Office 365 now available on Android

Following the release of Office Mobile for iPhone, Microsoft has launched Office Mobile for Android.

The cloud-based version of Office, which is available to users in the US, will be free to people who already subscribe to Office 365. This means that Office 365 subscribers can now work on their Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents from virtually anywhere, using their Windows Phone, iPhone or Android handsets.

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Available from the Google Play Store, the app is available to users with a qualifying Office 365 subscription, including Office 365 Home Premium or Office 365 ProPlus. Microsoft said more countries will gain access in coming weeks.

The app enables users to view and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents in the cloud on SkyDrive or SkyDrive Pro. Microsoft said it synchronises with a PC, so that documents edited on a computer are available in the Recent Documents panel. Users can also view and edit documents received as email attachments.

“The release of this app shows that we're committed to keep providing additional value for Office 365 subscribers," said Guy Gilbert, senior product manager at Microsoft. "Office 365 subscribers will now be able to access, view and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents with Windows Phone, iPhone and Android phones.”

How to change drive letters--even when the letter you want isn't available

Jack McCabe wants Windows to identify his data drive as D:, but D: is already taken.

We were using drive letters before DOS, and I'm surprised we're still using them. Everyone knows that C: is the main drive--or at least the one Windows boots from. (Why C:? Because A: and B: were originally reserved for floppies.) But not everyone knows that if you have an administrator-level account, you can reassign drive letters.

[Email your tech questions to answer@pcworld.com or post them on the PCW Answer Line forum.]

Here's how to change a PC's drive letters:

First, you need to get to the Disk Management tool. If you're using Windows 7, XP, or Vista, click Start, right-click Computer (in XP, right-click My Computer), and select Manage. Once the Computer Management program is up, click Disk Management. You'll find it in the left pane, under Storage.

You can't click Start in Windows 8, so press WINKEY-X and select Disk Management.

Whatever version of Windows you're using, you're now in Disk Management. You'll see a graphic list of drives and partitions on those drives. (Remember that drive letters don't actually label drives, but partitions. But if there's only one partition on the drive, it's effectively the same thing.)

Make sure that the drive containing the partition you want to change is listed. If it isn't, see My PC doesn't see the new, second hard drive for advice.

Also, check to see if another partition or device is already using the drive letter you want. If it is, you'll have to change that drive first. For instance, if you want your data partition to be D:, but your optical drive is already D:, change the optical drive to something else (say, E:, or O:). That will free up D:, allowing you to make the change you originally wanted.

I strongly suggest that you leave the boot drive (probably C:) alone.

Here's how:
Right-click the partition you want to change, then select Change Drive Letter and Paths.

 

 

In the resulting dialog box, click Change.In the next dialog box, select your desired drive letter.
After you click OK, a dialog box will warn you that some programs may not work. If a problem arises (and I doubt it), you can go back and change the letters again).

One last comment: You can change an external drive's letter, but the change won't be permanent. Every time you plug a storage device into a USB port, Windows will give it the first available drive letter.

Google's future Office killer now available in Chrome OS dev channel

Google now offers the ability to edit Office documents within Chrome OS, although the new feature is currently far less capable than the document-editing capabilities of Google’s own Google Apps.

 

However, there’s one reason why this is worth checking out: the service is the first time that Google’s QuickOffice has made an appearance.

 

In June of 2012, Google bought QuickOffice, an office suite for Android and iOS, for an undisclosed sum. “Today, consumers, businesses, and schools use Google Apps to get stuff done from anywhere, with anyonem, and on any device,” Google Engineering Director Alan Warren explained then in a company blog. “Quickoffice has an established track record of enabling seamless interoperability with popular file formats, and we’ll be working on bringing their powerful technology to our Apps product suite.”

 

That sums it up quite nicely: for now, Google Apps provides the functionality and QuickOffice provides the compatibility aspect. Since the purchase, Google has worked to bring the QuickOffice technology to its other properties, namedly Chrome OS.

 

Over time, analysts have suspected that QuickOffice will become the face of Google Docs. Before the Google I/O developers conference in May, Google sources said that the company has been “dog fooding,” or internally deploying, QuickOffice within a browser.

 

Sundar Pichai, Google’s Chrome chief, said at the launch of the Google Chromebook Pixel. that it would take two to three months to add QuickOffice to the Chrome OS-powered Pixel, but that it would eventually arrive. That time, apparently, is now.

 

Microsoft has already taken aim at what it perceives as compatibility problems with Google Apps, even before Microsoft released Office Mobile for the iPhone.

 

What makes QuickOffice such a threat to Office? If QuickOffice comes close enough to the functionality that Microsoft Office itself offers, users may begin to question why they’re paying hundreds of dollars for dedicated Office suites or for an Office 365 subscription.

 

Google isn’t close at all to this point yet. Not only is QuickOffice available in the unstable “developer” channel of Chrome OS, but the functionality is far behind what even Google Docs offers. It sure looks pretty, though.

 

Compare this QuickOffice screenshot:

Google QuickOfficedocument editing within the Chrome OS Chrome browser.

with the standard Google Apps screenshot:

A standard Google Docs document.

You’ll notice immediately that Google Apps contains many more editing options than the current QuickOffice version, which lacks support for tables and graphs, as well as support for scripts.

 

Users can also view and edit Excel documents within the browser, according to The Next Web, which earlier reported the news, citing developer Francois Beaufort as the original source. So far, PowerPoint compatibility has not been included.

 

To try it yourself, you’ll need to own a Chromebook or Chromebox. Make sure you’re on the dev channel, with version 29.0.1547.2 or later. (Note that the dev channel is considered “unstable,” so odd things could happen if you use it. Then type in “about://flags” (no quotes) into the URL line, which should bring up a long list of options. “Enable document editing” will allow you to edit the documents after a quick restart.

 

Eventually, these changes should come to the main (stable) channel of Chrome, meaning that most users will be able to natively edit Office documents. At that point, if Google increases QuickOffice’s capabilities, look out.

 

 

On the Road: In-Flight Wi-Fi Still Costly, but More Available

It remains to be seen, however, how viable in-flight Wi-Fi will be as a business — though Gogo, which leads the field with systems on more than 80 percent of all Wi-Fi-enabled flights in North America, had an initial public offering on Friday. Gogo, which has its air-to-ground-based system in more than 1,900 airplanes flying domestically, plans to use proceeds of the stock offering partly to finance a planned international rollout using Ku-band satellite technology, which allows the service to work over oceans. That will enable the company to sell its services on overseas flights.

 

With competitors like Panasonic Avionics, Row 44, ViaSat and OnAir active in the field, market share will be fiercely contested. And the Gogo offering went off against the sobering reality that, so far, only a small number of passengers have been choosing to pay for Wi-Fi, which can cost $12 or more per session. Gogo, for example, said that in the first quarter of this year, 6.2 percent of passengers on planes with its Wi-Fi systems opted for its service, a slight improvement from the 5.6 percent who took it in the 2012 first quarter.

 

Still, not all supporters measure the fledgling in-flight Wi-Fi business by an admittedly sluggish current rate of use, known as take rate. With a rapidly growing number of passengers carrying Wi-Fi-enabled smartphones and tablets, and with signals coming from the Federal Aviation Administration that restrictions may be eased on the use of such devices during taxiing, takeoff and landing, airlines that fail to offer in-flight connectivity will most likely be at a competitive disadvantage, said Mary Kirby, the editor in chief of Airline Passenger Experience, a magazine and Web site.

 

“In-flight connectivity has become a cost of doing business for airlines,” Ms. Kirby said.

 

“The take rate is no longer a useful measurement,” added John Walton, the director of data for Routehappy. “What matters is the idea that you can get online when you want to get online.”

 

According to the Routehappy report, which is based on current data from domestic and international commercial flights, the 38 percent of daily domestic flights that have Wi-Fi service cover nearly half of all actual flight time, because planes used on longer flights are more likely to be equipped with the service.

 

And, the report adds, “international Wi-Fi is becoming a reality, with 38 daily international flights from the U.S. offering it, and another 241 international flights having “a chance of Wi-Fi or cellular roaming” on various airlines.

 

In the United States, Delta Air Lines, which uses the Gogo air-to-ground system, is the leader in providing Wi-Fi on domestic flights, although Southwest Airlines — which uses a satellite-based system provided by Row 44, is “catching up fast,” the report says. Over all, about 80 percent of nonstop flights between California and New York are connected.

 

Staying connected on a long flight typically raises concerns about “battery anxiety,” the report says. American Airlines is the leader in providing power outlets for passengers on 515 of its total 541 Wi-Fi-equipped flights. Delta is a close second.

 

As Wi-Fi services roll out on increasingly sophisticated technology, airlines see revenue-generating opportunities beyond selling the basic connection. For example, in-flight entertainment offerings can be sold through onboard systems that stream content to passengers’ own electronic devices. Southwest Airlines started selling movies on demand for $5 on its Wi-Fi-equipped flights early this year.

 

“That sort of service is rolling out somewhat, but not completely, in concert with in-flight Wi-Fi,” Mr. Walton said.

 

Gogo also offers a pay-per-view movie service called Gogo Vision on more than 650 airplanes and said it planned to add that service to an additional 900 planes by the end of this year.

 

Unable to raise fares much in a competitive environment, “airlines are looking for new revenue streams and ways to attract passengers by enhancing the in-cabin experience” with fee-based services, Gogo says.

 

Increasingly, supporters of the industry say, business travelers in particular search sites like Routehappy.com to determine which flights have Wi-Fi connections and extras like power ports.

 

For providers, the potential market is huge, even if the competition is intensifying around the world. Globally, only about 12 percent of all commercial aircraft are now Wi-Fi-enabled, Gogo says. In a regulatory filing, Gogo says that the “proliferation of mobile devices” has led travelers, “and business professionals in particular, to expect connectivity wherever they may be.”