Archive for 2007

We seem to pick on Microsoft a lot here at OffAssist, don’t we?

Well, I’m not gonna…

What If Gmail Had Been Designed by Microsoft?

I’ll just point you to someone else that is… seriously funny funny stuff!

I do have to wonder though… with the near disaster they are having with Vista (more on that later from Tom), what do the folks up there in Redmond need to do to get it right? They are losing market share and really mucking things up.

One of my clients, Dee Copeland, is looking for a Lead Buyer Specialist to join her team…

Check out her listing at http://texas.vflyer.com/14/index.html

I’ve been lucky enough to work with Dee for a few years now and she is an absolutely dream to work with. Check it out!

Good luck!

… of Google and Open Source…

The Google Pack. I still haven’t been to check it out, though I will admit to having a custom Google home page…

Apparently, in addition to the Google Docs we’ve all known about for a while, Google slid a full-on MS Office competitor into their Google Pack back in August, Star Office 8. Star Office is a Sun Microsystems product loosely based around Open Office but with a few more perks that Sun sells.

This is the first time Star Office has been made available for free. Check out the article, then check out the Google Pack.

Seems we’re all about the G-word right now.

Word on the street is the Google is diving into the mobile browser market–with an Open Source platform.

I’m not geekalicious to competently pass all the scoop on, so check out this article on Financial Times’ website for all the skinny.

you weren’t sure Google is trying to displace Micro$oft one application at a time.

May I present:

The Google Calculator, brought to us today by Jennifer Gniadecki of Atypical Virtual Associates

Candy & I got a chance to meet Jennifer at a conference about this time last year and she is one smart cookie. At the time she was in middle of re-designing her website–and she was doing it herself! I’m still impressed. Go, click, see what she has to say.

The 2002 Microsoft anti-trust suit ended in a consent decree; basically Microsoft agreed to let a judge scrutinize their operations rather than having the case go forward (does anti-trust go to trial? My government and history classes were a looong time ago).

The software giant did get the usual oversight period reduced from ten years to a mere five, citing a fast-changing industry as justifiable cause.

Today, 11/12/07, was supposed to be the last day of that five years of oversight.

The judge in charge has extended it, currently to expire not later than January 31, 2008. This is due to concerns brought up by several states involved in the original suit that Microsoft has not adequately proven that their newest offerings, including Vista, are NOT in violation of the anti-trust laws.

The states want the restrictions and oversight extended another five years–giving Microsoft the same ten years of oversight that other companies involved in anti-trust settlements are subject to. The states filed motions seeking to extend the restrictions in October.

The Judge in charge, Federal District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, gave Microsoft until 11/6 to respond to the motions. The Justice Department was given until 11/9 to file a brief in support of Microsoft (or not, as the case may be). The states involved in the October filing have until this Friday, 11/16, to respond to Microsoft’s response.

“I don’t need to reconcile my account, I click that download button and it does itself.” I hear this from time to time and I just have to shake my head. People always assume that the banks are correct, but this simply is not always the case. I was reminded of this today when I was doing a bank reconciliation for a client. Oh, there’s sometimes an error of $0.50 or so, but this one was $11,000.00 – and NOT in the client’s favor. Ouch! That’s money they earned. If they weren’t reconciling their accounts on a regular basis, this very well may never have been caught. Amazing, right?

Not really. It happens every single day. “Back in the day” it was common because of the human factor, humans entered the data and mistakes were made. Nowadays, it’s mostly done by optical readers or MICR readers if it’s encoded. But the harsh reality is that the technology is not perfect. Mistakes happen.

Bottom line – make sure you are reconciling your accounts and do it monthly, you never know….

How many times have you said,”You know, I should write a book about that?” If you’re like me, you have said it so many times that you don’t even pay attention to it anymore. Maybe you just lacked a little push to get the ball rolling. Maybe you started writing, but got frustrated. Maybe you felt alone in your endeavor, or maybe you just ran out of steam.

November is National Novel Writing Month. www.nanowrimo.org is a website devoted to giving people that little shove in the “write” direction. Members support each other throughout the writing process and even throw a little help your way if you hit the doldrums or just can’t figure out what to say.

Now..to get you started…”Once upon a time on a dark and stormy night…..”

If you subscribe to the OffAssist newsletter, you may remember when Dee Copeland was featured in our spotlight column. If not, check it out in the April 2006 newsletter.

Dee, the woman behind Team Copeland, has recently revamped her blog, Texas Realty Blog. With up-to-date info on the Central Texas real estate market and RE trends around the country this is a great resource when you’re looking to buy or sell real estate. Check it out!

Sunday I had the great pleasure of attending Maker Faire here in Austin. What the heck is Maker Faire, you ask? It’s this festival of sorts where do-it-yourself types come out and show us what they got… and they got some cool stuff! Okay, and some really weird stuff too. My son got to make a transistor thingy (yes, the technical term) on a business card. We got to see the coolest new toy, Pleo, in person. We had a chance to paint a pumpkin, see robots – a lot of robots, play video games by jumping on a trampoline, finger paint on a touch screen, and yes folks, I got to see the EepyBird dudes do their Mentos and Diet Coke fountain show – and may I saw it’s awesome.

Okay, some of it was serious inventor type stuff, some of it was just downright silly. I mean, really, a robot thespian that sings “The Hills Are Alive With The Sound of Music”? Cool, but useful? I hated that movie the first time I saw it! But that robot was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. It’s a robot! That acts! Probably better than some actors out there Plus if I’m gonna get a robot, I want it to do my filing or laundry or fetch me a cup of coffee (with sugar and cream, darn it!)

But, you know, the first guy we saw when we came in probably made the biggest impact on me as far as work-related thoughts that swirl in my head… his name was John Funk and he is making a movie, folks. His movie is called Mary Lou Turbine and the Quest For the Dark Planet. Say that 10 times fast, I dare ya.

I’m not even 100% sure what the movie is about – and I even watched the trailer. But he has basically made or made use of old toys and stuff – I take it this is some sort of “no humans in this movie” thing – yeah, there’s a name for this, but whatever. Anyway… what struck me was this. This guy has been working on these elaborate scenes (seriously, I wish I had a picture of his city scape – amazing workmanship) for *YEARS*. How many people do you know that find a dream, a dream that probably makes his friends go, “Huh? You build toys in your garage for your movie? HUH?” and keeps following that dream after all this time?

Yeah. That many, I thought so. So, Mr. Funk, my hats off to you. Everyone should have a dream in their lives and in their businesses and follow it. I think your movie is sci-fi – not something I watch on a regular basis, but you know what? I’ll buy it when it comes out because darn it, I think you were a pretty cool dude and you made me smile.

One more thought… if two guys can make a name and business for themselves simply by dropping candy into a bottle of soda and letting themselves get soaked by all of that… anything really is possible. Go for it. Follow your dreams. I’ll show up next year to cheer you all on.