Office Newswire: A new year. A new Microsoft?
Posted on Tuesday, January 8th, 2013 at 4:50 am by Ty Anderson.
It’s a new year and with it comes a wee-bit of introspection and planning. Most years, I make a few resolutions, or goals. This year will be no different. I have not finalized them yet but I will do so by January 31.
I can say that I will master this JavaScript + (Office or SharePoint) stuff. Office 2013 general availability is due this quarter. I hope the Office store will prove to be a success. I’m under no illusions though. Success will come slowly.
Another resolution is to build real products too. I have a few ideas that need to be brought to market. I’ve already started. I expect you to hold my feet to the fire.
I’m interested to know what resolutions an Office or SharePoint developer should make. Don’t stay stuck in your introverted shell. I’m really interested. Will you leave a comment and let me know what you plan for 2013?
Office news & editorials!
- A new year, a new Microsoft roadmap: Stepping up the delivery pace :: Here is some palace intrigue. The editorial is based on an old/stale PowerPoint slide but that doesn’t prevent it from being interesting. If it can be trusted, looks like the Office 16 is planned for 2015.
- Are you a SharePoint developer moving to Apps? You’re a moron! :: Let’s start 2013 with a strong opinion. The title is more of a teaser than it is a spoiler. In fact, I think Mr. Furuknap is only getting started.
- What’s better for today’s businesses: Google Apps or Microsoft Office? :: I kept up with the Office-related news during the holidays. I can’t help myself. I’m a news junkie. There was a plethora of news items covering Google Apps vs Microsoft Office. It seems to me the tech press is just likely to root against MSFT. Seriously, Google Apps is crap. I speak from experience. This hullabaloo about Google taking 90% of the Office suite market is funny. It’s bluster meant to gain press… and it works. I have more to say but read this item first then move to the next one.
- Microsoft can’t ignore Google Apps forever :: It is inevitable that Microsoft Office will lose market share. Google Apps costs $50/user… Office 365 costs $72 per user. Many people base their purchase decisions on price and price alone. Value doesn’t enter the equation. Nor does integration, extensibility, user experience, quality of the product, etc… . Value. Besides, even Google doesn’t use Google Apps. Google goes after Office only to hurt MSFT. You can’t convince me they are serious. Not yet at least.
Office tips, tricks & tools
- Announcing Business Contact Manager for Outlook Compatibility Update :: I’ve always liked Business Contact Manager. I’ve used it off and on. It’s good for what it does but I wish it was more extensible. I’d like to use it like Access but have it integrated with Outlook. That would be cool. Anyway, BCM will soon work with Office 2013.
- Technical diagrams for SharePoint 2013 :: I love these diagrams. I find them extremely useful in my projects.
- You always want to know another shortcut (video) [Excel] :: It looks like this was shot at the Commons building on the MSFT Campus. Great coffee there. And the snacks, so much sugar there it’ll kill your kidneys. I digress. This video is 2 minutes long and explains 3 great keyboard shortcuts for Excel.
Office developer items of note
- Calling SharePoint search using REST (e.g. from JavaScript or an app) :: I’m reading everything I can that covers JavaScript + (Office or SharePoint). All I can say is JavaScript is growing on me. That’s good because in the future we are all JavaScript developers.
- Create Callout Actions in hover over\callout popups in SharePoint 2013 :: More JavaScript.
Looks nice and is most likely useful. - TypeScript: Making .NET Developers Comfortable with JavaScript :: You know Microsoft. If something proves popular, they have to go out and create their own version. They do it for us… to make us comfortable. I appreciate that about MSFT.
- Office templates not available in VS2012 with ‘converted’ project. :: I’m saving the best item for last. The great Maarten van Stam explains how to fix the problem of missing Office templates caused by a bad GUID.
2 Comments
Ty,
Always nice to read entries here :-)
Here is my todo-list for 2013:
– Add-in: to handle attachments etc in Excel for Lotus Notes
– Add-in: An advanced and different add-ins tool
Now the US$ 1.00 question: which tool will I use to develop with?
All the best,
Dennis
Thanks Dennis!
I have hunch on which development tools you might use :-)