Get your Office 2007 preview LIVE!

OK, this is really exciting!
You can test drive Microsoft Office 2007 (including MOSS 2007 and WSS 3.0) online WITHOUT having to install anything!   
Start your preview here:

http://www.runaware.com/microsoft/en-us/office2007/td

Later
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Charity to the lext level…

As much flack as Bill Gates always gets from the Microsoft hater camp, such as depicting him as the devil etc. it can not be denied that Bill has donated more money to charity than ANYBODY in history!  The glowing example of course is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which is currently about $30,000,000,000.00 strong… that’s right… THIRTY BILLION DOLLARS!  Show me ANY of the other CEO’s that compete with Microsoft that has donated even 1/10th of that… there aren’t any!

Now, investment mogul Warren Buffet has added his weight behind the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as well.  This article has more:

http://news.com.com/Buffett+donates+his+billions+to+Gates+foundation/2100-1022_3-6087682.html?tag=nefd.top

The point being that Buffet’s donation will, over 20 years, double the foundation’s funds.  Of course, at the current rate of donation Bill is going to double it over that period as well so we may be looking at a 90 Billion dollar charitable foundation by then.

Say what you will, there is simply no denying Bill Gates’ philanthropy…

Later

C

Charity to the next level…

As much flack as Bill Gates always gets from the Microsoft hater camp, such as depicting him as the devil etc. it can not be denied that Bill has donated more money to charity than ANYBODY in history!  The glowing example of course is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which is currently about $30,000,000,000.00 strong… that’s right… THIRTY BILLION DOLLARS!  Show me ANY of the other CEO’s that compete with Microsoft that has donated even 1/10th of that… there aren’t any!

Now, investment mogul Warren Buffet has added his weight behind the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as well.  This article has more:

• http://news.com.com/Buffett+donates+his+billions+to+Gates+foundation/2100-1022_3-6087682.html?tag=nefd.top

The point being that Buffet’s donation will, over 20 years, double the foundation’s funds.  Of course, at the current rate of donation Bill is going to double it over that period as well so we may be looking at a 90 Billion dollar charitable foundation by then.

Say what you will, there is simply no denying Bill Gates’ philanthropy…

Cheers
C

Expedition – Fishing on Kentucky Lake

Well, I’ve dropped off the face of the earth for a week… the reason?

FISHING!!!

My dad came over from South Africa.  It was the first reunion we’ve had in nine years and we went FISHING!  We wanted to do some bass fishing, so we rented Cabin 21 at the Big Bear Resort on Kentucky Lake.  We drove down from Indianapolis on Monday the 11th and started our adventures in bass fishing with Captain Kirk’s Fishing Guide Service at 6 AM on Tuesday morning.

The sun rising over our bass adventure!

Heading out with Captain Jerry Schwartz on Day 1.

Pa catches his first Small Mouth Bass.

I land a monster 30 inch, 17 lbs 8 ounce Small Mouth Buffalo Sucker!

This little monster was a beast to bring in.  We didn’t have a net to schoop it up with since we were bass fishing and didn’t anticipate catching a huge Sucker using Bass bait! 

Anyway, I brought the monster to the side of the boat and twice Jerry tried to lift it into the boat… twice it struggled loose and went on a run again.  Then my dad tried getting it into the boat twice… and twice it struggled loose and again went on a run!  Finally, on the fith attempt, my dad was able to pull it over the side of the boat.  What a battle!  We took the picture and I released the fish but it had fought itself to death and it floated up.  I had planned on taking my biggest Bass of the trip to the taxidermest, but I hadn’t counted on catching such a big Sucker too.  Since he died anyway, I figured I’d take him to the taxidermest.  We schooped him out of the water and put him in the holding well.

Later that day, I found Doug, from 5 Rivers Taxidermy.  Doug is an awesome guy and he was more than happy to help me out with the monster fish!

The sun rises over beautifull Kentucky Lake.

Pa, the perpetual fisherman.

Pa is the first on the board on Day 3 with a small Striped Bass.

I land the first of the twins, a 26 inch, 6 lbs 8 ounce Striped Bass.

We were fishing in the flooded rock quarry.  Captain Hank Lyon who took us out on Day 3 was giving us some advice as we tried to snag the source of the surface commotion in the quarry.  I started out reeling at a relative pace, but was not getting any bites.  I figured maybe the fish aren’t biting that quick and started slowing down my reeling.  Two casts later, this baby grabs my line.  I set the hook and boy did that just tick him off!  He went on a run so fast that he totally ripped my reel out of my hand!  I finally grabbed hold of the reel again and still the fish was running my line off the reel against the drag.  My dad thought that the drag was set to loose and he managed to get it tightened two notches.  Two notches was about all we had time for before the fish again went on a run that ripped, again, the reel out of my hands.  A large battle ensued just trying to keep the fish under control.  This fish was NOT going to come quietly!  Once I finally got the fish closer to the boat, Captain Hank realized that the fish might make a run for the boat motor and the sharp props would cut the line.  He raised the boat motor out of the water.  Just as well as the fish did end up running in that direction.  Finally, after quite a battle, we were able to get the fish out on the boat.  We placed it in the first live well and continued fishing.

I land the second of the twins, a 26 inch, 6 lbs Striped Bass.

After landing the first Striper, I cast out my line to the same spot as where I caught the fish and reeled in.  Nothing.  Then I cast it out to the other side of the boat and BAM!  The second Striper took the line.  This one didn’t put up quite as big a fight as the first, probably because I was more prepared for it!  It went into the seond live well and we continued fishing.

The Twins… two 26 inch Striped Bass weighing in at 6 lbs 4 ounces and 6 lbs respectively!

After a short while, the bass in the live wells had died.  I decided to have them mounted too and we went back to the harbour to go put them on ice.  This photo was taken as we were offloading them.  After that we continued fishing some more.

Pa ends the trip with his biggest fish, a 16 inch, 2 lbs 8 ounce Striped Bass.

Needless to say, this was one of the BEST trips ever!

Though I REALLY wanted my dad to catch a 10 lbs Large Mouth Bass, and though that didn’t happen, this time, I just KNOW that big daddy is out there with his name on it! 

Later

C

Enterprise Content Management Starter Kit

The ECM Starter Kit for Beta 2 is now available for download.

Get it here:

 

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=38ca6b32-44be-4489-8526-f09c57cd13a5&displaylang=en

 

Later

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Boo Hoo Hoo… poor Adobe…

It turns out Adobe is crying over the fact that Microsoft has added the "Save As PDF" feature to Office 2007. 

WHATEVER!!!

Of course they allow Open Office to print to PDF and get this… they won’t take on Microsoft in the U.S. courts with their "objection" either… nope, they go and complain to the EU!  Cowards!

Instead of crying like a bunch of old women Adobe should instead add the Microsoft XML Open Document format to their products since it’s now an open standard.  Doing that they’ll allow their current users to exchange documents with Office users as apposed to pushing them towards adopting Office and abandoning PDF.

Of course they will allow Microsoft to keep the feature if they charged for it.  So why don’t they make Open Office charge for it? 

The interesting part of the article was this and I quote courtesy of CNet News:

"Microsoft contends that Adobe is seeking to avoid competition, by wanting the software giant to charge for its own XPS technology and also for Adobe’s PDF format.

Adobe’s desire to hold pricing discussions on these matters may violate antitrust laws surrounding price fixing, Heiner said. He added that antitrust laws prohibit competitors from working together to lower or raise prices and, as a result, Microsoft has refused to enter into such discussions."

Good for Microsoft taking the high road.  OK, enough ranting for now… 

Later

C

Windows Live Local add-in for Outlook

This looks pretty slick.

• http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=7A0BCE98-EAB4-40A3-B7EC-43C09D6AE8CB&displaylang=en

Pitty is doesn’t support Outlook 2007 Beta 2 yet. 
Oh well… maybe soon… 

Cheers
C

JPEG wants to be free… well now it is!

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office last week rejected a patent from Forgent Networks who was attempting to lay claim to the JPEG image standard.  Read the full story here:

http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS6726598049.html

Later
C