Office 2008 for Mac available on for January 2008

Microsoft has put up yet another preview of Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac, giving a glimpse of some improvements to Excel, but the main good news in accompanying press release is the phrase "on the eve of Release to Manufacturing (RTM)," which means that Office for Mac looks to be on schedule for its January 2008 release.

There’s still no demo version available, nor will there be. For now you’ll have to make do with the preview site, which today added a showcase demonstrating some new Excel features like Formula Builder, Formula AutoComplete and support for increased rows and columns.

Of course if previews don’t do it for you a little bird tells us that copies of the private beta are floating around on BitTorrent sites if you’re into that sort of thing.

Still, despite the lack of a public beta, the announcement that Office for Mac is about to reach RTM status is good news for Mac users waiting on the Mac equivalent to Office 2007, which will be over a year old by the time the Mac version hits the shelves come January.

Of course, despite the efforts of the Mac for Office team it's hardly surprising that the majority of Microsoft seems to view Mac users as second class citizens. The software is, after all, an important part of a competitor's platform, and what better way to take a jab at your competitor?

 

{via blog wired}

Download Yahoo Messenger For Windows Vista

Much after the release of Yahoo Messenger 9 Beta for Windows, everyone was desperately waiting for Yahoo to release the Yahoo Messenger IM client for Windows Vista and the very good news is that Yahoo Messenger For Windows Vista is finally available for download.

Yahoo Messenger For Windows Vista has been specially designed to give it a more unique and prominent look just according to the Aero Glass theme on Windows Vista and now it even has tabbed windows.

This new version for Vista fully integrates as a gadget with the Vista sidebar thus making instant messaging more fun and easy to use for all the users.

Here you can Download Yahoo Messenger for Windows Vista

{via sizlopedia.com and Yahoo!}

Xbox 360 finally supporting Divx and Xvid

I’m still puzzled as to why it took so long to add Divx and Xvid support to the Xbox 360 and wondered if Microsoft did not ask the users before they produced the Xbox 360 about the features that the users wanted to see. My old Xbox is playing all of those files without a problem and the main reason why I did not make the switch to the new Xbox 360 was, among other things, the non existent support for Xvid and Divx movies.

What I like is that the Xbox 360 plays those movies from CD or DVD instead of streaming them over the network. I’m not that up to date when it comes to modchips for the Xbox 360 and possibilities to add a bigger hard drive to store files on it, but I’m sure some of you know the answer.

I would replace my old Xbox with the new Xbox 360 if I could use it as a media center again. I’d also like to know if the noise of the Xbox 360 has been finally reduced or if it is still that loud which would be another drawback.

Divx is supported back to version 5.0 which means that most movies should play just fine on the Xbox 360.

{By Martin via Ghacks}

Windows Live wants to build Flickr competitor

It’s hard not to have seen this coming, but I have to wonder whether or not the world needs another Flickr or YouTube.

In a Microsoft job advertisement posted yesterday for a program manager position, the description clearly outlines Microsoft’s strategy to build a photo and video sharing website.

Come make Windows Live the best place to share your digital memories! Heard of Flickr? YouTube? How about. Mac? This role will work across the new Windows Live division with teams like Spaces, SkyDrive, Messenger and Hotmail to construct a winning strategy for Microsoft in photo and video sharing. This role involves leading the team to design the strategy then build and implement a winning solution that will be loved by millions of customers. This feature team is building a next-generation photo and video sharing service that will compete with flickr, smugmug and other photo web solutions today. This is a “v1” opportunity.

This role requires a strong PM with several product cycles of consumer experience. Successful candidates will have strong strategic thinking, outstanding cross team leadership and a proven track record of shipping. The right candidate for this position has an entrepreneurial streak - and functions well as part of a team. The ideal candidate has experience shipping consumer web solutions.

The Digital Memories Experience team (DMX) is helping people make deeper connections with those they care about. We want to give you the ability to effortlessly share your memories, be that a simple slideshow of photos and videos (e.g. evolution of the Vista Slideshow or of Photo Story), a carefully authored experienced (evolution of Movie Maker), or a fully interactive cinematic multimedia experience (a narrated 3D path through a Photosynth that you can control). And we want to make it easy and fun to enjoy your photos and videos, whether that is on the PC in your office, the Media Center in your living room, the XBox in your entertainment center, or on your mobile device when you are out and about. DMX is a part of the Windows Live Experience division (WLX/LEX), which also includes Mail, Hotmail, Messenger, SkyDrive, Spaces, Writer, Calendar, and Family Safety. To achieve our vision for digital memories we work with many other teams including: Core User Experience, Find & Organize, Graphics (Windows Imaging Codecs - WIC - and DirectX) in WEX, MCE, Expression, SmartFlow, and Xbox.

I hope this isn’t some sort of knee-jerk reaction like it was with MSN Soapbox, rather than a serious attempt to set a foothold in the photo sharing market. Whilst I love using Flickr and admire their service, there are still times I wish I didn’t have to pay $25 a year.

But in the mean time, it’s great the DMX team can put aside their differences and build Flickr integration into Live Photo Gallery.

[via istartedsomething.com]