a l e x f a l k e n b e r g

Service Pack 1 (SP1) for Office 2007 has finally gone live. Download it here: http://www.microsoft.com/office/

If you use Microsoft Update, you should see it your list if updates soon if you haven’t already.

You’ll also find links there for MS Visio 2007 Service Pack 1 and MS Project 2007 Service Pack 1, if you’ve not done those already.

Details on what SP1 addresses and fixes, and any other related issues, are here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936982

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Ubuntu 7.10, also known as “Gutsy Gibbon”, has been officially released this morning. Take a tour of what’s new in this latest release here (lots of new and interesting features and eye candy).

It is free software, and there are several ways to get it. Ubuntu is also available in a variety of flavors, from the educational Edubuntu version, to the KDE-enabled Kubuntu version, to Xubuntu for those that like a sparser looking/feeling desktop interface, to their very popular Ubuntu Server Edition (which is really great for LAMP installs, among other things).

The normal image download of Ubuntu is also a LiveCD, which allows you to boot off of the CD and give Ubuntu a try, without worrying about damaging or altering your existing OS/setup. It does run a bit slower in this mode, since it’s not actually installed but instead running directly off the CD in RAM only, but it should otherwise be a working version of Ubuntu you can kick the tires on and try out before you commit to it. Pretty powerful stuff.

You can also download an “alternate desktop CD” version; it does not include the Live CD functionality, instead it uses a text-based installer, and is a slightly smaller download. I recommend you skip this version, unless you know you specifically need it.

Who should try Ubuntu? Well, the LiveCD will allow anyone to simply pop in a disc and try it out, so I think everyone should, at least once. You’ve got nothing to lose but a some time downloading and burning it to CD, and again, it’s totally free.

And yes, it’s probably a bit different from what you may be used to, but it’s really the same in most of the ways that matter to a typical PC user. Will Windows users love it? That depends on how stuck you are on the familiarity of Windows. Most of the things the average person does with Windows can be easily accomplished for free using a Linux distro like Ubuntu, which already includes–out of the ‘box’–Firefox, OpenOffice.org’s office suite, and tons of other useful “everyday” software most people want and need. We use it here, daily–both the Desktop and Server editions–and love it.

If you have questions or want to get even more into it, feel free to contact us to set up a demo, give a presentation, or arrange some training. Ubuntu offers both free and paid support and paid training as well.

Ubuntu 7.10 “Gutsy Gibbon” can be downloaded here, or from a large number of download mirror sites. Enjoy!

(Image from Ubuntu.com)

From the Excel Team:

Two weeks ago, we posted about an issue involving the calculation of numbers around 65,535 and 65,536. As of today, fixes for this issue in Excel 2007 and Excel Services 2007 are available for download from the following locations:

Excel 2007: link
64-bit Excel Services 2007: link
32-bit Excel Services 2007: link

KB Articles have been posted as well:

Excel 2007: link
Excel Services 2007: link

We are in the process of adding this fix to Microsoft Update so that it will get automatically pushed to users running Excel 2007 or Excel Services 2007. Additionally, the fix will also be contained in the first service pack of Office 2007 when it is released (the release date for SP1 of Office 2007 has not been finalized).

Thank you for your patience,

The Excel Team

So this is what it’s come to:

Sun Microsystems, shame on you! You guys know OpenOffice.org is already free, right?

Surely there’s a better way to get people into the OpenOffice fold than this kind of…cheap trickery?

The exploit we’ve previously mentioned here only affects you if your setup matches the following:

Platform: Windows XP (Vista users are not affected) with Internet Explorer 7 installed

Affected Software Versions:

• Adobe Reader 8.1 and earlier versions
• Adobe Acrobat Standard, Professional and Elements 8.1 and earlier versions
• Adobe Acrobat 3D

Adobe has finally provided a workaround, though it’s not terribly straightforward if you’re uncomfortable mucking about in the registry:

http://www.adobe.com/support/security/advisories/apsa07-04.html

They plan to eventually provide a more user-friendly solution. Until then, the exploit–while not known to be out in the wild yet–has the potential to be extremely damaging; applying Adobe’s workaround is strongly recommended while we wait for them to provide a proper, more-polished patch.

Harmonix rep confirms Amazon.com price and date for upcoming PS3 and Xbox 360 rhythm game bundles; PS2 edition to follow December 10 for $159.99.

Just watched a demo video of four guys playing some Pixies Wave of Mutilation together.  Awesome.

The 13th annual interactive-fiction competition, IF 2007, is now underway. Voting is a bit involved, demanding a fair amount of your time, but totally worth it, in my opinion, if you’re into interactive fiction at all. Downloading the text-based games is entirely free, available via .zip or .torrent. There are 29 IF entries this year, so you can choose to be very, very busy indeed…

What is interactive fiction, you ask? Think early Zork, or any of the earlier Infocom games. Very imaginative, very detailed, and often very challenging. And always entertaining. Oh–and no graphics!

As both art and programming, interactive fiction has a very, very long history and legacy which continues quite strongly today. There is a lot of variety and material to choose from, be it playful roleplaying and puzzle-solving, or more deep and serious interactive prose.

There is plenty of software to get you going creating your own interactive fiction, too, like TADS, Hugo, and Inform, among others. I use Inform 7, personally (which is freely available). Inform’s latest version uses a fairly sophisticated natural language model to create IF, so you might write/’program’ something like this regarding your kitchen and refrigerator:

which then gives you this experience as the player:

Much more complex interactions are possible, of course…

There is a TON of info available online, if you’re interested in creating your own IF; rec.arts.int-fiction is also fantastic for support and discussion if you’re a Usenet/newsgroups person.

There is another Usenet group, rec.games.int-fiction, that’s more for people playing rather than developing IF. The easiest way to check out both groups is to use Google Groups.

The IF community is really great, willing to answer questions, offer suggestions, all ultimately toward helping to keep IF alive. Most if not all share their games and their code, too, so you can play their games, read their stories, and participate in their created adventures, or use their code to help you learn how to better your own.

If you’re interested in playing old Zork and other Infocom/Adventure International/etc text adventures/games, quite a few of them are available online to play, usually for free. A Google search should find quite a few of them for you. And again, you’re strongly encouraged to try to create your own sometime!

Happy Frotzing!

Microsoft has issued an updated Internet Explorer (IE) 7 release that no longer requires Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) validation in order to download. The company has refreshed versions of IE 7 for Windows XP Service Pack (SP)2, Windows 64 client/server, and Windows Server 2003 SP1/SP2. It also posted an update to IE 7 for Windows XP that resolves a phishing-filter problem with the browser.

(Snippet from ZDNet)