(Sunday, May 25th, 2008)
We never can get enough of them, but our computers are sometimes overflowing. Software applications are everywhere, but how to choose the right one for the task at hand? I built a real collection of pages where you will be able to find nearly all you can dream for nearly all computers:
Find more stories in Apple, Legal downloads, Linux, Lists, P2P, Photo & Graphics, Software, Spreadsheet, Tech, Windows Vista, Word processor
(Sunday, March 30th, 2008)
If you want to convert your Microsoft Word, Excel or PowerPoint files into PDF, just email them to pdf@koolwire.com.
But there’s more:
Find more stories in Email, Spreadsheet, Word processor
(Monday, March 10th, 2008)
The bane (correction: “one of the banes”) of the new opus of the Microsoft Office saga (MS-Office 2007) is that the Redmond developpers once again changed the file formats. I’m sure that this is for the best. But if you went the MS-Office 2007 path and not your colleagues or friends, they no longer can read your files.
Solution (partial because you still need to do something): Crunch all documents through a software to make them readable. This is basically the offer from Docx2RTF, Windows utility that you can download freely.
Find more stories in Spreadsheet, Windows Vista, Word processor
(Wednesday, September 19th, 2007)
You wanted to be able to produce those pro presentations with PowerPoint. But Microsoft Office seemed to expensive to buy it, so you decided to download an illegal (but free) version. No! Hold your horses. Real solutions are appearing all over the place.
Up to now, you had the possibility to use Open Office (which just went to version 2.3). This free desktop suite is compatible with Microsoft file formats (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and gives you the ability to do nearly everything that PowerPoint does. And -we have to admit that- we do not use a lot from PowerPoint (bullet lists and titles).
But Google joins the race with the arrival of Google Presentations, which their online answer and free again (and more legal than any botleg copy downloaded from BitTorrent, DirectConnect or similar P2P network). There was already a Google Docs application suite; It is now complete.
Have fun with your free download of… PowerPoint competition products.
Find more stories in Legal downloads, Software, Spreadsheet, Word processor
(Wednesday, September 19th, 2007)
Even if I persist in advising you not to pirate-copy MS-Office, not to download Word, Excel or PowerPoint but to download OpenOffice for free, I can’t resist to the temptation to give some echo to a Microsoft proposal.
Steal Office!
MS-Office is still out of reach for normal people around $400 (for this price you can consider buying a computer). But Microsoft hides behind this slogan a proposal just for students starting September 20th: $60 for MS-Office, it’s a steal.
Not sure this is really a steal, I keep recommending to download OpenOffice for free…
Find more stories in Spreadsheet, Word processor
(Sunday, September 2nd, 2007)
Really! Who would like to have Microsoft Office. It’s expensive. If you donwload it for free, it’s just illegal.
However, you can download the excellent Neo Office for OS/X (a Mac OS/X port of OpenOffice). It’s now available.
Find more stories in Apple, Legal downloads, Spreadsheet, Word processor
(Saturday, September 1st, 2007)
Rather than downloading a pirated copy of Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), I keep repeating that you should try a free download of OpenOffice. But some people complain that it is too slow. I am not of this opinion, but I found a post about how to accelerate OpenOffice on an Ubuntu GNU/Linux. But this advice is applicable to other configurations (OpenOffice is available for Windows, GNU/Linux, Apple Mac).
How to make OpenOffice run faster in Ubuntu
Find more stories in Linux, Spreadsheet, Windows Vista, Word processor
(Sunday, July 29th, 2007)
Portable apps for a portable USB key.
- Portable Office Software
- Portable Email/Calendar/ToDo Programs
- Portable Text and Voice Messengers
- Portable Media Tools (Audio / Video)
- Portable Graphics Viewers and Image Editors
- Portable Browsers and Web Tools (FTP, Feedreaders, Torrent clients…)
- Portable Security Software
- Portable Games
- Other Portable Utilities
- Portable Developer Tools (Techies Only)
- All-In-One Packages
- Portable Operating Systems (’HowTo’ Articles)
- USB ThumDrive Tips
Find more stories in Linux, Software, Spreadsheet, Windows Vista, Word processor
(Sunday, June 17th, 2007)
Do you happen to know that 5% of all male population is actually affected by some form of color-blindness (females are much less prone to it). It means that plenty of activities that tend to rely on color identification by the user is significantly flawed for about 2-3% of the user population. This can become a real issue for companies willing to support equal employment opportunities for all.
In software, if this was not reason enough to think seriously about it, we should also think about the impact of printing onto black & white printers (they are color-blind too and this affect 100% of B&W printer users). Most of the problems could be alleviated by following some simple rules that should be part of any software requirements.
(more…)
Find more stories in Color laser, Graphics & display, HR, Inkjet, Sciences, Social issues, Software, Spreadsheet
(Sunday, March 25th, 2007)
Software programs to do anything you want with your PC if you are a bit more geeky than most but do not want to pay much. Freeware & shareware.
Find more stories in Books, HTML and CSS, Internet, Linux, Music, P2P, PHP, Printers, Spreadsheet, Tech, Use your D-SLR, Windows Vista, Word processor
(Sunday, March 25th, 2007)
NeoOffice is a OS X port of OppenOffice.org by a group of developers who have thought from the beginning that the Main OO.o team was taking the wrong tack in offering X-11 support on the Mac.
Aqua-native, includes both PPC and Intel binaries, allows Spotlight to index both content and metadata of OpenOffice and OpenDocument files.
Importantly, NeoOffice v2.1 arrives on March 27th, and it will immediately include support for Microsoft Office 2007 document formats.
Find more stories in Apple, Spreadsheet, Word processor
(Wednesday, March 14th, 2007)
OpenOffice, the free desktop suite competing directly against MS Office, reached an important milestone with the availability of version 2.2, Release Candidate 3. This time, we believe, the officiel release of v2.2 is near.
Some of the most sensitive improvements were expected by the users:
- Calc should improve notably the management of dynamic pivot tables from Excel origin Excel (a powerful tool that is too often under-appreciated or ignored).
- PDF files: More control possibilities/options, including the ability to generate in-PDF bookmarks.
- Adaptation to Vista for a better compatibility.
- Appearance of SQL requests inside requests for the database manager.
- Stability improvements on the Mac version (along with size reduction).
- Better compatibility with Slackware, NetBSD, Linux 64, Linux SPARC.
For a download (still free, of course), go and check on the OpenOffice web site.
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