Good-ish news, for people wanting to upgrade - Microsoft have finally brought out the upgrade to Office 2004 that allows it to convert and read the Office 2008 file formats.

The Open XML File Format converter is the starting point - this allows conversion of documents saved in Office 2008 for Mac or Office 2007 for PC file formats. It can do single or batch conversion. After that, the Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.5.0 update integrates with the format converter, allowing Office 2004 to seamlessly open documents from the newer versions of office. This allows you to run both versions in parallel, and exchange documents in the new Office file formats.

What we can’t understand is why these functions weren’t released at the same time as Office 2007. Or why VBA isn’t implemented in Office 2008 for Mac. We know that there are very many large companies for whom this is essential.

Us? We fall on the other side of the 80:20 functionality rules, and Pages is quite good enough for us. And faster. And it also reminds us of Ami Pro, still our favourite word-processor ever, even if it was on a PC.

Technorati Tags:
office 2008, office 2004

Posted: June 29th, 2008 under News.
Comments: 1

These little wireless broadband adaptors are very common in the UK right now. Several of the mobile phone carriers - Three and Vodaphone at least - use them. The trouble is, the supplied application crashes out under the current Leopard build, 10.5.3, when trying to make a connection.

There is a trick to get it working, though. Do the following:

Firstly, run the “Mobile Connect” Make sure under “settings” there is a profile: I called mine “3 USB Modem”, with Access Point name of 3internet and Telephone number of *99#. You only need to do this once.

Secondly, go into System Preferences. In the Network pane, select the HUAWEI mobile device in the left pane. Now, in the right pane, under Configuration, select “Add Configuration”. I caled mine “Three”. Add *99# as the telephone number, make sure “Show modem status in menu bar” is ticked (for convenience) and you’re all set.

Each time you need to make a connection, firstly run the mobile connect application from the usb modem key. I don’t get reliable connections unless I do this. Then go to your menu bar, locate the little phone icon, and choose “Connect HUAWEI mobile.”

That’s it. That will make a connection to your wireless broadband service provider.

Huawei have recognised the problem and are expected to bring out a replacement application soon, but this will keep you working until they do so. I’d keep an eye on their forums for the announcement of the new app.

Technorati Tags:
leopard, Huawei, E169G, 10.5.3

Posted: June 20th, 2008 under Stuff We Use, Tips.
Comments: none