Mac Mojo : Microsoft Announcements at Macworld ’07
It’s Coming: Mac BU Announces Intent to Deliver Office 2008 for Mac
Microsoft Corp.’s Macintosh Business Unit (Mac BU) today revealed at Macworld Conference & Expo 2007 the news Mac fans have been waiting to hear: A new version of Office for Mac is on its way. The Mac BU announced its intent to deliver the first Universal version of Office for Mac for PowerPC- and Intel-based Macs — Microsoft® Office 2008 for Mac. Scheduled to be available in the second half of 2007, Office 2008 for Mac will allow Mac users to work smarter and more efficiently with new and enhanced tools that are simple, intuitive and easily discovered.

Congrats to the MacBU on this announcement. I’m super excited to see how this turned out – especially the My Day feature!

This is stuff that people usually do at the end of the year, but this recent rash of comments have inspired me to share with you the Most Commented Post on this blog.

So back in September 2005, my fiancee received an iPod Nano. A question came up: is it possible to delete songs directly from the device without having to use iTunes?

FWIW, the answer is no.

But it seems that I wasn’t the only person who wondered about this. To date, there have been 44 comments – mostly unhappy – about this exact same issue.

So, Apple – here’s a free suggestion: maybe you should allow deleting of songs from the iPod itself. Maybe make it a secret feature – you know, hold down two buttons at the same time and have it prompt the user.

Just a thought.

The Mac Business Unit at Microsoft (where I used to work) has a blog. This recent entry cracks me up:

Mac Mojo
The MacBU is just one product cycle away from being disbanded, laid off, or re-purposed.You guys must be nervous about your jobs, huh?
This is a reasonable question. I asked the same thing during my interviews. How sure was everyone about their job security? Did you worry every time a product shipped that it would be the last time you sat in front of a Mac? Everyone I’ve talked to, including some people that have been with Microsoft for over 15 years and working in the MacBU since its inception had absolutely no fear of their job going away.

The MacBU is just Microsoft’s way of avoiding some kind of legal problems or appeasing Apple.
I’d heard this explanation before from plenty of Mac users. I thought that maybe the folks working on Mac Office were just some kind of sacrificial lamb offered up by management to appease the Legal Gods. The reality is that the MacBU a very successful part of Microsoft when taken on our own. I don’t know all of the intricacies of the Microsoft/Apple relationship, but I get no feeling from my day-to-day work that they are dictating our direction with our products or vice-versa.

Gosh that brings back memories of all those questions I would always be peppered with at MacWorld.

Schwieb » Blog Archive » Saying goodbye to Visual Basic
Well, its been less than two days since the MacBU announced that Visual Basic is being removed from the next version of Mac Office. The news has created quite a firestorm on many Mac forums (I’ve been scanning MacNN, Ars Technica, and a few others) and I received some very strongly expressed opinions about it in comments on yesterday’s post. I’d like to take some time to express my own views and experiences on the removal of Mac VB.

If you care about Visual Basic on the Mac, you should read this very in depth post by Schwieb.

Just when you thought nothing could be simpler than the iPod…

iPod survival lessons – Yahoo! News UK

Help will soon be at hand for technophobes who don’t have a clue how to use their iPods – but at a price.

New tutorials costing ?65 for 40 minutes are to be offered at Selfridges’ flagship London department store.

The scheme comes in response to queries from customers who are baffled by the best-selling MP3 music players, a spokeswoman said. The one-to-one “iPod Survival” sessions will aim to teach clients everything there is to know about the trendy Apple device. Subjects covered will include general use of the iPod, using iTunes, installing and deleting videos, creating playlists and downloading Podcasts.

Ouch! $114USD for a 40 minute class on using the iPod? I’m quite curious as to how many customers they will have!

I think I’m going to go to MacWorld Expo this Friday.

How big is the show this year? Does it even fill up one hall? Just trying to budget time.

Thanks!

Jimmy Grewal’s Weblog ? Yes, I already ordered one.

I’m a Mac Geek for life, and I’ve already placed my order online. What exactly did I get? Read on…

Not surprising. Congrats Jimmy for always being on the bleeding edge!

That said, Gene Cownan has some gripes about the aluminum form factor:

Just as I thought | Gene Cowan’s weblog

Then there’s the form factor. It is the same aluminum case as the other PowerBooks, which is disappointing to me because I’ve had nothing but trouble with Apple’s metal cases. My current Aluminum PowerBook has severe pitting of the aluminum on the wrist rest, probably caused by an interaction between the low level of electrical current going through the case and the sweat from my hand. The plastic edging around the case is separating, and the top of the case is separating from the sides. The feet on the bottom have fallen off, as has one of the plastic nubs on the lid. The backlit keyboard ceased to work a long time ago, and there seems to be some kind of short-circuit somewhere around the power button — when pressure is applied to the case, it makes the machine sleep.
And the lid doesn’t close flush. The lid is warped, and when closed the right side is higher than the left. This sometimes causes problems with the latch and the lid doesn’t stay closed.

It sure is tempting to get one of those MacBooks (gack – the name!) But I’ll wait for v2.

Just like people joke (semi-seriously) that you should always wait for SP1 before installing a Microsoft product, or you should wait for the second year of a new version of a car, it seems to me that Apple hardware has been like that as well lately. I bet the V2 will have some awesome incremental feature that I’d really jealous of.

MacInTouch: news and tips about the Apple Macintosh and iTunes

MacBook Pro has a 15.4″ widescreen and it’s 1-inch thick, at 5.6 lbs. with an “iSight” camera built into the top of the screen. It also has an IR sensor and an Apple remote, a light sensor, sudden motion sensor, scrolling trackpad, DVI video out that can drive the 30″ Cinema Display, digital optical and analog.

Unlike the PowerBook, the MacBook does not have support for FireWire 800, nor does it have any modem, although it does have FireWire 400 and two USB 2.0 ports. The laptop has an aluminum case, like current PowerBooks.

The MacBook sports a new Express Card slot, a smaller 34mm format approximately the size of a CompactFlash card, but there’s almost nothing available in that format.

A new MagSafe power adapter connector is magnetic, so tripping over the power card won’t do the kind of damage it used to do. It’s “patent pending”.

Apple’s price is $1999 for a 1.67GHz MacBook, shipping in February, with 512MB of RAM, or $2499 for a 1.833GHz model with 1 GB of RAM. Apple is taking orders today.

I’m on the road today in Redmond, but my first reactions:

1. Wow, faster, thinner – neato!
2. The power plug solution sounds frickin’ awesome
3. Lack of modem is a bummer. Modem has saved me quite a number of times on the road – boo to Apple for cutting it.
4. MacBook? I liked the name PowerBook better.