I’m having the building work done so I can start my working from home. It’s so scary for a ditherer like me to commit to where the sockets should be & I’m trying to get it right (after having to crawl under my desk to turn the mains off for years last time I set up an office at home!).

I’ve got that far but I’m desperately trying to install enough cables before the plaster board goes on - two phone lines, cat 5 in & out (a feed from my router & a spare as I guess I’ll need a hub on my desk so I can take an out to feed the kitchen), speaker cables from the lounge stereo (I could do with screened lead going back to feed the stereo from the desktop but at a pinch I could use the speaker leads?) and last (and least flexible) coax from the video for a TV. I already had speakers & coax running through to the kitchen but I’m bringing them out to wall box so I can break in if I need to.

It’s the “now’s the time” pressure. I can run cables later but if I do it now it’s so much neater… Oh well, it’s what makes me (I hope) a good software engineer. When I’m laying the foundations I like to keep all the options open. It may be good software design but in building terms it’s stressing me out - what will I need next week? What if decide the desk should be the other side of the room? Which is exactly what happened to this office, where I now have to crawl under the desk to turn the mains off…

I’ve been setting up a machine for my daughter to take to university and have been looking at what to install. She’ll need some form of Office package. Obviously I have access (not Access) to all kinds of software but without legal licences for her to use. I was encouraging her to use Open Office (as I do at home) but apart from it being that little bit different she is put off by the name “open” doesn’t that mean other people can change it? I don’t want my work open to others. Did I mention she was going to university? She isn’t really as stupid as that comment makes her sound. Anyway the other option (apart from the obvious illegal one and the one that should be obvious but somehow isn’t - ie buying MS Office) is to get a student edition - MS have for years provided cheap licences for students. I have been trying to find out how to get one.

Google “Microsoft student” or “educational” turns up Amazon references to Encarta, the Nation Union of Students site search for Microsoft came up with “how to get a job at MS”. Then, just as I was looking for my Open Office install disks along came http://www.computershopper.co.uk/shopper/news/124820/students-get-office-2007-ultimate-for-39.html

(IT Pro sister mag, I’m sure IT Pro will cover it soon)

The only problem is you need a .ac email which she won’t have until next week. I’m installing the trial version and hopefully she can get the key then.

The advantage to MS is obvious, if they didn’t provide cheap ones students could easily share versions and are not likely to be paying the £400 for a retail one anyway. And it is important that students use your software. In a few years they will be buying and specifying for industry and they’ll want what they know. Cheap copies for students should reap benefits in futre sales.

I’ve installed http://cdburnerxp.se/ for CD/DVD burning (the used DVD burner from ebay came without s/w), http://free.grisoft.com/ for anti virus so all in all it’s been pretty cheap so far.

What someone needs to do is set up a site with a complete set of software for students (or links to). Why the NUS aren’t doing this I don’t know - or maybe I missed it. If you know of one please leave a comment with a link.

Actually a site with profiles (home user, small business, student, silver surfer, gamester, school kids, pre-school) and suggested packages would be a useful - is there one?

On line applications? Will they ever catch on? Well I can see some advantages even for the home user and it could be Microsoft that pushes people that way.

http://www.itpro.co.uk/news/92730/google-expands-into-business-software-market.html?searchString=google+apps
So why would a home user want to use an online word processor? Your data being available where ever you are seems like a business advantage not a home user one. However, actually being able to get at my documents from the lounge when the kids are using the office PC is really handy but setting up sharing does call for (a little) IT savvy - so the Google route could be the more popular. Getting at my documents at work so I can work on my novel / home accounts / cv during work (oh, er, I mean lunch) time could also be handy. Do I want to open my home PC up to the scary world of hackers just so I can access it remotely? No (even if I knew how!).
And there’s that little item, cost. That’s the one that drives most people. If I could set a cheap machine, even one running Linux as I’m never going to use anything but the browser, which accesses the same apps as I’m using on my expensive machine then suddenly it seems like a good idea. And many people are using Firefox already so a common browser, a common application, it’s starting to sound easy even if the OS is different because most people don’t have too much to do with the underlying OS. With online apps they will have even less to do with the it.
Why will MS push people into it? Because of cost. Why pay for Windows & Office if you don’t “use” them, well you don’t see them apart from the boot prompt and starting the browser! There are lots of bootleg Windows users, as MS upgrades start to check for these & security fears mean those upgrades are needed more people are going to have to put their hands in their pockets or ditch Windows. The fear is “the unknown” - who wants to be lumbered with a new OS & a new set of Apps, to learn about? However if I’m using the same apps (ie Firefox & online ones) it might just be worth it - especially if I can do it on cheap hardware that I already have, can pick up for next to nothing or even on a thin client!