The company’s announcement follows yesterday’s unveiling of its cloud-based Web apps operating platform, Windows Azure, and both are “part of a strategic companywide shift toward embracing web-based solutions.”

Office Web will allow access to the lighter versions of the classic Office programs via a Web browser. Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari compatible, no word has been released yet about Google Chrome. Given that Office Web is HTML and AJAX based, one imagines Chrome shouldn’t haven’t issues.

Historically, Microsoft has been slow to embrace Web-based applications. After all, its bread has been buttered with widespread desktop machine adoption. Capossela says times have changed.

“Customers’ requirements have changed, as have their expectations of technology. While Office is synonymous with desktop productivity, the idea of “desktop” has changed from a PC-centric notion to one in which people are empowered on the PC, on the phone, and with a browser. Our customers don’t use one device, but rather several.”

Office Web will be accessible via Office Live, with both ad-supported and subscription options. Business users will get access via hosted subscriptions and existing volume licensing agreements.”
 

There will even be an Add-in Webinar on January 23, 2008 where you can learn more about this tool. You can register for the Webinar at With this Add-in, Microsoft has integrated many of its advanced keyword technologies and valuable data into Excel. The tool would allow users to conduct keyword research inside Excel 2007 itself.

The Product features include:

• Keyword Expansion – we have included 3 different expansion algorithms: campaign association, fast contained, and category simulation
• Keyword Search Volume Historical and Forecast – we have included daily and monthly keyword traffic data, including forecasting
• Keyword Buzz – you can find buzz keywords in our 300+ verticals
• Keyword Demographic analysis
• Keyword Geographic analysis
• Keyword Categorization
• Keyword Monetization – you can find all monetization information (CPC, CTR, etc.) for your keyword list

The Add-in is based on the Microsoft Keyword Services Platform (KSP) and Microsoft plans to utilize this tool to enable third party developers to build applications with Microsoft keyword technologies.

Despite all the hype about the launch Dan Zarrella has reviewed and questioned the Add-in’s functionality on six counts viz "The geographic data report seems to duplicate keywords for some reason," it’s a bit slow to retrieve data from KSP server, etc.

Via: The adCenter Blog

Comments

Data comes from all directions — web log analysis, marketing campaign analysis, shopping carts, and other ecommerce tools.  Luckily, most analytics tools allow you to export that data into spreadsheet format.  That’s the first step.  Make sure you export the data into a spreadsheet at regular intervals.  The next step is to merge that data into a format that provides actionable information.

If you’re not a spreadsheet guru this can be a hurdle.  If pivot tables, charts, and macros make you cringe, fear not, as many turn-key solutions exist.  One of the best is the Digital Sales Calculator from Future Now.  This spreadsheet has been carefully designed to provide meaningful metrics that you can track and compare.  If you’re rusty on metrics you might consider their Common Sense Guide to Emetrics which is a blow by blow introduction to all the metrics present in the digital sales calculator and makes a great companion guide to the Excel spreadsheet.

The Pay-Per-Click Marketer offers an ROI calculator in spreadsheet format.  This lets you easily track your return on investment through online marketing campaigns, but lacks the power and depth of Future Now’s solution.

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People have been asking me to simplify the example and only concentrate on the Excel export, so that’s what I will do now.

All spreadsheet applications (Excel, Calc etc.) understand semicolon separated files natively, so everyone can use this method – you don’t even have to use Excel for it to work.

public static void ExportToSpreadsheet(DataTable table, string name)
{
   HttpContext context = HttpContext.Current;
   context.Response.Clear();
   foreach (DataColumn column in table.Columns)
   {
    context.Response.Write(column.ColumnName + ";");
   }
   context.Response.Write(Environment.NewLine);
   foreach (DataRow row in table.Rows)
   {
    for (int i = 0; i < table.Columns.Count; i++)
    {
     context.Response.Write(row[i].ToString().Replace(";", string.Empty) + ";");
    }
    context.Response.Write(Environment.NewLine);
   }
   context.Response.ContentType = "text/csv";
   context.Response.AppendHeader("Content-Disposition", "attachment; filename=" + name + ".csv");
   context.Response.End();
}

Then just call this method and pass the DataTable and the filename as parameters.

ExportToSpreadsheet(table, "products");

The method is static so you can use it anywhere in a web application. Put it on a page, a HTTP Handler, add it to the App_Code folder or stick it in a separate assembly. As long as you call it from a web application it will work.

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Mads Kristensen currently works as a Senior Developer at Traceworks located
in Copenhagen, Denmark. Mads graduated from Copenhagen Technical Academy with a multimedia degree in
2003, but has been a professional developer since 2000. His main focus is on ASP.NET but is responsible for Winforms, Windows- and
web services in his daily work as well. A true .NET developer with great passion for the simple solution.

http://www.madskristensen.dk/

Nominations are being accepted by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) for the 2007 Excellence in Communication Leadership (EXCEL) Award where nominees meet these criteria:

• Skills: Demonstration of exceptional leadership, management and communication skills
• Diverse communications audience: Experience and involvement in communication with diverse audiences; some experience in communicating with international or multi-cultural audiences is preferred
• Strategy: Use of a communication strategy that demonstrates creativity and innovation and that contributes to the business success of the organization
• Commitment to communication: Commitment to the communication programs of all audiences of the organization – internal and external at local, national, and international levels
• Personal communication: Effective personal communication with all these audiences; i.e., he or she must be shown to participate in communication, not simply to direct the communication staff in their efforts
• Ethics and professionalism in communication: Commitment to the highest ethical and professional standards

Are you a CEO who can rise to this challenge? If you’re a communicator, does your organization have such a leader?

It’s quite a challenge.

IABC press release: Who’s the Top CEO Communicator of the Year?

Neville Hobson is the author of the popular NevilleHobson.com blog which focuses on business communication and technology.

Neville is currentlly the VP of New Marketing at Crayon. Visit Neville Hobson’s blog: NevilleHobson.com.

By navigating to the following option in excel:

DATA > IMPORT EXTERNAL DATA > NEW WEB QUERY

Then selecting the desired data, a person can import any part of given webpage quickly to excel.

Go ahead and try if for your self!

Here’s the link again: http://www.textlinkbrokers.com/blog/weblog/P400/

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Manoj has been working in the search engine marketing industry since 2002. He started out as a software developer but now provides in-depth web site analysis using web analytics.

http://www.enquiro.com

Manoj is also the author of Web Analytics World. Web Analytics is an essential component in developing a successful
online campaign. Help convert visitors into customers by understanding
them.

Does Google’s Spreadsheet Impress?

Does Google’s launch of a free web-based spreadsheet program offer some benefit for your business? Is the free price point enough to overcome your concerns about hosting private data on Google’s servers? Chart it out for us at WebProWorld.

Here is a selection of eye-catching headlines seen online about the pending debut of Google Spreadsheet from the search engine company:

Google adds web-based spreadsheet to Microsoft woes
Google Spreadsheets takes aim at Excel
Google unveiling Excel competitor
Coming soon: Google Spreadsheet. @SUM(trouble) for Microsoft’s bottom line?

Microsoft has been having plenty of trouble on its own, between delays in releasing the Vista operating system and being forced to change some unpopular policies with its human resources processes. Now we have the image of a Google monster stalking the P&L statements of Microsoft while wearing a bladed glove and a red-and-black sweater.

“Mr. Ballmer, your 9 am with Mr. Englund from Google is here.”

While the threat that is Google Spreadsheets does have some stylish good looks, as far as we can tell from the limited screenshots that appear in its sneak peek, there’s one thing that the product definitely isn’t, and that’s Excel.

What Google Spreadsheets presents is a way to craft a multi-columned list of information, and a way to easily share that list with others. The service has not been activated yet to allow for a closer look at its formulas, though a link to them appears at the top of a spreadsheet.

A tabbed interface will let the user switch between formatting the spreadsheet, sorting the information, and accessing those formulas. Google also included the ability to invite other people to view a created spreadsheet or to edit it in real time with an accompanying chat window running.

The service supports Microsoft IE 6 as well as Firefox 1.07 and up on Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms. Browser-based access over the web enables the ability to edit a spreadsheet created on Google’s service from multiple computers.

That remote accessibility probably precludes the service from being used on an enterprise level. The ever-present threat of Sarbanes-Oxley regulations would be cause for lots of uncomfortable audit questions should someone decide that storing information at Google doesn’t satisfy SOX requirements.

Google Spreadsheets looks interesting, and we’re looking forward to playing with it when Google starts inviting people into the controlled beta. But without advanced features like macros or pivot tables, Google’s newest Lab experiment just isn’t close to Microsoft Excel.

—

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David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.

These are Flash mockups of the 2003 versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint, that let you see where your features have moved.

You can click through menus and toolbars of your familiar Office 2003, and when you find a command you need to use, a tooltip will tell you where that 2003 command has its equivelant in the new Office. Click it, and a mockup of the 2007 interface slides up, and shows you exactly how its done.

Fancy, and unbelievably useful. I bet some users will be keeping these open for the first week using the new system.

(via Jensen Harris)

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Nathan Weinberg writes the popular InsideGoogle blog, offering the latest news and insights about Google and search engines.

Visit the InsideGoogle blog.

According to a Reuters report, Carlos Armando Amado said in a lawsuit that he filed for a patent in 1990 for software that links Microsoft’s Excel program with its Access database application via a single spreadsheet. He unsuccessfully tried to sell it to Microsoft two years later.

Mr. Amado is seeking in excess of $500 million in damages in a suit filed in Central California’s US District Court.

The suit claims that the software company began using the data-linking technology in Access 95 and through future versions of Access to 2002. Mr. Amado developed the link while a graduate student at Stanford.

Microsoft disputes the claims, saying it began working on the technology in 1989. This and 35 other patent suits are ongoing against the Redmond-based software company.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.

The company’s new product, TurboExcel, speeds up Excel spreadsheets as much as 300 times, secures and protects proprietary spreadsheet methodologies, and makes Excel spreadsheets instantly portable to other systems, including those running on Linux.

“Microsoft has never been granted a registered trademark on Excel,” said Rich Tanenbaum, founder of Savvysoft. “In fact, they waited 19 years just to apply. Plus, there are over a hundred third-party products with Excel in their name,” continued Tanenbaum. “In fact, Microsoft’s own website actually offers downloads of over a dozen products with Excel in their name that are offered by third-parties. As any trademark lawyer will tell you, when you’ve got a trademark, and you let other companies use it, you lose it.”

Tanenbaum noted Microsoft’s own trademark web site lists dozens of trademarks, but doesn’t mention Excel.

“Microsoft’s actions over the years have been consistent with that of a company that doesn’t own the Excel mark,” said Tanenbaum. “Before naming our product, we checked pretty carefully on the use of the word Excel. To be honest, we don’t know why Microsoft is singling us out.”

Tanenbaum suspects Microsoft sees TurboExcel as a threat because it allows Excel models to be instantly converted into C++, which can then be run on not only Windows, but also Linux. “If all the business logic written in Excel moves to C++, it’s the death knell for Microsoft’s spreadsheet monopoly,” said Tanenbaum.

Ironically, TurboExcel could help Microsoft sell more copies of Excel because it allows people to use Excel in a novel way. People can, for the first time, use Excel to write computer programs in C++. Excel becomes a programming tool.

Tanenbaum notes that TurboExcel has already received positive reviews in InfoWorld, ComputerWorld Canada, and Institutional Investor. It’s also been the subject of news articles on AP, Bloomberg, CNET, and a number of blogs and Internet newsgroups.

“We’re faced with a choice,” says Tanenbaum. “We can fight Microsoft and spend half a million dollars or more. Or we can pay $100,000 to replace all our sales and marketing material and redo every bit of publicity. Even then, you can’t put a dollar value on intangibles like goodwill and brand recognition.

“Microsoft is telling its developers: ‘Please develop for our platform. But if you’re successful, we’ll sue you.’”

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