Users can access an English-language beta version of Microsoft Office Live Workspace from the company’s Web site at no charge.

By Paul McDougall
InformationWeek

Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) said Tuesday it has made available for worldwide public testing a hosted version of its widely used Microsoft Office productivity software.

As part of the trial, users can access an English-language beta version of Microsoft Office Live Workspace, as the offering is called, from the company’s Web site at no charge. Microsoft for the past several months has conducted a private beta program for Office Live that’s drawn more than 100,000 participants, according to the company.

Office Live Workspace lets users store and access Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other Office applications on the Web through any computer with an Internet connection — even if the PC isn’t running Office on its hard drive.

That means a mobile worker could, say, create a Word document at his or her office, upload it to the service, and then access it later from virtually any PC.

Without Office Live, that same worker would have to carry the file around on a flash device or e-mail it to himself. Still, the document could only be downloaded and opened on a computer running a Word-compatible application.

Office Live could also eliminate the insecure practice — often used by executives on the go — of downloading files to a public computer. Office Live users can store more than 1,000 documents on the service and also grant access authorization to their files to business colleagues and other third parties.

Office Live Workspace is part of the software-plus-services strategy that Microsoft unveiled last year. The campaign is meant to bolster the company’s presence in the booming Web services market while protecting its multibillion-dollar packaged software franchise.

The effort has seen Microsoft roll out a number of Web services under its Windows Live brand, including an online storage site called SkyDrive and a social networking site called Spaces.

Microsoft’s assault on the Web is in no small part a response to advances by archrival Google. In recent months, the search engine company has introduced a host of new online services. Of those, the biggest threat to Microsoft is Google Apps. The offering features free or low-cost versions of Office-style productivity applications that are hosted on the Web.

The advantage of Google (NSDQ: GOOG)’s approach is that, unlike Office Live, users don’t need to purchase any pricey boxed software for the service to work. The downside is that users for the most part can’t get to the applications without an Internet connection.

Microsoft said it plans to roll out Office Live beta programs in languages other than English in the coming weeks.

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Easy Menu is an advanced data driven fly-out menu for ASP.NET. The build-in ASP.NET fly-out menu lacks some important features and styling options which are all included in Easy Menu. You can bind the fly-out menu to your favorite data source including hierarchical data sources, data sets and LINQ tables, or you can add sub menus manually. This version is the first release on CNET Download.com.

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Analysts are alarmed at a perceived discrepancy in the figures in iPhone sales figures. Jonny Evans, Macworld

Analysts are mulling over Apple’s iPhone sales numbers and are alarmed at a perceived discrepancy in the figures.

Apple claims slightly over 3.7 million iPhones were sold in 2007 — yet AT&T this week revealed it ended the year with “just at or sightly under two million iPhone customers”.

That two million has been boosted somewhat by an estimated 300,000-400,000 sales in Europe, analysts believe.

The discrepancy is that the 3.7 million iPhones Apple says it has sold and the estimated 2.4 million sold by its network partners still leaves 1.3 million of the devices unaccounted for.

That implies that around one in three iPhones are being purchased in order to unlock the device for use on other networks and/or for use with unapproved third party applications.

While it’s possible some iPhones were sold over the Christmas period but not activated immediately as new users (perhaps) worked to cancel their existing mobile contracts, the discrepancy still implies an active market for unlocked iPhones.

Apple chief operating officer Tim Cook told analysts this week that the company believes the number of unlocked iPhones in the wild to be “significant,” but declined to furnish accurate figures.

Toni Sacconaghi of Bernstein Research cites these figures in order to claim a substantial market in unlocked iPhones, and speculates this news may also mean a build-up in iPhone inventory.

“It indicates end-user demand for iPhone is lower than many investors may think based on Apple’s sales figure — and it points to slower iPhone sales in the current quarter, since much of this inventory is likely to be drawn down,” the analyst explains.

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by: Craig Harrison

Customer relationship management tools abound, yet let’s hear it for old technology. Your voice is the most multifaceted customer service tool in your toolkit. Your voice can convey concern, care and compassion. It can alternately convey boredom, neglect or contempt. Your challenge: to insure your voice reinforces the service you strive to deliver through your actual words and action.
Customer service is about more than mouthing the words customers want to hear. You have to sound believable. How do you sound? Try this experiment. Call your own answering machine and leave yourself a message normally intended for your customers. Now replay it. Are you convincing? Does sincerity ring from your voice or are you just mouthing clichés in a disinterested fashion?
Depending your tone of voice you can alternately sound:
Compassionate or Condescending
Confident or Insecure
Knowledgeable or Ignorant
Attentive or Disinterested
Focused or Scattered
Alive or Comatose
Pick one of the following phrases:
“Thank you for calling. We’re excited to serve you.”
“Welcome back. It’s so nice to see you again.”
“We’ve missed you. Thank you for coming in again.”
Mouth it a few times to a colleague next to you or over the phone to a friend.
Now ask your listener:
* “How do I sound?” When you’re monotonal you may sound flat and lifeless.
* How does this sound when you’re tired? Uninspired?
* How does this sound when you’re expressive? Do you generate good will and energy?
* How does this sound when you’re sincere? Is there a genuine quality to your voice?
* How does this sound when you’re friendly? Does warmth emanate from your conversation?
* How does this sound when you are smiling? Does your good humor come translate?
MIRROR MIRROR ON THE DESK
There is a reason many telesales and customer service representatives have mirrors on their desk. It’s not to admire their beauty or to insure the proverbial spinach isn’t stuck to their teeth. In this case, the mirror has two purposes. First, as a reminder to reps to smile while on the phone. Even though their smile isn’t seen by listeners, it is felt. When we smile it loosens up our jaws and relaxes us. This is then conveyed through our voice. We sound more relaxed, friendly and open because we are. The act of smiling activates certain muscles in our face and neck and actually alters our disposition for the better. The mirror both reminds us to smile and confirms we are when we glance at it periodically. Not to sound overly Dramatics, but “What you see is what they get.”
INFLECTION
When we consider the message our voice sends customers, don’t forget to consider your inflection. It is important to understand where in a sentence you put the emphasis. What words do you accentuate? Which words do you emphasize? Depending on your placement of accent you can send different messages with the same set of words. Consider the following statement: “It’s all over my friend.” Depending on the placement of accent and pause, this statement could either lament the end of a successful run of some sort, or be describing the result of a sick bird flying overhead of your pal.
Similarly, this statement, based on inflection, may send two entirely different messages: “What’s that in the road ahead?” or “What’s that in the road, a head?” You can see how inflections inform. Let’s make sure the information we convey is supported by our inflections.
Actors often take the Shakespearean phrase “to be or not to be, that is the question” and repeat it alternately while emphasizing different words. For instance, one variant might be “To be or NOT, to be THAT is the question!”
Revisiting our triplet of phrases let’s see how inflection alters their meaning:
“Thank you for calling. We’re delighted to serve you.”
“Thank you for CALLING. We’re delighted to serve you.”
“Thank you for calling. We’re DELIGHTED to serve you.”
“Thank you for calling. We’re delighted to SERVE you.”
“Thank YOU for calling. We’re delighted to serve YOU.”
For yourself, try this same exercise with each of the statements below, accenting different words within each sentence so as to find the inflection that best conveys your sentiment.
“Welcome back. It’s so nice to see you again.”
“We’ve missed you. Thank you for coming in again.”
VOICE YOUR CONCERN
Using a pleasant tone, effective intonation, and empathic emotion your voice can go a long way toward helping customers feel heard, valued and cared for. Mama was right, it is more than what you say, it’s how you say it too.
Click here to learn more about Craig’s :
http://www.ExpressionsOfExcellence.com/phone_support.html
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http://www.ExpressionsOfExcellence.com/prod_customer_service.html#The%20Voice%20of%20Customer%20Service
About The Author
Professional speaker, trainer and consultant Craig Harrison founded Expressions of Excellence! ™ to inspire stellar sales and service leadership among professionals. Call (888) 450-0664, e-mail service@craigspeaks.com or visit his website www.ExpressionsOfExcellence.com for solutions through speaking and more. Copyright © 2001-2006. Craig Harrison. All rights reserved.
service@craigspeaks.com

Service Capability and Performance (SCP) Support Standard recognizes Vision Solutions for delivering excellence in customer service and support. 

High availability solutions provider Vision Solutions announced that its Customer Care Response Center in Irvine, Calif., has achieved certification under the Service Capability and Performance (SCP) Support Standards program for the third year in a row. Vision Solutions achieved this annual recertification following an extensive audit performed by Service Strategies Corporation on behalf of the SCP Support Standards program. The SCP Standards quantifies the effectiveness of customer service and support based upon a stringent set of performance standards and represents best practices in the industry. 

“By once again meeting the rigorous requirements necessary to achieve SCP Certification, Vision Solutions continues to show its commitment to providing a very high level of support and satisfaction to its customers,” said Pete Robie, senior vice president, Customer Care and Services. “It is particularly satisfying that Vision continued to meet and improve on the strict requirements of the SCP audit, given the company’s extensive growth during the past year that was punctuated by the successful merger with iTera.”  SCP Certification is part of a suite of service capability and performance standards designed to improve the quality and effectiveness of technology service operations. A consortium of leading technology companies, along with the Association for Services Management International and Service Strategies Corporation, created the internationally recognized standards, which define best practices for delivering world-class technology service and support, quantify performance levels, and establish a foundation to build on existing quality processes. Certification requires comprehensive audits and annual recertification to confirm that companies continue to meet the requirements of the program. 

About Vision Solutions  

Merged with iTera in November 2006, Vision Solutions, Inc. is the leading provider of high availability, disaster recovery and data management solutions for the System i market. IBM’s largest high availability Premier Business Partner, Vision Solutions is a recognized System i solutions leader with more than 2,700 customers and 12,000 licenses worldwide. The Company works closely with an international network of channel partners and IBM to deliver its industry-leading software, along with a powerful portfolio of services and support for protecting mission-critical applications and information from planned and unplanned downtime. Privately held by Thoma Cressey Equity Partners, Vision Solutions has corporate offices in Irvine and Salt Lake City, with offices worldwide. For more information, visit Vision Solutions or call 800.957.4511.