Office.com’s 2011 Calendar Contest…and the Winners are!

Encouraged by my friend Erwin, we (Erwin and I) joined the 2011 Calendar Contest from Office.com.  At first I really don’t know how to start since I can’t pick a nice theme for my calendar template until an idea crossed my mind.  What if I’ll make Star Teak inspired  2011 calendar would it make a difference?

The rule of the contest was simple.  Make a 2011 calendar using Microsoft Office 2007 or 2010 in either Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Publisher.  Upload to the the site. At the end of the contest the template with most downloads will in the Office.com.  There will be four winners 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and an Honorable Mention.

Here’s the Star Trek inspired calendar template that I submitted featuring model ships and their general specifications.

    

Star Trek Calendar VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

  (You may click each tab to download the calendar template)

  

    

I was surprised when Erwin told me that I am one of the lucky winner in the said contest.  I got the honorable mention!  Were both very happy that one of us won the contest!

You may also download Erwin’s templates, he’s one of the top template provider in the said contest by uploading  3 beautiful templates! Just click the pictures below to download my best pal’s template!

     

Everything comes to an End…10 Days to Go!

This is all for the Beta testers of Microsoft Office 2010.  The Beta release of the newest productivity suite from Microsoft is about to expire and cease it’s usability.  I just received an email (probably all those beta testers who registered received it too) telling that I have ten days left before the beta software will expire. 

Everything really comes to an end.  So to all those who enjoyed the free ride of the Beta release of Office 2010, it’s time to move on.  If like me, you enjoyed the new features and capabilities of this productivity suite, it’s time for you to buy the full version of the product to continue using it.  I know the main concern of some of us here will be the price of the product, it’s a bit costly but I think considering the benefit  you’ll get when you buy the full version, the price is reasonable enough.  If you’re not yet ready to buy because of your tight budget you can always downgrade to the previous versions of Microsoft Office (2003 and 2007) and upgrade later when the time is right for you.   The choice is always yours! 

Not decided yet? Why not try the final version of Office 2010!  You may visit the page here and download a trial version of the product.  Off course the trial version won’t last but it will give you a preview of what you are missing and might convince you to upgrade.

Forgot your laser pointer? PowerPoint can give you one!

Microsoft PowerPoint is very useful in many ways, business presentations, reports, or just simply doing a simple good looking audio video presentation for your family and friends.  As for me I’m using Microsoft PowerPoint for my lecture presentations every time a school or organizations invites the windows7ako team (I included) to educate them about the new and emerging technologies from Microsoft and every Sunday I used PowerPoint to make a presentation of our choir anthem. 

Enough of that what I’m trying to say here is that what if you forgot your laser pointer or if you don’t have one for your presentation? I’m sure it’s a little bit embarrassing if you’re going to present using your finger to point a specific area of your presentation.  With that I want you to know that PowerPoint 2010 can help you with your small problem! A lot of features of MS PowerPoint are disregarded or taken for granted because some of us doesn’t know these features.

Now for your instant laser pointer in Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 just hit Control + Left Click on your mouse and instantly you will see a glowing red dot in your PowerPoint presentation!  Just hold on to those keys for as long as you need the pointer.

Remove Background in MS Word 2010 Amazes a Fashion Designer!

Microsoft Word 2010 is already in the mainstream for a couple of months now but to some people who are not that techie MS Word 2010 is just another of a word processor.  I beg to disagree, Word 2010 is more than that!  With its new and improved features it can amaze somebody,  and that somebody will going to love the new Word 2010!

It was around 9 PM when my friend / housemate Kristoffer Magboo, a fashion designer and image stylist, is asking me how to print a photo in gray scale.  He has to print a photo of his designs.  So I thought him how, he inserted a picture in MS Word 2010, it turned out that the picture was captured using a digital camera.  A supposedly white background became grayish due to inadequate lighting.  Upon seeing the picture, an idea came into my mind, what if I’ll use the Remove Background feature of MS Word, will it do the trick?  So I asked him permission to manipulate his picture and said OK.  So what I did was, I clicked the photo, directed my mouse pointer to the Remove Background button in the Picture Tools contextual tab, marked the areas to keep, marked the areas to remove, then I hit keep changes.  The next thing I heard from Kris was, “Whooooaaa how did you do that?  Ang galing!” So I explained to him Word 2010 has already the power to manipulate and edit pictures and I also thought him how to do it too.

Remove Background is just one of the new features of MS Word 2010, there are more to be explored.  This what I like with MS Office, it keeps on innovating!

Below is the before and after of the picture I manipulated…

Want to have an office 2010 for FREE?  Avail the Office 2010 Technology Guarantee Program! Buy a any version of Office 2007 until September 30, 2010 and get a free upgrade of MS Office 2010!  For more details you may visit http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/tech-guarantee/ and avail the promo today!

Be a member of the official Office 2010 community in the Philippines!  Join Office2010tayo in Facebook and get to meet the members of the community every meetups!

Team Windows7ako in Action: Another Successful Seminar / Lecture @ MAPUA Institute of IT

It’s an amazing or maybe funny thing for a Medical Technologist to stand right in front of graduating IT students talking about technologies which is not related to a medical profession at all.   Take note this students spent four years of their lives studying Information Technology which means that they are far more better than me when it comes to IT.  The thing is, even a Medical Technologist can amaze an Information Technologist.  My colleagues in my workplace are very amazed with my vast knowledge in information technology and they always ask me, “why did you became a Medical Technologist when you are far better to become an IT Pro?  I always answer “It’s because God knows where I’m most needed,” and now He gave me the chance to pursue IT in my own way wherein I can enjoy both worlds :)

Okay, enough with the dramatic  introduction.  Before our lecture / demo at DLSU, Christopher Ryan Abary already informed me that he was invited at Mapua Institute of IT to talk about Cloud Computing with SharePoint Collaboration and he wants John Erwin Magno and I to come and discuss MS Office 2010.  Tentative date of the said seminar is on August 19, 2010 but after talking with Kyle Villaflor from Mapua, the date was moved today, August 26, 2010 at 3 PM.  By the way Kyle is the one who invited us.  She’s a graduating IT student from Mapua School of IT. 

It was evening of August 19, 2010, after planning and collaboration at my workplace we (Erwin, Christopher, and I) met Kyle at a coffee shop located at Makati Cinema Square to give her an overview of what are we going to discuss in their seminar.  We asked her what they really want to hear from us because let’s admit it cloud computing is a broad topic.  In conclusion we agreed that Christopher will discuss Collaboration with SharePoint and Erwin and I will discuss MS Office 2010. Erwin and I divided the Office 2010 topic.  He’ll discuss and demo PowerPoint and Excel 2010 and as for me I’ll be discussing Word and OneNote 2010. 

After days and nights preparing our PowerPoint decks and studying our topics here comes the judgment day (haha)  wherein we are going to deploy and share our knowledge.  It’s 2PM of August 26, 2010, Erwin and Christopher fetch me at my workplace (Philcare, Inc).  After asking permission from my manager to allow me to have a 2 hour under time which she granted after telling her that I’ll be one of the resource speaker at Mapua (Thanks Dr. Espiritu for understanding and allowing me to leave the clinic premises 2 hours earlier).  We then proceeded at a coffee shop near Mapua where Kyle agreed to meet us. 

We started the lecture at about 3:30 in the afternoon.  Christopher started it by discussing what is Cloud Computing and Collaboration with SharePoint 2010.  Followed by a brief talk from Mapua’s MSPs introducing Windows Live, Imagine Cup and Microsoft Student Partner.  Now here comes my part, since our time is running out, Erwin and I decided to go fast track but without compromising quality.  Using the decks I prepared (enhanced by Erwin – the PowerPoint Master! Thanks Bro!), I started by giving them an overview of what’s new with Office 2010, followed by Microsoft Word 2010, then followed by Erwin’s deck  for PowerPoint and Excel, and lastly for my ending, OneNote!  Then we performed our live demo on Office 2010 new and improved features which amazed our audience and because Office 2010 has a lot to offer.  For our last demo we showed them the collaboration (co-authoring) feature of Office 2010 using the free Office WebApp in Windows Live.  We also raffled four special items to make our brief stay there more memorable. 

Team Windows7ako in Action (Mapua School of IT) VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

It was really amazing for me to stand of IT people discussing a topic that might be easy for them and a bit hard for me.  But as they said “do what you desire to do and do it well and you will be rewarded.”  If you’ll ask me what did I got from doing this, I’ll say happiness and fulfillment.  To Kyle and the Mapua IT students, thank you guys for inviting us!

My certificate of appreciation.  Christopher, Erwin, and I was presented with this certificate after the seminar. ;)

My First Lecture / Demo outside Microsoft Grounds! :)

The Preparation

Sometime in July, a member of the Windows7ako community, Justin Ryan Siy from De La Salle University asked me if I can have a talk about emerging technologies in their class.  He told me that it’s a lecture / seminar type so I ask him if Office 2010 will be a good topic, then he approved.  I was a bit hesitant before for this will be my first time, I mean I already have several demos about Windows 7 and Office 2010 but  it’s just within Microsoft grounds and in front of familiar faces.  This will be a challenge for me.  To my excitement I asked my friend Christopher to join me in my first official demo and I got a positive response.  We then collaborate with Justin and Ray Angelo (Justin’s group mate) what will be our topic and how long the talk will last.  It was agreed that we will be talking Windows 7 and Office 2010 for three hours including the question and answer portion after the talk.  A week after Justin ,informed me that the date is already finalized and it will be on August 14, 2010 at 2:30-5:30 in the afternoon.

It’s eleven days before the event, I met with Christopher and reminded him about the event, but unfortunately because of his hectic schedule in his job, he told me that he can’t come with me.  I was a bit frustrated after that.  August 5, 2010 during the Windows7ako meetup at Gweilo’s bar I asked John Erwin Magno (another active member of the community) if he can join me at De La Salle University, without any hesitation he said yes.  So I informed Christopher that I got another partner and he told me that he will still come if he can.

In short, I coordinated with Erwin about the topic that we will discuss.  Suddenly I received a private message in my Facebook account that says our lecture will be compressed to one hour instead of three.  The time is a bit short but I said it will do.  Erwin and I even meet at a nearby mall to discuss what will happen in the said seminar.  We agreed that I’ll be talking MS Word and Excel, and MS PowerPoint and One Note for him, and for the Web App we’ll just demo the co-authoring feature  since we have a limited time.

The Most Awaited Day

August 14, 2010 the day of our lecture / seminar, i ,m a bit nervous for it’s my first time to have a live demo outside Microsoft grounds or outside the windows7ako and Office2010tayo community.  During our Facebook chat, Erwin also told me that he’s a bit nervous too.  Even an experienced instructor like Erwin who teaches IT subjects can be nervous for the topic is not really his forte, so imagine me, a Medical Technologist who is going to talk about techie things!  So we proceeded at La Salle for our seminar.  We went to a convenience store first to buy a battery for my camera (for documentation of course hehe :p)  I sent Justin a message that were just in a nearby convenience store, he answered and ask us to wait for a while for he is still securing a gate pass for us.  Finally at exactly 4:30 PM, I received a message telling us to proceed to the south gate university.  He fetched us at the gate and after paying our respect to the guard, we’re on our way to the seminar venue.  We arrived the the venue at exactly 4:45 PM, setup our laptops and waited for some students to come.  We are expecting at least 50 attendees but unfortunately due to a conflict with schedules only 18 students came.  But it didn’t bothered me since we’re already there, our duty is to proceed with the lecture as planned.

I started by introducing ourselves, we also told the students that we are an active member of the windows7ako and office2010tayo community. As the first lecturer I asked them if they already seen Office 2010 or evaluated the Beta version.  Unfortunately I got a negative answer, all of them are still using either Office 2007 and some Office 2003.  To my mind it good for they will be amazed into what we will show them.   I  introduced what is MS Office 2010, talked about Word and Excel 2010.  On the other hand, Erwin discussed the power of PowerPoint 2010 and supposedly One Note 2010 but due to limited time he opted to discuss the Office 2010 plug-ins which is the Ribbon Hero and the pptPlex.  Our last topic should be the Co-Authoring feature of the Office WebApp but unfortunately we failed to hook up to the university’s network after several trials.  So we have just discussed how the co-authoring feature works and how will help them to be more productive in their daily tasks.

The students have a very positive response on the new productivity suite.  They were really amazed what Microsoft Office 2010 can do to their assignments, projects and daily tasks.  They learned a lot and also discovered some tools that are already present in the previous versions of Office but are rarely used can make their tasks easily.

We ended up by promoting the windows7ako and office2010tayo community.  We encourage them to join the community and asked them that if they have more questions they can always post there and we’ll be willing to answer.  We also raffled three Office 2010 shirts (courtesy of Microsoft of course – thanks Mellie!), and have a picture taken with the attendees. As a token of appreciation, Justin handed a DLSU paper bag, inside is a DLSU mug (thanks Justin!).

So there, this is my official demo / lecture on emerging Microsoft technology, outside Microsoft grounds. Hope this won’t be the last.  I really enjoyed the experience!  To the members of windows7ako and ofiice2010tayo community, thanks for the support and encouragement, it really helped me a lot, thanks Erwin, I owe you one!

Office 2010 Demo @ DLSU Taft VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Be a member of the windows7ako and office2010tayo community!  By clicking the picture below, you will be redirected to the community’s Facebook page.

                                   

Office 2010… which is which?

Now that Microsoft Office 2010 is out in the market, lets see which version is right for you and will fit your everyday productivity needs.  Office 2010 has a total of six (6) versions, 3 in retail channels, 2 in volume licensing and 1 for the academic purposes.  Whoever you are, whatever you do there’s an Office 2010 that is right for you. Let’s compare editions.

For retail channels, which means that these versions will be available in you favorite computer stores. We have Office 2010 Home and Student, Home add Business, and Professional. 

Note: The retail license terms for Office Home and Student 2010 allow for installation on up to three home computers. Not intended for use in any commercial, nonprofit, or revenue generating business activities, or by any government organization.

If you are in the enterprise or have a business of you own and you need to purchase five or more licenses of Office 2010 perhaps it’s good to consider the Standard Edition or the Professional Plus Editions.  Compare below.

Note: These editions is available through volume licensing only and cannot be found in retail markets.

At the University, Office Professional Academic 2010 is available for low price to fit student budgets.

There are 2 more editions that I haven’t discussed, the Office 2010 Mobile and the Office 2010 Starter, but  that’s another story. There you have it, the six new editions of Microsoft’s superb productivity suite available for your daily productivity needs!

Have you chosen your edition yet? :)

Office Web Apps is Already in SkyDrive!

I’ve been checking my SkyDrive for the Office Web Apps ever since the RTM of Office2010 has been launched on May 12, 2010.  I’ve been using the Office 2010 RTM since the launch and anticipating the deployment of of the Web Apps to complete my Office 2010 experience! Initially only MS Excel has the edit in browser feature. For the MS Worid and Powerpoint you can only view the file but not edit it in browser.  Now the waiting is over! Just yesterday, during the business launch of Office 2010 held at Shangri-La Makati, I opened my SkyDrive and noticed something in it! The Interface has been changed, files are now listed by date and as I hovered my mouse pointer to a Word doc file an option that says “Edit in Browser” will appear.  Same thing happened when I hover my mouse pointer in a PowerPoint file!  this just means that Office Web Apps is now fully deployed and now ready to be used anytime and anywhere I want (provided that I have a connection in the cloud haha)

With the Office Web Apps in full deployment, sharing files is easier than ever! No more repetitive editing of a document or file to update it and upload it again to SkyDrive.  I can just edit a file and update it online without the hassle of downloading, editing, and uploading it again!  This new feature of Live.com will benefit students on their group projects, teachers who give always give a soft copy of their lecture, a small business that needs file sharing, and a lot more!

The Web Apps release includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote, which has language support for English, Spanish (USA) and French (Canada), more language to come in the coming months!

Now I can say that my Office 2010 experience is complete! :)

 

Catch Microsoft Office 2010 and find out what's happening as we launch Office 2010 in the Philippines! Click here and join office2010tayo, the official Office 2010 community here in the Philippines!

@ the Office 2010 community launch party!

It was another blast at the 16th floor of 6750 Ayala Avenue as Microsoft Philippines joins in the global launch of Microsoft Office 2010!  The said global launching is held in New York on May 12, 2010 11 AM Eastern Time.

There were a lot of attendees in the community launch party, most are familiar faces form the Windows7ako community (the official community for Windows 7 in the Philippines).  We started the party with a sumptuous dinner with overflowing drinks in cocktail tables.  The party was hosted by Mr. Jojo Ayson and Ms. Chay Mondejar-Saputil who were also the host during the Windows 7 community launch party.  The two has again a lot of trivia questions to ask to stimulate the brain of the attendees and of course a price awaits for each orrect answer to the trivia question .  Ms Femie Cruz, the Product Manager for Office gave un a brief introduction about Microsoft Office 2010 telling us how office 2010 would really make our job much more easier. Followed by a demo about some cool new features of Office 2010 by Mr. Chester Coronel and Mr. EJ Lopez . Then the demo showdown begins!

The demo showdown aims to to give an idea to community members what to expect in Office 2010 and to showcase the new, cool, and improved features of Office 2010!  Ten brave community members (I, Christopher, Miyer, and Orlee included) who conquered their fear in standing in front of a big crowd joined in the showdown not just for the price but also for fun!  Each of us showcased some new features of Office 2010! After the demo showdown, here comes the judging, Sir Jojo gave the crowd the right to decide who will win in the showdown by clapping of hands.  The tenwas trimmed into five, then three (Miyer, Orlee and I).  Orlee got the loudest clap, then Miyer, then me. The grand prize went to Orlee – a Samsung equipped with Windows Mobile Phone, the second to Miyer – a flip camera, and the third an optional Arc Mouse or an HP Printer.   Since I already have an Arc Mouse, took the printer for the the third prize!  A very timely price since my printer is already busted and I’m already planning to buy a replacement!

Hmmm I forgot to mention, a belated birthday cake was given to Miss Chay after Christopher’s demo, courtesy of members of the core team from Windows7ako community.  Also another cake was given as a token of appreciation to the people behind Office2010tayo community, which was accepted by Miss Femie Cruz..

The party was ended with Ms. Femie raffling a bunch of cool Office2010 and Wundows 7 stuffs which includes bags, jackets, shirts, caps etc.

Microsoft Office 2010 will be available in retail on June 2010. Now, while waiting for the final release of Office 2010 you may want  download the Beta release at http://www.microsoft.com/office/2010/en/download-office-professional-plus/default.aspx and enjoy a free ride of this amazing productivity suite! 

For queries and updates about Office 2010, please join the official community of Office 2010 in the Philippines, office2010tayo.

MS Office 2010 to be Launched on May 12

The much awaited productivity suite from Microsoft,  the MS Office 2010  suite will be launched on May 12, 2010.  The launching will be held at NBC Studios in New York at 11 a.m. ET.  Keynoting the event will be Microsoft Business Division President Stephen Elop.

Though the launching will take place on the said date, excited consumers will still wait until June to purchase the product at retail.

Simultaneously on May 12, 2010, Microsoft Philippines will join the world in launching MS Office 2010.  There’s no much detail yet as to where it will be held but I’m sure the event will be much similar when Windows 7 was launched last October 22, 2009.

For details and updates on Office 2010 and Windows 7 please visit and become a fan of the following facebook fan page:

windows7ako

office2010tayo 

You can also post questions and queries regarding Windows 7 and Office 2010 on those two fan pages and members of the community will be much happy to help you.

Now, while waiting for the final release of Office 2010 you ma download the Beta release at http://www.microsoft.com/office/2010/en/download-office-professional-plus/default.aspx and enjoy free ride!  I’ve been using the Beta since it’s release and it’s not so bad and it’s too perfect for a beta. :)

Buy Office 2007 now and Get Office 2010 for free!

For those who tested the the Office 2010 Beta and would like to have the final version (RTM) this is your chance to get it for FREE!  Like the Windows 7 free upgrade promo if you buy a Windows Vista for a certain period of time, Microsoft offered the same thing for the Office 2010 and it’s called Microsoft Office 2010 Technology Guarantee.

Microsoft has announced that if you buy your Office 2007 anytime between March 5, 2010 and September 30, 2010, you are automatically qualified for a free upgrade when the much awaited Office 2010 will be released.

To know more about the Microsoft Office 2010 Technology Guarantee follow this link: Microsoft Office 2010 Technology Guarantee.

Microsoft Office 2010 on the move!

I recently acquired a copy of of the new Microsoft Office 2010 Beta (Technical Preview) also codenamed Office 14.  This new productivity suite  for Microsoft Windows is the successor of the MS Office 2007 (codenamed Office 12) that is currently being used by most computer users this days.  The version number 13 has been skipped due to the aversion of the number 13 (Triskaidekaphobia).  Development of this new office was started after the release of Office 2007 in 2006.  This new Office suite has a lot of enhancements.  It might look like its predecessor (Office 2007) but it’s far more advanced.

This new office suite will be available on both 32-bit and 64-bit versions and will be compatible for PCs running Windows XP  SP3, Windows Vista and Windows 7.  Also Office 2010 will have a free online versions of Word, Excel, Poweroint and OneNote which can be accessed with web browsers such as IE, Firefox, Chrome and Safari.  But to access these online applications you need to have a live.com account which is very easy to create. 

Microsoft confirmed that the productivity suite will be released to manufacturing and be available to the public by the first half of 2010 and a public Beta version will available early November this year.  You may visit the Office 2010 site here and some screenshots here.