http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/12/apple-patent-under-review/

Patent Office to Review Apple’s Document-Scrolling Patent

Apple’s document-scrolling patent is under fire by the USPTO. Photo: Alex Washburn/Wired
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has ruled that a patent that’s central to the epic Apple v. Samsung intellectual property lawsuit is subject to reexamination, which could lead to portions of the patent — but probably not all of it — being invalidated.

Patent No. 7,844,915, referred to as the ’915 patent, covers document scrolling. The patent office rejected all 21 claims of the patent, which means it is up for scrutiny — but it is unlikely that the patent would be invalidated in its entirety. Eighty-nine percent of patents subject to reexamination survive in some form or another, Brian Love, an assistant professor of law at Santa Clara University School of Law, has told Wired.

Just last week another Apple patent holding, a multi-touch related patent dubbed the “Steve Jobs” patent, was also tentatively invalidated. We saw the same thing in October with Apple’s so-called “rubber-banding patent.” In each case, the patent is merely being reexamined.

However, should a patent examiner determine a patent is invalid, it could have a significant effect on the damages Samsung owes Apple in the Apple v. Samsung case — a jury trial determined that 19 Samsung smartphones violated this particular patent. Judge Koh has already denied Apple a permanent injunction against infringing Samsung devices.

Makes sense... maybe a bit twisted but I can see how it would make sense to the folks at MS. In the past they made money selling Office, & add-ons & such were something that could break Office & cost them money in fixes & support & lost sales. Now they're trying to move into the retail space, selling stuff that they didn't make themselves for a profit. Unlike the local drugstore or corner market, they don't have to 1st buy the goods on the shelves, but get them essentially free, so the more goods you have, the more potential sales, the more potential profits. In fact, the less work they put into Office, the more opportunities to improve it, the more add-ons to supply those improvements, the more commissions collected for selling those add-ons -- MS is getting paid more the less work they do, the less they include in Office itself!

The catch is, & I hope no one gets offended, Apple users are Apple users... people willing to pay more for their hardware & devices, people willing to get involved buying from Apple's store, have already bought Apple hardware -- Windows users have always had that choice & said: no thank you. Microsoft has to create a new market for this to work -- they may/may not be able to, but like every huge company nowadays, they're afraid of getting locked out of something by their rivals.

Yippeeee!

Nooooo!

http://www.v3.co.uk/v3-uk/analysis/2216841/microsoft-bringing-applestyle-app-ecosystem-to-office-2013

Microsoft bringing Apple-style app ecosystem to Office 2013

Microsoft is bringing to Office 2013 a new application model aimed at making it easier for developers to build add-ons and for users to find and access them, in the hope of creating a vibrant ecosystem like that surrounding Apple's iPhone and iPad.

http://www.myce.com/news/outlook-2013-bug-deletes-inbox-contact-calender-on-empty-trash-62532/

With the recent release of Office 2013, Microsoft has introduced an unbelievably stupid bug to Outlook 2013. Several users on the Microsoft support forums report that when they emptied their deleted items folder, they lost their entire inbox, their contacts, notes and calender items. Even worse, nothing can be recovered, not even using the ‘Recover deleted items option’.

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/officeitpropreview/thread/14e6daf5-393c-4048-9b4d-c3d2d36c3e9e

Outlok 2013 - Empty Deleted Items deletes everything from mailbox?

https://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9229345/New_Office_has_compelling_enhancements_but_also_big_holes?source=rss_latest_content&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+computerworld%2Fnews%2Ffeed+%28Latest+from+Computerworld%29

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee624351%28v=office.15%29

Operating System Windows 7, Windows 8 Office 2013 Preview Requirements

http://paritynews.com/software/item/67-microsoft-office-2013-not-compatible-with-windows-xp-vista

Microsoft Office 2013 not compatible with Windows XP, Vista.

Further the minimum requirements states that systems need to be equipped with at least a 1 GHz processor and should have 1 GB of RAM for 32-bit systems or 2 GB for 64-bit hardware. The minimum storage space that should be available is 3 GB along with a DirectX 10-compatible graphics card for users wanting hardware acceleration."

http://www.afterdawn.com/news/article.cfm/2012/06/24/microsoft_to_phase_out_office_2010_starter

Microsoft to phase out Office 2010 Starter

Into the future, starting with the release of Windows 8, new buyers will get links to trial versions of full Office, instead of a pre-loaded Starter like in the past.

Despite being the clear leader in the market, Microsoft has seen increasing competition in past few years. OpenOffice and LibreOffice offer full office suites, for free, and Google Docs is preparing to gain offline capabilities, making it another free alternative.

Microsoft Office ranges from $99 to $499 depending on the type of package.

https://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/its-war-google-quickoffice-vs-microsoft-office-everywhere/12851

It's war: Google + Quickoffice vs. Microsoft Office everywhere
Google Docs has made some inroads against Microsoft Office, but not nearly enough.
That’s no doubt a big reason for Google’s latest acquisition, Quickoffice, announced on June 5. Now the question becomes will the cross-mobile-platform productivity suite Quickoffice — give Google a better leg up against Microsoft’s Office? Quickoffice runs on iPhones, iPad, Android, Android tablets and Symbian devices. And Office 15, the coming version of Microsoft’s productivity app suite, will run on Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows RT, Windows Phone and, perhaps soon the iPad and Android, too.

Hi Copmom - to answer your question, I don't believe Publisher is included.

Wonder if it covers Microsoft Office Publisher in their offering? Checked all the links and can't find mention of that.

Looks like a great option, thanks for sharing that-
I did a little look-see at what I else could find out about co. & product & thought this positive review summed it up pretty well:
http://www.instantfundas.com/2011/09/kingsoft-office-suite-2012-goes.html

Both MyWot and SiteAdvisor give KingSoft excellent ratings:

MyWot Rating for KingSoft
McAfee Rating for KingSoft

Kingsoft Office Suite Free 2012 (now free) !

http://www.kingsoftstore.com/software/products.html

Download (68.3MB)
System Requirements for Kingsoft Office Suite Free 2012

Required Operating System: Windows 2000/Windows XP/Windows Vista/Windows 7
Basic Configurations: CPU: Pentium II 266 MHz or higher
Memory: at least 128 MB

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=306599&page=2

wow, it would be nice if Microsoft would pay me money to try their software :)

http://www.betanews.com/article/Microsoft-pays-University-of-Nebraska-250000-to-use-Office-365/1309907740

Microsoft pays University of Nebraska $250,000 to use Office 365

If you really are in need of some high profile clients, you can always pay them. That's exactly what Microsoft has done with the University of Nebraska.

http://filehippo.com/download_libreoffice/

http://www.libreoffice.org/

Best to go to Libre Office & get the Help file as well, It's like openoffice most if the workers now work for Libre size 188.03MB Win_x86_helppack_en-GB.exe 8.50 MB for last one

http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/4520805/Aussie-inventor-takes-on-Microsoft

Ric Richardson, the "man in a van" battling Microsoft in a patent suit worth hundreds of millions of dollars, has something to be excited about after an appeals court ruled in his favour.

The Australian inventor whose company, Uniloc, was awarded in April 2009 $US388 million ($NZ512 million) in a patent infringement case against Microsoft, only to have the jury decision overturned by a judge, has this week had success in having the ruling against Microsoft reinstated by an appeals court.

The case, which alleges Microsoft earned billions of dollars by using Richardson's anti-piracy technology in its Windows XP and Office programs, has been going through the courts since 2003 and Uniloc has been appealing the judge's decision, alleging bias.

But, just this week, Richardson was informed of the outcome of the appeal, which reinstated Microsoft's guilty verdict.

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/bott/microsoft-quietly-shuts-down-office-genuine-advantage-program/2798

Microsoft quietly shuts down Office Genuine Advantage program.http://support.microsoft.com/kb/917999

Thanks Graylox, this looks perfect for my daughter, though my son is already way ahead of me when using Microsoft Office 2010. Downloading it now. :)

An Office Suite That's Especially Designed For Kids

gizmo's treasure seekers have found a special gem:

An Office Suite That's Especially Designed For Kids

...OOo4kids is, as the name implies, a version of Open Office (or OpenOffice.org, hence the 3 O's) that's specially designed for use by 7 to 12 year olds. The menus are trimmed down to the bare minimum, to keep things easy...
...OOo4kids is a great idea, especially if it encourages kids to use computers for something other than playing games or social networking. The program is quick and easy to learn, and gives them a real feeling of doing grown-up things with their computer...

Welcome to OOo4Kids project

EducOOo presents OOo4Kids !

Information about version 1.0 of OOo4Kids
...
The Association non profit EducOOo.org is pleased to announce the availability of software OOo4Kids in version 1.0.
OpenOffice.org Education Project's goals are to establish a bridge between OpenOffice.org and the world of education as well as recruit and train new developers.
...
As part of its activities in close relationship with teachers, we have identified a need: a suite dedicated to education and particularly in the first degree.

OOo4Kids (Pronounced "OpenOffice For Kids") is an office suite designed for children 7-12 years, based on the sources of OpenOffice.org software. The software is available in different platforms (Windows, Mac OS, Linux, Sugar, ...), in different languages (French, English, Spanish, Arabic, ...) and LGPL v3

OOo4Kids is made for educational purposes, with the idea of contributing back to the OpenOffice.org project (http://www.openoffice.org) through the OpenOffice.org project Education and student projects, but not only ( all kinds of contributions are welcome, of course).

Want to help us improve OOo4Kids, donate!

Download Portable OOo4kids for Windows

graylox

Thank you very much for letting us know about your Halloween holiday offer, Vlad1980!! It's greatly appreciated!

For all these who missed AllMyNotes giveaway in August 7. Due to Halloween holiday we are doing giveaway of version 1.37 here:
http://vladonai.com/allmynotes_support_self_service_giveaway_donationcoder10_31.php

Quoting Vladonai Software in the comment section:

Here is an instruction how to convert this GOTD build in to a PORTABLE version:

1. Go to the directory where AllMyNotes is installed. By default it’s folder path “c:\Program Files\AllMyNotes Organizer\”
2. Copy this folder to your USB media (any location)
3. Create empty Portable.sig file in to the folder (must be same path where allmynotes.exe file is located). Existence of this file will SWITCH PORTABLE MODE ON. You will see this in About screen, it will say ‘Portable Mode’.

That’s it! Your AllMyNotes is Portable now!

Note: This Portable version only launches in Deluxe mode on the PC(s) on which the program was activated August 7, 2010.

Thank you Robert for this added bit of info.

Another nice gesture from the developer

It will be possible to use Portable version in Deluxe mode, but with
one restriction – on computers where GOTD installer wasn’t used it will work as Free version.

For details how to do it please contact technical support Monday – we’ll provide details how to do it, cause special steps are needed to convert GOTD build in to Portable version. As it’s day off today we have bit limited support resources to provide all needed instructions today.

Evernote version 2 is/was great.
Too bad the FF addon doesn't work anymore on the newer versions of Firefox.
(Clipping extension still works in IE though)
... but there's still the (less practical) universal clipper.

If AllMyNotes had some sort of web clipper.. I'd dump Evernote for sure.
:)

I have put this revised comment here in order to help others faster if they have problems with this software.

The original version is awaiting moderation at the moment and I fear it may be accepted too late to help my fellow GOTD members!

So here goes:

When I first installed The GOTD version, I ended up with the free version not the Deluxe.

In my case, it may be because I have used the free version in the past and that even after uninstalling (which I did before installing this GOTD version), it leaves traces somewhere well hidden that blocks me from getting the Deluxe version.

In any case, I have sent a message to the company support staff in hopes of having a solution to this problem.

As for the program, I can say that the free version I have tested is not much different than others alternatives mentionned here.

I was looking forward to try this "Deluxe" version just for the Rich Text and picture embedding capacities but cannot because of my (Unique?) problem.

====================================================================================================

Last minute writer's edit:

As I was finishing writing this comment, M. Volodymyr Frytskyy (One of the two creators from Vladonai Software) emailed me a solution to my problem.

Check out about these two creators here: http://www.vladonai.com/about.php

And "Good News", the fix worked like a charm and I now have the "Deluxe" version which I can test fully against my Evernote 2 (my preferred solution at the moment).

So thank you very much, Mister Frytskyy!

===================================================================================================

Alternatives I use (or have used) are:

Keynote (both the original from Marek Jedlinski (AKA Tranglos) and the NF (for New Features) taken up by Daniel Pradov after Tranglos declared a "hobby programmer bankruptcy, a writer's block, an intellectual meltdown to incapacity".

Original (Still available but quite old): http://www.tranglos.com/free/keynote.html

Daniel Pradov's version: http://code.google.com/p/keynote-nf/

Evernote (both the new (limited when free) 3 version and the older version 2).

I'm fortunate to have kept a copy of version 2 from my old computer as this is the one I use (and like) the most for its capacity for text, graphics and HTML (Web page) abilities.

The two programs Ashraf has mentionned are flawed (for my use at least), Cintanotes is too simple and only text oriented and FruitfulTime Notekeeper is an end-of-line product (no longer maintained) which I have tested and found so intrusive (it would insist on loading at Windows startup with no way of telling it not to) and was so awkward to use that I just gave up on it.

To finish, If you have problems with this program, don't hesitate and write to the creators as I have done, the support link is at: http://www.vladonai.com/allmynotes_support_contact.php

To conclude, I can say I am impressed by the creators of this software for the speed of their response and the willingness to help out (even us "free" users)

The Dragon

Absolutely. Sharing the news of any worthwhile giveaways is always welcome in these forums.

Ah, ok

thanks bubby.

if there is another one (ms) promotion open, would you mind either posting it here, or starting a new thread?

thanks a mil.

Welcome. :)

The Office/Vista promotion was closed almost as soon as it opened - Microsoft claimed they had "run out of stock".

(But hey, they are Microsoft! Can't they just run off another 10,000 copies?)

I think as they are running a type of survey, they had all the participants they need. I'm not sure, but I think you can still sign up for their snooping survey - you just don't receive anything (apart from a warm feeling, knowing you are helping Microsoft)

In terms of any Acrobat 8 promo - I've never seen one.