Telstra has revealed the addition of almost one million new mobile services in the six months to December 2011, but Sensis revenues plummeted 24 percent in 12 months.
Even so, "presentation" IS everything when delivering a presentation, beyond the crucial content itself, of course, and Powerpoint’s slide transitions just look old.
This can be fixed by buying the “CrystalGraphics” PowerPlugs for Powerpoint, delivering a range of transitions that blow Keynote away, but at US $599 for the “PowerPlugs Ultimate Combo 2007” this is a massively expensive upgrade.
It’s something that Microsoft should be delivering as a standard part of the package. Sure, this won’t endear Microsoft to CrystalGraphics, but I don’t care! I’d rather put that US $599 towards buying an actual Mac and the US $99 iWork package, which comes with Keynote.
Powerpoint isn't of interest to everyone, but it's one thing I'll definitely be keeping an eye on, while hopefully Microsoft actually improves Office 14 further - beyond just ribbonising everything, which it should have done in the first place!
And on that note, when Office 14 is released, there will also be those that once again bemoan the lack of “classic menus”.
While the Addintools company has produced the fantastic “Classic Menus for Office 2007”, delivering all of the old menu functionality back for those that want it (and are willing to pay the approx US $30 price for the software), this too is something Microsoft could have easily added if it wanted to.
Presumably Addintools will update its software to work with Office 14 as well, delivering the classic menus that Microsoft won't.
When will software companies start actually delivering what consumers want, rather than delivering what they think is good for the customer? At least give consumers the choice to work the way they want to, while making the “new way” so good consumers will voluntarily give up the old ways to move forward with the new.
I guess it’s a forlorn hope, a bit like expecting Apple to give consumers what they want (copy and paste, removable batteries etc).
Ah well, these companies will just have to learn the hard way, with Linux and Office clones rapidly catching up and making customers wonder why they should pay hundreds of dollars for software when that money can be better spent on bills, the kids, themselves or something else.
We are in an “economic crisis” after all, with everyone predicting “tough times ahead”. If Microsoft doesn’t voluntarily come out with price reductions with its next versions, it will pay the price and will be forced to do so in the future.
Be proactive, Microsoft, and enjoy the positive press and consumers happy to pay you money - rather than reach for ever improving free alternatives!
David Bass
| For the fourth year in a row, IDC has placed content security provider Websense (NASDAQ: WBSN) at the top of the IDC Worldwide Web Security 2011 –…
How to Make Business Discovery Work for Your Business
Business Discovery takes its cues from consumer apps. Like Google, it encourages us- ers to hunt for and explore data without worrying about or even noticing the underly- ing technology. Their entire experience is working within an intuitive interface to get real-time, self-service results with only minimal training. ...more
Try an easy-to-use set of web-enabled
tools for business-class productivity services. Office 365 provides
anywhere-access to email, important documents, contacts, and calendars
on almost any device.
