If that is true, I’d have to say that while that while that is a great move on behalf of the iPhone, there is likely another story here. That story: Full Microsoft Exchange support with an Apple authored application. Far fetched? iWork’s interoperability with Microsoft Office’s Word, PowerPoint, and Excel documents is proudly displayed on the iWord ‘08 landing page already. And, if Apple was going to make the iPhone play nice with Exchange, I’d find it hard to believe that a desktop solution wasn’t also in the works.
Well, it’ll be a bit more of a wait, but eventually it is to be. A colleague recently pointed me to a page on Apple’s site for the next version of OS X, “Snow Leopard.” The page confirms Exchange support for Mail.app, iCal and Address Book.
Microsoft Exchange Support
Snow Leopard includes out-of-the-box support for Microsoft Exchange 2007 built into Mail, Address Book, and iCal. Mac OS X uses the Exchange Web Services protocol to provide access to Exchange Server 2007. Because Exchange is supported on your Mac and iPhone, you’ll be able to use them anywhere with full access to your email, contacts, and calendar.
Why this feature isn’t coming sooner is my only question!
I just installed the retail version of Office 2008 for Mac and ran in to a problem. After running the installer, I started experiencing font issues. Safari specifically was having issues. I’m not the only one who has experienced this; it’s an issue that reared its head during the Beta testing but apparently didn’t get taken care of completely before Office shipped.
Avoiding font issues when installing Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac
It’s simple: When the Installer recommends that you close ALL applications, take the installer’s advice. If you do so, you should be in the clear.
Correcting font issues after installing Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac
If you didn’t heed the installer warning and you’re reading this post, you likely have some interesting font issues. The problem stems from the installation of fonts which took place as a part of the Office 2008 installation. Here’s how to bring things back to normal:
Open the Font Book application
Look for fonts which have a circle indicator next to their name. This indicates that there are duplicate versions of the font installed.
Expand the font and identify the variant (bold, italic, condensed, etc.) of the font that has the issue (or variants).
Click on one of the font variants and click Command-I to Show Font Info
Identify which of the fonts is the original version, and which was later installed (look for the “Duplicate” attribute toward the bottom of the criteria in the right-hand side pane showing the font information. If it says ‘yes’, this is the one you’ll want to remove).
To remove the font variant, Control+Click on the font/variant name to remove.
Continue to do this until you’ve removed all the newly installed, duplicated fonts.
Restart your Mac. Everything should be back to normal.
At this morning’s iPhone SDK announcement, Apple put the end to the question of the iPhone’s viability in the enterprise by announcing Exchange support by way of Microsoft’s ActiveSync technology.
ActiveSync will synchronize contacts and meetings with the iPhone’s native address book and calendar, leading to the inevitable question: when is OS X’s Mail and iCal going to get Exchange support?
The improved iPhone Exchange support will be made available at the time of the next iPhone Software Update.
December 27, 2007 at 12:20 pm · Filed under Hardware
Popular Mechanics’ ranking of “The Top 10 Worst Gadgets of 2007” puts Microsoft’s Zune at #8 while Apple’s Apple TV finishes second only to the Palm Foleo. What did it take to make the list?
Rather than going for the most obscure or ludicrous gadgets, we based our choices on missed opportunities, hype gone awry and some mysterious fumbles. And while we tried to bash constructively the gizmos we’ve tested so extensively in the lab, sometimes the most useful response is, in fact, a complete rejection.
Popular Mechanics cites Apple TV’s failure to rise to the challenge being posed by its rivals (specifically DVRs and video-on-demand), noting that the only way Apple TV could have moved into the living room in force would have been by way of a all-you-can-eat subscription model.
Apple may be looking to close the iPhone/Exchange/ActiveSync loop itself depending upon how you read into this recent Cupertino job posting (emphasis mine):
Job Description
Requisition Number
3161520
Job title
iPhone Windows Outlook/Exchange QA Eng
Location
Santa Clara Valley
Country
United States
City
Cupertino
State/Province
California
Job type
Full Time
Job description
The iPhone Quality team is looking for a motivated, highly-technical Exchange test/sync engineer with excellent problem solving and communication skills. You will join a dynamic team responsible for qualifying the latest iPhone products. Your focus will be testing Exchange and Outlook functionality with Apple’s innovative new phone. The successful candidate will complete both documented and adhoc testing to ensure high quality releases.Required Experience:
* BS in Computer Science or equivalent experience
* Firm knowledge of Exchange 2003/2007 including configuration and troubleshooting
* Ability to investigate and debug difficult problems on Windows
* Creative thinker and problem solver
* A passion for user-focused design & high quality technology
* Comfortable and adaptable in a fast-paced and informal environment
* Thorough knowledge of the Windows operating systemsPreferred Experience:
* Thorough knowledge of Mac OS X operating systems
* Experience with Mail, Calendaring, networking engineering, or QA
* Experience with automation, scripting, PHP, SQL, or Perl
* Strong commitment to technical quality assurance as a key part of the development cycle
October 16, 2007 at 12:09 pm · Filed under Software
This morning Apple confirmed the rumored October 26th shipping date for OS X Leopard (version 10.5). In the press release (Apple to Ship OS X Leopard on October 26th) Jobs mocked Microsoft’s Vista pricing noting “…everyone get the ‘Ultimate’ version…for just $129.”
Full Pricing Information:
Mac OS X Leopard Single Seat License: $129
Mac OS X Leopard 5 Seat Family Pack: $199
Mac OS Up-to-date Program (For Mac’s purchased on or after October 1st): $9.99 (Shipping and Handling only)
What’s new in this release? Learn more about Leopard’s 300+ new features on the Apple’s OS X Leopard page.
ActiveSync for iPhone? No word yet. iPXSync? It sounds great. Is ANYONE out there participating in this beta? As tedious days of accessing my work email via Outlook Web Access via my iPhone’s Safari web browser took their toll, I went in search of other iPhone Exchange access solutions.
Surprisingly, I found one: The company is called Visto, and their web site’s landing page describes their product in broad strokes: Visto Mobile will allow users to send and receive emails, appointments and tasks, as well as view attachments, from their cellphone for Microsoft Outlook or IBM Lotus Notes users. Curiously, they aren’t mentioning ‘Exchange’ or the word ’server’, but instead stating that Visto Mobile provides “mobile access to Microsoft Outlook.”
The Visto web site has a pre-registration form on its homepage which indicates a Q3 2007 free trial. The mention of the iPhone is no where to be found except on a page buried on the site. The page has an iPhone specific free trial sign-up form.
The original mention of Visto is an Everything iPhone forum post. Again, its unclear if this is a true sync solution. Fingers crossed for the real deal: ActiveSync for iPhone.
October 10, 2007 at 9:19 pm · Filed under Software
As noted by a reader on a previous post, last night (October 9th) Microsoft posted release notes and a link to download the Mac Office beta. I have to check in to see exactly what we can say (if anything) while testing the software.
Without divulging anything of consequence at all I can say: I am a beta participant. I have installed the beta. And, I am a happy at the current time.
I was checking the Mac BU (business unit) blog today hoping to find some communication about the Office 2008 for Mac Corporate Beta program. As the other Beta testers out there know, when responding to the invitation we were informed that the Beta program would start on October 8th (today).
But, nothing happened today. There was no change at the Microsoft Connect web site, nor any communication to those who confirmed their participation.
What I did find at the Mac BU web site is a post by Geoff Price announcing that a major milestone was met today-”ZBB.” For everyone who doesn’t speak internal acronym here’s what it means (quoted material below is from the blog post—emphasis is mine):
ZBB what? This stands for Zero Bug Bounce, or as alternately phrased, Zero Bug Backlog. At this point we have been logging, tracking and verifying all changes to the product in great detail for some time – collectively we refer to this list of logged issues as the “bug list”, though in reality it includes a variety of issues including bug/defect reports, tracking records for artwork or content, usability improvements, numerous suggestions (submitted by team members or beta testers, or representing customer or partner requests), and various other categories of issues. The ZBB milestone is defined as the date across which we will no longer carry logged product issues that are more than one week old. Hence, the “backlog” of issues has been cleared out, and all older pending decisions on what we are or are not going to change before we ship have been made. It also means that the developers have “caught up” or “outpaced” the incoming find rate of our test efforts.
The article also confirmed that, as far as things stand now, the product is on schedule and will be available starting on January 15th, 2008 (depending upon region).
Great! Now what about that Corporate Beta program?
UPDATE: 9 Oct 2007: The Microsoft Connect web site has made release notes and installation information available. Still no link to download the software yet.
September 27, 2007 at 12:11 am · Filed under Trivia, Games
It seems hard to believe, but this one is true. In 1999 at MacWorld Expo NYC, the public gets its first glimpse of Halo, and it’s on a Mac. Microsoft later bought Bungie Studios and launched Halo for the XBox and PC. A MacSoft port for the Macintosh followed later. Still not ringing any bells? Watch the video below.
Last Fall I in a post about the frustrations of using a Mac in a corporate setting where Microsoft’s Exchange provides calendaring, contacts, and email, I considered the possibility of support for Exchange in Apple’s native applications.
