Google Launches Cloud Connect Plugin For Microsoft Office

Some good news for Google Docs users who have always wanted an official office add-in which can be used to create, share and manage Google Docs documents from Microsoft Office.

Google has just released Google Cloud Connect – an add-in for Microsoft office which adds simultaneous collaboration, revision history, cloud sync, unique URLs and simple sharing to the Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint applications. This is quite similar to another office add-in called OffiSync, which we have reviewed earlier.

Setting Up Google Cloud Connect With Microsoft Office

Setting up Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office is fast and simple. Head over to the Cloud connect page and click the “Accept and Install” button to launch the web installer. Hold on for two minutes until the web installer downloads and install Google Cloud connect for Microsoft Office on your computer.

Once the add-in is in place, launch Microsoft Office and you will see a “cloud connect bar” as shown below:

To start using Google Cloud connect with Microsoft office, click “Login”, enter your Google account credentials and choose “Grant Access” in the following step.

When you’re through setting up Cloud connect with Microsoft office, you will notice two options for managing the office document you are creating – either manually sync the document by hitting the “sync” button or let Google cloud connect automatically sync the document, spreadsheet or PowerPoint presentation to your Google Docs account.

I would prefer using the “Manual” way but you can use the “automatic” mode which syncs a refreshed copy on every save or when other users update values on the same document from their Google Docs account.

Note: You will have to save a local copy of the document to your computer first, which will then be synced to your Google Docs account.

One of the downsides is that there is no way to open a Google Docs document directly in the Microsoft Office interface. I have a dozen or more spreadsheets stored in my Google Docs account and if I need to edit a spreadsheet, I have to download it from the normal web UI and then use Google Cloud connect to sync changes (if any).

There is no way to open the spreadsheet directly in Microsoft Excel, do some quick changes and sync the changes back to my Google Docs account.

Supported File Types

Google Cloud Connect works with most versions of Microsoft Office 2003, 2007, and 2010. It’s not compatible with the Microsoft Office 2010 Starter Edition or any versions installed with Microsoft’s Click-to-Run delivery mechanism. The following file types are supported in Google Cloud connect:

Word file types: .DOC, .DOCX, .DOTX, .DOCM

Excel file types: .XLS, .XLT, .XLSX, .XLSM.

PowerPoint file types: .PPT, .POT, .PPS, .PPTX, .POTX, .PPSX, .PPTM, .POTM.

Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office works on Windows XP (requires .NET 2.0), Windows Vista and Windows 7, both 32 bit and 64 bit systems are supported. Unfortunately, Google Cloud connect is not available for MAC’s yet.

Watch the following introductory video to learn how Google Cloud connect works:

Video link

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HOW TO: Land a Job at Microsoft

Everyone has a dream job. Whether it’s a company you’ve been pining to be a part of or a new product you’re dying to throw your creativity into, there’s always a line of work that seems like the perfect fit.

Though recognizing your ideal position is easy, actually getting the job is the hard part. For those looking to start a career at tech giantMicrosoft, the sheer size of the company makes the hunt seem even more overwhelming. Resumes can get lost in a sea of applications, and finding the right contact to reach out to can be like searching for a needle in a haystack.

But that doesn’t mean you should give up on your dream of working at one of the most successful and dynamic corporations in the world. Here are some tips and resources from the company’s recruiters and employees for landing a job at Microsoft.

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Getting Started

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With so many locations and products, the first step in starting your Microsoft job search should be deciding where you want to work and what you want to create. Visiting the Microsoft Careers website can help answer these questions. There you can look for a specific position in the navigation bar or choose a country from the drop-down menu. On the Find Your Fit page, details on the company’s various professions and technologies are laid out to help you explore opportunities.

Once you apply by uploading your resume to a specific job posting on the site, it’s up for review. So how do you get that resume noticed?

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Standing Out

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Many recruiters use keyword searches to pull up resumes — but that doesn’t mean every other word needs to be “motivated” or “team player.” Be sure to list the names of certain technologies and programming languages you’ve used in each project you include. This will allow a recruiter to see what you know and how well you know it.

When putting together your resume, think about how you affected your environments and less about the basic facts of what you did. “Often, applicants write their resumes like a list of job tasks, but it’s even more important to call out your major achievements and the difference you made: what you did, how you did it, and why it mattered,” said Gretchen Ledgard, communications manager for Microsoft Recruiting.

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Doing Your Homework

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Microsoft is known for its difficult interview process and obscure questions. The best way to nail it? “Do your homework on us,” Ledgard said. Candidates who come in with knowledge about the role, team and location tend to already have an idea of how to frame their answers and are ready to ask solid questions.

Thom Mitchell, a Microsoft account technology strategist who was hired earlier this year, couldn’t agree more. He researched each person who was interviewing him and read up on the products he would be responsible for in the role and the competition for those products. He even prepared a short PowerPoint presentation about Microsoft products in case he was asked to present something on the fly (he wasn’t). When Mitchell asked questions, they were substantive and role-related — not “How are the health care benefits?” or “Is there a gym reimbursement?” More importantly, when he didn’t know an answer to a question he was asked, Mitchell simply said so and didn’t try to talk around the issue or come up with a fake answer.

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Following Up

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If you have questions after submitting your resume, many Microsoft recruiters are open to being contacted via social media, Ledgard said. Microsoft Careers is also open to connecting through social networks and has resources for potential job candidates on its advice hub JobsBlog.

But how do you strike a balance between keeping your name on the radar and being a nuisance? For Mitchell, the key was checking in as needed. He followed up with the recruiter after each screening interview and sent brief thank you notes to the hiring manager he interviewed with in person — but not to each person who interviewed him. Mitchell said his recruiter let him know what would happen every step of the way, so there wasn’t a need to over communicate.

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Finding a Fit

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There’s a big focus on not only job fit, but also company fit at Microsoft. Recruiters look for people who go above and beyond in everything they do, whether that’s taking the most difficult computer science courses or working on extracurricular projects, Ledgard said.

Still, there’s no fool-proof formula for landing a job at Microsoft. Even though the position you’re applying for might feel like the perfect match, sometimes it’s just not. Microsoft’s recruiters and hiring managers are the experts on what type of person will be a good fit for both the job and the company culture. The best advice? Relax. If it’s meant to be, it will.

Have you scored a job at Microsoft or are you trying to? What has your experience been like? Tell us in the comments below.

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Microsoft Says 86% Indians Buy Genuine Software

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Although India may be a among the top countries where software piracy is on the rise but a recent Microsoft study has revealed that a majority of Indians buy genuine software. A global study conducted by software major Microsoft recently points us to the fact that more than 86 per cent of Indian customers purchase genuine software even though they retail at sky-high prices.

Microsoft had conducted this survey on over 38,000 people in 20 countries. According to the results of this survey, data loss and identity theft are the top-most concerns of the Indian consumers. Microsoft also said that more than 6000 Indian customers have reported incidents of pirated or illegal software to Microsoft India in the last two years.

Among other statistics, over 50 per cent consumers feel issues such as stolen password and lost data are more likely to happen with counterfeit software and as many as 75 per cent of  Indian consumers feel that genuine software was more secure and stable.

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How To Connect Your Facebook Account With Bing

Microsoft and Facebook announced a strategic partnership by which Bing had Instant Personalization features. This means that if you connect Facebook to Bing on your account, search results for queries will be tailored based on your Facebook activities. Mark Zuckerberg went to lengths in order to clarify that there is no breach of privacy and the data available to Bing is only what you’ve set as publicly available.

Bing has now made this feature available to US customers and it is pretty simple to set up:

Visit Bing.com
Sign in (top left)
You should now see a Windows flag with a drop down. Screenshot:



Click on Facebook Connect and allow Bing access to your Facebook data and you’re done.

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Bill Gates Announces $20 Million Program to Expand Educational Technology

Arguing that we need to do a better job not just ensuring access to quality higher education, but helping students actually graduate from college, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have announced the Next Generation Learning Challenges initiative. This multi-year project aims to help improve both college readiness and college completion in the U.S. through the use of technology. Administered through the nonprofit EDUCAUSE, the program will provide grants to organization that will help develop technology tools to more teachers, students, and schools.
RFPs for the first round of grants were released today. These grants will range from $250,000 to $750,000, with a total amount funded in this round of $20 million. Proposals are due Nov. 19 with the winners to be announced by the end of March 2011. And while this first round will be aimed at developing technology tools and projects for higher education, the next round, according to the Gates Foundation, will address the needs of students in grades 9 through 12.

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Microsoft Hurries To Launch iPad Rival

A tablet based on Windows is no news. It has been rumored for more than a few months now but nothing concrete had come up so far. Well, after the successful launch of iPad, that has changed a bit. Microsoft is not too happy about iPad’s increasing sales and wants to launch a rival tablet before Apple eats up the whole market share.

Steve Ballmer, who made a mention of the project today, also said that “It is job one urgency. No one is sleeping at the switch.” This is a clear indication of how serious Microsoft really is about launching its own version of the tablet that will obviously run on a modified version of Windows 7. There are no details out yet but analysts speculate that the device will be in the market before the year ends, hopefully during the Holiday season so Microsoft can enjoy that extra bit of revenue.

There is also no information on who would manufacture the device and what the specifications would be, but it is clear that Microsoft would have to come up with something clever to give Apple a serious fight. If they make the same mistakes they made with their iPod rival “Zune”, they will be stamped with yet another failure.

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