Microsoft Office 15 launched

Microsoft has finally released several consumer-focused versions of Office 365 and Office 2013 to 162 markets.

After Windows, Office is arguably Microsoft’s most important product and helps the company make a lot of cash. Office programs such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook are staples around the world for productivity, and while compelling alternatives do exist, these apps are still the standard for how we get work done.

But times have changed since Office debuted in 1990, and Microsoft is trying to adapt to how we work now. We’re much more mobile, we have more devices, and we’re more likely to subscribe to software at a reasonable price than pay a ton upfront. (Adobe has noticed these trends too.)

So Microsoft is offering different plans for the newest version of Office and trying to coax consumers and students with a relatively decent subscription deal. Or you can get into Office “the old way” and buy a single copy for a single PC.

Here are the details on how Microsoft is now offering up Office 365 and Office 2013.

Office 365

Office 365 Home Premium — $99/year — 5 devices

Programs: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, Access

Microsoft is prioritizing Office 365 Home Premium as its top offering for consumers. With it, you can install a copy of the software on five different devices, including PCs and Macs. The software ties itself to one Microsoft account and lets you use that account to manage it in the cloud.

Office 365 Home Premium is cloud-connected in several ways. For example, when you save a document in Word or Excel, it saves simultaneously to SkyDrive and to the computer’s hard drive. That way, no matter where you access a document, you have the latest version of it. Office 365 subscribers also get 60 free Skype minutes per month and get a boost in SkyDrive storage from 7GB to 20GB.

Additionally, subscribing to Office 365 gets you an ingenious feature — Office on Demand. Essentially, whenever you are on a Windows 7 or 8 PC that is not one of your five installs (let’s say you’re at a friend’s house or a satellite office), you will still have access to Office. Microsoft actually streams a copy of Office from the cloud down to that computer and you can save your work to the cloud. When you are finished with your Office on Demand session, the copy disappears and removes all traces you were there. (We wish this worked on Macs too, but hey, can’t win ‘em all.)

“We want to drive the most demand for this,” Jevon Fark, senior marketing manager at Microsoft told. “This is easily the most ambitious version we’ve ever offered in the 25-year history of Office.”

Office 365 University — $80 for 4 years — 2 devices

Programs: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, Access

The company will also offer a version of Office 365 aimed squarely at college students. It is basically the same offering as Office 365 Home Premium, but it comes at a better overall price and only lets you install the software twice. You’ll also get the convenience of Office on Demand, which could come seriously in handy in university computer labs, which may not have the latest version of Office installed.

Frankly, Office 365 University looks like a killer deal. Microsoft says it will let students re-up on the $80-for-four-years offer a single time, which helps if they need extra time to get their Bachelor’s degree or go to grad school.

Office 2013

If you’d rather pay a large amount upfront and not have to subscribe to get your software, Microsoft also is offering Office 2013 Home Premium in three other versions. Think of these versions as a more traditional approach to Office. If you just want a single copy that can only be installed on one PC, this is your software.

Keep in mind, Office 2013 is not as cloud-connected as Office 365. You don’t get Office on Demand and your documents don’t save simultaneously to SkyDrive and your hard drive. You can, however, save your documents just to SkyDrive if you want.

Office 2013 Home & Student — $140

Programs: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote

Office 2013 Home & Student will be the overall least expensive offering in the new Office family because you get the most basic Office programs and simply pay $140 for the life of the product. It offers the bare bones package though.

Office 2013 Home & Business — $220

Programs: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook

Small businesses that want to approach Office from a more traditional perspective of buying a licence or two for those who need a new copy might want this version. Office 2013 Home & Business is targeted at smaller companies rather than medium-sized companies and enterprises.

Office 2013 Pro — $400

Programs: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Publisher, Access

If you’re a serious Office aficionado and need the full suite of Microsoft tools, Pro is your version. Unless, of course, you’d rather have the same programs and get extra goodies by subscribing to Office 365. Chew on this: Pro costs $400 and only lets you install on one device, while 365 Home Premium lets you install on five devices with more cloud features. If you use Office 2013 Pro for four years, only then do you make up your investment when you could have paid the same for four years of Office 365.

Interestingly enough, Microsoft isn’t shy to admit that paying $400 for Pro isn’t a good deal. “My understanding is that we don’t want people to buy Pro for $400 — we want people to subscribe to 365,” Fark told us.

How it runs

The final copy of Office 365 Home Premium runs quite similar to what we saw previously when testing Office 2013. This is the Office you’ve known (and maybe liked) for years, but it has a more compelling design and more features. One feature that really stuck out was PowerPoint’s new Presenter View, which lets you preview slides and other info on your PC’s screen while giving a presentation. (You can partially see Presenter View in the top photo.) Another feature is a new start screen that pops up when you start Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more that shows popular template options.

What makes the latest version of Office a bit different besides the cloud-connected features is that it’s also built with touch in mind. Microsoft wants you to use this software on its Windows 8 tablets like Surface as well as Windows 7 and 8 PCs. You can change the settings that optimize icons and options for touch. But exclusively using touch can be a recipe for frustration — I found it challenging to input lots of numbers or prepare a presentation. I’d much rather use these programs with a mouse and keyboard.

More business support coming

Next up, Microsoft will launch the latest version of Office 365 for businesses on Feb. 27. The company hasn’t divulged details on how it will differ from Office 365 Home Premium yet, but we suspect it will offer various group editing and collaboration features in the cloud. When we find out, we’ll let you know.

---

Blowfish12@2013 blowfish13.tk Author: Sudharsun. P. R

Related articles

• Microsoft Gives Office 2013 Preview (misco.co.uk)


• Microsoft Releases Office 365 Home Premium (technologynewsworldwide.com)


• Microsoft releases the new Office 2013 (thedroidguy.com)


• Microsoft Releases 'Reinvented' Cloud-Based Office Suite (cio-today.com)

Top 10 BitTorrent sites 2013

BitTorrent is a file sharing community that has become popular for sharing various movies, songs, ebooks, etc,. Lets take a look at the providers who have topped the list.

• 
  
  The Pirate Bay


• 
  
  isoHunt


• 
  
  Torrentfreak


• 
  
  Mininova


• 
  
  Torrent Portal


• 
  
  Hongfire Anime Network


• 
  
  Bwtorrents


• 
  
  Torrentbox.com


• 
  
  Mgnet.me


• 
  
  ClearBits

“'Ranking Powered by alexa.com”

---

Blowfish@2013 blowfish12.tk Author: Sudharsun. P. R.

Related articles

• BitTorrent Launches Dropbox Alternative (hardware.slashdot.org)


• BitTorrent releases Surf, an in-browser torrent client for Chrome (theverge.com)


• BitTorrent reveals Sync, a new file synchronization tool that could compete with Dropbox and iCloud (thenextweb.com)


• BitTorrent Going Legal Next Year, Says Exec (ubergizmo.com)

Top 10 Cloud provider 2013

Let’s see the list of top 10 cloud service providers of the year 2013

• Amazon web services


• Heroku


• The Rackspace Cloud


• Webair


• TurnKey Internet


• OpenShift by Red Hat


• Pagoda Box


• GoGrid


• CloudWays


• ReadyMakers

“Ranking powered by alexa.com”

---

Blowfish12@2012-13 blowfish12.tk Author: Sudharsun. P. R.

Related articles

• GoGrid's Cloud Powers Artizone's eCommerce Platform (virtual-strategy.com)

Apple refreshes iCloud beta with new Web apps

Web versions of the iOS Notes and Reminders apps have been spotted in the latest beta build for Apple's iCloud.

Apple has apparently cooked up Web-based versions of its Notes and Reminders apps, as seen in the latest iCloud beta.

Accessible via iCloud from a PC or Mac, the new apps seem similar to their mobile iOS and Mountain Lion counterparts, according to a review by 9to5Mac.

The Web-based Notes app lets you enter and organize notes and then e-mail them using the iCloud e-mail. The Reminders app allows you to add reminders, attach notes to them, and schedule the date and time for you to be alerted.

Other online surprises are in store for iCloud users.

The latest beta includes a new Find my iPhone app that taps into the Lost Mode feature. New to iOS 6, Lost Mode lets you send a phone number to your lost iPhone where hopefully an honest citizen can find it and call you back.

The Web-version of Find my iPhone also displays a battery status icon, according to MacRumors, providing a countdown on how much juice your iPhone has left until it conks out.

Currently available only for registered developers, the new iCloud Web apps could pop up when iOS 6 debuts early this fall.

---

Blowfish12@2012 blowfish12.tk Author: Sudharsun. P. R.

Related articles

• Apple improves iCloud.com beta with new Web apps (macdailynews.com)


• Apple adds new web apps to iCloud Beta (slashgear.com)


• Walkthrough Of Apple's New Notes, Reminders And Find My iPhone Web Apps From The iCloud Beta (cultofmac.com)


• iCloud Web Portal Getting Notes, Reminders, Find My iPhone Upgrades (webpronews.com)


• iCloud Beta Previews Web Versions of Notes and Reminders (macrumors.com)


• Apple updates iCloud Beta website with Notes, Reminders and more (idownloadblog.com)


• Apple launches updated iCloud website for developers with Notes, Reminders, improved Calendar and Find my iPhone (9to5mac.com)


• Apple Puts New Apps in iCloud.com for Developers (news.softpedia.com)


• Beta Site for iCloud Unveils Web-based Notes and Reminders (amog.com)

Intel and McAfee to Accelerate Cloud Adoption by Addressing Growing Security Challenges

News Fact Sheet from intel

As of May 4, 2012 — Cloud computing adoption continues to gain momentum as companies aim to become more agile and efficient, and strive to manage the growth in users, devices and data traffic. In fact, by 2015, Intel Corporation expects that more than 3 billion connected users and 15 billion connected devices will be driving more than 1,500 exabytes of cloud traffic. Meanwhile, IDC estimates that about 20 percent of all digital data – or 1,400 exabytes – will be stored or processed in the cloud.
However, even as cloud adoption increases to keep up with this growth, security remains a top concern as businesses determine how to best protect sensitive data while also meeting a growing range of compliance requirements.

Intel and McAfee provided insight into the security challenges facing IT as they consider cloud computing adoption, and discussed how they are helping businesses build new lines of defense through joint innovation and currently available solutions. The companies also outlined the areas that will have to be addressed in the future to make cloud computing safer and more secure.

IT Pain Points

To provide a deeper understanding of the issues facing IT, and how the industry can boost confidence in an organization’s adoption of cloud computing via better security practices, Intel recently sponsored an in-depth survey of IT professionals. Results showed that 61 percent of IT professionals are concerned about the loss of visibility in private clouds, 55 percent are concerned about lack of data protection in public clouds and 57 percent will not put data that require meeting specific compliance requirements into cloud datacenters. Respondents indicated that addressing these issues would enhance their confidence around security and accelerate the adoption of cloud computing in their companies.

The Solution: Intel and McAfee Joint Innovation

Together, Intel and McAfee are taking a holistic approach to address cloud security challenges and establish confidence in the use of private, public and hybrid clouds. The shared mission of Intel and McAfee is to enable worry-free cloud computing that is as secure as, or even more secure than, traditional, best-in-class enterprise IT security. Both companies are focused on four areas to deliver better security for cloud environments while also enabling a broad range of open, interoperable security solutions via industry collaboration. These include securing cloud data centers, securing the network connections, securing the devices that connect to cloud services and accelerating the development of unified standards for cloud security.

Securing Cloud Datacenters

Challenge: Today, IT managers have a high degree of control over their traditional enterprise data centers, which are bolstered by mature security tools and processes to monitor systems and perform necessary auditing to meet compliance requirements. With cloud infrastructure, IT equipment is typically virtualized and shared across multiple lines of business or even multiple organizations, resulting in reduced control of and visibility into the infrastructure security capabilities compared to traditional enterprise IT. These challenges are further amplified when using off-premise public cloud infrastructure which is managed by third parties. In addition, performing audits across private and public cloud data centers is complex, making it difficult to meet specific compliance requirements, thus lowering confidence in security.

Solution: Intel and McAfee’s focus is on improving the integrity of the infrastructure while focusing on protecting data, and delivering capabilities to make it easier to audit cloud environments to meet compliance requirements. For example, McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator (McAfee ePO) software provides consistent security-policy management across physical, virtual and cloud environments. Via custom integration, McAfee ePO software can be used to enforce policies in cloud data centers to determine, for example, whether Intel® Trusted Execution Technology (Intel® TXT) has been run or not. Intel® TXT is a hardware security solution that helps protect IT infrastructures against software-based attacks by validating the integrity of key components within an Intel® Xeon® processor E5 family-based server at startup. Other technologies available today include McAfee® Management for Optimized Virtual Environments AntiVirus (McAfee® MOVE AntiVirus), which delivers improved anti-malware and threat protection performance and resource utilization for virtual desktops and servers, and McAfee Application Control, which proactively mitigates the risk of data breaches, targeted attacks and unplanned downtime through ensuring only authorized code runs.
Future Intel and McAfee developments are expected to broaden and strengthen data protection, security enforcement and auditability across cloud infrastructures.

Securing the Connections

Challenge: Two major concerns that companies have when considering cloud computing are the possibility of data loss and the ability to restrict access to information. Users with multiple or weak passwords are a potential security hazard, and the risks and costs associated with multiple passwords are particularly relevant for any large organization leveraging cloud-based applications. Meanwhile, email and Web traffic flowing between remote offices and mobile devices used by employees can be a significant source of data leakage.

Solution: The McAfee® Cloud Security Platform improves security by protecting data, email, Web traffic and identities which are being transferred between devices and data centers.
With the McAfee Cloud Security Platform, IT departments can restrict information access by extending and applying access and security policies into the cloud. The McAfee Cloud Security

Platform takes advantage of the unique McAfee Global Threat Intelligence™ (McAfee GTI) technology to provide real-time protection against known and emerging threats. With visibility across all key threat vectors — file, Web, email and network — and a view into the latest vulnerabilities across the IT industry, McAfee correlates real-world data collected from millions of sensors around the globe to deliver the comprehensive protection for cloud connections.
In the future, the McAfee Cloud Security Platform will evolve to better protect cloud infrastructure via integrity assessments, provide asset control and protection, and enable broader auditing and network security capabilities.

Securing the Devices

Challenge: The explosive growth of devices, combined with trends such as “BYOD – Bring Your Own Device,” is creating new challenges for cloud security. These include complex identity management in which employees are managing, on average, 12 user name/password combinations, new forms of malware and a growing range of online attacks requiring new and improved levels of security for devices accessing cloud services.

Solution: To reduce these risks, Intel and McAfee are improving security of devices, such as desktops and notebooks, by protecting data and restricting access to data and applications. McAfee® Deep Defender, a joint solution developed by McAfee and Intel, represents the next generation of hardware-enhanced endpoint security. Enabled by McAfee® DeepSAFE™ technology, McAfee Deep Defender provides hardware-enhanced security that uses Intel® Virtualization Technology (Intel® VT) built into Intel® Core® i3, i5 and i7 processors to detect and delete, in real-time, low-level threats that are difficult to detect with traditional operating system (OS)-based security techniques. To further enhance identity management across clouds, McAfee® Cloud Identity Manager, which is part of the McAfee Cloud Security Platform, provides on-premise, comprehensive software-based access control for cloud applications using enterprise identities, or Intel Cloud SSO (single-sign on) provides “identity as a service” solution in the cloud. Intel® Identity Protection Technology provides additional hardware-enhanced security technology that is difficult to tamper with and goes beyond user name and passwords to provide a second factor of authentication.
Future developments will focus on advancements in data and identity protection for devices accessing cloud services.

Ecosystem Collaboration to Drive Industry Standards & Enable Security Solutions

Intel and McAfee are engaged with several industry standards bodies, including the Cloud Security Alliance and Open Data Center Alliance, to accelerate more consistent cloud security standards. In addition, both companies are working with a broad range of systems and software providers to enable open, interoperable solutions for cloud security so that IT can more easily deploy solutions to strengthen cloud security. Through the Intel Cloud Builders program, more than 50 partners are collaborating with Intel and more than 130 hardware and software partners are delivering security solutions as part of the McAfee Security Innovation Alliance.

Now and Moving Forward

Intel and McAfee have a shared, multi-year mission to enable highly secure cloud computing over time to ensure that for any given workload running on any connected infrastructure, IT departments can know that:

• Data, applications and infrastructure are secure.
  
• Corporate compliance requirements are automatically met.
  
• Corporate security policies are automatically applied throughout the workload lifecycle.
  
• Solutions provide 24/7 reporting and are easy to implement.
  With hardware-enhanced security technologies, plus software solutions and services available from Intel and McAfee, along with solutions enabled with a broad ecosystem of partners, companies can start building a secure foundation today on a path toward worry-free cloud security of the future.

---

Blowfish12@2012 Author: Intel | McAfee Source: newsroom.intel.com