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The concept of a 'physical office' as a small business hub of productivity is quickly being replaced by the connected 'mobile office,' which connects employees wherever they happen to be. Today's business landscape favors those who are nimble and able to adapt rapidly by collaborating on the go, sharing ideas quickly and anticipating customer needs. Luckily, small businesses today can achieve this dynamic work environment through the use of Web-based software available for both desktop and mobile platforms. Web-based software is known as 'cloud services' or as 'the cloud' for short. Today, small businesses have access to IT solutions that were previously only available to enterprises - allowing them to punch above their weight class and better compete in their industry. By taking advantage of these Web-based and mobile solutions, small businesses can effectively run their company from anywhere - even from a mobile device or tablet. Here are just a few of the ways technology can help small businesses overcome everyday business challenges: ELIMINATE THE NEED FOR A PHYSICAL OFFICE Starting a business is difficult. Many small businesses owners may not have the capital to lease office space, or they may be hiring friends and staff who aren't based in the same city. Modern cloud technology can unify small business teams, removing the need for a physical office space. WORK WHEREVER IT'S CONVENIENT Cloud services let employees set up a shared folder from a mobile device while taking the bus; create a new spreadsheet on a tablet at lunch; get a presentation from the company's shared drive and make edits from a friend's computer; or schedule a team meeting from a home computer. Office 365 can be installed on up to 5 devices, giving small businesses the ability to do more than just read documents from a mobile device, a tablet, a laptop or even a desktop* by extending the office experience to employees wherever and whenever they need to cond

WWW.OFFICE.COM/SETUP BLOGS: FROM USING ONENOTE FOR PROJECT MANAGEMENT TO DISCOVERING HIDDEN FEATURES IN WORD, THERE ARE TONS OF WAYS YOU CAN GET MORE OUT OF OFFICE 365. HERE'S A LOOK BACK AT THIS YEAR'S MOST POPULAR TIPS. @MENTIONS IN OUTLOOK www.office.com/setup Blogs: This is an excerpt from our post Get Someone's Attention in Outlook with @Mentions. Using the @ symbol is a quick way to draw people's attention to important things. Microsoft has rolled this handy feature into Outlook, so here's how you can use it to get people's attention in emails and also save time. (Note: This feature is only available in Outlook 2016, Outlook 2016 for Mac, Outlook on the web for Office 365 Business, Outlook.com, and Outlook on the web for Exchange Server 2016.) ONENOTE FOR PROJECT MANAGEMENT This is an excerpt from our post 5 Keys to Using OneNote for Project Management. Instead of investing in costly project management software, how about using a free program like Microsoft OneNote? OneNote digital notebooks are available on all your devices and can be used for a variety of projects. Whether you are planning a wedding, heading up an office presentation, or writing a thesis paper, OneNote bends to your needs. This post focuses on tips for the office, but personal and school projects can be managed with OneNote using many of these same key principles. HIDDEN FEATURES IN WORD This is an excerpt from our post 3 Hidden & Useful Tricks in Microsoft Word. There are lots of great hidden features tucked away in Microsoft Word that you probably don't know about. From activating research tools, to changing the page color of documents to reduce eye strain, to easily capturing screenshots, here are three tricks that you will enjoy. WORD ONLINE VS. WORD DESKTOP This is an excerpt from our post 3 Things You Can Do With Word Online That You Can't Do With Word Desktop. Word Online isn't just a simple online word processor. To get the full value of the product

WWW.OFFICE.COM/SETUP BLOGS: INTRODUCTION www.office.com/setup Blogs: While there are four types of database objects in Access, tables are arguably the most important. Even when you're using forms, queries, and reports, you're still working with tables because that's where all of your data is stored. Tables are at the heart of any database, so it's important to understand how to use them. In this lesson, you will learn how to open tables, create and edit records, and modify the appearance of your table to make it easier to view and work with. Throughout this tutorial, we will be using a sample database. If you would like to follow along, you'll need to download our Access 2016 sample database. You will need to have Access 2016 installed on your computer in order to open the example. Watch the video below to learn more about working with tables in Access. TABLE BASICS TO OPEN AN EXISTING TABLE: Open your database, and locate the Navigation pane. In the Navigation pane, locate the table you want to open. Double-click the desired table. Opening a table - www.office.com/setup The table will open and appear as a tab in the Document Tabs bar. The open table - www.office.com/setup UNDERSTANDING TABLES All tables are composed of horizontal rows and vertical columns, with small rectangles called cells in the places where rows and columns intersect. In Access, rows and columns are referred to as records and fields. A field is a way of organizing information by type. Think of the field name as a question and every cell within that field as a response to that question. In our example, the Last Name field is selected, which contains all the last names in the table. Fields and field names - www.office.com/setup A record is one unit of information. Every cell on a given row is part of that row's record. In our example, Quinton Boyd's record is selected, which contains all of the information related to him in the table. Records and record ID numbers - www.office.com/setu

www.office.com/setup Blogs: Microsoft Office www.office.com/setup Blogs: Windows 10 has grabbed the attention of social media and customers alike more so because it is a crucial operating system for Microsoft after the debacle of Windows 8 and a not so great reception for Windows 8.1. But, Microsoft has another major product on their cards now, Office, which enhances the Windows productivity of five major products into a system of applications. With Office 2016, Microsoft plans to build from scratch, a mobile and cloud first approach which is customer centric and doesn't only focus on web compared to Office 365 and 2013. Office 2016 has recently been launched on September 22, 2015. www.office.com/setup The Cost factor The first and the most important thing we look at during major software products and updates is the price tag that comes along with it as there are so multiple updates for major software and it is not feasible to go through each and every revision. The all new Office 2016 suite is free for customers on mobile and tablets (conditions apply) and pretty cheap at $145 for "Office Home & Student 2016" and the RRP version of the same is priced at $165, along with subscription version of the suite (Office 365 Personal) at about $70 per year. Built for collaboration Office suite has changed how businesses operate and more focus is laid on connectivity and collaboration of projects. So, the latest offering from Microsoft, Office 2016 is emphasized on collaborations among spread out team members who may never work in the same office environment, but easily enhance productivity by accomplishing a major task that took a week to get it done. Touch centric user interface If you have used the Office for Windows 10, it is quite evident that Microsoft has given a universal app style for the apps and a touch friendly UI which is more familiar to the iPad owners. For instance, in Word, Microsoft lays focus on providing touch friendly controls for ease of

www.office.com/setup Blogs: New to Visio? This tutorial will help get you started with Visio 2016. We'll take you through starter diagrams to give you an idea of what diagrams look like. Then we'll take you through the four basic steps to creating your own diagram. START VISIO Click the Start button, type Visio, and then click the Visio icon to open the program. (If Visio is open already, clickFile > New.) LOOK AT THE STARTER DIAGRAMS Before you dig in and start making things yourself, let's show you a couple starter diagrams that Visio has made for you. That way you can get an idea of what diagrams look and feel like in the program. Click Categories. Categories link - www.office.com/setup Click Flowchart. Flowchart category thumbnail - www.office.com/setup Now pay attention to this step: single-click the Basic Flowchart thumbnail. Basic Flowchart thumbnail - www.office.com/setup Let's explain what this dialog is all about. Visio Basic Flowchart thumbnails: 1 blank template, and 3 starter diagrams - www.office.com/setup You choose the blank template when you have some experience with Visio (like after you've made a few practice diagrams). But if you don't have any experience, choose one of the other three starter diagrams. Double-click one of the starter diagram thumbnails. This is a starter diagram. Visio 2016 comes with many starter diagrams to give you ideas and examples. You can customize this starter diagram by typing your own text, adding your own shapes, and so on. Also, take a look at the tips and tricks. These help you work with the diagram. Let's open another starter diagram. Click File > New > Categories > Network. Single-click the Basic Network thumbnail. Basic Network thumbnail - www.office.com/setup Double-click one of the two starter diagram thumbnails. This is just another example of what you can do with Visio. On your own, go to File > New > Categories and explore the various starter diagrams in Visio. Not all diagrams have them, but many of the

As governments strive to become more responsive and transparent, it's important for them to make public information easily accessible to citizens. At the same time, it's critical that they protect confidential data. A key reason why governments choose Microsoft Office 365 is Microsoft's leadership in the industry when it comes to privacy, security, and compliance practices. In short, governments know they can trust Microsoft to help protect their data. So how does Microsoft demonstrate leadership and why exactly do governments trust Office 365 to help protect their data? Here are four reasons: We respect your privacy. Google is under criticism for its privacy practices. Office 365 does not build advertising products out of customer data, unlike other companies. Nor do we scan your email or documents for building analytics, data mining, or advertising, or to improve the service. What's more, you own your data. Office 365 customer data belongs to the customer. Customers can remove their data whenever they choose. Office 365 is independently verified. Office 365 is compliant with many world-class industry standards, and it is verified by third parties. For example, Office 365 is the first major business productivity public cloud service to have implemented the rigorous set of physical, logical, process, and management controls defined by ISO 27001, one of the best security benchmarks available in the world. In addition, Office 365 is the first major business productivity public cloud service provider to sign the standard contractual clauses created by the European Union ("EU Model Clauses") with all customers. Office 365 also implements security processes that adhere to the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) required by U.S. federal agencies and to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). With Office 365, you know where your data is located. Office 365 customers know where major Office 365 datacenters are located

Are you using the new Project and wishing you could enhance its powerful capabilities with apps? Project 2013 has great extensibility potential-even across devices. The new apps for Project enhance capabilities of Microsoft Project 2013 applications, including Project Pro for Office 365, Project Professional 2013, Project Online and Project Server 2013. www.office.com/setup HOW DO I ADD AN APP TO PROJECT PRO FOR OFFICE 365 OR PROJECT PROFESSIONAL 2013? Open Project. On the Ribbon, click PROJECT, then click Apps for Office. www.office.com/setup All apps for Project associated with your account will show up. If you need to acquire new Apps from the Microsoft Office Store, click the Find more apps in the Office Store link and follow the instructions on the screen. www.office.com/setup START USING YOUR APPS The example below shows a project plan that has been synchronized to a project site in SharePoint or SharePoint Online and the highlighted app on the right SharkPro Insite shows data from your project site next to your document. www.office.com/setup Here are apps you can acquire for Project Pro for Office 365 or Project Professional 2013: Sensei Task Analyzer SharkPro SharePoint Insite™ for Project Visit the Office Store for more apps HOW DO I ADD AN APP TO PROJECT ONLINE OR PROJECT SERVER 2013? Choose the site where you want to add the app. On the Gear menu, select Add an app. www.office.com/setup The apps you see will depend on your corporate environment and on whether you have already acquired apps from the Office Store. If you don't see the apps you want in the list, you can add them. On the left side of the screen, click the SharePoint Store link to browse all available apps. Follow the on-screen instructions to add the apps you want. www.office.com/setup Once the app is added to your site, launch the app by clicking on its name in the left hand navigation or see all apps that are ready to use on your site through the Site co

www.office.com/setup Blogs: Whenever you use the Internet, you use hyperlinks to navigate from one webpage to another. If you want to include a web address or email address in your PowerPoint presentation, you can choose to format it as a hyperlink so a person can easily click it. It's also possible to link to files and other slides within a presentation. Optional: Download our practice presentation. Watch the video below to learn more about inserting hyperlinks in PowerPoint. ABOUT HYPERLINKS Hyperlinks have two basic parts: the address of the webpage, email address, or other location they are linking to, and the display text (which can also be a picture or a shape). For example, the address could be http://www.youtube.com, and YouTube could be the display text. In some cases, the display text might be the same as the address. When you're creating a hyperlink in PowerPoint, you'll be able to choose both the address and the display text or image. TO INSERT A HYPERLINK: Select the image or text you want to make a hyperlink. Right-click the selected text or image, then click Hyperlink. Alternatively, you can go to the Insert tab and click the Hyperlink command. - www.office.com/setup The Insert Hyperlink dialog box will open. - www.office.com/setup If you selected text, the words will appear in the Text to display field at the top. You can change this text if you want. Type the address you want to link to in the Address field. Click OK. The text or image you selected will now be a hyperlink to the web address. - www.office.com/setup TO INSERT A HYPERLINK TO AN EMAIL ADDRESS: Right-click the selected text or image, then click Hyperlink. The Insert Hyperlink dialog box will open. On the left side of the dialog box, click Email Address. - www.office.com/setup Type the email address you want to connect to in the Email Address box, then click OK. - www.office.com/setup PowerPoint often recognizes email and web addresses as you type and will format them as hyperlin

www.office.com/setup Blogs: Microsoft announced two new tools, Researcher and Editor, for Word 2016 today that introduce better research integration and writing assistance. Word 2016 is the newest version of the popular word editing software that is available to Office 365 users and customers who purchased a standalone copy of Office 2016. The update is available today to all Office 365 subscribers who are using Word 2016 on the Windows desktop according to Microsoft. The easiest way to find out whether you have it or not is to open Word 2016 on the Windows desktop and check whether the new "Researcher" option is available under References when you edit a document. RESEARCHER word 2016 researcher - www.office.com/setup Researcher is a new tool that you may use to find references directly from within Word 2016. The feature uses Bing's Knowledge Graph for that and displays data in a sidebar in the Word 2016 when enabled. You find the new option under References > Researcher. Researcher is a new service in Word that helps you find and incorporate reliable sources and content for your paper in fewer steps. Right within your Word document you can explore material related to your topic and add it-and its properly-formatted citation-in one click. Researcher uses the Bing Knowledge Graph to pull in the appropriate content from the web and provide structured, safe and credible information. You may use the new tool to add quotes and "properly formatted citation" to documents. While this may not be suitable for science-grade documents, it may do for many other types of documents. EDITOR word 2016 editor - www.office.com/setup Editor is touted as a new digital writing assistant that assists you with proofing and editing services. The initial release flags unclear phrases, redundancy or complex words, and makes recommendations by displaying alternatives to you. The service uses machine learning and natural language processing for that, and will improve over time

www.office.com/setup Blogs: Today marks general availability of Microsoft Flow and PowerApps, which enable people to automate workflows and quickly build custom apps that suit their specific needs. Earlier this year, we announced integration of SharePoint with Microsoft Flow, enabling you to create and launch flows directly from a SharePoint list. We also announced that native integration of PowerApps and SharePoint would drive rich new experiences to continue reinventing business processes with modern document libraries and modern lists in SharePoint. We know that tight integration is essential to unlocking productivity gains for the digital workplace. Accessing data from mobile devices was a first step. Bringing business processes to the same site for team documents and data is next. That's why SharePoint is a great home for your enterprise business applications. As we recognize today's milestones for PowerApps and Microsoft Flow, you can also look ahead to even deeper integration of these business tools as part of SharePoint, as we showcased at Ignite in September. UPCOMING INTEGRATION WITH SHAREPOINT PowerApps will be fully integrated into the SharePoint web experience. PowerApps provides a great mobile experience, and now that experience is connected to the data stored in SharePoint lists. Soon you'll be able to integrate PowerApps as the default in-browser experience for any SharePoint modern list. sharepoint-welcomes-powerapps-and-microsoft-flow-1 - www.office.com/setup PowerApps embedded in a SharePoint list. This means: You'll be able to launch PowerApps directly from the SharePoint mobile app. Modern document libraries will be made available as a data source for PowerApps and Microsoft Flow. For Microsoft Flow, you'll be able to run any flow on demand for a specific document or list item, in addition to waiting for an automated trigger to fire. Using the data gateway, PowerApps and Microsoft Flow will work with on-premises data in SQL and

WWW.OFFICE.COM/SETUP BLOGS: INTRODUCTION www.office.com/setup Blogs: Excel is a spreadsheet program that allows you to store, organize, and analyzeinformation. While you may believe Excel is only used by certain people to process complicated data, anyone can learn how to take advantage of the program's powerful features. Whether you're keeping a budget, organizing a training log, or creating an invoice, Excel makes it easy to work with different types of data. Watch the video below to learn more about Excel. GETTING TO KNOW EXCEL If you've previously used Excel 2010 or Excel 2013, then Excel 2016 should feel familiar. If you are new to Excel or have more experience with older versions, you should first take some time to become familiar with the Excel interface. THE EXCEL INTERFACE When you open Excel 2016 for the first time, the Excel Start Screen will appear. From here, you'll be able to create a new workbook, choose a template, and access your recently edited workbooks. From the Excel Start Screen, locate and select Blank workbook to access the Excel interface. The Excel Start screen - www.office.com/setup Click the buttons in the interactive below to become familiar with the Excel interface. - www.office.com/setup WORKING WITH THE EXCEL ENVIRONMENT The Ribbon and Quick Access Toolbar are where you will find the commands to perform common tasks in Excel. The Backstage view gives you various options for saving, opening a file, printing, and sharing your document. THE RIBBON Excel 2016 uses a tabbed Ribbon system instead of traditional menus. The Ribbon contains multiple tabs, each with several groups of commands. You will use these tabs to perform the most common tasks in Excel. Each tab will have one or more groups. Groups on the ribbon - www.office.com/setup Some groups will have an arrow you can click for more options. Some groups have a menu for more options - www.office.com/setup Click a tab to see more commands. Tabs on the ribbon - www.office.c

WWW.OFFICE.COM/SETUP BLOGS: INTRODUCTION www.office.com/setup Blogs: Microsoft Word 2016 is a word processing application that allows you to create a variety of documents, including letters, resumes, and more. In this lesson, you'll learn how to navigate the Word interface and become familiar with some of its most important features, such as the Ribbon, Quick Access Toolbar, and Backstage view. Watch the video below to become more familiar with Word 2016. GETTING TO KNOW WORD 2016 Word 2016 is similar to Word 2013 and Word 2010. If you've previously used either version, then Word 2016 should feel familiar. But if you are new to Word or have more experience with older versions, you should first take some time to become familiar with the Word 2016 interface. THE WORD INTERFACE When you open Word for the first time, the Start Screen will appear. From here, you'll be able to create a new document, choose a template, and access your recently edited documents. From the Start Screen, locate and select Blank document to access the Word interface. creating a new blank document - www.office.com/setup Click the buttons in the interactive below to learn more about the Word interface: the Word 2016 interface - www.office.com/setup WORKING WITH THE WORD ENVIRONMENT Like other recent versions, Word 2016 continues to use features like the Ribbon and the Quick Access Toolbar-where you will find commands to perform common tasks in Word-as well as Backstage view. THE RIBBON Word uses a tabbed Ribbon system instead of traditional menus. The Ribbon contains multiple tabs, which you can find near the top of the Word window. tabs on the Ribbon - www.office.com/setup Each tab contains several groups of related commands. For example, the Font group on the Home tab contains commands for formatting text in your document. the Font group on the Home tab - www.office.com/setup Some groups also have a small arrow in the bottom-right corner that you can click for even more option

www.office.com/setup Blogs: Recently we ran into an error code that would not allow us to install a brand new copy of Office 2016 Home and Business. We received the below message: Couldn't start re sorry but we could not start your Office installation. Another installation is in progress. Please try again later. Error Code 0-1018 0 The solution was simple. Microsoft provides an Easy Fix Tool to completely cleanup your Office installation. This will remove all remnants and allow you to attempt the install again without receiving this error. Choose Option 2 and click download: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Uninstall-Office-2016-Office-2013-or-Office-365-from-a-PC-9dd49b83-264a-477a-8fcc-2fdf5dbf61d8 REINSTALL OFFICE To reinstall Office, see Download and install or reinstall Office on your PC or Mac and follow the steps for your Office plan. UNINSTALL OFFICE ON A MAC OR OLDER VERSIONS OF OFFICE See: Uninstall Office 2016 for Mac Uninstall Office 2011 for Mac Uninstall or remove Office 2010 How to uninstall or remove Microsoft Office 2007 suites

www.office.com/setup Blogs: Sway: Microsoft Office presentation software. PowerPoint: Microsoft Office presentation software. So what's the difference? You're watching Jeopardy! when the presenter utters the following answer in keeping with the game show's famous format: "A software tool from Microsoft for creating presentations, web-based reports and projects." Quick as a flash you spit out the question in unison with the contestant: "What is PowerPoint?" To your astonishment, presenter Alex Trebek shakes his head and utters a curt "No". The correct question was "What is Sway?" To the best of our knowledge, that scenario has yet to surface on the American quiz show, but it's hypothetically possible. After all, there are a number of similarities between PowerPoint and Sway on first inspection: Both are part of Microsoft Office Both can be used to create rich presentations Both support multimedia including video, audio and images Both feature customisable templates There's no disputing that there are areas where PowerPoint and Sway overlap. But if you're thinking Sway is just a web-based clone of PowerPoint, think again - each piece of software has highly specific functions. It's well worth familiarising yourself with the differences between the two, cos if you Sway when you're meant to PowerPoint, you're gonna have a bad time. POWERPOINT IN A PARAGRAPH As the world's preeminent slideshow software, PowerPoint requires no introduction. From classroom projects to delivering keynote addresses, Microsoft's easy to use presentation software has graced overhead projectors on every continent. Slides; audience handouts; speaker's notes. Whatever you choose to create and however you choose to deliver your story, PowerPoint makes it simple. SWAY IN SUMMARY Sway is an online presentation and storytelling app that's free for anyone with a Microsoft or Office 365 account. The newest addition to Microsoft Office, Sway helps

Windows 10 has grabbed the attention of social media and customers alike more so because it is a crucial operating system for Microsoft after the debacle of Windows 8 and a not so great reception for Windows 8.1. But, Microsoft has another major product on their cards now, Office, which enhances the Windows productivity of five major products into a system of applications. With Office 2016, Microsoft plans to build from scratch, a mobile and cloud first approach which is customer centric and doesn't only focus on web compared to Office 365 and 2013. Office 2016 has recently been launched on September 22, 2015. www.office.com/setup The Cost factor The first and the most important thing we look at during major software products and updates is the price tag that comes along with it as there are so multiple updates for major software and it is not feasible to go through each and every revision. The all new Office 2016 suite is free for customers on mobile and tablets (conditions apply) and pretty cheap at $145 for "Office Home & Student 2016" and the RRP version of the same is priced at $165, along with subscription version of the suite (Office 365 Personal) at about $70 per year.

Meeting notes, vacation plans, grocery lists, great quotes, notes to self-let me count the ways to use OneNote. Consolidate all of your crucial information chunks and snippets in one place, then link with OneDrive to share this virtual notebook with yourself (roaming), with other people (collaboration), and with other devices (OneNote ecosystem).

What is Microsoft Visio used for? Diagrams. That's what Microsoft Visio does, and it does it better than any other app I've seen yet. From flow charts to floor plans, there isn't much it can't handle. Now, being honest, I didn't know much about Visio until recently. But that changed when I decided to take it for a test drive - right out of the latest Microsoft Office. Visio Templates Office 2013 - www.office.com/setup Microsoft Visio can be used to create simple or complicated diagrams. It offers a wide variety of built-in shapes, objects, and stencils to work with. You can also make your own shapes and import them if you're willing to do all that extra work. The driving idea behind Visio is to make diagramming as easy as possible for the user. I think Visio is on the right track for that! Note: Click images below to open them at Full Size. The Visio 2013 welcome screen features a dozen different templates to get you started. Each template equips you with the appropriate menu and objects already open and ready for use. Even more templates can be found in specific categories within the application, or from Visio's online download page. visio welcome screen - www.office.com/setup Visio's primary clientele have been Enterprise users at the corporate level. If you think about it, it's not too often that the home user needs to write up professional diagrams. Usually, a paper and pen will suffice because a home user's diagram isn't being sent out to an entire department. That's why Visio has always been considered a program for "serious" diagrams. But it doesn't have to be. table chart with live data - www.office.com/setup Visio can be used to create 3D map diagrams, though the built-in tools for this are limited. It works well for simple maps that you might print on a brochure or campus directory. visio map - www.office.com/setup Another thing Visio can do is pull in live information from an external source, such as an Excel shee

Every couple weeks, we round up industry news and articles you might have missed. We hope you enjoy our latest selections. The Office 365 Upgrade: New Outlook Web App. The new Office 365 includes "a vastly improved" Outlook Web App. ABB Deploys Office 365 and Yammer Worldwide. Power automation firm ABB plans to deploy Office 365 to its 145,000 employees around the world. V8 Supercar Races Off with Microsoft Office 365. V8 Supercars chooses Office 365 because of trust in Microsoft brand. Microsoft's Lync Communications Platform Used by President Obama's Re-election Campaign. The Obama campaign used the Lync platform during the 2012 elections, enabling staff to work from anywhere. Why Office 365 Makes Sense for Small Business. Three compelling reasons why Office 365 may make sense for small businesses: a low upfront cost, multiple licenses, and Exchange Online. Microsoft's Top Ten SharePoint Online Features. A senior product manager on the SharePoint Team shares his top 10 features of SharePoint Online. Microsoft Turns Up 'Scroogled' Attacks with Campaign Against Google Apps. Microsoft calls on Google to stop providing user information to third-party Android developers.

Remember the vintage game "Pull the Rug Out?" It is a board game where players stack different items on top of a rug. Eventually, one of the players tries to pull out the rug without tumbling the pieces stacked on top of it. Google's recent announcement that it is phasing out several additional services, including the highly popular Google Reader, reminded me of this game, as I recall that the stack most always toppled to the ground. Google introduced Google Reader, gradually built up its popularity, and then pulled the rug out with little warning, causing its customers to stumble. As one Google customer put it: "Google spends millions of wasted dollars on pet projects, then kills one of their best products on a whim." Google's most recent spring cleaning brings the total number of services it has discontinued to 70 in just a year-and-a-half. That's right-a whopping 70 services that have been shut down in just 18 months. Among the services Google will discontinue with little warning is Google Cloud Connect, introduced with a lot of fanfare just two years ago. Cloud Connect is a plug-in that enables Google users to share and edit Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel files. To continue collaborating with Microsoft Office, Google users have just four weeks to uninstall Cloud Connect and install Google Drive. Companies that can't get to it by April 30 will be out of luck, leaving them without a way to collaborate on Office documents used by millions of employees, partners, and customers. But of all the services Google is discontinuing this time, the one that's drawing the biggest backlash is Google Reader, a service used by hundreds of thousands of users to keep track of their favorite websites and blogs via RSS feeds. The news of Google Reader's shut down drew outrage from users, who put together a petition demanding that Google reinstate the service. "Our confidence in Google's other products - Gmail, YouTube, and yes, even Plus - req