Shut down Windows 8 from the keyboard | TechRepublic

Great article to add some new features to your Windows 8 machine. Worth taking a quick look at this.

Shut down Windows 8 from the keyboard | TechRepublic

Remember that Google Reader goes away at the end of the month…

If you are using Google Reader as your RSS consolidation source you are going to have to make some decisions on what you are going to do at the end of the month when Google turns off Reader. This is a big deal if you are using it, but there are several options that you can move to that will help with the transition. The best that I have found for myself so far is from Feedly. By creating an account with them before the end of the month you will be able to bring over your Google Reader settings automatically and be up and running within seconds.

I have setup categories for my Reader to make it easier to manage and work through the information that is flowing in and Feedly has kept all of that together automatically which makes great sense. It work with both Pocket and Instapaper for capturing long term the articles that I want to either come back to in more detail or keep for longer time for reference.

It works with bot iOS and Android devices and works really well within the Chrome Browser. So if you are like me and you are reaching for the closest mobile device when sitting down to read, it makes a lot of sense to have a program on all of the types of systems that you would possibly use it. Don’t wait to the last minute to make your choice of a new reader.

Is Exchange 2013 for you?

When Microsoft killed the Small Business Server product last year it took away the one function that we implemented the most of for small businesses and that was an in-house Exchange Server. For those people that wanted control over their communication data this was a big thing. The cost difference of having to install a full blown Exchange Server setup vs. what was needed in SBS is a large expense and one that is beginning to be hard to justify. Can we really expect an under 25 user office to put up a full blown Exchange Server to support their employees? In most cases the answer is no!

So what do you do now to get beyond this cost barrier and still have enterprise communication capabilities? Microsoft’s answer is Office365. We have began deploying offices as small as one user to as large as you want to deploy on Microsoft’s cloud product with fairly good results. This past week we had a few indications of Microsoft’s growth pains but they are quickly updating their system and tweaking it to make it better and better everyday. I am thoroughly impressed from a user basis of what they have been able to accomplish and I like the prospects of where it is all going.

Microsoft’s whole suite of Office Productivity packages are available from the cloud now as an ongoing SaaS (software as a service) model and it is becoming more and more reasonable to buy into this approach. If you are a traditional office worker you may not need your Office software on multiple devices but if you are more mobile, take work home, have multiple devices that you use than the SaaS model makes a lot more financial sense.

Let’s take Microsoft Office for instance. If you are a single workstation worker, than you only need this suite of programs on one machine. Paying $229 for a perpetual license for that machine may make a lot of sense. However, if you also like to work from your home office machine or your laptop than taking that cost and multiplying it three times becomes awfully expensive, a total of $657. If you go with Office Pro that amount approaches $1,000. With the Office365 Small Business Premium package your cost is $150/user annually and you can install office Pro on up to 5 different devices for that user. Now this package is limited to a maximum 25 users in the company but for many small office environments/businesses this will be a great fit.

So what do you get for this annual fee? Microsoft Office Pro with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Access, Publisher and Lync. You have access to Office Web Apps which include Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote files via a web browser. Hosted email, you get business-class email, shared calendars, 25GB of storage space per user and the ability to setup your own domain name. Simple file sharing through SkyDrive with 7Gb of personal storage that syncs with your Pc. You can easily share these files internally or externally and control who sees or can edit them. Web conferencing and IM using your Lync communications program. You can conduct meetings over the internet with HD video conferencing, screen sharing, and instant messaging. Share presence, IM and audio calling with Skype users. You get a public website to market your business with a website that is easy to set up using your own company domain name with no additional hosting fees. All of this and a guaranteed 99.9% uptime/availability.

While $150/user annually by itself sound like a lot, the services that you get the and the enormity of the enterprise functions that you receive for that money are great and I feel are easily justified. As we are refreshing more and more of our Small Business Server installations the move to a SaaS model is making more and more sense.

Windows 8 Apps are finally coming into their own…

Are they? According to Microsoft there are now  six times more apps in the Windows Store as there were when Windows 8 launched in October 2012. While 60,000 is a fraction of the 800,00 plus found in either the Apple App Store or in Google Play, it is still a lot of apps.

It seems that they Apps are becoming more stable and more capable as the developers are revising them. Feedback from users are also helping developers to figure out what user really want from their apps and are making the changes to suit these requests.

Most of us are still drawn to the traditional “Programs/Software” that we use from the desktop. While the differences are subtle what really defines the difference between and APP and a Software program? Aren’t Apps just smaller snippets of code that differ mainly from their software/program counterparts by having fewer features and capabilities? Apps are great for devices that have limited resources like phones and tablets but do they really have a place on fully capable notebooks and desktop computers?

Apps provide a different delivery method of these smaller snippets of code to perform simplified functions that may be all you need from that program. One of the reasons some of us are drawn to the lure of the Windows 8 tablet design is the promise that we can use our favorite Windows programs alongside of these new Apps that are appearing side by side of the old standbys.

The Redmond Channel Partner Magazine collaborated on an article “40 Killer Windows Store Apps for Microsoft Partners” that discussed this very fact:

…even those helping deploy Windows 8, have focused on traditional Windows applications. After all, one of the main selling points of Windows 8 is that customers and partners don't have to reinvent computer software. If it ran on Windows 7, it will generally run on Windows 8. Unlike iPads and Galaxy Tabs, the Windows 8 ecosystem doesn't have to start from scratch.

This is just it. I have both IOS and Android devices and when I am using them for the workplace I am constantly looking for Apps that make more productive like what I have on my desktops or notebooks. In fact many times when using one of my tablets I am using them as a terminal to access one of my machines to do functions that I can’t do directly with the tablet apps.  In fact the usefulness of the tablet for me is primarily as an entertainment device or as something I use to give me access to my other systems to do the things that I need or want to do.