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Tuesday, January 30, 2007
There is Such a Thing as a Free Launch!
Microsoft is giving away software as part of the Vista launch. Check out Microsoft's official info page for info on the launch tour.
Someone sent me this a couple weeks ago and by the time I looked at it all the Texas dates for small business were filled, but maybe someone else out there can take advantage.
Microsoft Wants Us to Express, er, Expression Ourselves
Have you seen this? It's Microsoft's Front Page replacement, Expression Web (orignally Expression Web Designer the name was shortened between beta & final release). That link is to Microsoft's page on the subject, so it is all sunshine and flowers.
Other articles on the topic (1, 2, 3) offer different perspectives, but all of them seem to agree that it looks like Microsoft is setting up to square off against Adobe, and may just have a shot at the prize.
I'll admit, I use Front Page for my website, primarily because what graphics work I did in a former life was desktop publishing, all GUI and friendly, and html is a pain. I can do it, my much (ab)used copy of QUE's "HTML Quick Reference" in hand, but I don't like doing or dealing with code, so my site was hand-coded by someone else. I tweak it periodically using my overpriced MS software that, no doubt, messes up the code so badly a code jockey would be hard pressed to make sense of it.
I've played with NVu, the Open Source website editor, and had okay luck with it. But it was a bit clunky to me, trying to be more Dreamweaver than Front Page, I think, and falling into a shadowy place in between that was not user-friendly to a GUI girl like me.
I'm off to see what it will cost me to make the switch, since, much as I like open source, I like easy, too, and Expression Web, from what I've read, is likely to be that for someone like me.
PS - Hopefully the new standards features will help eliminate the time-consuming cross-browser testing for new sites and site tweaks that Front Page users have to do currently to make sure their site plays nice with all the other kids on the web.
2006 tax returns will likely bring an unexpected increase in taxes for parents setting aside money for minor children. Details of the law changes, focusing on how it affects college savings, can be found here.
The gist of it is that investment income over $1700 for children 14-18 is now taxable at the parent's tax rate rather than the child's lower rate, and the change in the law, made in May 2006, is retroactive to the beginning of the 2006, so parents who sold stock for their minor children may be facing additional unexpected taxes this Spring as they prepare to file.
If you think this might affect your taxes, you might want to consult a tax pro.
Candy could tell ya, but she's a bit busy putting it into practice right now, so I'll remind everyone that your W2s and 1099s must be postmarked - or handed to the recipients - NO LATER THAN 01/31/2007.
Since this is a lesser known tax deadline I'm pretty sure the USPS won't be open late next Wednesday to postmark stuff for you; a quick scan of the USPS website was inconclusive, so you have a week to check with your local post office and find out. Of course, we hope everyone will be done in time and not need to worry about it.
Your W2s and W3s can be printed on plain (perforated) paper. 1099s and 1096s must be printed on the "red" form which is available through the IRS and, (I think) local office supply houses.
W2s and the W3 cover page must be postmarked to the Social Security Administration and the IRS by 2/28/2007. The same applies to 1099s with the 1096 cover page.
We are having an ice storm here in Central Texas, so between catching up on some work, I followed a link a colleague sent me. This is to just too funny! No wonder us accounting geeks get all flustered sometimes - too many numbers!
How many times have you had this thought while working in Open Office? I know I have. Well, now there is one definitive place to look for that help.
Solveig Haugland, an ex-Sun Microsystems employee and founder of her own consulting firm, GetOpenOffice.org, has written a definitive tome (520 pages!) on the open source office suite, "The OpenOffice.org 2 Guidebook".
Her website (http://openoffice.blogs.com/) also has plenty of goodies to go along with the book, including a copy of the book's Table of Contents, three free chapters, worksheets, tips and tricks advice, and a link to buy the book direct for $6 less than Amazon will charge you.
Why buy the book when there are so many guides and tutorials out there on the web that are as free as the software? Lots of reasons, some of which can be found in the Linux.com review.
Hard Copy - Plain old paper is discounted a lot these days, but I for one LIKE to have a manual in my hands, something I can hold open on my lap while I try to perform the function it is walking me through without having to flip back and forth between windows. Plus, you can highlight it and dog-ear it like your favorite college textbook.
Reliability - A brief look at her site will convince you that Ms. Haugland is fully qualified to write this book. Can you say the same for every free tutorial found on the web?
Consolidation- This book puts it all in one place. You may find a great guide for using Writer, but the same author's or site's guide to Impress may leave a lot to be desired. Not only does this book consolidate information, it also consolidates cost, since, while a lot of the available guides are free, not all of them are, and at $10-$20 per program guide that can add up quickly.
Index - Don't underestimate indexes! A LOT of the OOo resources on the web are unindexed and when you're in a hurry to find something, this is a major shortcoming.
What it would be like to have the CFO of Intuit presenting at your conference?
Now you can find out!
Kiran Patel, Intuit's Chief Finanancial Officer, will be presenting at the Needham and Company Growth conference in New York today. The conference is considered one of the best places to go to find information on growth stocks.
Intuit will be doing an audio webcast of the presentation, but details are a little sketchy. A full replay of the webcast will be available on the financial software company's investor relations web cast page 24 hours after the presentation has been made. It looks as though the presentation itself (the Power Point pages) will be available as well, since there is currently an inactive link for it on the site. Since I can't seem to figure out when, exactly, the presentation and webcast will be available online, I'd wait to start checking the above link until at least 5am PST tomorrow, the 11th.
Since it is the Needham & Company Growth conference, if I had to guess, Mr. Patel will probably be talking a bit about their planned acquisition of Digital Insight (we mentioned it last month HERE) and how they expect it to affect their stock value. Since the purchase will put Intuit heavily in debt, it may prove to be an interesting presentation.
However, one of the downsides to open source (and probably IE, but I never use it unless it's for a web site that won't function in Firefox) is the constant tweaking after a new release. My Firefox has been updating itself daily, sometimes more than once daily, since I upgraded to version 1.5. It's not really a problem, since it is mostly just a little splash screen telling me it has updated itself and do I want to restart Firefox now? Of course, they only come when I am in the middle of something and I say no.
I have noticed in one of the recent updates they seem to have ditched one of the features I liked least about this new version. Previously, after the upgrade, when you would open multiple tabs it would only show a limited number of them with arrows off to the right of the tab bar indicating there were more tabs open that were not visible. Before the upgrade it would open all the tabs you wanted and just make them tinier and tinier. I've noticed in comments on other sites and blogs that I'm not the only one who liked this better. I am happy to say that the old mini-tabs are back! I can't tell you ~when~ they came back as I haven't had cause to open a bajillion tabs at once since before the holidays (back to the grind and all that...), but they're back NOW.
Now if I could only figure out how to unload some of my old Firefox plug-ins. I know it's a stupid thing to be impatient with, but I am *so* tired of the pop-up I get every single time I open Firefox asking me to look for current versions of my old plug-ins and I've been getting it multiple times a day since the upgrade. If you happen to know how to make this happen, PLEASE comment and let me know - I HATE pop-ups.
The original Open Course Ware (OCW) article on Yahoo News has a LOT of information, so I recommend you read it first, then come back for a few good links I found that go with it.
Now then...
How cool is that? Free course content for ALL courses available at MIT. I'm actually planning on sneaking over there myself and picking up an astronomy course... I want the knowledge, but I don't want it bad enough to save up and pay for a class at the local community college.
