Office 2007 SP1 download (220MB+) http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=9EC51594-992C-4165-A997-25DA01...
A free trial is also available for download below from Microsoft of Office 2007:
http://trial.trymicrosoftoffice.com/trialukireland/default.aspx
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Online Backup and Storage
Online Backup and storage are fast becoming alternatives to common backup strategies such as tape and network storage. For remote laptop users they provide an ideal (and sometimes free) means to securely backup important data.
I have been trialing 4 different 'free' providers, which are:
Carobonite (http://www.carbonite.com/)
Humyo (http://www.humyo.com/)
Mozy (http://www.mozy.com/)
Idrive (http://www.idrive.com/)
Each offer a certain limit to the amount of data they hold for free, and each have costs associated with them for larger upload limits. You can always use a combination of providers, perhaps using one to backup your music and another to backup your documents.
I am currently favoring i-drive for it's simple setup and set-it-and-forget-it incremental backup routine, which seems to work great backing up my own home PC. It has a standard 2GB limit, which is enough for me, but if you need more space the pricing is as follows (Converted from US Dollars at today's rate)
IDrive Pro for Personal Use
Storage Space Monthly Rate Yearly Rate
150 GB £2.49 £24.90
IDrive Pro for Business
Storage Space Monthly Rate Yearly Rate
50 GB £5.01 £50.10
100GB £10.04 £100.40
500GB £25.14 £251.56
Google Apps
We have been testing google apps this week (http://www.google.com/apps/business/index.html). Basically it's an online file store, but has online editing facilities for Word and Excel documents. It also has a great online shared calendar which has a pretty funky way of being able to add appointments. I added a quick appintment simple by typing 'Dentist 9 am Sat', and in the appointment went scheduled for next saturday at 9am.
A summary of the features is here:
Work on the same document together, instead of sorting out changes in attachments
Share documents and calendars securely with your co-workers with a click
Access it all from any computer, and even from mobile phones
Invite other team members to join and share with you
Friday, June 27, 2008
Fuel Costs
I know this is a major topic on just about everyone's mind at present, but I thought I would do a few calculations.
I drive a fairly economical car, a BMW 120d. On average I am getting 48 MPG, which is pretty damn good to be honest. Typically I do 18,000 miles a year.
Diesel is today £1.32 per litre. There are 4.55 litres to a gallon, so that's a cost of (4.55 x 1.32) almost exactly £6 per gallon. (Blimey, that's shot up, I recall it hitting £1 a gallon not that many years ago! )
At 48 MPG, my 18,000 miles uses 375 gallons of fuel every year. That's a whopping cost of £2250 a year in fuel, just to get me around. Add on to this servicing, insurance and road tax of then that's a huge chunk of my income.
So what are the options - Hybrid cars (Toyota Prius for example), these seem to be typically only economical around town however the vast majority of my mileage would be done out of town, so I doubt this is the route for me, until Hybrids get better of course. I can't walk, use public transport or bike, every day is differenet, I don't know where I may need to go on any given day, so need a car with me at all times. We need some more alternatives I feel.
