Acrobat X Upgrade Rides on back of Office 2010

Planning to upgrade to Microsoft Office 2010 during the next year? Then don’t forget about upgrading to Adobe Acrobat X too. You’ll need money in the budget to upgrade Acrobat 7, 8, 9 Standard and Pro to Acrobat X. Major software architectural changes in a product release, such as with Office 2007 and 2010, often necessitate companion or third party products upgrade their products. That usually means a paid upgrade to move to a new, compatible release. Product dependencies can be one of the more challenging, and often expensive, feats IT organizations must manage.

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Photoshop Templates Divulge More About Windows Phone 7 User Interface

Microsoft's taking bold risks with Windows Phone 7, sporting the new "Metro" user interface that's designed from the ground up. No Windows Mobile 6.5 makeover here. While I'm pretty much holding back judgment on the new Microsoft phone OS, many are giving WP7 and Metro a thumbs up. (I'm still nursing the wounds from my last (epic fail) phone OS prediction... "Apple iPhone Doomed To Fail" - http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/23744).

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Top 10 Apple iPhone 4 Press Conference Responses and Why Microsoft Is To Blame

Here's a tongue-in-cheek look at the top 10 possible announcements Apple will make at today's iPhone 4 press conference.

1. A $29.99 “bumper” case available in August will solve the antenna problem.
2. The “bumper” case will be given free to all customers.
3. iPhone 4 purchasers will be given a $30 credit for the Apple store or iTunes.
4. The IOS 4.0.1 patch fixed all the problems.
5. This was due to user error – customers were touching End (hang up) when they believed they touched Call.

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Windows XP SP2 All Set For Retirement. XP SP3 or Windows 7?

Windows XP SP2 has proven itself the stalwart of recent Windows operating system versions. Many organizations opted to stay on XP (SP2 or SP3) for some time, bypassing the Vista upgrade and hold out for a viable Windows 7. It's akin to Windows XP SP2 being our strong-hulled sunken submarine thats retained its structural integrity until Microsoft could send a rescue sub (a.k.a. Windows 7).

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Will iPhone 4's FaceTime See Much Face Time?

In many ways the iPhone 4 launch was a tale of two cities; Apple innovating with elegant hardware improvements in size, weight, screen and antenna, and Apple playing catchup with other features lagging in the iPhone OS, such as multitasking, folders, and unified email inbox. The wild card in all this, which many are heralding as revolutionary, is the video chat/talk of FaceTime and front facing camera.

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Did iPhone apps, movies, music or web surfing kill AT&T's unlimited usage plan?

iPhone, Google Android phones, Windows 7 Mobile, SmartPhones, etc… More cellular data bandwidth is always better, right? If you can get an unlimited plan, that's better right? Maybe, if you're willing to pay for it…and now, only if your wireless carrier offers it. AT&T, and others like Verizon, are starting to reign in the unlimited usage plans in favor of plans priced on bands of usage, giving the carriers the ability to capture additional revenues and reign in high data usage.

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Apple iPad - The Netbook/Tablet PC/Low End Laptop Killer

Well, I'm impressed with what Apple's put in the new iPad. My view on the iPad? It will be a big hit. iPad is a Kindle, netbook, tablet PC and (to some degree) low end laptop killer. The iPad is also a viable alternative to laptop use in many situations. I consider the Apple iPad a "lifestyle" version of the netbook or laptop, rather than a desktop "lite" experience running on a smaller device. iPad will do for laptops/netbooks/tablet PC what the iPhone did for mobile phones - change the game.

Here's my net-net on the Apple iPad announcement:

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7 Apple iTablet/iSlate/iPad Rumors That Will Live Or Die

Wow, there's nearly as much interest in today's Apple iTablet/iSlate/iPad announcement as there was back with the original Macintosh. The amount of rumors and wild speculation, including product mockups and videos... it's simply amazing. All of this drama is leading up to some hefty expectations for Apple's iSlate. Today's announcement should affirm or kill off most of those rumors. So, let's take a look at 7 important Apple iSlate rumors that will likely live or die before the end of the day.

Apple iSlate/iPad will run the iPhone OS

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Will Microsoft Lose the Tablet Market to Apple Too?

Microsoft's failing to even show a heartbeat of a mobile OS response to the Apple iPhone and Google Android is not new news. The next shoe to fall may be the tablet market, with tomorrow's expected announcement of the iSlate, iTablet, iWin from Apple. A desktop and laptop OS like Windows enabled the tablet PC but it hasn't created a new market of consumer devices of the likes Apple is expected to usher in. Apple's moving up the stack by taking their iPhone OS and scaling it up to a larger device, rather than using a desktop OS on a tablet device.

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Steve Ballmer: Google Android "just some words on paper". You can say the same about Windows Mobile 7 today.

Google Android is winning over customers, whether Microsoft's Steve Ballmer wants to admit it or not. In a Tokyo press conference in 2007, Ballmer referred to Google's upcoming Android OS as "just some words on paper right now" and "right now they have a press release -- we have many, many millions of customers…".

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Google's Loss in China is Microsoft's Gain

Big topic this week… Google retaliates against China's government attacks on Google's intellectual property and human rights activists email accounts. Ballmer say's we'll stay and obey Chinese laws. There's an old saying; "don't get in front of someone trying to commit suicide" and I would say that's exactly what we have in this case.

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In The Face Of Overwhelming Functionality

SharePoint team site, .NET application, iPhone app, or web application; no matter the type, I've learned (mostly the hard way) that creating software isn't necessarily about creating the most functionality or relying on added flexibility. I've been working on two commercial applications and both of these development projects have been lessons in getting really clear with myself and fellow team members about what the core things these applications do, and trying to make sure they do it well. (FYI: Warning… shameless self promotion ahead.)

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Microsoft Outpaces Google with Single Sign-On For Linked Accounts

One Google account, one Windows Live account. That's my ideal goal. One of my promises to myself over the holidays was to clean up and consolidate various online accounts I've set up on Google and Windows Live over time. I'm never been that sure whether I should have a different account for personal vs. companies vs. clients. Maybe I've made more of a big deal about keeping some things separate than I should but I don't always want to mix those things into one account if they can't later be separated out.

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How To Run Windows 7 Virtualized on Mac OS X

Windows 7 is my primary desktop but lately the amount of iPhone work I've been doing has prompted me to swap hardware so I could have my Mac Xcode development environment with me when I'm mobile. Thus, came the need to figure out: 1) what would it take to set up a MacBook Pro with Windows as a virtualized guest OS, and 2) what would it take for me to comfortably operate with a foot in both the Windows and Mac OS X worlds. Thus my blog post yesterday about working on a virtualized Windows desktop.

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Can You Work On A Virtualized Windows Desktop?

I’m using a Macbook Pro laptop running OS X and I have Windows 7 installed on the Bootcamp partition. Normally this kind of setup only lets you boot up either Mac OS X or Windows, but with VMware Fusion 3 for Mac OS X I can run the bootcamp partition (Windows 7) as a virtualized guest operating system. The Unity feature of VMware Fusion lets Windows apps appear in their own window on the Mac OS X desktop. That always turns heads because people say, “You’re running Outlook on a Mac?”.

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Productivity Hazards of Windows Updates

Patch Tuesday. Windows updates. Microsoft Office updates. It's a necessary evil, making sure your Windows computers are up to date with the latest vulnerability patches. Patch "whatever day" for Microsoft, Oracle, Apple and others are now simply part of our normal IT process. Next to anti-malware and succumbing to some type of phishing attack, keep computers updated with the latest patches is essential for maintaining good security.

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Will Browser Extensions Make Their Way Into Chrome OS

Firefox has shown us the value of being able to customize your web browser through extentions. Extensions are coming in the Chrome 4 browser beta. Developers creating extensions per Google's developer documentation can now upload their Chrome extensions in preparation for the release of the Chrome 4 beta.

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Chrome OS Gets Grade of C-

You either see Chrome OS's all browser OS approach as revolutionizing the PC industry or then next "technology solution looking for a problem" doomed to fail. Google's approach with Chrome OS is certainly radically different from the Windows, Mac OS and Linux approach we've used since the birth of the personal computer industry in the seventies.

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Google Chrome OS - Web Optimized Browser On Steriods

Google's laying it all out on the table with Chrome OS. My editor posted an excellent article about Chrome OS and we're already expecting a Chrome OS update from Google. Despite the distraction of a bank robbery and shooting in our city last week, I managed to dig my paws into Chrome OS to try and really understand what Google's up to.

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3 Most Important Announcements about Microsoft's Azure Cloud

Microsoft's Ray Ozzie significantly blew past the basic Exchange, SharePoint and SQL database hosting services with the Azure announcements at PDC 2009 yesterday.

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