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2009-09-05T21:02:00.001-04:00

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2009-08-18T19:56:00.012-04:00

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Do I need a Smarter Phone?

2008-07-19T02:06:00.003-04:00

If you haven't already been hooked by the Smartphone revolution, you may be looking for the right entry point. The first thing to consider is what benefits might be realized by moving into one of these devices.

Remote access to my calendar- Probably the #1 benefit immediately realized by a new Smartphone user is remote access to his/her calendar. If you're like most busy professionals and/or business owners, you do a pretty solid job of keeping your calendar on a PC (or you have an admin or office manager that keeps it for you). The problem is you're constantly having to use the line, "Let me check my calendar when I get back in the office" as you're visiting with your clients, suppliers, and partners. With the snazzy wireless syncing options available on most Smartphones, you'll have an up-to-date calendar in-hand whenever you need it.
Checking email on the road- For some Smartphone users, this capability is absolutely invaluable. Not only are you accessible via the phone, but you also can communicate via email from wherever you are without having to haul out your laptop and find a "hot spot". Others don't use this capability for a variety of reasons (e.g., keys are too small to type with, the screen's too small for reading that much text, or difficulty with attachments).
"Whiz-bang" mobile applications- There are tons of little niche applications that are very handy to have with you on-demand (e.g., customized cost calculators, quick-reference manuals, or mini-invoice builders).

If any or all of these benefits sound profitable, your next question is likely, "Which device should I get?" After all, there's lots of choices. Some are much cheaper than others. Some are much more popular than others. What's the difference and what are some of the major benefits of each device (Note: this summary was updated in July 2008, and the landscape is very dynamic)?

Palm® Treo- Palm introduced their first Smartphone in 2002 (it was actually Handspring that introduced the Treo 180). The first mass entry in the space, though, was in 2003 with the Treo 600. The line has rapidly grown into one of the most popular and most versatile. Palm's stability in the space is probably its most distinguishing trait. Below are images and links to some of the details for some of Palm's current Treo™ models.

Palm® Treo™ 700wx	Palm® Treo™ 755p
Palm® Centro™	Palm® Treo™ 750

BlackBerry®- The BlackBerry was introduced in 1999 by Research in Motion (RIM). Although not officially a Smartphone until 2001, BlackBerry's niche is definitely remote access to email (it's the pioneer in the space). The line has rapidly grown into one of the most popular and most versatile Smartphones (with 8 milliion subscribers as of April 2007). RIM also offers the BlackBerry® Connect software to allow users access to BlackBerry's email service on other devices (such as the Treo™). The table below breaks down some of the details for each of RIM's BlackBerry® models.

Model	Features
BlackBerry® 7200 series	240x160 color screen 16MB-32MB RAM Battery: Talk Time- 3.3-5 hrs. Standby Time- 8-10 days Bluetooth®
BlackBerry® 7500 series	240x160 color screen 16MB-32MB RAM Battery: Talk Time- 165-175 mins. Standby Time- 75 hrs. Bluetooth®
BlackBerry® Charm	240x260 color screen 32MB-64MB RAM Battery: Talk Time- 170mins.-4 hrs. Standby Time- 90 hrs.-8 days Bluetooth®
BlackBerry® 7130	240x260 color screen 64MB RAM Battery: Talk Time- 3-4 hrs. Standby Time- 8-18 days Bluetooth®
BlackBerry® Electron	320x240 color screen 64MB RAM Battery: Talk Time- 2.75-4 hrs. Standby Time- 8-16.5 days Bluetooth®
BlackBerry® Pearl	240x260 color screen 64MB RAM Battery: Talk Time- 3.5 hrs. Standby Time- 15 days Bluetooth®
BlackBerry® 8800	320x240 color screen 64MB RAM Battery Talk Time- 3.67-5 hrs. Standby Time- 9-22 days Bluetooth®
BlackBerry® Curve	320x240 color screen 64MB RAM Battery: Talk Time- 4 hrs. Standby Time- 17 days Bluetooth®

Apple iPhone- Apple's iPhone combines the popular iPod with a mobile phone and PDA. The device looks fantastic, but it's still evolving in the areas of interoperability and scalability. Its screen is a 320x480 color screen. Storage is in-line with the iPod (8GB-16GB) which places it well beyond other Smartphones in capacity. Regarding battery life, it has at least 5 hours of talk time and up to 24 hours of audio playback time. With Bluetooth® capabilities and a 2.0MP camera, it is definitely a strong competitor to the more established players.

Symbian OS-based devices- Smartphones running the Symbian OS represent 72.8% of the worldwide market share (mostly because of their predominance in Japan through a relationship with Nokia). There is a wide variety of Smartphones manufactured with the Symbian OS, and most are very robust devices. There has been an outbreak of malware among these devices, but most of the security risks are introduced through downloaded applications (so the risk is very manageable).

Obviously, there are many choices, and you shouldn't just go for the cheapest device you can find. Because of the growing popularity of these devices, you might want to consider contacting your existing wireless carrier to see if any special deals are available for current customers (you might be surprised what the carrier is willing to do to keep your subscription... after all, that's where the real money is).

CES® 2008 In Review

2008-01-13T22:06:00.001-05:00

What is CES®?

The Consumer Electronics Show, produced by the Consumer Electronics Association, annually showcases the innovation and commerce of its 2700 exhibitors, spanning 30 product categories including:

Audio
Digital Content Creation and Distribution
Digital Imaging
Embedded Technology
Gaming
Home Theater
Video
Home Networking
In-Vehicle Technology
Wireless Communications

How does CES® impact small business?

Many of the products highlighted at CES® are consumer-based, and are, thus, of limited interest to small businesses. The show has proven to be a reliable indicator of technology trends, though, and does, therefore, provide some valuable perspective on technology forecasting. Looking back on CES 2008 through that lens, here are some of TeknoCoach's observations for the upcoming year in small business technology.

"Thin is In"- One of the catchphrases for CES® 2008 was "thin is in". Although the phrase was primarily applicable to a staggering variety of flat-panel TVs, it also applied to mobile computing. Dell™, Hewlett-Packard, Samsung™, Sony®, and Toshiba all unveiled ultra-light, ultra-portable notebook (laptop) computers, weighing in at between 2 and 3.5 pounds and pushing the boundaries on power efficiency (always a struggle for laptop users). The bottom-line for small business technology is to take a fresh look at the need for mobile computing in their environment (as these smaller units are becoming increasingly affordable). Sales and field personnel are the clear winners here, but there may be other areas (like warehouse management) that are equally viable candidates to make the transition away from the desktop.
"The New Hard Drive"- CES® 2008 also included a new batch of Solid State Drives (from manufacturers like BitMicro Networks®, Digilux, RiTek, SanDisk®, SunRich Technology (H.K.) Limited, Super Talent Technology™, and Verbatim®). Known to most as "Flash Memory Cards" or "SD Memory Cards", these data storage devices are holding an increasing amount of data (comparable with traditional magnetic hard drives at anywhere from 32 GB to 256 GB) and because they access data much more quickly than traditional hard drives, may be a great way to extend the life of your existing equipment.
"The Shared Office- Microsoft® has promised revolutionary, new shared services since its release of Windows Vista® last year. CES® 2008 included the release of Office Live Workspace, which gives small businesses the ability to share documents, contacts, and other information created by Microsoft Office® applications (like Word, Excel®, PowerPoint®, and Outlook®). This level of interaction has previously been available only to companies with Exchange servers or other expensive networking equipment and software.

Does CES® merit my future attention?

The short answer is Yes. CES® is the Super Bowl of technology, and it is one of the best showcases for helping small businesses forecast their technology future. TeknoCoach™ stands ready to assist you in that process and wishes you a happy and prosperous 2008!

RosettaStone (2007.10.13)

2007-10-26T16:20:00.000-04:00

Click on either of the links above to find out more information about TeknoCoach™ or RosettaStone®.

2007-10-08T10:21:00.001-04:00

Fill out my Wufoo form! Powered by Wufoo

GotVMail (2007.10.06)

2007-10-05T09:04:00.000-04:00

Click on either of the links above to find out more information about TeknoCoach™ or GotVMail.

Internet Marketing

2007-09-24T12:56:00.000-04:00

Purchasing-Service Providers-ISPs

2007-09-21T16:44:00.000-04:00

AT&T

Verizon

Purchasing-Service Providers-Satellite Radio

2007-09-20T22:06:00.000-04:00

XM®

Legal

2007-09-13T08:39:00.000-04:00

LegalZoom®

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2007-09-13T08:23:00.000-04:00

Rosetta Stone®

SYSTRAN

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2007-09-04T22:31:00.000-04:00

Mice & Keyboards

2007-09-04T16:13:00.002-04:00

Circuit City

Save up to 66% on select Mice & Keyboards

Purchasing-Components-Networking

2007-09-04T15:14:00.001-04:00

Circuit City

Wireless Routers Starting at $24.99

Purchasing-Components-MP3 & Pen/Flash Drives

2007-09-04T15:06:00.005-04:00

iPod (Apple)

Quick Tour through Quickbooks

2007-08-24T13:45:00.000-04:00

QuickBooks is accounting software targeted at assisting small businesses in organizing their financial bookkeeping. It is developed by Intuit® and was first released in 1992. It is currently the #1 selling accounting software package for small businesses.
Uses can include:

Expense tracking
Invoice preparation
Financial Statement preparation
Inventory tracking

Competitive products include:

Simply Accounting By Sage®
Peachtree® by Sage
Microsoft® Office Accounting Professional

There are 4 flavors of QuickBooks currently offered:

QuickBooks SimpleStart-
- Print checks, pay bills, track sales and expenses
- Create estimates & invoices
- Accept credit cards
QuickBooks Pro- All QuickBooks SimpleStart functionality, plus:
- Payroll capabilities
- Interoperability with Microsoft® Office
- Inventory tracking
- Download capabilities for credit card & bank transactions
QuickBooks Premier- All QuickBooks Pro functionality, plus:
- Business planning & forecasting tools
- Advanced pricing capabilities
- Advanced cost tracking tools
Enterprise Solutions- All QuickBooks Premier functionality, plus:
- Multiple user capabilities (up to 20 concurrent)
- Increased capacity for inventory tracking
- Advanced reporting tools (including financial statement templates)
- Employee Organizer tool

There are also some targeted functionality products that allow businesses to use QuickBooks as a complement to less feature-rich accounting software:

QuickBooks Payroll (including Basic, Standard, Enhanced, Assisted, Online, and Direct Deposit variations)
QuickBooks Point of Sale (including Basic, Pro, Pro Multi-Store, Merchant Service, and Gift Card Service variations/add-ons)
Customer Manager
Invoice Manager
Credit Card Processing
Other various transaction and remote services

Additionally, Intuit released an online service called QuickBooks Online Edition in 2001, which has gradually matured into a best-in-class accounting service for small businesses.
There are many other helpful online resources for finding out more about QuickBooks and what it can do to improve your business. Some of these include:

QuickBooks' Support site
QuickBooks Support Forum
Jennifer Thieme's Expert QuickBooks Articles on Ezine Articles (http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Jennifer_A._Thieme)

Finding the best accounting software for your business can be a challenge. If you would like more information on how you can "make technology your #1 employee", go to the TeknoCoach website ( http://www.teknocoach.com ) and check out our solutions and services.

Purchasing-Digital Cameras & Camcorders

2007-08-06T11:10:00.003-04:00

Circuit City

Kodak

Purchasing-Components-Storage (CDs & DVDs)

2007-08-06T10:49:00.001-04:00

Circuit City

Web only: Save $15-$60 instantly on select DVD Players & Recorders

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2007-08-06T10:46:00.004-04:00

Circuit City

Save up to 25% instantly on select Speakers

Creative®

Purchasing-Components-Storage (Hard Drives)

2007-08-06T10:43:00.002-04:00

OnSale.com

Purchasing-Components-RAM

2007-08-06T10:33:00.001-04:00

4AllMemory.com

EDGE™ Tech Corp.

Support-PDAs/Smartphones

2007-08-02T00:42:00.000-04:00

"Tekno Savvy" Blog Entries

Do I Need a Smarter Phone?

Do I need a Smarter Phone?

2007-08-02T00:24:00.000-04:00

Remote access to my calendar- Probably the #1 benefit immediately realized by a new Smartphone user is remote access to his/her calendar. If you're like most busy professionals and/or business owners, you do a pretty solid job of keeping your calendar on a PC (or you have an admin or office manager that keeps it for you). The problem is you're constantly having to use the line, "Let me check my calendar when I get back in the office" as you're visiting with your clients, suppliers, and partners. With the snazzy wireless syncing options available on most Smartphones, you'll have an up-to-date calendar in-hand whenever you need it.
Checking email on the road- For some Smartphone users, this capability is absolutely invaluable. Not only are you accessible via the phone, but you also can communicate via email from wherever you are without having to haul out your laptop and find a "hot spot". Others don't use this capability for a variety of reasons (e.g., keys are too small to type with, the screen's too small for reading that much text, or difficulty with attachments).
"Whiz-bang" mobile applications- There are tons of little niche applications that are very handy to have with you on-demand (e.g., customized cost calculators, quick-reference manuals, or mini-invoice builders).

If any or all of these benefits sound profitable, your next question is likely, "Which device should I get?" After all, there's lots of choices. Some are much cheaper than others. Some are much more popular than others. What's the difference and what are some of the major benefits of each device (Note: these summaries are being written in May 2007, and the landscape is very dynamic)?

Palm® Treo- Palm introduced their first Smartphone in 2002 (it was actually Handspring that introduced the Treo 180). The first mass entry in the space, though, was in 2003 with the Treo 600. The line has rapidly grown into one of the most popular and most versatile. Palm's stability in the space is probably its most distinguishing trait. The table below breaks down some of the details for each of Palm's Treo models.

Released	Model	Features	Price*
2003	Treo 600	Palm OS 5 160x160 screen 0.3MP camera 32MB RAM	No longer sold directly by Palm
2004	Treo 650	Palm OS 5.4.8 320x320 screen 0.3MP camera 32MB RAM Bluetooth	No longer sold directly by Palm
2006	Treo 700w/wx	Windows Mobile 5.0 240x240 screen 1.3MP camera 64MB-128MB RAM Bluetooth	$250+
2006	Treo 700p	Palm OS 5.4.9 320x320 screen 1.3MP camera 128MB RAM Bluetooth	$250+
2006	Treo 680	Palm OS 5.4.9 320x320 screen 0.3MP camera 32MB RAM Bluetooth	$200+
2006	Treo 750	Windows Mobile 5.2 240x240 screen 1.3MP camera 128MB RAM Bluetooth	$300+
2007	Treo 755p	Palm OS 5.4.9 1.3MP camera 128MB RAM Bluetooth	$280+

*- prices taken directly from http://www.palm.com

BlackBerry®- The BlackBerry was introduced in 1999 by Research in Motion (RIM). Although not officially a Smartphone until 2001, BlackBerry's niche is definitely remote access to email (it's the pioneer in the space). The line has rapidly grown into one of the most popular and most versatile Smartphones (with 8 milliion subscribers as of April 2007). RIM also offers the BlackBerry? Connect software to allow users access to BlackBerry's email service on other devices (such as the Treo). The table below breaks down some of the details for each of RIM's BlackBerry models.

Released	Model	Features	Price**
2001	BlackBerry Quark	160x100 monochrome screen 16MB RAM Battery: Talk Time- 5 hrs. Standby Time- 12-16 days	No longer sold directly by RIM
2003	BlackBerry 6510	160x100 monochrome screen 8MB RAM Battery: Talk Time- 165 mins. Standby Time- 75 hrs.	No longer sold directly by RIM
2004	BlackBerry 6700 series	160x100 monochrome screen 10MB-16MB RAM Battery: Talk Time- 3-4 hrs. Standby Time- 8-10 days	No longer sold directly by RIM
2004	BlackBerry 7200 series	240x160 color screen 16MB-32MB RAM Battery: Talk Time- 3.3-5 hrs. Standby Time- 8-10 days Bluetooth	$150+
2004	BlackBerry 7500 series	240x160 color screen 16MB-32MB RAM Battery: Talk Time- 165-175 mins. Standby Time- 75 hrs. Bluetooth	$320
2005	BlackBerry 7700 series	240x240 color screen 14MB-16MB RAM Battery: Talk Time- 198 mins.-5 hrs. Standby Time- 8-9 days	No longer sold directly by RIM
2005	BlackBerry Charm	240x260 color screen 32MB-64MB RAM Battery: Talk Time- 170mins.-4 hrs. Standby Time- 90 hrs.-8 days Bluetooth	$200+
2006	BlackBerry 7130	240x260 color screen 64MB RAM Battery: Talk Time- 3-4 hrs. Standby Time- 8-18 days Bluetooth	$150+
2006	BlackBerry Electron	320x240 color screen 64MB RAM Battery: Talk Time- 2.75-4 hrs. Standby Time- 8-16.5 days Bluetooth	$200+
2006	BlackBerry Pearl	240x260 color screen 64MB RAM Battery: Talk Time- 3.5 hrs. Standby Time- 15 days Bluetooth	$150-$200
2007	BlackBerry Gamma Ray	320x240 color screen 64MB RAM Battery Talk Time- 3.67-5 hrs. Standby Time- 9-22 days Bluetooth	On-sale June 2007
2007	BlackBerry Curve	320x240 color screen 64MB RAM Battery: Talk Time- 4 hrs. Standby Time- 17 days Bluetooth	Coming Soon

**- prices taken directly from http://www.blackberry.com

Apple iPhone- Apple is introducing their new iPhone in June 2007. iPhone's niche is that it combines the popular iPod with a mobile phone and PDA. The device looks fantastic, but because it's so new, it's still evolving in the areas of interoperability and scalability. Its screen is a 320x480 color screen. Storage is in-line with the iPod (4GB-8GB) which places it well beyond other Smartphones in capacity. Regarding battery life, it has 5 hours of talk time and 16 hours of audio playback time. With Bluetooth capabilities and a 2.0MP camera, it is definitely a strong competitor to the more established players.

Symbian OS-based devices- Smartphones running the Symbian OS represent 72.8% of the worldwide market share (mostly because of their predominance in Japan through a relationship with Nokia). There is a wide variety of Smartphones manufactured with the Symbian OS, and most are very robust devices. There has been an outbreak of malware among these devices, but most of the security risks are introduced through downloaded applications (so the risk is very manageable). Below is a table with some of the more popular Symbian OS-based Smartphones.

Released	Model	Features	Price***
2003	Motorola A925	208x320 color screen 640x480 camera 32MB RAM Bluetooth	No longer sold directly by Motorola
2004	Motorola A1000	208x320 color screen 1.2MP camera 32MB RAM Bluetooth	No longer sold directly by Motorola
2002	Nokia 9290 Communicator	640x200 color screen 14MB-16MB RAM Battery: Talk Time- 10 hrs. Standby Time- 230-400 hrs.	No longer sold directly by Nokia
2003	Nokia 3620	176x208 color screen 640x480 camera 3MB RAM Battery: Talk Time- 4 hrs. Standby Time- 8 days Bluetooth	No longer sold directly by Nokia
2004	Nokia 6620	176x208 color screen 640x480 camera 11MB RAM Battery: Talk Time- 4 hrs. Standby Time- 8 days Bluetooth	No longer sold directly by Nokia
2004	Nokia 9500 Communicator	640x200 color screen 640x480 camera 80MB-192MB RAM Battery>: Talk Time- 4-6 hrs. Standby Time- 4-6 hrs. Bluetooth	No longer sold directly by Nokia
2004	Nokia 7610/6670	176x208 color screen 1MP camera 8MB RAM Bluetooth	No longer sold directly by Nokia
2004	Nokia 6630	176x208 color screen 1.3MP camera 10MB RAM Bluetooth	No longer sold directly by Nokia
2004	Nokia 3230	176x208 color screen 1.23MP camera 5MB RAM (w/32MB card) Bluetooth	No longer sold directly by Nokia
2005	Nokia 6682	176x208 color screen 8MB RAM Battery: Talk Time- 4 hrs. Standby Time- 11 days Bluetooth	No longer sold directly by Nokia
2005	Nokia N70	176x208 color screen 2.0MP camera 22MB RAM Bluetooth
2005	Nokia N90	352x416 color screen 2.0MP camera 30MB RAM Bluetooth
2005	Nokia 9300 Communicator	640x200 color screen 80MB-192MB RAM Battery: Talk Time- 7 hrs. Standby Time- 8 days Bluetooth	No longer sold directly by Nokia
2006	Nokia E62	352x416 color screen 64MB RAM Battery: Talk Time- 2.5-6.4 hrs. Standby Time- 4.5-13 days Bluetooth	$200
2006	Nokia N73	240x320 color screen 3.2MP camera 128MB RAM Battery: Talk Time- 3.7-4.1 hrs. Standby Time- 14.5-15.4 days Bluetooth	$430
2006	Nokia N91	176x208 color screen 2.0MP camera 8GB RAM Bluetooth
2006	Nokia N93	240x320 color screen 3.2MP camera 128MB RAM Battery: Talk Time- 3.7-5.1 hrs. Standby Time- 10 days Bluetooth
2007	Nokia E50	240x320 color screen 70MB RAM Battery: Talk Time- 6.8-8 hrs. Standby Time- 9-10 days Bluetooth	Coming Soon

2004	Panasonic X701	176x208 color screen 640x480 camera 8MB RAM (w/16MB card) Battery: Talk Time- 2-6 hrs. Standby Time- 80-250 hrs. Bluetooth	No longer sold directly by Panasonic
2005	Panasonic X800	176x208 color screen 640x480 camera 8MB RAM (16MB w/card) Battery: Talk Time- 5 hrs. Standby Time- 230 hrs. Bluetooth	No longer sold directly by Panasonic

	Samsung SGH-D720	176x208 color screen 1.3MP camera 18MB RAM Battery: Talk Time- 6.5 hrs. Standby Time- 200 hrs. Bluetooth

2003	Siemens SX1	176x220 color screen 640x480 camera 16MB-32MB RAM (1GB w/card) Battery: Talk Time- 4 hrs. Standby Time- 200 hrs. Bluetooth	No longer sold directly by Siemens

2002	Sony Ericsson P800	208x320 color screen 0.3MP camera 12MB RAM Battery: Talk Time- 13 hrs. Standby Time- 400 hrs. Bluetooth	No longer sold directly by Sony Ericsson
2003	Sony Ericsson P900	208x320 color screen 0.3MP camera 16MB RAM Bluetooth	No longer sold directly by Sony Ericsson
2004	Sony Ericsson P910	208x320 color screen 0.3MP camera 64MB RAM Bluetooth	No longer sold directly by Sony Ericsson
2006	Sony Ericsson W950	240x320 color screen 4GB RAM Bluetooth
2006	Sony Ericsson M600	240x320 color screen 2.0MP camera 60MB RAM Bluetooth
2006	Sony Ericsson P990	240x320 color screen 2.0MP camera 80MB RAM Bluetooth

***-prices taken directly from individual manufacturer websites

Obviously, there are many choices, and you shouldn't just go for the cheapest device you can find. Because of the growing popularity of these devices, you might want to consider contacting your existing wireless carrier to see if any special deals are available for current customers (you might be surprised what the carrier is willing to do to keep your subscription... after all, that's where the real money is).

The "Vista" for Your Business

2007-08-01T22:47:00.000-04:00

vis-ta [vis-tuh] (n.)
1. a view or prospect, esp. one seen through a long, narrow avenue or passage, as between rows of trees or houses.
2. such an avenue or passage, esp. when formally planned.
3. a far-reaching mental view: vistas of the future.

Certainly, one of the hot technology topics for 2007 is Windows Vista™.

For business owners, the big question is, "When should I upgrade?"

Obviously, no one (except, perhaps, someone selling Microsoft® products) has a definite answer to that question. It depends on what critical software your business is running and what you're trying to achieve with your technology infrastructure. To that end, I've listed 3 general questions for you to consider when deciding whether to alter your own technology vista.

1. Are your critical business applications compatible with Windows Vista? Microsoft has launched a partnered initiative called Application Compatibility Factory. Part of that initiative is to ensure that businesses have a solid set of assessment tools at their disposal to make a decision on when to upgrade to Windows Vista. These tools include:

2. What does Windows Vista have that Windows XP™ doesn't? Some key enhancements in Windows Vista:

3. When are you planning on upgrading your computer hardware? If you're planning on upgrading to new PCs anytime soon, it might be worth waiting to upgrade with the new PC purchase (most PC manufacturers are able to ship with Windows Vista pre-installed now). Hopefully, this generates some good "food for thought" as you make a "Tekno Savvy" decision on when to upgrade your enterprise PCs to Windows Vista.

Step Into Your New "Office"

2007-08-01T22:36:00.000-04:00

You may be pondering the installation of Microsoft® Office products (Word, Excel®, Outlook®, and maybe PowerPoint®) or looking to upgrade to a more recent release of the Office suite (Office 2007 was released in December). Although the Microsoft Office suite is excellent business productivity software, it's not cheap (you'll pay anywhere from $150 to $700 per instance, unless you're getting some volume discounts through a reseller). There are alternatives for you to consider, and (as with any "Tekno Savvy" Hot Topic) those alternatives have both pro's and con's. First, let's look at the alternatives (grouped by the individual components within the Office suite):

1. Word- There is an almost countless number of alternative word processors out there, such as:

OpenOffice.org Writer (the entire OpenOffice.org suite, which is part of Sun® Microsystem's open-source strategy is available here)
WordPerfect® (the entire WordPerfect Office X3 suite, which is owned by Corel®, is available here)
Lotus Word Pro (which is part of IBM®'s Lotus SmartSuite, available here)
Adobe ® FrameMaker®(available from Adobe here)
StarOffice Writer (the entire StarOffice suite, which is part of Sun® Microsystem's proprietary software catalog, is available here)

2. Excel- There is also a large contingent of spreadsheet software options out there, such as:

OpenOffice.org Calc
Quattro Pro® (part of the WordPerfect Office X3 suite)
Lotus 1-2-3 (part of Lotus SmartSuite)
StarOffice Calc

3. PowerPoint- There's not quite as much direct competition in this space, but there are counterparts in all the suites previously mentioned, as detailed below:

OpenOffice.org Impress
Presentations™ (part of the WordPerfect Office X3 suite)
Freelance Graphics (part of Lotus SmartSuite)
Adobe Presenter, formerly Macromedia Breeze Presenter (available from Adobe here)
StarOffice Impress

4. Outlook- Excluding the web-based email services (such as Google™ gmail or Yahoo!® Mail), there are some good alternatives, such as:

Mozilla Thunderbird™ (available here)
Lotus Notes (available here)
Eudora, which will likely fold into or combine with Mozilla's Thunderbird in the not-too-distant future (available here)

Next, let's look at some of the pro's and con's of each of the major vendors' offerings:

1. Microsoft Office-

Pro's: It's the "Big Daddy" of the bunch, no doubt. It has the most users, the biggest development budget, files you generate with it are practically universal, and it's got "hooks galore" into Microsoft's Windows operating system.
Con's: It's the "Big Brother" of the bunch. It's toward the higher end in cost, all things considered, and it's not very petite regarding system requirements (but that's not a huge concern if you've upgraded your PCs anytime within the last 2-3 years).

2. Sun Microsystems' OpenOffice.org-

Pro's: It's free with some "strings" attached (mostly an agreement that you'll participate somehow in the overall open-source development process, detailed here). It's also completely compatible with Microsoft Office formats.
Con's: Because it's open-source, "support" is a relative term (but the Help functions are surprisingly well-organized so that it's not a huge concern). You also have to be careful to save into Microsoft Office formats if you're planning on transporting these documents anywhere (not hard to do, but you have to remember to do it).

3. Corel's WordPerfect Office X3-

Pro's: These guys have been around for a long time (remember when Word and WordPerfect were the 2 big players in the word processing space?).
Con's: The product is solid, but there aren't any major feature differentiators (WordPerfect is not all that different from Word, Quattro Pro is like a less-talented older sibling of Excel's, etc.). For all of Corel's past brilliance in the area of desktop publishing, it hasn't seemed to carry-over into the 21st century (at least not with this suite)

4. IBM's Lotus SmartSuite-

Pro's: IBM is, obviously, another long-time player in the space (Lotus 1-2-3 is pretty much the "grand-daddy" of spreadsheets), with lots of capital to throw around. Support is good if you can get to the right channel.
Con's: Similar to Corel, there's just not any strong differentiators here (unless the whole Lotus Notes and Lotus Domino architecture makes sense to you, in which case, please let me know, so I can consult with you). The product offerings are good, but they're almost too complex.

5. Sun Microsystems' StarOffice-

Pro's: Just like with OpenOffice.org, compatibility with Microsoft Office is a plus.
Con's: Support is a little better than for its OpenOffice.org counterparts, and the same warning exists for document portability as listed above.

6. Mozilla's Thunderbird-

Pro's: This product is quickly getting to be very robust. It's not yet to the usability level of Outlook, and it has one-thousandth of Lotus Notes' complexity and scalability, but for a free product, it's pretty awesome!
Con's: Similar to the observations about Sun Microsystems' OpenOffice.org offerings, the open-source nature of this product can leave a little to be desired in the area of support, but most of the normal functions are relatively intuitive.

7. Eudora-

Pro's: Another "grand-daddy", this time in the email client space. Very stable and reliable utility
Con's: Time will tell what happens to this stalwart, but it appears to be in good hands (Mozilla)

The "bottom line" is that you do have some legitimate choices with your business productivity software, and you can "mix and match" (many of these solutions can be broken out... for example, Word can be purchased unpackaged from the Microsoft Office suite or Lotus 1-2-3 can be purchased unpackaged from Lotus SmartSuite). Take some time to investigate your options before opening your wallet.

Coaching-Tim Knox (Real Reasons People Buy)

2007-07-30T15:03:00.001-04:00

Coaching-Tim Knox (Creating a Sales Page)

2007-07-30T14:59:00.001-04:00

Coaching-Tim Knox (Starting an Online Business)

2007-07-30T14:55:00.000-04:00

Coaching-Tim Knox (Market Research & Validation)

2007-07-30T14:53:00.000-04:00

Purchasing-Service Providers-HR

2007-07-26T08:38:00.000-04:00

E-Employment Screening™

Books-Organization

2007-07-26T00:41:00.000-04:00

FranklinCovey®

Purchasing-Service Providers-Postal Service

2007-07-26T00:22:00.000-04:00

Earth Class Mail™
stamps.com®

Stuck? Contact Support.com!

2007-07-25T23:33:00.000-04:00

Purchasing-PCs-Software-Operating Systems

2007-07-20T22:53:00.000-04:00

Parallels (for Mac)

Windows Vista®

Purchasing-PCs-Software-Productivity

2007-07-20T22:43:00.000-04:00

Corel® (WordPerfect®)

FranklinCovey®

iWork™ (for Mac)

Microsoft® Office
Excel	PowerPoint
Word
Nuance
PaperPort (Scan/Organize/Share Documents)	PDF Converter
OmniPage (convert/edit scanned documents)
SYSTRAN

Purchasing-Service Providers-Remote Access

2007-07-20T22:21:00.000-04:00

GoToMyPC®

Radmin®

Purchasing-Service Providers-Satellite TV

2007-07-20T22:19:00.001-04:00

DirecTV

Purchasing-Service Providers-Fax Service

2007-07-20T22:16:00.001-04:00

CallWave

RingCentral®

Purchasing-Service Providers-Telecom

2007-07-20T22:14:00.003-04:00

Citrix® Online
GoToMeeting®	GoToWebinar™

GotVMail™

Packet8

paltalk

SightSpeed™

Skype

via:talk

WebEx™

meetmenow

Purchasing-Service Providers-Print Services

2007-07-20T22:10:00.000-04:00

48HourPrint.com

VistaPrint

Purchasing-PCs-Software-Backup & Restore

2007-07-20T09:40:00.001-04:00

Acronis

Carbonite

ProSoft

Purchasing-PCs-Software-Media Creation

2007-07-20T09:31:00.000-04:00

Nero

Roxio®

Purchasing-PCs-Software-Contact Management

2007-07-20T08:51:00.000-04:00

ACT!

Purchasing-PCs-Software-Accounting

2007-07-20T08:38:00.000-04:00

QuickBooks®

Purchasing-Cell Phones & Accessories

2007-07-17T13:44:00.000-04:00

Purchasing-PDAs/Smartphones

2007-07-17T10:43:00.001-04:00

PDAs
Palm® Tungsten™ E2	Palm® T\|X
Smartphones

Palm® Treo™ 680	Palm® Treo™ 700p
Palm® Treo™ 755p	NEW! Palm® Centro™
Apple iPhone

Purchasing-Printers-Hardware & Supplies

2007-07-17T10:00:00.009-04:00

Kodak

OfficeMax

Toner & Ink

Shop4tech.com

HandHelditems.com

Inkgrabber®
Get 12% OFF any size order with code: SCARY12

4inkjets

Purchasing-Components

2007-07-16T20:44:00.002-04:00

Cyberguys

NewEgg.com

X-Treme Geek™

Mice & Keyboards

Networking (Routers, Switches, NICs, Modems)

RAM

Storage (Hard Drives)

Storage (CDs & DVDs)

Storage (MP3 & Pen/Flash Drives)

Sound Cards, Speakers, & Microphones

Purchasing-Security & Automation-X10

2007-07-16T11:08:00.000-04:00

Purchasing-Security & Automation

2007-07-16T10:25:00.000-04:00

Purchasing-PCs-Software-Networking

2007-07-14T01:38:00.000-04:00

Network Magic™

Purchasing-PCs-Software

2007-07-14T01:37:00.002-04:00

Apple Store

Eagle Computer

MacMall

NothingButSoftware

FREE SHIPPING OFFER at NothingButSoftware

Software Categories

Purchasing-PCs-Software-Security

2007-07-13T17:20:00.009-04:00

Kaspersky®
Kaspersky® Anti-Virus	Kaspersky® Internet Security 6.0
Kaspersky® Personal Network Security Package
McAfee®
McAfee® VirusScan Plus	McAfee® Internet Security Suite

Panda Security
Panda Antivirus 2008 - $5 Discount Coupon

Panda Antivirus + Firewall 2008 - $10 Discount Coupon

Panda Internet Security 2008 - $15 Discount Coupon

PGP® (Encryption)

Symantec™

Trend Micro™

Webroot®

Purchasing-Service Providers

2007-07-13T17:13:00.001-04:00

Purchasing-PCs-Hardware-Sony

2007-07-13T13:37:00.001-04:00

Save $150 instantly on the VAIO® UX Series.

Save $200 on VAIO TX series notebooks..

Free ground shipping on everything through March.

Purchasing-PCs-Hardware-Macintosh (Apple)

2007-07-13T13:33:00.003-04:00

Apple Store

MacMall

Purchasing-PCs-Hardware-IBM

2007-07-13T13:24:00.000-04:00

Budget
ThinkCenter M50 (refurbished)	ThinkCentre S50 (refurbished)
Mid-Level
Netvista

Purchasing-Office Supplies

2007-07-13T12:44:00.007-04:00

Photos/Artwork

Batteries

Ink & Toner

Shop4Tech.com

HandHeld Items

Office Depot

Office Max

Sit4Less.com

OfficeFurniture.com

Home Office Solutions

Purchasing-PCs-Hardware-Fujitsu

2007-07-12T13:56:00.000-04:00

Tablet PCs

Mid-Level
Fujitsu LifeBook® A3130	Fujitsu LifeBook® A6030
Fujitsu LifeBook® C1410
Premium
Fujitsu LifeBook® E8310	Fujitsu LifeBook® E8410
Fujitsu LifeBook® S7110	Fujitsu LifeBook® P1610

Purchasing-PCs-Hardware

2007-07-12T01:31:00.009-04:00

NewEgg.com

Office Depot

Office Max
Acer Aspire 5610-2089 15.4 Notebook PC Save $100 Instantly ALL NEW! Everex StepNote ST5340T 12.1 Ultra Portable Notebook PC – Only $699.99 HP a6110n Desktop PC Bundle - Save up to $180 HP a6120n Desktop PC - save up to $180 when purchased with a W1907 LCD and C4280 All-In-One Printer HP a6130n Desktop PC Bundle - save up to $180 HP s3120n Slimline Desktop PC – Save $100 or up to $180 with purchase options HP Pavilion tx1205us 12.1 Convertible Notebook PC – Save $100 Sony Vaio CR Series 14.1 Notebook PCs with Intel Core 2 Duo T7100 Processors $1249.99 ZT Reliant CI-V602X Desktop PC & Monitor Bundle
OnSale.com
Wal-Mart

X-treme Geek™

PC Manufacturers
Fujitsu IBM Macintosh (Apple) Sony

Books-PCs- Software

2007-06-29T23:25:00.000-04:00

Leadership

2007-06-29T21:54:00.000-04:00

101 Series by John Maxwell

Winning with People by John Maxwell

The Science of Success by Charles G. Koch

Good to Great by Jim Collins

Coaching

2007-06-29T21:43:00.001-04:00

	48 Days to the Work You Love by Dan Miller Check out Dan's Podcasts:
	Everything I Know about Business I Learned from My Mama by Tim Knox Check out some of Tim's videos: Market Research & Validation Starting an Online Business The Real Reasons People Buy Creating a Sales Page
	Read WhiteSmoke's Testimonials

Support-Printers

2007-06-07T18:16:00.000-04:00

Note: all of these links are to the manufacturers' support sites

Brother and the "brother" logo are both trademarks of Brother Industries, Ltd., Japan registered in Japan and certain other countries.

Canon and the Canon logo are trademarks of Canon USA, Inc. in the United States and other countries.

Dell and the Dell logo are trademarks of Dell, Inc. in the United States and other countries.

Epson and the Epson logo are trademarks of Epson, Inc. in the United States and other countries.

Kodak and the Kodak logo are trademarks of the Eastman Kodak Company in the United States and other countries.

Support-PCs- Software

2007-06-07T10:16:00.000-04:00

"Tekno Savvy" Blog Entries

Support Links

Note: all of these links are to the manufacturers' support sites

Access™ (Microsoft®)

ACT!® (Sage)
Excel® (Microsoft®)

Excel 2003

Excel 2004 for Mac

Excel 2007

Peachtree® (Sage)
PowerPoint® (Microsoft®)

Project (Microsoft®)

Windows® (Microsoft®)

Word (Microsoft®)

Intuit and QuickBooks are trademarks and service marks of Intuit Inc., registered in the United States and other countries. Microsoft, Access, Excel, Internet Explorer, Outlook, PowerPoint, Visio, and Windows are trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft, Inc. in the United States and other countries. ACT! and Peachtree are registered trademarks of Sage, Inc. in the United States and other countries. IBM, Lotus Notes, and Lotus Sametime are registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both.

Support-PCs- Hardware

2007-06-06T09:34:00.000-04:00

Note: all of these links are to the manufacturers' support sites

Toshiba

Dell is a trademark of Dell, Inc. in the United States and other countries. eMachines and Gateway are registered trademarks of Gateway, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Lenovo and IBM are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both. Macintosh is a registered trademark of Apple Inc.