MSL community

Translation Right Within Office!

As I often receive stuff from friends in not only English, but Chinese, German, Greek, you name it, I sometimes get the feeling of “doh…” as I can’t understand a piece of the document very well.  Yeah Windows Live Translator is great, TBot is cute, but I am very happy to learn that Office can do it now as well! :)

Words and phrases work best, as any machine translation.  I was surprised to see whole document translation worked fairly well too.  (I translated a piece of news from Chinese to English.)

Installing it is easy – just download the installer here.  It works for both Office 2003 and Office 2007.  The current default in Office is WorldLingo – this installer will update your task pane to use Microsoft Translator as the default translator. 

Here are some details for both Office versions:

Office 2007: http://blogs.msdn.com/translation/archive/2008/08/06/office-document-translation.aspx

Office 2003: http://blogs.msdn.com/translation/archive/2008/08/11/office-2003-setup-instructions.aspx

And I need to get that cool widget for the translator widget for the blog too! :)

Next thing I want, is a device that let someone speak into it and translate to the language of choice…

Ah, imagine the barrier of language doesn’t exist anymore one day… although I have to say I totally enjoy learning 25 different ways of saying hi, so very different, yet so similar.

OfficePalooza!

If you’re an advanced user of Office 2007, or maybe you want to test your Office 2007 skills, don’t forget about the upcoming contest starting April 20. As mentioned here http://blogs.msdn.com/microsoft_press/archive/2009/04/01/advanced-2007-office-system-user-a-contest-for-you.aspx

The contest features ten fun VBA coding challenges in the form of puzzles and games. Each entrant will earn a chance to win one of hundreds of available prizes, determined by a random drawing at the end of the contest.

There are also some additional articles from Microsoft Press book Advanced Microsoft Office Documents 2007 Edition Inside Out now available to help you prepare.

Troubleshooting Word 2007 Documents More Easily Using VBA: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd630112.aspx

Using VBA to Access Document Content in the 2007 Office System: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd630624.aspx

You decide who gets on the bus

Last week you met our Career Express road crew. We also let you know that we have one seat left for another Microsoft Learning staff member but we have 3 people who want it.

The problem is that we think all three of our finalists are really cool and we can't decide which one of them should be out there touring the country and meeting all you fine folks on the road. That's where you come in.

We need your help deciding who will get on the bus. Over the next three weeks you'll have three opportunities to vote for your favorite bus rider as they compete against each other for the coveted seat on the Career Express. 

In this post you'll find three videos, each one introducing another contender for the Career Express crew. Take a few minutes to hear why each one of them wants to get on the bus and let us know who you like best by voting using the poll feature on this page. The first round of voting will remain open until 5:00pm Pacific Time on Wednesday April 8.

Don't delay! Let us know who you want to Get on the Bus!

Online Surveys & Market Research

SharePoint Best Practices Conference and Free SharePoint Designer Downloads

The second annual SharePoint Best Practices conference is being held in London this year, following the overwhelming success of the conference in Washington, DC in 2008. Conference begins Monday, April 6. Details are here.

http://www.sharepointbestpractices.co.uk/

http://www.sharepointbestpractices.co.uk/Abstracts_IW.html#IW311

http://www.sharepointbestpractices.co.uk/Abstracts_IW.html#IW304

And if you followed the announcement yesterday that SharePoint Designer will now be available as a free download, you might want to check out Penny Coventry’s sessions (SharePoint MVP and author of Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007 Step by Step).

Penny will have two sessions that will be helpful for  for users worried about SharePoint Designer being free and wanting to lock down SPD usage.

http://ladylicensing.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!87F95F1B5B21B01E!1568.entry

http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepointdesigner/archive/2009/04/02/download-spd-for-free-today.aspx

And…if you happen to be in London and attend Penny’s 311 session, you have a chance to win a free copy of her book.

Mac vs. PC: Some Can Dish It Out & Take It, Others… Not So Much

Note: My name is Bob Caswell, and I am the product manager of distance learning stuff like V-Class, MODL, and Digital MOC (some of which don't exist yet but coming soon!). You can check out my pre-Microsoft bio here (my Born to Learn bio page will be updated shortly). The post below is also posted on my personal blog. Looking forward to more blogging!

So Microsoft put together an ad (embedded below with more to come apparently) that does what Apple started (comparing PCs and Macs) only from Microsoft's perspective. That is, when either side plays this game, they focus on the pros of their team while pointing out the cons of the other side all while conveniently forgetting to mention their own cons.

Fargo, The Environment, and Microsoft

Hi,

With my last post I was (and still am) incredibly sad that my hometown is having record flooding.  My personal connections run high. The MS campus has been closed for 2 days and will remain closed until it is safe to return.  Right now, that could be a week.   Microsoft Learning has 20 some people in that office.

In my previous life with the Dynamics group,  and with my current MCP role, I am very cognizant that our earth is fragile and between fires in Australia, snowstorms, volcanoes rumbling, just to say the very least ---

Free Microsoft Developer Tools for High School and College Students

Do you know a high school or college kid who loves technology? Is your son or daughter interested in becoming the next super-developer in your family? Microsoft wants to help.

Through Microsoft DreamSpark, high school and college students around the world* can download Microsoft Developer tools and also get discounts on learning and certification products. Notify your child’s high school administrators and once they sign up with the program, students will be able to start getting hands-on with the latest tools from Microsoft. Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition? Got it. Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Developer? Got that too. Windows Server 2008? Of course! Go to the website and take a look – there are currently 16 products listed for download.

While you’re there, click on the Get Training link.

categories galore

This post is in a great many categories.

Seattle-area Hiring Managers/MCPs – be a part of a podcast

Whether you are a manager who hires IT Professionals, or you’re a Microsoft Certified Professional, here’s your chance to participate in a podcast about Microsoft Certification.  Hiring managers:  tell us what you look for in a prospective employee, and how certification influences your decision.  MCPs:  share with us how certification has benefited your career.  We need participants from both perspectives, and invite you to take part in this fun experience.  Recording will take place at a Microsoft Learning studio in Bellevue, Washington, and will only take an hour or two of your time.  Contact Monica Kilwine (v-monick@microsoft.com) for a pre-interview.  Only Seattle-area candidates will be considered.

Posted by Dana

Chris Pirie speaks with British Computer Society

Before Chris hit the road to tour in support of Microsoft Skills Week, he sat down for a conversation with Gary Flood of the British Computer Society.

Part 1 of that interview is posted now, part 2 still to come.

Posted by Krosen