IE 8 Now Available in BETA

OK if you are the optimistic type like I am, it is time to try out IE 8. Microsoft is making Beta2 available at www.microsoft.com/ie8. I know, I can hear you know, “I downloaded the Beta for IE 7 and it messed up my computer”. Well I downloaded the Beta for IE 7 and was very happy with it so why not try IE 8. It is a 12.7 MB download and can be downloaded for XP (Service Pack 2) as well as for Windows Vista. Since I am running Windows Vista (happily I might add) I have no problem going with IE 8.

Keep in mind that this is a Beta and therefore it is still in the testing stage. If you do not have patience to test and update as updates are available this is not for you. I also do not recommend that you do this on every computer that you have or on the one that is most important to your work, not until you see it work. As for anyone with a “company computer” I would stay away from this, your IT people may not be real happy with you if it messes up some enterprise software on your computer (that can happen).

While you are out there get the Silverlight Beta from Microsoft if you have not already downloaded it.

Speaking of browsers; I have the Firefox browser also and have downloaded Opera as well as Safari. They are FREE and you might as well find out which one is the “one for you”. I had been a “BIG” Firefox fan but as of lately I am using IE most of the time. It gets me what I want and that is all that matters. If the truth be known this computer has become a tool and all I need is that which will do the job.

Learning Curves

In the beginning everything has a learning curve and depending on the complexity of the what you are trying to learn that curve can be very long or very short. Life has a real long learning curve however my thoughts here are in regard to learning software that will support your needs/wants/desires within the business environment.

For example lets look at Excel: If one only needed to know how to use Excel to do the household budget one could learn that in less than a day however if data analysis of large and different or varying amounts of data is in your interest (as well as presentation of that data) you will have to spend some time learning and understanding all of the tools that Excel provides, there are many. To start with you may take a class to get some hands on experience with some of the tools however once you know the tools then comes the time spent in applying the various tools to your data.

In this case applying I mean learning and learning means trial an error in most cases. It means playing, experimenting. evaluating, it means a great number of things all of which are part of the learning curve. I guess if you do not need to know much you won’t have a big learning curve however if you really need to “know"" something you will have to spend time working with the tools and potentially making mistakes – one thing that adults are prone to dislike. For a good learning experience making mistakes is one of the best learning tools. If it doesn’t work so what undo it and do it again but understand what you did that didn’t work from that you will learn what does work. As a side note you do not have to tell anyone about all your mistakes unless of course you are the instructor. 

I have had people say to me “I wish I knew what you know about Microsoft Word (or Excel)” and my response is “if you make as many mistakes as I have you will be an expert”. You cannot be afraid to try. This is very difficult to get across to people who are forced to make career changes they had not planned on. People who have been working a drill press are finding it difficult to adjust to a computer. I keep telling them to become a kid again and be willing to take some chances and be willing to realize you will not get it all in one sitting. Also no one uses all that Excel can do.

We learn what we need to do our job the best way possible, realizing that these tools are much more powerful. I understand Pivot Tables in Excel however I am always running into people that use them everyday and by experimenting and “playing” they can take Pivot Tables to a whole new level.

Remember life is always changing and learning something all the time can help reduce other life long boredom’s as well as keeping your mind active. I have been told that keeping your mind active and learning could be a prevention for Alzheimer’s. Who knew!

New Communications Tool’s Getting Attention

I think it is fascinating that the latest in communications technology is drawing the attention of business publications. In the August 18th 2008 issue of Fortune Magazine there is an article in the Technology section on Twitter (pg 39). The writer goes on to define Twitter as a “micro blogging” tool and discusses a few of the well known who use the tool. It is also interesting that they also provide a list of Web 2.0 startups that are (as they say) “getting a lot of buzz.”

Taking this to another level, in PC Magazine, September 2008, there is an article under their FRONTSIDE section that talks about governments, colleges and others launching text-messaging alert systems. The article, “The Proving Ground for Text Alerts” (pg 18) states that “Cell-phone users voluntarily sign up to receive text alerts for emergences…”. The Fortune article mentions the Los Angles Fire Department using Twitter for this. I believe that if someone were to check into how Twitter can be set up this would work for the school systems as well.

Corporately Twitter can be used to get information out quickly to individuals who do not need to be able to access email to get that IMPORTANT NEWS FLASH. Most all of us have cell phones and on Twitter we can determine who we will follow and who we will allow to get through to our cell phones. At the moment I may be following 15 or 20 people however only 3 have access to me via my cell phone, I see the rest on the web – when I go there. I do admit that if the news starts to become trivial we will turn it off. Abuse will lead to less use.

One More Word Learning Blog

I have discovered another Word teaching blog and it is called The Writers Technology Companion. It is worth having in your RSS reader if you would like to learn about various ways to create GOOD word documents – or better yet, better Word presentations.

I also would like to mention a couple of other blogs that are produced by writers. One of them, Seth Godin, I have enjoyed for quite awhile and have recently received permission to use one of his posts in an Microsoft Outlook class that I teach. His blog is Seth’s Blog – check it out. The other blog that I also enjoy is the Freelance Folder. I think I have mentioned it here before however once more won’t hurt.

I guess there are about 100 blogs that I follow but do not get to read each day and that is one reason to use an RSS reader. I can scan a great number of them looking at headlines and then reading that which I find very interesting.