// Rant 2: Windows Live Documents
//Begin Rant
So, I've had a gripe with windows for ...well pretty much ever. They've dominated and managed to suck in some very crucial ways for a very long time. Others have known this and tried to make fixes and offer alternatives. However, none with any significant damage to Microsofts market share for either the Microsoft Office Suite (OpenOffice.org is an alternative and free suite that does all the same stuff) and or the Microsoft operating system.
But for this rant that's neither here nor there. I've been using Google Documents for quite some time but naturally there is no way to upload the new .x files. As of the new 2007 Microsoft Office Suite all file extensions have a .x tagged on at the end. Examples being for Microsoft Excel...instead of .xls (the old) it's now .xlsx (the new). Anyways, since I have the new suite it would be nice to upload straight to my Google Documents instead of having to down convert to the older versions (.doc , .xls, etc). A nice thing about the newer version of the Microsoft Suite is that in general the files (when you save them...and save them often I say) are a good deal smaller than than if you were to save it to the previous version.
Okay, so Microsft Office 2003 has been around for a while. Long enough for Google and others to know the coding and architecture. However, MS Office 2007 hasn't been. So naturally Google and others have not been either granted access or had enough time to provide support for the new formats. Not to mention Microsoft and Google are hug
e competitors especially with Google's open oriented style and potential operating system in the works.
What I want to be able to do: upload the most current files online and edit them / save them online. I have a laptop and a desktop and sometimes it can get a bit confusing as to which file I have on where. Often times I'll think I have a picture / document on my desktop only to remember that, "Ah! I have it on my laptop" and then have to tell that person to hold on so I can retrieve it to send it , or go get the file so I can edit it.
So when I found out about Windows offering a similar service I was all over it. They've got plenty of space and a way ( a bit cumbersome ) to organize your files as you upload them and a way for viewing them. Now, being Microsoft and having the software, rights, ownership etc, I would have figured there would be a way to uplaod and work on the files I upload. However, there is not! What's the deal with this? If anyone ...out of the 5 people that probably read this post can answer that ...it would be awesome. Just a bit frustrating that they wouldn't be able to solve this.
I have thought about and tried sharing files between my computers via my network. But that doesn't do exactly what I want. I've tried many various configurations to try and get things the way I want...but with no real luck. It can be done though with Vista Ultimate. The Ultimate veriosn, as I found in my quest a while back, has a sync feature that allows you to do so across folders and computers. But the Business and Home version do not come with this feature activiated. You can't really use a briefcase - it's way to slow.
I was working on this for a while when I was in school. Haven't spent much time on the idea since then. Right now I mostly stick to using one computer or the other..but it was a serious pain in the ass while in school and working on multiple documents etc. There's a lot more options and what not that I've tried that I haven't talked about ..but suggestions always welcome.
So, I've had a gripe with windows for ...well pretty much ever. They've dominated and managed to suck in some very crucial ways for a very long time. Others have known this and tried to make fixes and offer alternatives. However, none with any significant damage to Microsofts market share for either the Microsoft Office Suite (OpenOffice.org is an alternative and free suite that does all the same stuff) and or the Microsoft operating system.
But for this rant that's neither here nor there. I've been using Google Documents for quite some time but naturally there is no way to upload the new .x files. As of the new 2007 Microsoft Office Suite all file extensions have a .x tagged on at the end. Examples being for Microsoft Excel...instead of .xls (the old) it's now .xlsx (the new). Anyways, since I have the new suite it would be nice to upload straight to my Google Documents instead of having to down convert to the older versions (.doc , .xls, etc). A nice thing about the newer version of the Microsoft Suite is that in general the files (when you save them...and save them often I say) are a good deal smaller than than if you were to save it to the previous version.
Okay, so Microsft Office 2003 has been around for a while. Long enough for Google and others to know the coding and architecture. However, MS Office 2007 hasn't been. So naturally Google and others have not been either granted access or had enough time to provide support for the new formats. Not to mention Microsoft and Google are hug
e competitors especially with Google's open oriented style and potential operating system in the works.What I want to be able to do: upload the most current files online and edit them / save them online. I have a laptop and a desktop and sometimes it can get a bit confusing as to which file I have on where. Often times I'll think I have a picture / document on my desktop only to remember that, "Ah! I have it on my laptop" and then have to tell that person to hold on so I can retrieve it to send it , or go get the file so I can edit it.
So when I found out about Windows offering a similar service I was all over it. They've got plenty of space and a way ( a bit cumbersome ) to organize your files as you upload them and a way for viewing them. Now, being Microsoft and having the software, rights, ownership etc, I would have figured there would be a way to uplaod and work on the files I upload. However, there is not! What's the deal with this? If anyone ...out of the 5 people that probably read this post can answer that ...it would be awesome. Just a bit frustrating that they wouldn't be able to solve this.
I have thought about and tried sharing files between my computers via my network. But that doesn't do exactly what I want. I've tried many various configurations to try and get things the way I want...but with no real luck. It can be done though with Vista Ultimate. The Ultimate veriosn, as I found in my quest a while back, has a sync feature that allows you to do so across folders and computers. But the Business and Home version do not come with this feature activiated. You can't really use a briefcase - it's way to slow.
I was working on this for a while when I was in school. Haven't spent much time on the idea since then. Right now I mostly stick to using one computer or the other..but it was a serious pain in the ass while in school and working on multiple documents etc. There's a lot more options and what not that I've tried that I haven't talked about ..but suggestions always welcome.
Comments