LibreOffice gets launched to the cloud

LibreOffice Writer is a wizard driven, On-line (you can have a shortcut to the APP on your desktop/phone) word processor and publishing tool similar to other similar word processing products (MS Office etc.).

There were to Office related products on tne cloud, Microsoft Office 365 and Google Docs. Now there is a third one. Will it make substantial difference to MSFT it is hard to tell in the long run but probably just one more program on the internet for now.

Key features noted from the web site  are the following:

•    Templates and styles
•    A spelling and grammar checker
•    Word and character count
•    Page-layout methods, including frames, columns, and tables
•    Embedding or linking of graphics, spreadsheets, and other objects
•    Built-in drawing tools
•    Master documents—to group a collection of documents into a single document
•    Change tracking during revisions
•    The ability to import and edit PDF files.
•    Database integration, including a bibliography database
•    Indexing
•    AutoCorrect and AutoComplete

Here are some details of the shortcut.

You need to spend $0.99 to try it out

Get this free, Open source office suite - LibreOffice

Download this small sized (1.56MB) LibreOffice Office suite. You can use it for Word Processing; spreadsheet editing; creating presentation and for making drawings.  Why pay $149.99 for Microsoft Office or even $39.99 for Microsoft Works, this one is free.

You can save your files created with OpenOffice to Microsoft Office suite formats.

Download from here: Please read to the end of this post before you download.

http://www.sonicdownloads.net/download/Utilities/LibreOffice/?a=14349&f=advertisedotcom_libreoffice_intyield2

Here are some screen shots that you may want to look up before downloading:

 

It is pretty easy to install and use requiring very little resources.

 

 

This is further to the above:

 

I did not download this program from the above link as too many unwanted programs tried to sneak-in. Here is a list I had to contend with:

 

SpeedUpMyPC

WebSparkle
SeverWeatherAlerts
CleanWater Action Reminder
Secure Web
Genieo
ArcadeParlor
BrowserSafeGuard
Slow PC_Fighter
Driver Genius
Internet Updater

 

I had to remove all of them one at a time. I decided not to install LibreOffice suite.  

 

Connect to SQL Azure using OpenOffice

In my 2011 book, I have described the procedure for connecting to SQL Azure using OpenOffice Version 3.2.1. Basically OpenOffice supports this connectivity using ODBC. Follow this link:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/hh974312.aspx

Download Microsoft ODBC Driver 11 for SQL Server (windows) here:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36434

This should let you create an ODBC connection which allows connection to SQL Servers.

Once you have this you can follow the procedure in "Microsoft SQL Azure: Enterprise Application Development,2011, ISBN:978-1-849680-80-6, Chapter 10: Recent Developments #OpenOffice access to SQL Azure"

Please note that I have not tested this with new version of Apache OpenOffice and the new ODBC driver.

The above example shows running reports using SQL Azure Data.

My SQL Azure book is published

My latest book, Microsoft SQL Azure Enterprise Application Development was published today.

Writing this book was a great learning experience both in terms of understanding the technology and trying to put it across for others with whom I would share this experience.

Many people made this happen. Packt publishing offered me this third chance and the folks at Packt were great. I could not have written without the help of my participation in the Windows Azure, SQL Azure and SQL Server forums. The MSDN and TechNet resources; the Microsoft and Neudesic boot camps; the evaluation software etc. a great deal of which I used provided the necessary momentum.

The third party Windows Azure vendors I have tried to introduce were most helpful in providing trial software. I might not have covered all of them but surely many more must be out there.

Now I anxiously wait to see how it is going to be received... Get a free copy entering a raffle , follow this link:

http://hodentek.blogspot.com/2011/01/do-you-want-free-copies-of-my-latest.html

Why Google Apps? Why not Microsofts Web Apps? and Behold the Dark Horse!

Come June 15, Google's Office Docs will be challenged by Microsoft's Web Applications (Word, Excel, Power Point and One Note) working off the web and Microsoft expects to make money from Ads. Microsoft will challenge Google and steal away the Google crowd while injecting new blood into its Window Live at the same time, the core behind the Microsoft web applications. Microsoft is already an undisputed leader in Enterprise Office. With this new offering Microsoft will have the best of both worlds, keep the cake while eating it.
But behold the dark horse! I was recently testing out the OpenOffice and came away vastly impressed. I wonder how Microsoft is planning to challenge this one.
All these happenings keep me wondering why does the CNBC's talking heads miss Microsoft's serious foray into the unknown open spaces and the cloud. In a recent Power Lunch (I think it was) after a recent Ballmer's speech the talk turned to Google, Apple and Microsoft. They heaped praise on Google and Apple and showed rather an embarrassing financial (earnings per share) comparison of Apple and Microsoft and completely ignored Microsoft's spending on its Cloud Platform, CDNs, Data centers etc. How did this happen with an untold number of Microsoft Evangelists milling around? May be Microsoft should change its game plan and become more visible on Wall Street.
Disclaimer: I am neither a Microsoft employee nor hold Microsoft stocks but just a concerned webizen (Web Citizen)