Video: Microsoft Office 2007 Features Walkthrough

Hi all.
I have just finished my latest video on the new features of Microsoft Office 2007.
It is shown a little below, but I just need to say one thing before you see it. I did it in two takes, one for the main program and another for other parts. For the first part, my microphone wasn't as sensitive as the latter, therefore, I advise you turn your volume up for the first part until it gets louder. It is split into two different parts:
The new features of Office 2007
A brief overview of Office Live Workspace Beta.



Office 2007 has many new features, like tabbed formatting, and the Office 2007 button. The above video explains these features and what they do.
Office Live Workspace is located here. It allows you to login with your Windows Live Account which can be used for mail, Xbox Live and more. Basically, the purpose of Office Live Workspace is to allow users to not only save documents to an online server to access elsewhere, but also to share them with others. For example, if you were doing a project with others, you wouldn't have to use e-mail and Memory Sticks to pass the project to and fro, you could use Office Live Workspace. You are both working on the same version simultaneously, you can edit it, and save it back to the server for the other person(s) to read later. You can also see previous versions to see what had changed, and also, save it to your own hard drive. You can access any Office Live documents from anywhere, by just logging in with your Windows Live account.

In other news: I will be making my first Ubuntu video soon, it will be a basic overview of my desktop and the features.

For now,
Yours,

Ratscallion

Ubuntu Tweak 0.4.4

I'm going to do quite a lengthy post this time around. I also do suggest, if you really want to see the screenshots, that you click on them to view them at full size. Thanks to Ubuntu-Tweak.com for letting me use them.
Seeing as I have had almost a year now without Internet on Ubuntu, I had spent the time with Ubuntu finding and exploring different features of the many programs it has to offer. One of the best programs I found was Ubuntu Tweak. Ubuntu Tweak is very similar to Tweak UI for Windows XP and Tweak VI for Windows Vista. It allows the user to modify the system settings for Ubuntu (Gutsy through to Jaunty) without having to either go into command line or the gconf (Ubuntu registry).
It is very User Friendly as it comes in an easy on the eye GUI (Graphical User Interface) with just simple checkboxes, textboxes, drag-drops, and sliders to modify the settings. This allows even the novice Ubuntu User to be able to tweak Ubuntu to their desires.
The version I am most used to having installed on Ubuntu Intrepid was one of the older versions, 0.4.3.
It did include some very nifty features including:

• Being able to rename the Trash, Home and Computer Desktop shortcuts
• Accessing the Add/Remove Programs, but only the most downloaded
• Tweaking Compiz-Fusion
• Changing your default locations

Although these features are brilliant options to be able to have in Ubuntu, I for one still felt that there was something missing. ubuntu-tweak.com has listened to this and included some new features in the latest version, 0.4.4. Ubuntu Tweak 0.4.4 still has the old features, there are some very good new features that have been included.
One of the newest, and best (in some opinions) that is in Ubuntu 0.4.4 is that you can now choose to have Metacity as the Default Window Compositing manager instead of the Ubuntu Default of Compiz. It looks simple, but it doesn't make the graphics card work too hard if you need to 'Power Use' Ubuntu. Ubuntu 'Power Using' can be things like having 10+ tabs open in a web browser being used at once, and multiple documents open simultaneously.
Furthermore, Ubuntu Tweak 0.4.4 introduces the feature to specify the Default Program for managing file extensions. For example, by default, the Ubuntu Archive Manager is the program for managing .exe files. With Ubuntu Tweak, you can specify WINE (Windows Program Emulator) Furthermore, there are many image editing/viewing programs available for Ubuntu (many of which are pre-installed) which may become annoying when you always want to use one program for viewing, and it isn't the default. This tool not only allows the user to choose what program to use for images, but also what file extension to have it work with. For example, if you want GIMP to handle png's and Image Viewer to handle jpeg's, this tool allows that to happen.
In the older versions of Ubuntu Tweak there were neat little scripts that could be used on the right click. In Ubuntu Tweak 0.4.4, these scripts have been categorised into things like Move scripts, Image scripts and more. As always, the user can add/remove scripts and even reset them all to their default positions. These can be used to make working in Ubuntu as easy and quick as possible. For example, if you want to convert an image from png to jpeg without having to open it and then save as, you can. This is done by adding the script in Ubuntu Tweak, and then simply right clicking on the image, and clicking the 'Convert to Jpeg' script.
In Ubuntu, Nautilus (the default File Browser for Ubuntu) stores all the thumbnails that are used in a cache. This cache can become absolutely massive, especially for those who enjoy managing, viewing and editing their photos. If you were to go into your Home Folder, showing hidden files, and navigate to the following path “~/.thumbnails/normal” you will be astonished to see the amount of image thumbnails stored in that folder. They are all of your own image's thumbnails and, surprisingly, they stay in that folder even when you log out, so, if others wanted to, they could see it by navigating to your home folder. Usually, these thumbnails have no logical name (well, not logical to you, but obviously were to the coders of nautilus and Ubuntu). with the latest Ubuntu Tweak, you can choose to do a couple of things with these thumbnails. The first of these options, is to choose how long a thumbnail can stay in the cache at any one time. This both limits the space of the cache, though if you look at your photos a lot, it wouldn't make much of a difference. However, it is used for those PC's where there are multiple users, basically, it's a privacy tool. The second tool is limiting the size of the cache. Seeing as the cache can become very big indeed, it is important to limit it. Around 20 meg is probably best, though, really, it depends on the size of the current cache. Finally, there is the button that completes a full cleanup of the cache, it empties the cache completely. Thouh emptying the cache may seem like a good idea at first, it can sometimes backfire because there is no way of restoring the thumbnails. You may think, "Why would I need to restore the thumbnails," well, deleting the thumbnails will make all of the images on your hard drive take much longer to load in thumbnail view because they haven't been previously viewed and stored.
To download Ubuntu Tweak 0.4.4, go to this Here!
In other news: The Office 2007 video is now finished and will be uploaded this week or next week
For now
Yours,

Ratscallion

We have lift off...

Hi everyone,

First of all, I know I said Microsoft Office Word 2007 video to come next, you may think I have stopped posting, but, I am having sound problems, so it may be a while. However, I have finally managed to get my Wireless card to work in Ubuntu 8.10, and therefore, will begin to make videos for Ubuntu after the Office video. The office video will be coming a little later this month, simply because of these sound problems. Plus, we are having a lot of snow in the UK, and snow means fun, and fun means not making videos. But, I am trying my hardest to get this video done before March. It is going to be a longer video because it covers all of the new features in Office Word 2007. Futhermore, it will need a lot of editing, because in Word it displays a lot of your own files and I need to blur them out for privacy reasons.
Before I do make the video, I will be replacing the animal from aBowman.com with a new edition. It will be posted today (Feb 6th). As usual, I will post another animal in March. This months animal will be marking the congratulations that I have Internet on Ubuntu, and therefore, will be a penguin. Penguin because the Linux mascot is Tux, a penguin.

For now,
Yours,

Ratscallion