Robert McLaws: Windows Edition : Office 2007

More on the WHS Corruption Bug (I've Been a Bad Beta Tester)

Robert McLaws — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 18:49:01 GMT

So the news making its way around the web in the slow news time between the holidays is that Microsoft posted a KB article about data corruption issues in WHS. I've been experiencing this problem consistently for a while now, but chalked it up to the way Outlook was accessing data on the file share, I didn't realize that it was a WHS issue. I probably should have bugged it in Connect much sooner.

But the problem is not as obscure as Ed Bott pointed out. It's actually relatively easy to reproduce. You see, I've kept pretty much every e-mail I've ever sent or received over the last 7 years. That amounts to just shy of 3GB of PST files. A while back I used the AutoArchive function on the AutoArchive files, to sort them into individual years, so that when I needed to get at old e-mails, the file wouldn't take FOREVER to open.

I thought my Home Server would be the perfect place to store these files. But it turns out, if you keep a PST AutoArchive file on WHS, and Outlook runs an AutoArchive, the PST file stays open in Outlook after it's done. If you've decided to keep your PST files safe by enabling Folder Duplication in WHS, and the DEMigrator service triggers a "balancing" while the file is open, your file is pretty much guaranteed to be corrupted. Usually ScanPST.exe will repair the file, but to be honest, there is no telling how much data that I have lost over the last 6 months of using WHS.

I've been experiencing this bug for a while, and I should have reported it sooner. I thought it was simply a factor of trying to use WHS during a balancing. For now, I have moved my PST files off of WHS, and you should too.

Also, don't save your Money 2007 files there either. I had two years worth of my business financials corrupted, along with their backups. I didn't realize WHS was the culprit until I read the KB article.

Free Office Mobile Upgrade for Windows Mobile Users

Robert McLaws — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 03:24:38 GMT

If you're a Windows Mobile 5 or 6 user, listen up! Microsoft just posted a free download that will upgrade your Office Mobile applications to version 6.1. This version includes:

Office 2007 File Format Support
Enhanced viewing experience for charts in Excel Mobile.
Ability to view SmartArt in PowerPoint Mobile.
Ability to view and extract files from compressed (.zip) folders.

I don't even think that WM5 users had a free upgrade to Office Mobile 6 before, so this is pretty cool. I've downloaded it to my WM5 phone, and installation was painless. Enjoy!

Optimizing Outlook 2007 for High Traffic Emailing

Robert McLaws — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 01:14:46 GMT

Over the years, I've heard a lot of people complain about how badly Outlook performs. I could never quite figure out why, because I live in Outlook and I hardly have any problems, even though I get hundreds of e-mails a day.

Well, yesterday I read that Mark Cuban switched to the Mac, partially because of his Outlook issues, and I realized that I have a couple tricks that I use to make my e-mailing life easier with outlook, and that I should probably share them.

Problem #1: Downloading e-mails take forever because I have a bunch of rules that need to be processed.
Reason: Every rule gets processed on every e-mail. if you have a lot of rules, and get a lot of e-mails, you're guaranteed to have problems.
Solution #1: Add "Stop processing more rules" to the end of every rule.
Solution #2: Use Hosted Exchange. For anywhere between $7 and $15 a month, you can upgrade your POP3 e-mail account to a hosted Exchange account at your own domain name. This way, when you use Rules in Outlook, they run on the server, and not on the client. You also get a bunch of other benefits, like disaster recovery, syncing with your smartphone, push e-mail, and Outlook Web Access. I know that may not sound like an attractive option, but once you try it, you'll never go back.

Problem #2: Outlook takes *forever* to open.
Reason: Your Outlook file is way too big. You're probably not archiving your e-mail often enough.
Solution: Follow the "7-6-6" rule for AutoArchiving. Simply, every 7 days, archive anything older than 6 weeks to an archive folder, and create a new Archive file every 6 months. And whenever you see your AutoArchive folder open, close it. Finally, compact your PST & OST files often.

The simple tips help keep my Outlook performing well. Like everything else, it just requires a little maintenance. With these tips, my Outlook consistently opens in under 3 seconds.

Microsoft Posts First Official Outlook Gadgets

Robert McLaws — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 09:14:17 GMT

Ryan Gregg lets us know that the first "official" (meaning MS designed) Sidebar Gadgets for Outlook 2007 are now available for download. Hopefully, this means that many more are coming.

Here are the links to the Gadget Gallery:

Outlook Upcoming Appointments

Outlook Tasks

At this rate I'm going to need sidebars running on both sides of my screen...

PowerTogether.com Giveaway Closed, 30K Copies Won

Robert McLaws — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 20:42:00 GMT

As Ina Fried reports, Microsoft's free Vista & Office giveaway at PowerTogether.com is over. Apparently, 30,000 copies was the limit. And Microsoft outdid themselves this time. With the average retail price being $399 (Vista Biz @ $299 + Office Pro @ $499 / 2), Microsoft just gave away almost $12M in software.

Now, THAT'S cool.

Vista and Office 2007 Search is not Dependent on SharePoint

Robert McLaws — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 09:54:50 GMT

I swear I'm not trying to pick on Joe lately. He's a great guy. I'm just not sure what the heck he's talking about here. He says that he tried reproducing the searches in the Launch demo when he got home, and he couldn't. He then draws the conclusion that advanced Vista searches require SharePoint (unless I'm reading it incorrectly).

The demo he is talking about (I presume) starts at 12:45 in the on-demand webcast. I re-created it, as close as I could, in this video:

[camtasia:VistaLaunchSearch:440:390]
(Click to begin video)

As you can see, the filtering is easily done. So what couldn't he reproduce? I don't know.

None of that invalidates his other arguments, though. WinFS is still sorely missed, and Search is not the silver bullet. But Search in Vista & Office is vastly improved over XP, and has saved my butt on more than one occasion.

I'll tell you what though, I learned a couple things from that webcast... which I wasn't expecting. I had honestly never tried filtering like that before... it was wicked cool. I also didn't know about some of the things Office was capable of. I love how, even after three years of testing, I discover new things about Vista. I hope that doesn't stop for a while.

At any rate, I just wanted to clear that up.

PowerTogether.com - Get Vista & Office for Watching Webcasts

Robert McLaws — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 04:38:00 GMT

Microsoft wants you to experience the Zen of Vista & Office together. So, if you watch three webcasts each for Windows Vista and Office 2007 within 30 days of registering, 6-8 weeks later you'll get shiny new DVD cases at your front door. Only one free copy of each product per person.

Microsoft created this video to explain it. Well, it doesn't really explain it. But I don't think Microsoft wanted you to see it. Or did they?

[YouTube:-SZzAT-S5DQ]

I think they beat the joke to death. Anyways, there are currently a bunch more webcasts for Vista than for Office, but I expect that to change here pretty soon. Anyways, if you haven't scored a free copy from MSDN, TechNet, or Connect yet, here's your chance.

The whole Zen logo is kind of a neat idea. I'm surprised Microsoft hasn't used it more often. Then again, they still haven't shown off a lot of Launch stuff yet...

UPDATE: For anyone that doesn't think it's real, a Microsoft Technical Evangelist (read: employee) sent me an e-mail about it. MSDN did something very similar a while back with their MSDN webcasts series. It's legit. I promise.

UPDATE2: For the people that didn't believe me, Mark Brown, an MS employee from the Developer & Platform Marketing Team, has confirmed that this is a legit site with a legit offer. He also addresses the issue of it being a US-only offer. So no, I wasn't trying to get people sucked into a phishing scam. I mean, come on guys... the site looks awesome. What phisher would spend the kind of money it would take to come up with this design? But way to be safe surfers.

Ok, Maybe Office Does Have a Kill Switch

Robert McLaws — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 07:57:00 GMT

This copy of NWiT is not genuine. Click the picture for NWiT Genuine Advantage validation.

Beating a Dead Parrot

Robert McLaws — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 00:55:29 GMT

I'm just curious... when was the last time a Microsoft analyst/reporter installed Office all by themselves? Apparently, it's been quite a while, because the behavior they keep calling a "kill switch" in Office 2007 is the exact same behavior that has been there for the last 6 years, since Office 2000. BetaNews tells us more:

Microsoft yesterday afternoon rejected the characterization of RFM as a "kill switch," citing that RFM does not completely disable Office. But reporters have counter-argued, if you can't save and you can't edit, that's as good as killing it, isn't it? The ensuing argument is starting to take on the characteristics of Monty Python's classic "Dead Parrot Sketch." Is Office dead, or is it just resting?
...
One problem, Microsoft's spokesperson told us Monday evening, is that reporters may be confusing product activation with product validation, the latter process taking place through the aid of a feature called Genuine Advantage. While some have pointed out in the past that Microsoft may be working to merge the two features together at some point, potentially endowing Office with the future capability of reducing functionality for Windows if activation is declined, others seem to be under the impression that this has already happened. It hasn't, BetaNews was told, and it might not happen for quite some time, if at all.
"Product Activation technology is not new to Microsoft Office, which has had Product Activation since Microsoft Office 2000 SR1," the spokesperson told us. "It is important to note the distinction between activation and validation. Failure to validate your copy of the 2007 Office system as being genuine does not result in moving to reduced functionality mode (RFM) or de-featuring the product. However, if the product is not activated, it will go to RFM after starting up a Microsoft Office application 25 times."

Beta testers might want to do a little investigating before they start "reporting" their bugs as feature changes. I haven't had a single problem with Office Activation or OGA, and I've used Office 2007 since Beta 1.

This is not news. The sky is not falling, and it's not going to slow the adoption of Office 2007 (I guess I was wrong, Joe). People may not like it, but they're used to Product Activation. The only ones that don't like it are the ones that have problems with using it, legitimate ("my activation file was corrupted") or otherwise.

In closing, Scott Fulton said it best:

The lack of new revelations about activation, however, may not end the argument, though it may yet somehow be prolonged. While significant problems with validation may persist, after seven years, there remains no evidence of a sinister motive behind the activation process. And that's what I call a dead parrot.

Well said.

Vista's Antitrust Complaints Just Hit a Snag

Robert McLaws — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 00:16:52 GMT

Adobe's gonna have a lot harder time proving that XPS infringes on its territory, after the Justice Department announced today that Windows Vista and IE7 passed a thorough anti-trust review.

According to the report, Microsoft and the technical committee have been offering a downloadable program that is designed to help Microsoft's competitors in the fields of Web browsers, e-mail and instant-messaging clients, and media players to make their programs "Vista-ready" before the new operating system ships.

...

Since the last status report filing in May, government attorneys said they received 25 complaints alleging antitrust concerns about competing middleware but said they concluded that none of those gripes had merit.

I'd like to think that puts the Adobe matter to rest, but I doubt it. My take: if they didn't want Microsoft to make a PDF exporter for Office, they shouldn't have made it a royalty-free standard.

But something tells me that Adobe will press on anyways.

As a side note, the original name of "The Technical Committee" was "The Visually Appealing Committee", but the name was rejected after the lawyers failed to adequately define "appealing".

What are YOU Doing with Vista and Office?

Robert McLaws — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 17:43:00 GMT

Listen up! Are you building cool things with Vista, Office 2007, or Exchange 2007? Do you live and work in the Southwest US? Then Microsoft wants to hear from you!

Microsoft is looking for customers who are building great solutions on top of the Launch 2007 platforms, and they asked me to help get the word out. The customers building the most compelling solutions may get to participate in a local launch event, where you'll get to demo your solution onstage. It's free publicity people! So, if you live and work in one of the following cities/states:

Las Vegas
Utah
Colorado
Arizona
New Mexico

... fill out the attached Word document (it's in the post's footer under the date) and e-mail it to launch2007 at windows-now dot com with the subject "(your city/state) Launch 2007 Customer Profile". Your submissions will be reviewed, and you will be contacted if a slot is available for you. The deadline is December 15th, so get to it!

Disclaimer: Submitting a profile does not guarantee your participation at launch.

Office 2007 Now On MSDN & TechNet

Robert McLaws — Sun, 12 Nov 2006 21:58:00 GMT

Microsoft just posted Office 2007 to MSDN & TechNet. There are two new nodes under the "Applications" section, as shown below.

You can also get your keys now... they're towards the end of the key list. Let the fun begin!

Office 2007: Stick a Fork In Her, She's Done

Robert McLaws — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 16:21:00 GMT

Office UI Guru Jensen Harris lets us know that Office 2007 has indeed gone gold. He says he's proud of the product, and he should be; Office 2007 arguably the sexiest product to come out of Microsoft in a long time.

The build string is 12.0.4518.1014, and as I reported yesterday, it should be up on MSDN within the week.