Mac users get their upgrades for half to a quarter of the price? Or is it another sucker moment?

At the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco on Monday, Phil Schiller, senior vice-president of worldwide product marketing, laid out the complex upgrade pricing for the next version of Mac OS X, called Snow Leopard: $29. And $49 for a 4-seat “family” license, which brings the cost per seat down to $12 and change.

A longtime developer sitting next to me said before the keynote that the pricing might be essentially free, which in the world of OS upgrades was $19. I thought it actually could be freely free, meaning zero.

Still, $29 will get most Mac OS X Leopard users to upgrade right away, which is what Apple wants (the more-reliable version will reduce support costs) and what developers will also want since they will likely offer versions that take advantage of the rewritten OS.

But what of Microsoft? Here’s what Mary Jo Foley at All About Microsoft has uncovered on upgrade pricing:

Read the rest of this entry »

April 24th, 2009

Snow Leopard Server to include Mobile Access Server

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 8:40 am

Categories: Microsoft, Server, Xserve

Tags: Microsoft Access, Mobile, Apple Inc., Advertising & Promotion, Remote Access, Marketing, Jason D. O'Grady

In an aggressive move into Microsoft’s server market Apple has added new features to the upcoming Mac OS 10.6 (a.k.a. Snow Leopard) that will make it a viable (and less expensive) alternative to Redmond’s offerings.

Apple has previously hinted at Snow Leopard’s upcoming “Remote Access” features, describing them as being a combination of new “push notifications to mobile users outside your firewall” and a proxy service providing “secure remote access to email, address book contacts, calendars, and select internal websites” reports AppleInsider.

A WWDC 2009 session preview describes how the new proxy service works and presents its new name for the service:

The Mobile Access Server provides a path through a corporate firewall for IMAP, SMTP, HTTP, and CalDAV without using VPN. Learn about the features of, and deployment tips for, this powerful new service in Snow Leopard Server.

The new Mobile Access Server will allow clients to access internal network resources from their iPhone or iPod touch without having to first initiate a secure VPN tunnel. The advantage of the new Mobile Access Server components will be cost.

AppleInsider created a chart comparing the costs of comparable Windows and Apple servers with 100 Client Access Licenses (CALs) and the Microsoft offering costs almost 10x more than the Apple solution.

Even without 100 CALs, the Xerve ($3,749) is less expensive than a Dell PowerEdge 9150 after you add Windows Server 2008 ($4,014).

I sense another TV commercial coming…

Tip and chart: AppleInsider

April 10th, 2009

Microsoft's third Laptop Hunters commercial - Lisa and Jackson

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 8:57 am

Categories: Microsoft, Windows, Windows PC, Windows notebook

Tags: Best Buy Co. Inc., Sony Vaio, PC, Microsoft Corp., Laptop Computer, Desktops, Notebooks, Hardware, Notebooks & Tablets, Jason D. O'Grady

The third television commercial in Microsoft’s Laptop Hunters series is out and this time it’s Lisa and Jackson. The tagline:

With just $1500 in hand, Lisa and Jackson look for a laptop that can handle gaming and much more.

This time more regular people off the street paid SAG actors shill for Windows-powered PCs based mostly on price. In the third TV spot Jackson, an 11 year old, and his Mom shop for a laptop that’s got “speed, a big hard drive, that’s a good gaming computer.”

Like in previous installments, the subjects stop into Best Buy to browse the offerings. This time instead of going to the “Mac store” the hapless duo only has to walk a few feet across an aisle to the Apple store-within-a-store within Best Buy. This is where the fun begins.

After looking at a few PCs the Mom wants to go see the Macs “which are kinda popular at this age” and says “Whoa! these are way more money dude.” The equally insufferable kid calls the first MacBook on display “kinda small” to which the Mom says “they’re kinda of pretty” and then makes a face as if she smelled something really bad. The kid then says, “maybe we’d rather go with PC” and, surprise! They buy a $900 16-inch Sony Vaio (model VGN-FW351J/H according to PC World.)

It should be noted that the “kinda small” white MacBook is a discontinued model and that they didn’t even look at the other Mac offerings (at least on screen anyway). And what about that Sony Vaio notebook? Is it a decent model? Customer Reviews on the Best Buy Web Site rate it three stars out of five with one comment stating that “it’s pretty” (oh, the irony) but that it has “bad hard drives, bad USB placement.”

It’s also funny to note that under the Editorial Reviews tab on the Best Buy Web site our own CNet Reviews gives the craptastic Vaio 3.5 stars noting its “attractive design.” The bad features, according to the review include “slow performance for a system in this price range; resolution isn’t suited for 1080p Blu-ray content.” I’ll let you guys discuss the merit of the Vaio in the TalkBack.

The problem with the Microsoft ads is that they’re pushing PCs mostly on price and there are risks associated with setting yourself up as a “cheap” solution or the “low cost” alternative. Wouldn’t the most price-conscious shopper opt for a free OS like Linux as opposed to Windows which adds anywhere from $25 to $75 to the cost of a PC?

What happens when the market eventually rebounds? Positioning yourself as the cheapest may work during a recession but it’s a risky move on Microsoft’s part over the long term.

My posts on the the previous MS Laptop Hunter ads:

1. Lauren — On a strict $1000 budget, Lauren hunts around town for a big screen laptop.
2. Giampaolo — On a budget of just $1500, Giampaolo looks for a high-spec laptop that’s up to his standards.

I haven’t posted a poll in a long time, so here’s a fun one:

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March 24th, 2009

Microsoft's Apple deja vu all over again

Posted by David Morgenstern @ 11:23 am

Categories: AAPL, Microsoft, Windows, Windows Mobile

Tags: Apple Macintosh, Microsoft Windows Mobile, PC, Steve Ballmer, Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp., PC User, Apple Strategy, Microsoft Windows, Desktops

Am I the only one who see’s Redmond’s continued rehashing of the PC vs. Mac wars as a sign of weakness? This is especially true of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s recent comments (aka slam) saying the “tide has really turned back” on Apple, while pointing to the lamest Windows machines on the market.

And if we take him at his word, all computers are the same. Does anyone really believe that?

In a speech to the Media Summit New York crowd, Ballmer said that customers were paying a $500 premium for an Apple computer, which was “the same piece of hardware” as the competition. In this economy, he said that premium was a “more challenging proposition” for the average person.

First, what is this continuing slam of Apple by Redmond? We can understand Apple, the underdog in the world of computing, pumping itself up and crowing about its unique qualities. And making the PC the bumkin: that is Apple’s proposition. But Microsoft, does the market leader need to pump up its base?

Perhaps it’s because Microsoft keeps under-executing on its strategies. Like this admission by Ballmer earlier in the month that Windows Mobile 6.5 may not click with customer expectations?

Read the rest of this entry »

March 20th, 2009

Ballmer: Apple logo costs $500

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 8:41 am

Categories: Apple, Microsoft

Tags: Steve Ballmer, Apple Inc., Productivity, Jason D. O'Grady

eWeek’s Joe Wilcox enlightens us on Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s latest comments on Apple from McGraw-Hill’s 2009 Media Summit in New York.

“The damned thing is only about this big!”

Apple gained about one point, but now I think the tide has really turned back the other direction. The economy is helpful. Paying an extra $500 for a computer in this environment—same piece of hardware—paying $500 more to get a logo on it? I think that’s a more challenging proposition for the average person than it used to be.

Caption contest?