Beginning today, GoDaddy (you most likely have – or someone you know has – a domain parked at GoDaddy) is offering hosted Microsoft Exchange plans. 

There are two plans currently available: individual access (dubbed “Outlook with Mobile”) with 2GB of storage for $9.99/mo and group access (dubbed “Group Outlook with Mobile”) with 20GB storage space for $56.99/mo.  The latter enables up to 5 users and both plans come with Outlook 2007 for each user to use on your desktop or laptop (MS Licensing may even permit both but don’t quote me on that).  Here’s a snippet of Microsoft’s official press release:

“GoDaddy.com Inc., the world’s largest domain registrar and largest hosting provider in North America, and Microsoft Corp. today announced that GoDaddy.com is delivering mobile and group e-mail plans with Microsoft Outlook, powered by Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, to help small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) improve worker productivity and communications regardless of physical location. The new e-mail plans from GoDaddy.com, including Personal Outlook, Outlook with Mobile, and Group Outlook with Mobile, give SMBs the ability to manage all of their online services from one place.”

GoDaddy certainly isn’t the first to offer hosted Exchange plans but they are a company you’re almost certain to see around tomorrow (although you can’t be too sure now) and that’s definitely something to consider when it comes to your email. You can find plenty of other hosted Exchange providers by just doing a Web search for “hosted Exchange plans.”

Microsoft Exchange, in my humble opinion, offers a much more pleasant and stable experience than, for instance, IMAP with Gmail.  (I can’t quite emphasize “stable” enough.)

Plus, of all the services you should be paying money for, email might just be one of the ones you should consider – especially given how critical it can be sometimes.  I mean, you wouldn’t want to find yourself, oh – I don’t know, locked out of your email account with no sign of support whatsoever… would you?

Taglocity, the company behind the Outlook organizational add-in of the same name (which we’ve covered before) just debuted a new beta of Taglocity for Outlook.  This time, they’ve drawn a little bit of inspiration from Xobni.

Taglocity, for those of you that don’t know, is a simple add-in designed to allow for “tagging” of emails, tasks, appointments, etc. in an effort to make organization of those items in Microsoft’s infamous email client a little easier. 

I’m personally a big fan so I was a bit troubled when I received a message this morning stating that my beta software had expired.  After downloading the most up-to-date version from taglocity.com, I was presented with a few big changes.  The two biggest changes in the new release are the “Taglocity Task Pane” and “Conversation View.” 

The first big change, the task pane, is where the Xobni reference comes into play.  The task pane, much like in Xobni, is displayed to the right of the message you’re reading and is an area where you can view snapshot information in regards to the individual who sent you the message.  (e.g., recently exchanged messages, files exchanged with the sender, number of emails to/from, etc.)  Those of you who currently use Xobni know exactly what I’m talking about.  In fact, here’s a visual comparison of the two:

(Click on the image for a larger view.)

To clarify,  I’m not saying that Taglocity has blatantly ripped Xobni off or anything because I think the new task pane fits perfectly into the features that they’ve been building up over the last few versions: groups/networking.

The other new feature, conversation view, is exactly what you might expect.  Clicking the conversation view button on the Taglocity toolbar brings up a quick window that neatly displays all of the messages related to the same subject.  It seems to work perfectly and is a great replacement to Outlook’s “Find Related Messages” which inevitably takes a while to pull up.  (Xobni also has this feature but it’s a little too slow for me.)

If you’ve yet to give Taglocity a try, you can sign up for the beta at Taglocity.com but I’d personally recommend reading about what all the software has to offer prior to doing so.  It’s designed to do more than just “tag” messages – although, admittedly, that’s primarily what I use it for – so far.  Also, a recent post on Taglocity’s blog also gives some great insight on what the company desires to achieve with its flagship product: “Saving Email – A Brief History.”

So, Google’s been offering IMAP access to Gmail for quite some time now.  What about Windows Live Hotmail users…all eight of them?  Are they just left hangin’ with *scoff* POP3?  (Okay, I kid…there are literally hundreds* of Hotmail users still in existence.)

Well, if you’re a Hotmail user that also has access to Microsoft Outlook, either at home or at work, then you’re in luck.  For a little while now, Microsoft has been offering Microsoft Office Outlook Connector: an Outlook plugin that lets you access and synchronize your Hotmail account(s) from within Outlook.

Much like with IMAP, E-mails that you send/receive/file in Outlook are mirrored in your Hotmail account online upon hitting that magical Send/Receive button. 

For example, e-mails that you send from your account in Outlook are, as you might expect, stored in the “sent items” folder right there in Outlook but also get uploaded to the “sent items” folder of Hotmail.  (Same for “deleted items,” “drafts,” etc.)  In addition, the tool also allows you to synchronize your Hotmail contacts and calendar.

In my opinion, this option acts even better than traditional IMAP access because, for the most part, IMAP remains a relatively flaky technology.  As an Outlook/Gmail user, I experience the following annoyances with my Gmail IMAP connection in Outlook 2007:  frequent disconnects, quirky synchronizations, LENGTHY synchronization times and my own personal favorite… the inability to take advantage of Outlook’s feature-rich flagging options on messages.

That last one is actually a problem with how Outlook treats IMAP connections, not a problem with IMAP in general…but allow me to explain.  You see, natively, you can right-click on a message in Outlook and “flag” it for follow-up by selecting one of many different follow-up options: Today, Tomorrow, This Week, Next Week, No Date and Custom.  That flagged message then appears as a “task” in your task list or in your To-Do Bar (new to OL2007.)  With IMAP messages, you only get one follow-up option: “Flag.”  Then, if you do decide to go ahead and generically flag that bad boy, it shows up multiple times in your To-Do Bar.  (That one’s actually due to the Gmail IMAP folder structure in Outlook.) 

Neither of these quirks exist with messages retrieved by the Outlook Connector.  Sure, that’s not a big deal but I personally find it highly annoying.

Anyways, I’ll most likely not be switching back to Windows Live Hotmail anytime soon (mainly due to that horrificly awful banner ad in place at mail.live.com) but I wanted to point out the availability and uniqueness of this particular tool to those of you using the Hotmail/Outlook (2003 or 2007) combo.  If you’re interested, you can find it for download here on Microsoft’s downloads site or packaged as an available option in the new Windows Live Wave 3 installer.

*Hundreds, few million…same diff.

Mike Swanson, the PDC2008 Content Owner, over at Microsoft’s Channel 9 site described the upcoming Professional Developer’s Conference to be primarily aimed at presenting Microsoft’s goals for Software+Services.

“I’ve read alot of speculation on the blogs, I’ve read what some of the reporters are writing up and, while it’s awesome stuff and I love to read it, I can tell you that when those folks show up – I think even they’re going to be surprised.  We have alot of big announcements related to services at PDC.  We’ll be announcing a comprehensive services platform.  That’s gonna be some big, paradigm-shifting news – not only for Microsoft, but I think also for the industry.”

If you’ve been itching to finally create a consistent theme for all of your Office 2007 documents (Word, PowerPoint, etc.) then the Open XML Theme Builder (free, open-source) from Microsoft’s Codeplex might just be what you’re looking for.

Using this application, you can instantly choose your (or your company’s):

• default theme colors (text/background/hyperlink/accent, etc.)
• major and minor fonts
• line styles (color, weight alignment, etc.)
• fill styles (solid/gradient, tint/solid, etc.)
• effect styles (shadows, bevels, etc.)
• background styles (solid fill, gradient fill, rotation, etc.)

Here are some screenshots (click to enlarge) of the various theme objects that can be tweaked using this program:

Colors and Fonts:

Line Styles:

Fill Styles:

Effect Styles:
 

Background Styles:

As is apparent from the screenshots above, there’s a ridiculous amount of items to tweak and customize so it might be better to open an existing theme and tweak it instead of starting from scratch.  If you’ve currently got Office 2007 installed, you can find quite a few default themes buried here: “C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Document Themes 12.”  (Of course, you need to replace that drive letter with the drive letter on your computer that contains your Office installation.)

This is a great tool to have, especially in a business environment, if you want to present a consistent theme throughout the documents you share internally and externally.

Source: MSDN Blogs [alspiers]
————————————————————————-
“The Open XML Theme Builder is a tool that helps with the creation of theme files (*.thmx) that encapsulate the visual appearance and formatting of a document in order to help create a better looking document. Theme files can be used by Microsoft® Office PowerPoint® 2007, Microsoft® Office Excel® 2007, and Microsoft® Office Word 2007.”
————————————————————————-

Let’s take a moment and pretend you’re on Microsoft’s home page over at microsoft.com.  The design is a good mixture of light and dark (in my opinion) and is relatively easy way to find your way around.  The primary navigation menu is over to the right-hand side of the screen and provides a comprehensive overview of Microsoft’s immense site in a relatively small area.  Kudos to ‘em for that particular element.

Now, let’s say you click on the Windows option from the main menu and select the page dedicated to Windows Vista.  Whoa…you’re not in Kansas anymore.  The area of the site dedicated to the Windows series of products is in an entirely different template, the main menu is in an entirely different location and you’ve just gone from a primarily dark theme to a light one.

Hey, at least the search bar is in the same place.

Now, let’s say you want to check out the latest security bulletins for your Windows-based product.  Wait for it…

Yep, yet another design and the main menu has moved to the left.  And that’s not all…

Microsoft Office Online:

Unlimited Potential Partner Program:

Windows Marketplace:

Microsoft Gaming:

Windows Server 2008:

Alright, so far we have at least eight different designs currently being used at Microsoft.com. Compare that with the different areas of Apple’s site at apple.com where you have one consistent theme throughout the entire site.

So, are we missing any designs that you’re aware of?  Do you think the amount of different designs at Microsoft’s site have lead to as much confusion throughout the years as we do?  Let us know in the comments.

Not every new feature in the next release of the Windows operating system will be behind-the-scenes (like those much-needed performance enhancements that are in the works.) Stephen over at UX Evangelist has been fortunate enough to get his hands on the M3 (Milestone 3) release of the forthcoming Windows release and reports that the old classics, including Paint, WordPad and Calcuator, have been enhanced and sport a fancy new user interface.

As you can see to the left, the Office 2007 Ribbon UI has been added to MSPaint. I’m not seeing too many new options for drawing, editing, etc. but the new interface does make this old program, that we’ve all come to know and love, a little easier to work with. This is the first noteworthy update to Paint’s interface since its release in 1995.

As for WordPad, Stephen offers the following: “Basically, imagine Microsoft taking Office 2007 Word, slimming it down, tweaking the ribbon bar UI a bit, and calling it WordPad.”

Overall, it sounds like these tools will remain pretty simple but it sure will be alot easier to work in them with the new interface.

Technorati : OS, calc, microsoft, mspaint, vienna, windows, windows7

The Google-centric blog, “Google Operating System,” today points out a unique aspect of the new “private browsing” functionality built into the newly-released Google Chrome browser as well as the newest beta-release of Internet Explorer 8: the ability to manage multiple online personalities, i.e., different user profiles, in a single browser session.

The private browsing modes in both Chrome and IE8, referred to as “Incognito” and “InPrivate,” respectively, work the same way in that information such as cache, browser history, cookies for each private browsing window are stored in a separate, temporary location.

Basically, this means that the cookies generated by Gmail.com in one Internet Explorer “InPrivate” window remain completely separate from that of a different “InPrivate” window.

Of course, you’ll have to re-establish your logins for those accounts after closing Chrome/IE8 as the aforementioned temporary information is deleted once a private browsing window is closed. Also, the article to which I’ve linked above states that you can only be logged in to two different accounts at one time: one in a regular window and one in the private window. This is only true with Chrome as Google’s browser only allows one “Incognito” window open at a time. With IE8, on the other hand, you can have multiple “InPrivate” windows open at the same time which means that you can open and manage as many accounts on the same site (Gmail, Twitter, Digg to name a few) as you’d like.

Powered by Zoundry Raven

Technorati : IE8, Web, browser, chrome, google, microsoft

Microsoft is now accepting applications for “Windows Gurus” that will eventually staff the Redmond-based company’s first-ever round of brick-and-mortar stores in the U.S. Think you’re qualified? Here’s Microsoft’s way of determining whether or not you are:

Do your friends and family turn to you when they want to learn more about their PCs? Do you relish the chance to teach them how PCs can improve their lives and do things they never before thought possible? In your free time, do you turn to your PC for fun-or just to create or learn something new?

Of course, there are additional questions* to be answered in their official online job application, but, If you’re interested, you can learn more at msretaillive.com. They’ve also set up a specialized E-mail address, jobs [at] mswindowsguru.com that you can contact if you have questions about the position(s).

Currently, MS is seeking various individuals located in different cities within the following states: CA, FL, MA, MD, MN, NH, NJ, NV, NY, VA, WA and in Washington D.C.. So, if it sounds interesting, check out the site to find out more. Who knows? You could find yourself working full-time (for $20/hr - here’s the link again) at Microsoft’s version of the Apple Store.

Source: The Sean Blog (Microsoft TechNet Blogs)

*Additional questions include: do you have experience using Apple Macs? When was the last time you shopped for a new computer? What OS are you using at home/work? What type of Internet service are you using at home? (Hint: answer “dial-up” and you probably won’t get the job.) And, of course, the classic: “Have you been convicted of a felony in the past 7 years?”

Powered by Zoundry Raven

Hey, Microsoft couldn’t let Google steal all the headlines for an entire week, right? (See “Chrome.”) What better way to steal some than to drop the price of one of their most popular hardware releases ever? Effective September 5th, the Xbox 360 Arcade will be available for $199, the 360 console for $299 and the 360 Elite for $399. Here’s some details from the official press release:

Imagine if friends and families had the ability to instantly watch movies from Netflix, live out their musical fantasies through “Rock Band 2″ and “Lips”, star in their own Hollywood classics with “You’re in the Movies,” or have the power to never miss the latest episode of “Heroes” - all from one device, starting at $199. That device is Xbox 360, and Microsoft Corp. today announced it will offer the gaming and entertainment console, which offers the leading Xbox LIVE service, at a new low price in the United States.