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Windows blues

by Volker Weber

Today was Windows day. Tomorrow will be another one. If Apple would only make a NetBook that would run for five hours on battery.

Windows XP needed 33 updates on top of SP3. I installed iTunes and MobileMe, so I could sync my calendars and contacts to ... Outlook 2007. What a PoS. I pity everyone who has to live with that. Decided to uninstall it and am now syncing contacts to the Windows address book. I can look at my calendar on any of my mobile phones, but I need email addresses to be filled in automatically. I hacked Thunderbird to use the Windows contacts and now everything is nice and dandy with Firefox, Thunderbird and Skype.

Very hard to read, but Windows estimates I get another 4 hours out of the remaining three quarters of battery. Judging from today's experience that is pretty accurate. Have not yet made up my mind about which Office to install. Maybe it's time to get going with Office 2007. Has been sitting around for more than a year now. I have dressed down Windows to the "classic" 2000 look. Needs less space on the smallish screen.

How does the Samsung NC10 feel? Very good so far. It's one of the larger netbooks, so I can actually use the keyboard to get some work done. It's miles away from a MacBook, but I should be able to use it as an ultraportable. Battery life, screen, keyboard. That's what you need.

Update: Balloon tips in the tray area where driving me nuts. Registry hack to the rescue: disableall.reg.

Comments

Thanks for your pity.

there is a thread on how to install OSX on netbooks somewhere on TUAW...

So does the NC10 come with Outlook 2007 preinstalled? I mean - you installed Outlook 2007 without Office 2007...?

Jan, I did install Outlook 2007 without Office. I have one license that came with my Exchange account.I like to keep licenses nice and tidy.

Armin, there is no legal way to install OS X on the Samsung, so I am not going to do it. Besides, I don't want to fight with drivers.

Please send me your Desktop Picture... like it

Once you install Office 2007, you might find "search commands" plugin a life saver. I did.
For example, if you wish to update fields in a Word document, you might find yourself clicking around the tabbar (sorry, ribbon) looking for a familiar button. Once you scroll all 300 or so buttons in the ribbon, and find out that there is no "update fields" button there, "search commands" plugin comes to the rescue. You just type "update fields" in the search box, and there it is: the button, short explanation...

Funny enough, this great plugin was invented in the same company that managed to invent the whole ribbon thing.

Like all good things in life, it's free (as a beer).

http://www.officelabs.com/projects/searchcommands/Pages/default.aspx

Do you really need an Office or OOo install? I'd have thought a good simple text editor would be sufficient for your needs. But I'm probably mistaken.

Yes, I do. But I may be going for an older one. Office 2000 is "good enough". So far I have installed OOo 3.0, but I am not liking it.

I am always confused when people are implying that Apple should make a netbook. Isn't the MacBook Air much better than all netbooks on the market? Of course it is a little bit larger, but all Netbooks I have seen so far are of roughly the same weight and that is what matters to me, when I am carrying around a Computer all day long...

So what advantages has a netbook compared to the MacBook Air?

Runs for five hours straight. Not just claims to run for five hours, but really does it. The Air is for posers who like a thin machine. Sadly, the battery is too small and the screen draws too much current. And then you need adapters for everything.

"So what advantages has a netbook compared to the MacBook Air?"

In my case, probably not in Volkers: 1250€ more in my poket and one year more warrenty on the netbook.

BTW: Thanks for that registry-link.

>> hacked Thunderbird to use the Windows contacts
Really? How?

Cheers

@Marcos for example this way.

Why not Symphony as an editor?

Let's put it the other way around: why should I? I have fully licensed copies of Office 2000, XP and 2007. And OpenOffice 3.0 for that matter. Why would I use Symphony? Is there anything it would do better?

Volker,

The OpenOffice menu has its challenges aparently : http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Renaissance:The_Challenge

So go with O2007 ... for those hesitating Microsoft has even created a 'Get Started' Tab ;-) http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HA102146851033.aspx

Peter, if Outlook 2007 is any indication than Office 2007 is the opposite of what I need. Nevertheless I am very interested in OneNote, which is quite a useful tool. Your friends in Germany are sending me one.

Currently I am happy with Word 2000. It does not take up too much screen estate and is reasonably quick.

Volker,
We certainly differ from opinion wrt Outlook. Outlook by the way is the only app in the suite that has not yet had the ribbon UI change.

OneNote is indeed a killer app, as you may well know, also part of the Office Suite (depending on which one you choose). Look forward to your review on that ;-)

Ceci n'est pas un blog

vowe.net is a personal website published by Volker Weber a.k.a. vowe. I am an author, consultant and systems architect based in Darmstadt, Germany.

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