Outdated Office
Microsoft has been absolutely nailing its online productivity suite for years now, and it’s more powerful than ever before.
How powerful, you ask? So much so that even the company itself acknowledges its traditional desktop Office as an inferior product, sort of like when you’re at the movies and the guy at the concession stand wonders aloud what kind of sucker buys a medium when a large is 35 cents more.
In any case, many people are surprised to discover just how much you can do with Office 365. I recently had a prospect that had been somehow convinced that they needed to buy a server just to have control over their email, and another who is thinking about hosting their email with their IT provider, both of which are bad ideas for reasons we went over before.
What we haven’t discussed yet is that Office 365 provides solutions to both issues. That’s right, part of the Office 365 package is the connected version of Outlook, which provides a range of features including secure encryption for a fraction of what it costs to maintain an onsite server.
Another part of the package is that it’s delivered by Microsoft, so you never have to worry about bush league stuff like having one guy throwing everything into chaos by leave the company or having the entire system wiped by some garage hacker.
The Gift and The Curse
Like nuclear energy and non biodegradable plastic, the Internet is simultaneously one of the best and worst innovations ever devised by the human mind…which direction any of these go in is based almost entirely on how is handled by those who come into contact with it.
YouTube in particular shows both types of potential involved with putting the sum total of civilization’s knowledge at the fingertips of any toddler, and I’m sure I don’t have to tell the parents out there what kind of stuff is just floating around waiting to reveal itself with a single curious click.
Fortunately, there are reliable methods of limiting access to videos by setting parental controls, and this article goes into detail about putting them in place.
Theater of the Mind
There’s something about being educated and entertained at the same time that really helps the information stick. That’s why I love a well done documentary, and if you enjoy filling in dull moments at work by learning something new, this CNET feature on the best Netflix documentaries should get you through the week at least.
Dashing through the Snow
The Iditarod started off this week, and I have to say it always piques my interest. Perhaps it’s my inner 8-year-old adventurer that loves the idea of a team of huskies and their guide working as a team to brave the elements on a speed run through the frozen white north…nope, now that I described it again it still sounds cool to Adult Brad.
Anyway, I’m going to follow along with the race again this year as I usually do, and if you’d like to join me why not peek in on the live stream? It’s another perfectly valid way to kill time, and is even appropriate for children of all ages.
The Last Word
Well, that’ll just about wrap up the first “Brad’s Blog” of March, so thanks as always for making space in your schedule for the latest enthusiastic edition! I’ll be right back on schedule next time around, but if you have something you feel I need to share with the class before then, please don’t be shy about shooting me an email.