Office Newswire: Microsoft & CES, Office on the iPad news – 1.11.12

I really like today because today’s date makes a nice equation:

How often does that happen? Probably more than I realize but today I’m paying attention.

I know a lot of people were really excited about 11/11/11. I was too. I even had a childhood friend get married in Vegas on that day… in a drive-thru wedding chapel with an Elvis-Impersonator as the pastor. My wife and I watched it on live via the magic a live streaming on the Interweb. It was cool. But not as cool as today’s date.

I like numbers, especially prime numbers. I also like any number combination that can be summed to equal 3, 7, or 12. I like 3 but I am thinking of switching it to 5, because, well 5+7=12 and that somehow matters to me.

Look, we all have our particuliarities. I know, this isn’t a word. I made up just now. It’s a combination of particular + peculiar. The equation works if you give it a try. No proof needed.

Okay. Let’s see what’s in today’s Office Newswire…

Office (on the iPad) news

Dang it. It seems all the news regarding Office is the result of other companies creating apps that work with Office files and run on the iPad. Mind you, these are not Office for the iPad as many of the article authors below state.

Nope… nippy… no!

They might work with Office files and they might run on the iPad but they are not Microsoft Office on the iPad. If MSFT doesn’t release an Office for iOS they are crazy.

• OnLive Desktop brings Windows 7, Office apps to your iPad :: I read this and want to learn more. OnLive says they bring Windows 7 to the iPad. And everyone knows if you have Windows 7, well, run Office on it. Hmm… Still, I’m skeptical. I want a native iOS app.
• CloudOn brings Microsoft Office to your iPad, complete with Cloud Storage :: I downloaded CloudOn last night but didn’t have a chance to do anything with it. They claim this: iPAD + Microsoft Office + Dropbox = Super Awesomeness. They say they let you work directly with Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. I don’t know that my testing will prove their equation but then again, I’m not in marketing. Check it out… could be cool but be sure and read the comments on their iTunes app store page.
• Why Microsoft Office on iPad would be awesome… and not :: I like Tony Bradley. He has personality and isn’t afraid to offer opinions. This makes him a good writer. I think he covers the positives & negatives, pros & cons, reasons for & reasons against of a Microsoft creating a native iOS version of iPad. You can guess my take but I will state it again. Microsoft would be utterly silly and gutless not to do it! But don’t worry MSFT, I will love you either way.

Microsoft @ CES

This week is Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and Steve Ballmer delivered the last keynote by Microsoft for the foreseeable future. I offer this article from Mashable.com to you.

• Ballmer exits the CES stage without a bang

I think we are in for some interesting times in the years ahead.

Office tips & tricks

I intentionally spent some time looking for Office Tips & Tricks this week. I really think the first item is solid gold. I have known of Ms. Krieger’s work but didn’t realize she created the majority of templates for Word & PowerPoint in Office 2010. If you read only one of the following items, be sure and read the first one. It’s great. And if you have the hankerin’* to make your own templates, download the Office Theme Builder tool.

*I apologize for the link attached to hankerin’. However, I love that word and everytime I use it I think of that great public service announcment. I had a troubled child hood and spent too much time watching TV.

• Template talk with Stephanie Krieger
• Best MS Office: Word, Excel, Powerpoint Editor for iPad, iPhone
• Learn Visio 2010 from Visio MVPs
• Flip PDF to Word Converter: Convert PDF files to Word
• Microsoft PowerPoint 2007: How to add sounds in a PPT

Office, uh SharePoint, developer news

Yep, it seems all the news these days is related to SharePoint. I was really hoping CES might include some tasty Office news nuggets. No luck. The Office team is doing their best impression of Apple and not saying a darn thing. I think the next version of Office will provide lots of new development content. I have hunch there will be big changes to the developer models. In the mean time, SharePoint continues to be very popular.

• How To: Restrict visibility of SharePoint 2010 lists and libraries
• Create a Balanced Scorecard by using Dashboard Designer
• How to add custom ASP.NET page using layouts folder approach in SharePoint 2010

Alas, we have come to the end. This is it for today my friend.

Check back Friday for the Office 365 Newswire when I will entertain you yet again.