Productivity Software

Archive for March, 2010

There is a woman at work whose behavior is driving me nuts. The place I work for is a small business (less than 2 dozen employees). I’ve worked there for about two years now, and she’s worked there for about 3 years. Technically, her title is the same as mine, but she behaves and is often treated like a member of management.

That’s all fine and good, but this woman goes out of her way to step on other people to make herself and her ideas dominate the entire office environment. I can’t do my work without her stopping to tell me what I should do differently. She will literally stand over my shoulder and ask me "so.. how’s it going?" That sentence right there makes me cringe. No matter what I say or what I show her i’m doomed. I have tried ignoring her and telling her it’s not a big deal, but it’s a small office, and everybody knows everybody else’s business. She always insists on putting her two cents in, and she acts like she’s doing the world a favor. The trouble is, her criticism is always negative and she never offers any useful suggestions. Her favorite thing to suggest is that you put your project on hold until she figures out what she wants to do with it. Yeah, right. Most people would probably blow her off. Hard to do with her. She tends to throw a big fit and finds plently of other ways to make your work day intolerable if you don’t show her everything you’re doing.

I’ve been noticing a pattern lately. I’ll be working on something, the manager will come by and give me some suggestions, a few words of encouragement, and the go ahead to proceed. Then after a few days, this co-worker will appear (after she knows I’ve been working on this project for a little while) and she’ll get all huffy and tell me i’m doing it all wrong. She’ll pick it apart in the cruelest possible way until all the things I felt good about in the project are gone. Where was she two days ago, when I first started? Why didn’t she give me a game plan then? I don’t understand her logic. She’ll rip everything apart, and tell me all the things I did wrong, yet, she never gives me any suggestions on what I should do to make it right. It’s almost like she enjoys making other people feel two inches tall. She has this look that she gives people that makes my skin crawl. As if to say, "you better do as I say or i’ll rip out your eyeballs and eat them for lunch" She also has this habit of going to the manager and convincing her that what i’m doing is all wrong. The next thing I know i’m being told by my manager (the same person who just gave me the thumbs up to proceed) that I need to scrap everything and put the entire project on hold until my co-worker and management figure out what they want to do.

It’s confusing and unproductive to have a manager give you the go ahead and then make you scrap your work based on another employee’s opinions. It’s insulting. I don’t appreciate someone posing as a manager ripping my stuff apart and acting like what i’ve done is child’s play. I’m the only one there that even has a clue how to use the software needed to complete the project. And the other day my co-worker asked that I explain how the software works. First of all, it took me years to acquire what I know about the ins and outs of this software. It isn’t something you learn overnight. And secondly… what? Is she serious?? Is she trying to push me off the ledge here? She’s nuts, I tell you. And as good as she is at criticizing other people’s ideas, she has very few solid ideas herself. She’s also unorganized, and myself and my other co-workers have noticed that it takes forever just to get projects off the ground when she’s at the wheel. I just don’t understand why management keep going along with whatever my co-worker wants. It’s bad for morale and productivity. Maybe they don’t realize what’s really going on? Or maybe they are trying to avoid conflict? I don’t know. I need help though. I don’t know how to deal with this person. Any suggestions for what I could say to her? Should I approach my manager about my co-workers behavior? If so, What should I say? Any thoughts or similar experiences would be appreciated. Thanks!

i would approach your manager and tell that person what you expressed here. you should also emphasize your co-worker is under minding the manager by criticizing what the manager told you. good luck.

I am by profetion software engineer…and want to increase productivity…

Keep yourself engaged in interesting and useful areas of work. Show enthusiasm. Accept challenging assignments and try to achieve the target. Face the odds. Co-opt with like minded people. Understand their difficulties. Try to solve their problem. Thus involve them in your areas also. Make work a pleasure.

30 Years has Gone By Fast

The Internet has, in a short space of time, become fundamental to the global economy. More than a billion people worldwide use it, both at work and in their social lives. Over the past three decades it has grown from an experimental research network and now underpins a range of new economic activities as well as activities and infrastructures that support our economies, from financial markets and health services to energy and transport.

The Internet is making economic activity more efficient, faster, and cheaper, and extending social interaction in unparalleled ways. Increasingly, the largest productivity gains for businesses come from using online networks in some form. The multinational food giant Nestl, for example, now receives all of its orders directly from supermarkets over the Internet. The shipping company UPS used online networks to optimize its delivery routes, saving 12 million liters of fuel in 2006 from nearly 100 000 trucks.

The Internet has also brought unprecedented user and consumer empowerment as well as opportunities for new innovative and social activities. Individuals have greater access to information, which facilitates comparisons and creates downward pressure on prices. Internet users are extremely active, creating new content themselves and interacting in new ways.

The Internet is quickly permeating all economic and social domains, and most public policy areas. For instance, e-government has become the prime tool for supporting government functions and interaction with citizens and businesses. Healthcare systems are increasingly making use of the Internet and online networks to increase affordability, quality and efficiency, through electronic patient record systems, remote patient monitoring and healthcare delivery, along with improved diagnostics and imaging technologies. Educational performance is found to be correlated with home access to, and use of, computers  all other things being equal. Moreover, environmentally-friendly technologies based on the Internet in buildings and transport systems and alternative power generating systems can help address climate change and improve energy efficiency.

The influence of the network of networks is inherently global; helping to forge closer integration of our economies and societies. Moreover, as the Internet expands even further it can help the economic and social development of people of all countries. While there have been remarkable developments in recent years, much remains to be done: about 20% of the worlds population use the Internet, but over 5 billion people still lack access to it.

Before the rapid development of the Internet, separate systems  telephone, television and video, individual computer systems  stored and transmitted voice, video and data. Today, these systems are converging onto the Internet. In addition to convergence of network platforms, convergence is also taking place at several other levels: at the content level with Video on Demand (VoD) and television over Internet Protocol networks (IPTV); at the business level, with companies offering combined television, Internet and telephone services to subscribers; and at the device level, with multi-purpose devices that can combine email, telephone and Internet, for example.

THE FUTURE OF THE INTERNET ECONOMY
Indeed, this has become the era of converged media. Users upload some 10 hours of video per minute alone to the video sharing site YouTube. By 2008, nearly 300 million people are registered to use free VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol) software Skype, enabling them to make phone calls worldwide at little or no extra cost via their existing Internet access. Converged media are also increasingly becoming mobile with the expansion of wireless broadband networks.

As convergence takes place and investment in next generation networks (NGN) begins, the role of very fast optical fibre networks to the home becomes increasingly important given that emerging applications, such as high-definition television and video-on-demand, require increasing amounts of bandwidth.

Michael Frost
http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-articles/the-future-of-the-internet-economy-697291.html

these are my school recommendations. i want a lot of memory because i cannot stand a slow PC and a built in web cam. Can someone who is well educated with computers help me find the best brand, the best system and the best price on a Laptop for college.

Recommended Hardware Configuration
Processor
Pentium Dual Core, Core Duo processor equivalent (PC or Apple)

Memory
2GB RAM or higher

Hard drive (storage)
80 GB or higher

Disc drive
CD-RW / DVD-ROM or CD-RW / DVD-RW

Wireless
built-in

Warranty
3 or 4 year part and labor

Insurance
Safeware accidental damage protection (see http://www.safeware.com/hobartwilliamsmith)

Recommended Software Configuration

Operating system
Windows XP Professional
Vista Home Premium/Business/Ultimate
(XP Pro and Vista Ultimate – $15 at the Help Desk)
Apple Macintosh OS X 10.3, 10.4, or 10.5
(10.5 Leopard – $69 at the Help Desk)

Productivity
Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007 (PC) or Microsoft Office 2008 (Apple)
($15 at the Help Desk)

Antivirus
NOD32 Antivirus (Required, provided free on campus)

Security
Cisco Clean Access Agent (Required, provided free on campus)

Wireless
We support the following 802.11 a/b/g wireless cards:

Enterasys RoamAbout
Apple AirPort
Centrino Technology

Try using Avast antivirus on your Mac, not that you really need antivirus on a Mac

I’m purchasing a new machine with Windows Vista (it’s a gift) and I want to provide productivity software such as Office. Can I purchase Office 2003 or am I forced to purchase Office 2007? In other words, are older versions of Office compatible with Vista?

You should be able to run Office-2003 otherwise no one would buy Vista.

You could always get Open Office as it is free and you would not have to worry about compatibility problems.

30 Years has Gone By Fast

The Internet has, in a short space of time, become fundamental to the global economy. More than a billion people worldwide use it, both at work and in their social lives. Over the past three decades it has grown from an experimental research network and now underpins a range of new economic activities as well as activities and infrastructures that support our economies, from financial markets and health services to energy and transport.

The Internet is making economic activity more efficient, faster, and cheaper, and extending social interaction in unparalleled ways. Increasingly, the largest productivity gains for businesses come from using online networks in some form. The multinational food giant Nestl, for example, now receives all of its orders directly from supermarkets over the Internet. The shipping company UPS used online networks to optimize its delivery routes, saving 12 million liters of fuel in 2006 from nearly 100 000 trucks.

The Internet has also brought unprecedented user and consumer empowerment as well as opportunities for new innovative and social activities. Individuals have greater access to information, which facilitates comparisons and creates downward pressure on prices. Internet users are extremely active, creating new content themselves and interacting in new ways.

The Internet is quickly permeating all economic and social domains, and most public policy areas. For instance, e-government has become the prime tool for supporting government functions and interaction with citizens and businesses. Healthcare systems are increasingly making use of the Internet and online networks to increase affordability, quality and efficiency, through electronic patient record systems, remote patient monitoring and healthcare delivery, along with improved diagnostics and imaging technologies. Educational performance is found to be correlated with home access to, and use of, computers  all other things being equal. Moreover, environmentally-friendly technologies based on the Internet in buildings and transport systems and alternative power generating systems can help address climate change and improve energy efficiency.

The influence of the network of networks is inherently global; helping to forge closer integration of our economies and societies. Moreover, as the Internet expands even further it can help the economic and social development of people of all countries. While there have been remarkable developments in recent years, much remains to be done: about 20% of the worlds population use the Internet, but over 5 billion people still lack access to it.

Before the rapid development of the Internet, separate systems  telephone, television and video, individual computer systems  stored and transmitted voice, video and data. Today, these systems are converging onto the Internet. In addition to convergence of network platforms, convergence is also taking place at several other levels: at the content level with Video on Demand (VoD) and television over Internet Protocol networks (IPTV); at the business level, with companies offering combined television, Internet and telephone services to subscribers; and at the device level, with multi-purpose devices that can combine email, telephone and Internet, for example.

THE FUTURE OF THE INTERNET ECONOMY
Indeed, this has become the era of converged media. Users upload some 10 hours of video per minute alone to the video sharing site YouTube. By 2008, nearly 300 million people are registered to use free VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol) software Skype, enabling them to make phone calls worldwide at little or no extra cost via their existing Internet access. Converged media are also increasingly becoming mobile with the expansion of wireless broadband networks.

As convergence takes place and investment in next generation networks (NGN) begins, the role of very fast optical fibre networks to the home becomes increasingly important given that emerging applications, such as high-definition television and video-on-demand, require increasing amounts of bandwidth.

Michael Frost
http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-articles/the-future-of-the-internet-economy-697291.html

hi im planning to but a pc and i stumbled in bettween 2 choices my use of the computer is for extreme multi tasking editing 3d animation and machinima. which of these i should choose:-
PROCESSORS Intel® Core™ i7-920 processor(8MB L3 Cache, 2.66GHz) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English edit
WARRANTY AND SERVICE 2 Year Basic Service Plan edit
Dell Recommends
Keep your investment protected for as long as you’ll own it with a 3 year Basic Service Plan
Upgrade to 3 Year Basic Service Plan [add $100]

In-Home Service after Remote Diagnosis: *Remote Diagnosis is determination by online/phone technician of cause of issue; may involve customer access to inside of system and multiple or extended sessions. If issue is covered by Limited Hardware Warranty and not resolved remotely, technician and/or part will be dispatched, usually in 1 or 2 business days following completion of Remote Diagnosis. Dell sells In-Home Service provided by the following: Dell In-Home Service provided by Dell Marketing L.P.; BancTec In-Home Service provided by BancTec Third Party Maintenance, Inc.; and QualxServ In-Home Service provided by QualxServ LLC. Third parties may be used to deliver the in-home service. Availability varies. Other conditions apply. For complete details about In-Home Service, visit www.dell.com/servicecontracts
MEMORY 9GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1066MHz – 6 DIMMs edit
HARD DRIVE 1TB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive edit
ADDITIONAL HARD DRIVE 500GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive edit
VIDEO CARD ATI Radeon™ HD 5770 1GB GDDR5 edit
MONITOR 24.0" Dell ST2410 Full HD Monitor with VGA cable edit
OPTICAL DRIVE Blu-ray Disc (BD) Burner (Writes to DVD/CD/BD) edit
SPEAKERS No speakers (Speakers are required to hear audio from your system) edit
Dell Recommends
Multimedia Speaker System delivers an ideal combination of performance and value
Upgrade to Bose Companion 2 Series II Multimedia Speaker System [add $110]

SOUND CARD Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio edit
WIRELESS Dell 1505 WLAN PCIe card with11n mini-Card & external antenna edit
KEYBOARD Dell Studio Consumer Multimedia Keyboard edit
MOUSE Dell Studio Optical Mouse edit
MODEM No Modem Option edit
My Accessories
OFFICE SOFTWARE No productivity software pre-installed edit
Dell Recommends
Office Home & Student.

Lets you create great-looking documents, spreadsheets and presentations quickly.
Upgrade to Microsoft® Office Home and Student 2007 [add $119]

SECURITY SOFTWARE McAfee SecurityCenter, 15-Months edit
Dell Recommends

CAUTION ! You have not upgraded your security protection to the maximum available for your new Dell.
Add McAfee SecurityCenter pre-loaded today! Help protect against viruses, hackers, identity theft, and more from the moment you turn on your PC.
Upgrade to McAfee SecurityCenter, 36-Months [add $40]

DATASAFE ONLINE BACKUP Dell Online Backup 2GB for 1 year edit
ENVIRONMENTAL OPTIONS Recycling Kit and Plant a Tree for Me edit
ALSO INCLUDED WITH YOUR SYSTEM
Studio XPS 9000 Studio XPS 9000
Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 9.0 Multi-Language
————————————————————————————————————————————————
or:-
CHASSIS COLOR Cosmic Black, Alienware Aurora Chassis edit
PROCESSOR Overclocked Intel® Core™ i7 920 (3.2GHz, 8MB Cache) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English edit
VIDEO CARD Single 1GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GTS 240 edit
MEMORY 9GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz – (3x 1024MB + 3x 2048MB) edit
HARD DRIVE 500GB – SATA-II, 3Gb/s, 7,200RPM, 16MB Cache HDD edit
ADDITIONAL HARD DRIVE 1TB – SATA-II, 3Gb/s, 7,200RPM, 32MB Cache HDD edit
OPTICAL DRIVE Single Drive: 24X CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) w/double layer write capability edit
SOUND CARD Creative Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Titanium edit
GAMING ESSENTIALS Killer Xeno™ Pro edit
BLUETOOTH Internal USB Bluetooth edit
WIRELESS 1525 PCIe WLAN card with 11n mini-Card & external antenna edit
MONITOR No Monitor edit
AUDIO OPTIONS Alienware TactX™ Gaming Headset edit
KEYBOARD Alienware Multi-Media Keyboard edit
MOUSE Alienware Optical Mouse, MG100 edit
WARRANTY AND SERVICE 1 Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis edit
On-Site Service after Remote Diagnosis: for issues covered by Limited Hardware Warranty, technician and/or part will be dispatched, if necessary, usually within 1 business day following Remote Diagnosis. During Remote Diagnosis, you may be asked to access the inside of your system (where safe to do so) or to participate in troubleshooting until a cause can be isolated.
My Accessories
ALIENFX AlienFX Color, Mars Red edit
AVATAR Alienhead 3D edit
WALLPAPER Alien Red Glyphs edit
FACTORY INSTALLED GAMES Steam and Portal™ Factory Installed edit
FACTORY INSTALLED GAMES World of Warcraft Preinstall Edition edit
AUTOMATIC UPDATES Auto

Either machine would probably work just fine. Alienware machines are typically more geared towards gamers. The Alienware machine seems faster. The only downside that I can see is the Nvidia card in the AW might be more of a gaming card. I would research how the ATI vs Nvidia performance differs on the specific apps you are interested in running.

I just got a new sony vaio and soon upgrading to windows 7 I was wondering if I add some productivity software (i.e microsoft student with a product key) will it still be there after I upgrade from vista to windows 7?

Probably safe. Microsoft has been selling operating system upgrades since the DOS 6.x days, so they’re aware that people don’t want to lose everything just to get the latest whiz-bang operating system.

Still, you might err on the side of safety and backup at least your data, in case something goes wrong during the upgrade. Even Microsoft has no control over power outages.

Hope that helps.

SYSTEM COLOR Piano Black edit
PROCESSOR AMD Athlon™ II X3 425 (2.7GHz, 1.5MB) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English edit
Dell Recommends
Transfer your data, music and photos to your new PC with the Belkin Easy Transfer cable.
Upgrade to Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium,64bit + Belkin Easy Transfer Cable [add $30 or $1/month1]

OFFICE SOFTWARE No productivity software Requested edit
Dell Recommends
Office Home & Student.

Lets you create great-looking documents, spreadsheets and presentations quickly.
Upgrade to Microsoft® Office Home and Student 2007 [add $99 or $3/month1]

WARRANTY AND SERVICE 1Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis- Important Information edit
Dell Recommends
Keep your warranty working longer.
Upgrade to 2Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis [add $79 or $3/month1]

In-Home Service after Remote Diagnosis: for issues covered by Limited Hardware Warranty, technician and/or part will be dispatched, if necessary, usually in 1 or 2 business days following Remote Diagnosis. During Remote Diagnosis, you may be asked to access the inside of your system (where safe to do so) or to participate in troubleshooting until a cause can be isolated.
SECURITY SOFTWARE McAfee SecurityCenter, 30-Day Trial edit
Dell Recommends

CAUTION ! You have not upgraded your security protection to the maximum available for your new Dell.
Add McAfee SecurityCenter pre-loaded today! Help protect against viruses, hackers, identity theft, and more from the moment you turn on your PC.
Upgrade to McAfee SecurityCenter, 15-Months [add $89 or $3/month1]

MONITOR 20" Dell IN2010N HD Monitor with VGA port and cable edit
MEMORY 4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz- 4 DIMMs edit
HARD DRIVE 500GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™ edit
OPTICAL DRIVE 16X DVD+/-RW Drive edit
VIDEO CARD nVidia GeForce GT 220, 1024MB edit
SPEAKERS Dell AX210 1.2 Watt 2.0 Stereo Speakers edit
Dell Recommends
Multimedia Speaker System delivers an ideal combination of performance and value
Upgrade to Bose Companion 2 Series II Multimedia Speaker System [add $90 or $3/month1]

SOUND Integrated 5.1 Channel Audio edit
KEYBOARD & MOUSE Dell Consumer Entry USB Keyboard and Mouse edit
FLOPPY & MEDIA READER No Floppy Drive or Media Card Reader Included edit
MODEM 56K PCI Data Fax Modem edit
WIRELESS Dell 1525 Wireless-N PCIe Card edit
OPTIONAL PORTS 1394a High Speed AV Port edit

I don’t see any serious problems with that system. The weak link is the video card. But it will probably be OK for most games, if you don’t run them at extreme settings. And you can upgrade that later.

Other than that, there are no obvious weaknesses that would need to be addressed. It won’t be blazing fast, but it will be OK for gaming.

business productivity software suites usually include word processing, spreadsheet, email and presentation programs together in one package. They may also include database, contact management, publishing and calendar programs.

When you think of business productivity software suites, what brand comes to mind first?

Please type in the brand that comes to mind in the box below. Please be as specific as possible.

Microsoft Office is the first one to come to my mind because it has word processing (MS Word)
spreadsheet (Excel)
email (MS Office Outlook)
presentation (Powerpoint)
Is this a survey on behalf of Microsoft?