Office 365 Newswire: score points for Google Docs & Office 365 cloud productivity suites – 5.4.2012

Sleep is a wondrous drug. Did you know that if you don’t get enough sleep you become grumpy? Did you know too that without sleep all creative thought completely disappears… which leads to frustration and even more grumpiness? It’s true. I’ve lived it these past few days.

It took me a couple of days to realize it but I am taking action to correct it. I’m making sure I sleep 8 hours a night the next few nights. I did so last night and I can tell you that a full night of sleep:

• improves your mood
• increases brain flow (aka creativity)
• whitens your teeth
• reduces halitosis… and…
• magically enables the kiddos to pick-up after themselves.

The week is almost over and I’m ready to go! As the weekend approaches, please enjoy today’s Office 365 Newswire. I’ve been searching the InterWeb so you don’t have to!

Office 365 score keeping

I’m introducing a new section. I can’t promise it will be here every week but it will make an appearance from time to time. Count on it. Week-to-week, there are several news items attempting to score points for Google Docs, Office 365, LibreOffice, and other cloud productivity suites. I’ve tried keeping it with them. I then grew bored with the topic but feel I can no longer ignore it. I wasn’t really ignoring it, I just wasn’t going out of my way to include them each week. But, due to copious amounts of sleep, I had an idea for how to deal with all this score keeping.

In this section, the only comment I’ll make is who scored a point. I’ll leave it to you to read the full article… or not.

• U.S. Department of the Interior ends up going Google for hosted e-mail :: More info and opinionating available here == Score 1 for Google
• BUT–> At the Interior Department, Google Apps will co-exist with Outlook, Office == Take away 0.5 from Google
• Texas Education Agency saves big with free Office 365 == Score 1 for Office 365
• Office 365 becomes first and only major cloud productivity service to comply with Leading EU and U.S. Standards for Data Protection and Security == Score 1 for Office 365

This week’s score:

Office 365 wins this week’s Office 365 Newswire Score Keeping Scoreboard! That’s a name filled with so many words, Microsoft just might use it for a product!

Office 365 news & editorials!

• Cloud storage booming, but trouble is on the horizon :: You know you have a good writer when you keep reading their stuff, liking it, then checking the byline… only to find out that it’s someone you know and trust. This item is straight from the keyboard of Mr. Woody Leonhard. As Mr. Leonhard suggests, what we have here is a good old fashioned horse race. The current leaders are Dropbox, Sky Drive, and Google Drive. Who will win? Who cares? They each have their niche right? I use all three of them and hate myself for it.
• What smaller businesses should look for in cloud software :: Speaking of choices, just what options & features should you take into consideration when choosing a Cloud storage provider for your files? This item will help you start thinking through this life-changing decision for your business. Something they don’t mention, but that you should consider, is… who owns the files you load into the cloud?
• The Great Ars Cloud Office suite shootout :: Ars Technica provides a deep analysis of each major cloud productivity’s sweet ability to convert Office documents. With all the talk about Office killers, it’s difficult for me take any of it seriously when a major news site like this publishes an entire article on these so-called Office killer’s ability to convert Office documents.
• Note to Google: you can’t bully users into loving a new product :: Google has some really great stuff. I use some of their products every day. But, Google is young teenager intent on learning wisdom via their own mistakes. As the author points out, they could avoid these mistakes if they knew Microsoft’s history.

Office 365 tips, tricks & tools

• Deploying Office 365 client applications with Windows Intune :: Learn how to use Intune to deploy Office Professional Plus 2010 and Lync 2010 to your organization’s managed PCs. Intune is going to be a big deal.
• Colligo unveils feature-packed upgrade to leading SharePoint iPad app :: Colligo released an update of the SharePoint iPad app. This version provides 2-way sync. You can edit your documents and Colligo Briefcase will sync the changes. No problem. You can download it from Colligo.com
• Brainstorming with OneNote Web App :: I have read that brainstorming has been proven not to work. I think I agree… if brainstorming is done in groups. However, when I sit on the floor of my office with a blank sheet of paper and some good music, my brain does some serious storming. And now, thanks to this article, I know how to record these ideas using the OneNote Web App.
• How to set reminders in SharePoint 2010 Online via the calendar? :: This feature does not exist in SharePoint but did you know a work around exists? Well, you do now.
• How to import contacts into Office 365 and Outlook web access :: It takes a bit of effort but it’s easy.

Office 365 developer items of note

• MICROSOFT SHAREPOINT ONLINE CODE ANALYSIS FRAMEWORK (MSOCAF) :: Continuing a time honored MSFT tradition in product naming, here is MSOCAF. I scanned through this item and it does look like an interesting tool for anyone building and/or deploying SharePoint solutions.
• Troubleshooting Office 365 single sign-on with Fiddler2 :: A quick, fun-filled, 45-minute video for troubleshooting Office 365 SSO issues. Save this one for when you need. Just remember who told you about it first… okay?!
• 16 Best Visual Studio extensions :: This is the developer section of the Office 365 Newswire and I reserve the right to include anything "developer-related". This article looks mostly like link-bait but you just might find something useful. I did… JS Enhancements
• Introducing Workspace Reloader – a Visual Studio add-in :: Scott Hanselman has the 411 on what looks like a super-cool new Visual Studio extension.

Cutting room floor

• 40+ creative uses of Ribbons in Web Design :: No mention of the SharePoint Ribbon… what’s up with that?!!
• How Microsoft learned to love the outsiders
• The anatomy of a horrible web design client [INFOGRAPHIC]
• Visual effects pioneer behind ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ is ‘thrilled’ to see The Hobbit at 48fps