Windows 2 Apples

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Word 2004, 2007, 2003, Pages, iWork 08, Windows Live Photo Gallery, Vista

As usual, I’m Dictating using the Windows Speech engine on my Vista desktop running Microsoft Word 2007. I much prefer Word 2007 over Word 2004 purchased for my Mac. I would have considered upgrading to Word 2008 except reviews suggest it offers minimal enhancements over what is available to me now and does not incorporate the 2007 ribbon interface and other features that make Office 2007 a must have upgrade to Windows Office 2003.

When working on my Mac, I find myself using the Apple iWork 08 Pages word processor rather than Microsoft office 2004. Although Pages is less sophisticated and less powerful than Microsoft word 2004 it is simply far more intuitive and easier to use … read that as more productive. The only time I find myself wishing I were working in Microsoft Word 2004 rather than Pages is when and I use the built-in Apple dictionary. Microsoft’s still seems to have a noticeably superior spell check, dictionary and thesaurus. Both Pages and Keynote make my original investment in Microsoft office 2004 regrettable.

When I purchased my Mac, I had limited choices offering an acceptable level of compatibility with my preexisting Microsoft office files. I had considered using the free Open Office, however, I have generally found it too limited to use consistently. If the current iWork 08 suite had been available at the time of purchase I could have saved considerable money and time. iWork 08 is one of the few Apple software products I would love to see ported to the Windows platform.

In my last podcast I mentioned my discovery of Microsoft OneNote. This week I have discovered a Live Windows application, Photo Gallery, which is not only free but unmatched in the Apple world. Live Windows Photo Gallery earns the distinction of being the only photo and video organizer program I’ve ever found to be useful. It is what I believe iPhoto should have been.

I’ve never been comfortable using iPhoto; in fact, it is one of the least intuitive applications shipped with OS X. I was amazed at how quickly Windows Live Photo Gallery surveyed, organized and displayed all of the photos and videos on my Vista tower. Photos are organized by date, folder and tag. The default thumbnail sizes conserve desktop space yet are big enough to easily eyeball and visually scan files. Moving the mouse over a thumbnail conveniently pops up a larger image with information on the date taken,resolution and user notations.

Photo gallery includes tools for correcting, cropping, enhancing, tagging, emailing, creating animated movies, burning CDs and DVDs, seamlessly ordering prints as well as seamlessly publishing to a Live Windows or Flickr account. Additionally, text and original artwork may be overlaid on photos using the free Microsoft paint program. I have to admit I felt some swelling of pride in Microsoft for doing such an excellent job. I suspect that this kind of comment about Microsoft is unfortunately all too rare.

Microsoft has begun to play catch up with Apple in integrating both online and offline applications and services. Many new Microsoft applications and services do an excellent job of improving interoperability and reducing duplication. It’s unfortunate that Microsoft has not done a better job of promoting the Live Windows services and products. I suspect that many windows users are unaware that these enhancements are available and free for downloading. Apple has certainly shown greater savvy in promoting its products.

Although, I continue to feel that Apple has overall done a superior job in producing and marketing intuitive and well integrated products I am extremely impressed by Microsoft’s Windows Live offerings and encouraged by the improved performance of Vista and growing list of Vista compatible software and hardware options. I believe that Microsoft earned much of the bad press it garnered with the initial release of Vista; however, the operating system and support for it have evolved to the point I could never go back to using XP as my primary Windows operating system. I only hope it’s not too late for Microsoft to overcome the negatives so many associate with the company and Vista.

Dictated using Vista Speech. Recorded using M-Audio Podcast Factory and Mixcraft 3.1. Tag edited using JetAudio.

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