| ActiveMac | Anonymous | Create a User | Reviews | News | Forums | Advertise |
|
|
|
User Controls |
|
New User |
|
Login |
|
Edit/View My Profile |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ActiveMac |
|
Articles |
|
Forums |
|
Links |
|
News |
|
News Search |
|
Reviews |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
News Centers |
|
Windows/Microsoft |
|
DVD |
|
ActiveHardware |
|
Xbox |
|
MaINTosh |
|
News Search |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ANet Chats |
|
The Lobby |
|
Special Events Room |
|
Developer's Lounge |
|
XBox Chat |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAQ's |
|
Windows 98/98 SE |
|
Windows 2000 |
|
Windows Me |
|
Windows "Whistler" XP |
|
Windows CE |
|
Internet Explorer 6 |
|
Internet Explorer 5 |
|
Xbox |
|
DirectX |
|
DVD's |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
TopTechTips |
|
Registry Tips |
|
Windows 95/98 |
|
Windows 2000 |
|
Internet Explorer 4 |
|
Internet Explorer 5 |
|
Windows NT Tips |
|
Program Tips |
|
Easter Eggs |
|
Hardware |
|
DVD |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Latest Reviews |
|
Applications |
|
Microsoft Windows XP Professional |
|
Norton SystemWorks 2002 |
|
|
|
Hardware |
|
Intel Personal Audio Player 3000 |
|
Microsoft Wireless IntelliMouse Explorer |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Site News/Info |
|
About This Site |
|
Affiliates |
|
ANet Forums |
|
Contact Us |
|
Default Home Page |
|
Link To Us |
|
Links |
|
Member Pages |
|
Site Search |
|
Awards |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Credits |
 |
Office Hours: How Bill Gates uses Office | |
|
||
| Time: 05:51 EST/10:51 GMT | News Source: Microsoft | Posted By: Kenneth van Surksum | ||
|
If you visit my office, you will probably notice right away that I have three large flat screen displays that sit together and are synchronized so they work like a single very wide display. The large display area enables me to work very efficiently. I keep my Outlook 2007 Inbox open on the screen to the left so I can see new messages as they come in. I usually have the message or document that I'm currently reading or writing in the center screen. The screen on the right is where I have room to open up a browser or look at a document that someone has sent me in e-mail. | ||
|
Write Comment
Return to News |
Displaying 1 through 25 of 166 Last | Next |
The time now is
2:14:38 PM
ET.
Any comment problems? E-mail us |
| #1 By 1896 (68.153.171.248) at 7/12/2009 6:26:02 AM |
|
Interesting article although old; if I remember correctly I read it at least two years ago.
I like BG mention of the Tablet; Unfortunately now that he is gone the bean counters will kill it. |
| #2 By 23275 (24.196.4.141) at 7/12/2009 10:28:49 AM |
|
He's dead on about how the integration of the technologies around how one communicates is the best way to work and how for example, all communications are unified and brought into one location that is easy to organize - while preserving connections to the people, documents and other information around subjects of interest.
This is exactly how we work and they are the foundation pieces that make up the experience for ourselves. We simply share that with customers, deliver it as a turn-key service and sustain it as a managed product that is connected to near-immediate assistance. "Cloud Computing" is a phrase that makes me laugh and bark - since the solutions have always been distributed and combined a combination of clouds, we wonder where in the heck everyone has been. Finally, while the foundation is great, it is not enough. Not near enough. Immediately after establishing the base, one has to integrate the really important things - decision making enterprise business software that is of course, well integrated to the communications and collaboration stack. Be it medical management, engineering, manufacturing, legal, or specialized finance and accounting.... this is where our Sovereign Enterprise comes in. While it is a great ERP with a very wide variety of modules, it is quite unique in that its emphasis is on real-time, interactive visual information. As people work, visual intelligence that one may interact with and drag and drop is produced, presented and pushed as desired. Sharing this with customers is exciting and shows them what is not only possible, but practical. Add in media and entertainment as part of one seamless experience and make it so all of it is accessible by simply signing in to any computer one has, or turning on one's mobile phone, and the way people work, live and play changes. Cont.... |
| #3 By 23275 (24.196.4.141) at 7/12/2009 10:36:59 AM |
|
cont. from above....
When we see loose approximations from the likes of Google and watch, hear and read of industry pundits gushing over their wares, it's a bit insulting. There are plenty of WTF moments and whenever we simply share how we work with people that have played with a few online apps, we win their business. When we see Microsoft come into the channel as deeply as they have been and likely will, we feel the same way. We've been doing more with their stuff and things we build than they have and for longer, it seems anyway. Funny but true story... when I first started my company, two of the then very young guys that joined us noted that I was using multiple monitors. They thought I was nuts and that there was no use for multiple monitors. This was 11 years ago. Within a week I had them set up that way and by the end of the weekend, they remarked that they had no idea how they would ever work on a computer again that didn't have multiple displays. I gave them the kit to take home to create the same environment they had at work. These days, two or three and more large panels characterize every built. In fact, dual displays is our default business desktop offering. Cont... |
| #4 By 23275 (24.196.4.141) at 7/12/2009 10:48:42 AM |
|
cont. from above...
The next step for us has been in creating federations of services - using a wider variety of resources, or the same resources in different and more distributed ways. For example, leveraging Microsoft's hosted services parallel to and in federations with our own to provide for more resiliance and capacity, or S3 opposite extensions to commerce models. In some cases, we've federated with customers' presence equipment - providing the federation role for them that MS provides for ourselves. Finally, we have a goal whereby the most capable business software is that which no one has to actually use. What I mean is that people simply work normally and the ERP and its modules are so smart that they do all the business work and simply push the information to decision makers at every level. When we get customers to that point - at about year two... we can see our work change their lives and companies. We watch them make a lot more money, but more importantly, we watch them take more time off to be with family and friends. We also watch them relax and see them come to trust that the technologies are working for them - rather than the other way around. While on the implementation side, it is all still way too complex to scale it as rapidly as we'd like, that is changing very quickly and services over software will one day make it possible for all people to enjoy what we have. Candidly, we won't be the ones to benefit - monster corporations will. They have the resources to crush us out. So you can imagine how goofy and insulting it is when Latch characterizes me as he does... if he only knew... like so many small business people, I spend most days turning inside big corporations and delighting each time we kick they backsides head to head. Everytime we beat the dynamics team with better stuff at a lower price, it's like being that small town team that on occasion gets lucky against a bigger school. |
| #5 By 11888 (74.12.172.83) at 7/12/2009 8:03:00 PM |
|
"I spend most days turning inside big corporations and delighting each time we kick they backsides head to head."
Do you also spend a lot of time having to repeat yourself because no one has a clue what you just said? |
| #6 By 23275 (24.196.4.141) at 7/13/2009 6:58:41 AM |
|
#5, Not really. It means that as a small company that competes with less agile companies, we can respond more quickly and effectively than big companies. We can't just offer a better product at a lower price. We also, and being closer to our own code, have to be able to offer complete customizations to it. Where larger companies are much like a big ship with a small rudder, we're smaller, faster and can manuever better. When we win a deal head to head against big companies, it is especially satisfying.
The simpler statement above would be easily understood by any other small business person doing the same and was directed at that type of person. Much like all small business people would rather live under an overpass than take bailout money - we just want the government to stop stealing all our money through taxes and giving it to big corporations and/or to people who sit on their butts and don't work at all. |
| #7 By 17855 (205.167.180.131) at 7/13/2009 7:32:11 AM |
|
#6 " we just want the government to stop stealing all our money through taxes and giving it to big corporations and/or to people who sit on their butts and don't work at all."
You don't have to be a small business owner to appreciate this statement. :) |
| #8 By 12071 (203.214.21.35) at 7/13/2009 9:07:42 AM |
| I'm curious... this is all well and good and perhaps this is even the best way of utilizing 3 monitors... but I'm wondering if this is a perfect example of software not necessarily being designed as well as it should be for the end goal. In this example we have someone who wants to easily view his email inbox, read the content of one particular email and possibly view any embedded links or documents within that email - do you really need 3 monitors to be able to do this easily? And I'm not having a go at Office in particular - but I'm wondering if these sorts of office suites need a make over - UI wise - to enable the same functionality on a single monitor without losing any of the simplicity provided by 3 monitors. And obviously I don't mean by having to click on the taskbar or alt-tab constantly. So much effort is made towards adding more and more functionality into the office suites yet it appears that very little is being spent on simplicity (aside from the ribbon interface which I guess you could argue helps out with this but only at the micro-level... we really need something at the macro level). Whilst many here dislike other companies such as Apple and Google - the one thing that they have done really well, and the thing that has without a doubt helped them out, is simplicity to their interfaces (not necessarily across the board but the most popular items usually have a very simple interface). Perhaps in the arena of office suites there is no simple solution and we just need to get 3 monitors :) |
| #9 By 28801 (65.90.202.10) at 7/13/2009 9:22:24 AM |
| Excellent analysis Chris. In my opinion (no flame intended) this is also where Linux has failed on the OS level. It has spent so much time trying to be a viable replacement for windows that it has really just ended up copying most of the Windows paradigms. To me Linux should have focused of new ways of interfacing with the personal computer from a GUI/usability standpoint. |
| #10 By 23275 (24.196.4.141) at 7/13/2009 10:49:06 AM |
|
#8, large wide-format displays are changing how multiple displays are used. The functionality previously provided by multiple smaller displays is being replicated on one large wide-format display quite well. I experimented with this over the last year with good success.
While one could always right-click the task bar and select "Show Windows Side by Side" it is easier to accomplish the same thing in Windows 7 by dragging windows to the left and or right of the screen. Similarly, Flip-3D, long derided as a gimic in Windows Vista, was/is actually about identifying which windows one wanted to access - pressing down on the mouse scoll wheel accomplishes this with MS mice, whereby one my see and click on the desired window quickly. "Aux" displays of specific types are what we are now favoring. Small, low-cost displays, some of which work over USB, to position key material in constant view, with one large wide-format display, and in some cases, two slight smaller wide-format displays, is becoming the norm for ourselves and the professionals and business people we work with. Regardless, the results are the same - lots of integrated applications, data and visual intelligence - all displayed and immediately available. Chris is right about much of this - all applications could use some work and increasingly, we're working to reduce the number of separate applications any one person need have open by bringing that information into our enterprise software. |
| #11 By 1896 (68.153.171.248) at 7/13/2009 11:41:10 AM |
| I agree that the "dragging windows" feature is very useful for people using a single monitor but for the ones, like you, me anf BG, using two or three monitors it does not work really well: I can only drag windows to the far right or left to maximize them. I would say that by now W7 should handle multi-monitors systems better. |
| #12 By 15406 (216.191.227.68) at 7/13/2009 1:07:22 PM |
|
#9: this is also where Linux has failed on the OS level.
What do you mean here? Linux is a wonderful OS. It has spent so much time trying to be a viable replacement for windows that it has really just ended up copying most of the Windows paradigms. I would argue that Linux developers spend much of their time making Linux better to use without a thought towards Windows, and that displacing Windows is not on their radar at all. That will happen all by itself, if it ever does. As for copying Windows, I'm not sure what you mean. Most of the GUI commonality between Linux and Windows is also common in other GUI-based OSes. You could argue that MS copied those same paradigms form Mac, and Mac copied from Xerox... To me Linux should have focused of new ways of interfacing with the personal computer from a GUI/usability standpoint. Huh? Like what, the elbow-based controller? |
| #13 By 28801 (65.90.202.10) at 7/13/2009 2:41:42 PM |
|
#12: "Most of the GUI commonality between Linux and Windows is also common in other GUI-based OSes. "
Exactly my point. Windows may have copied other OSes but it certainly popularized the current design. So where is the creativity from the Open Source community or from MS and Apple for that matter? Where are the new ideas? It's still basically the same as it ever was. "Huh? Like what, the elbow-based controller? " From a GUI standpoint. Don't be a Parker! "I would argue that Linux developers spend much of their time making Linux better to use without a thought towards Windows, and that displacing Windows is not on their radar at all." Now you're fooling yourself. |
| #14 By 15406 (216.191.227.68) at 7/13/2009 3:07:03 PM |
|
#13: Windows may have copied other OSes but it certainly popularized the current design.
Don't call it the Windows paradigm then, as that gives undeserved credit to Windows for something created by someone else. The desktop GUI paradigm seems more of an apt fit. From a GUI standpoint. Don't be a Parker! Usability is a tricky area where innovation can have a negative impact on performance. MS was very brave to plug the ribbon into Office 2007 but it is debatable whether or not it helps or impedes productivity. There is no shortage of strong opinion on both sides of that argument. I personally don't like the ribbon in Office but I like it in Powerarchiver. Now you're fooling yourself. Do you have anything to back that up with, beside wishful thinking? From what I've read over the past decade, the actual guys who do the heavy lifting in Linux don't use or care about Windows (other than interoperability issues, natch). While there are literally millions of Linux fanboys that would love to see MS die a quick death at the hand of Tux, it ain't gonna happen anytime soon and only the foolhardiest of Linux dreamers would believe otherwise. |
| #15 By 1896 (68.153.171.248) at 7/13/2009 3:12:36 PM |
|
I would characterize the Ribbon as follows:
Real Power users: they hate it Average users: they like it Nothing new here; I remember people hating Windows because they found faster and easier to use command strings in DOS as well as using Wordstar instead of Word. |
| #16 By 15406 (216.191.227.68) at 7/13/2009 3:52:08 PM |
|
#15: My wife is an Office power-user. Advanced certs in Word, Excel & PP. Types +100 wpm. She hates the ribbon.
True (but unrelated) story: Since my wife types so fast, she uses the keyboard for everything and shuns the mouse in Office unless she is forced to use it. Once she had a supervisor that watched her and then corrected her by saying that she should use the mouse more often. My wife replied, "But I'm much faster doing everything with shortcut keys. To which her boss replied, "Well, what happens if your keyboard breaks?" At the time, she worked in a word processing pool. If her keyboard broke, she would have bigger problems than knowing which icon to click. Perhaps her boss thought she would continue by using Character Map to generate every character she needed... |
| #17 By 28801 (71.58.225.185) at 7/13/2009 5:16:17 PM |
|
#14: "Don't call it the Windows paradigm then, as that gives undeserved credit to Windows for something created by someone else."
Dude, you really gotta remove that Microsoft sticker bush from your ass. You'll be much happier. One definition of paradigm - "a standard or typical example" Since Microsoft Windows is the most widely used Desktop OS , I would suggest that it is the "standard or typical example" and therefore the word paradigm is appropriate. I would further suggest that the current paradigm is largely due to Microsoft's influence in desktop design. It no more resembles the XEROX systems than modern man resembles Homo-Habilis. |
| #18 By 11888 (174.88.88.137) at 7/13/2009 6:24:44 PM |
|
#6, Ah, I got it now. I think you meant "their" or something instead of "they" in your sentence. Suddenly it's much clearer.
We have that same government problem in Canada. I'm still waiting for them to send me the share certificates that I bought in GM. I think I'll be waiting a long time though. |
| #19 By 11888 (174.88.88.137) at 7/13/2009 6:38:46 PM |
|
Ugh, I just typed out a whole thought about Raskin's ZoomWorld and multiple display systems. I hit Post, server choked and I lost it.
Maybe next time. |
| #20 By 23275 (24.196.4.141) at 7/13/2009 7:29:42 PM |
|
#18, Yeah, I was in a hury - didn't have much time to check for typing errors.
Yes, we all seem to have run away governments these days - simultaneously paying off their fat-cat corporations that fuel the lobbyists and those that don't work - literally buying their votes. Meanwhile, small business owners that employ 80% of the people in this country, and the wonderful people who work with us, fund both end at once. For the same reasons bank robbers rob banks (because that is where the money is), governments rob the most productive of the people (because that is where the easy money is - by ourselves, we don't have the resources to fight them/but them off as a part of doing business). |
| #21 By 23275 (24.196.4.141) at 7/13/2009 7:50:24 PM |
|
MrRoper, there's been a long standing debate opposite ZUIs (Zommable User Interfaces).
I do think that elements will eventually make it into all OSes, but the burden placed on developers will be intense. We still have yet to see devs embrace what is possible. Also, for Windows users, take a look at C:\Windows\system32\Magnify.exe or simply type in Mag in Windows Vista/7's instant search and open up the Magnify utility. Despite what competitors have said, it's been in Windows as an accessiblity feature for a very long time - Windows 98. It's also been used by various MS input devices as a customizable option. Finally, there are excellent API's for leverging it within applications. Devs can access it, add it to any app and apply its features at will. Few do. Okay, none do (that I am aware of). |
| #22 By 11888 (174.88.88.137) at 7/13/2009 9:19:29 PM |
|
Off the top of my head what I imagine is something like being able to CTRL+drag a window up to push it back on the Z-axis - so essentially is shrinks to a smaller window. You could shrink it down to the point it's impossible or read, or just to the point that it's out of the way but readable - to monitor an inbox or something. That with Flip-3D or Expose to jump to what you want would make my life easier. Spaces in OS X just barely scratches the surface but is sort of in that direction (without the Z-space).
If I'm describing it I'm sure someone else has an Explorer hack or something to make it happen. However, I'd like to see the actual experts out there implement it in OSes now. There's such a fear to do the next big thing in case you alienate your current users. Sometimes things need to change though. |
|
Write Comment
Return to News |
Displaying 1 through 25 of 166 Last | Next |
The time now is
2:14:38 PM
ET.
Any comment problems? E-mail us |
