Archive for the 'Novice' Category

Monday, February 25th, 2008

Create Tutorials or Demo Videos with CamVideo

It’s easy as ABC to create a video for your users how they can perhaps do their own maintenance on their websites, or to pitch to a VC how cool your IT Application is. By creating a desktop capturing video, you create a big wow effect.

Try out CamStudio , a free utility to execute exactly this.

CamStudio is able to record all screen and audio activity on your computer and create industry-standard AVI video files and using its built-in SWF Producer can turn those AVIs into lean, mean, bandwidth-friendly Streaming Flash videos (SWFs)

For Linux users however, take a look here http://blogcritics.org/archives/2007/02/05/194332.php. The author recommends use of xvidcap. As you might have already known, I have always been a fan of open source, so this post follows my belief closely (:

Monday, January 28th, 2008

Regret sending out that email?

Are the following scenarios familiar to you?

• Feeling angsty with a colleague, you immediately replied a rude email with equally hostile wordings
• A private joke that was supposed to be .. private until the “To” includes the butt of the joke
• Reply all conveniently and include the whole school community, and conveniently making yourself look stupid
• Emailing to your wife love letters that are well-too-loving-for-any-eyes that was NOT supposed to be for your wife.

I did discuss about email etiquettes and a way to handle this. I now actively advocate that one should try deferring emails by 1 minute. Of course, you can set to 5 minutes delay if you want. 1 minute is a “just nice” reaction time buffer for me to realise any mistakes, or any further details I would like to further add on to the email, and the bare minimum delay I can tolerate for sending emails.

One way you can do this in Outlook using the Rules and Alert method, like in the following.

Another method I formerly employ is in activating “Spell Check Before Sending”, though it really is “Are you sure you wanna send this”. This provides a brute force reminder, and again, if you use Outlook, you can change it under Tools->Options->Spelling in the following manner, and check the 2nd box.

There you go, 1 way to go back in time, and another way to ensure you live on in your time. (: Of course, a last ditch resort is to revoke that email, by going to the “Sent” folder, then under your toolbar choose “Action->Recall message”. However, this is normally an ineffective measure as the recipients often are able to still access the message content.

Friday, November 16th, 2007

Carry your Operating System in your Mini Drive wherever you go!

I found this very cool application on http://portableapps.com/. Features are as follow:

“Convenient

Now you can carry your favorite computer programs along with all of your bookmarks, settings, email and more with you. Use them on any Windows computer. All without leaving any personal data behind.

Open

PortableApps.com provides a truly open platform that works with any hardware you like (USB flash drive, iPod, portable hard drive, etc). It’s open source built around an open format that any hardware vendor or software developer can use.

Free

The Portable Apps Suite™ is free. It contains no spyware. There are no advertisements. It isn’t a limited or trial version. There is no additional hardware or software to buy. You don’t even have to give out your email address. It’s 100% free to use, free to copy and free to share.”

I have read about it before but it wasnt until today I finally found this application by chance. This program is especially useful if laptop/pc sharing is very prevalent in your organisation, or when you switch between machines very frequently. Speed is quite reasonable and you can easily share your operating environment with your peers in case you would like them to continue on your projects. And oh btw, it works only in Windows :S

Friday, November 16th, 2007

Singapore PHP User Group Nov 07 Meeting Review

Out of curiosity and support for a fellow developer, I accepted Michael’s invitation and attended his baby event yesterday. I reached around 7.30pm and was pleasantly surprised to see Hazel coming along with Euquin too. And it was over subscribed too! (darn.. looks like my support wasnt so helpful). Michael started the party at 8pm with his PHP crash course, but I missed almost the whole entire bit on the 2nd presentation to chat with a few old friends outside the room. The 3rd, from Uzyn of Ping.sg, was refreshing; Having been exposed to so many SMU style of presentation, geekish presentation is a fresh whiff of air. If you are interested, you could get more materials from http://blog.simplyjean.com/2007/11/15/get-your-php-user-group-presentation-slides-here/; I must say, I am immensely impressed with the live blogger, Jean, too.

 

Now for the review; Certainly, A+ for Michael’s almost 1 man show for this. Generally, this get-together was not bad. Not lousy, Not overly fantastic, but pretty not bad. Firstly, I’m not too sure how interesting it is to make experienced php coders to sit through the opening 1hr. Perhaps this cant be helped, since this event aimed to get as many people of different background together. I have to admit it was great for me, a non-php coder, coming from a purist Java background, with MVC framework like Struts my weapon of choice. PHP certainly looks fun to me! (I am trying to pick up ROR though right now too).

 

Next, moving on.. While going through Jean’s live blog on Raymond’s bit, I found several debatable points in the floor’s discussion and presentation. For happiness, peace, harmony and prosperity, I shall not elaborate too much on them. If you have read my very first post in this blog, I adopted a very neutral view towards open source solutions vs commercial solutions, so you will now how I feel towards the presentor’s arguements. I also wonder where that someone gets the fact that “most banks do not run Linux or PHP”. Maybe he/she meant something else like for frontend or for office work/purposes? Anyway, many banks I know of have extremely complicated technology infrastructures and organization that span globally from India, Singapore and even Hongkong, and they obviously do not run on a single platform all the time in their server operations. While PHP may not be adopted on the frontline of banks, they sometimes use it for intranets or some 1-time event websites.

 

The security workshop was a good refresher for me, with a couple of more web applications related security concepts which can apply to all other languages. However, at some stage, I felt the meet up was going to spiral out of control with questions popping out frequently, probably due to some rushing through of the presentation which defeated the purpose. By the time the whole thing ended, it was close to 11pm - something which I had not expected when I reached the seminar room at 7.30pm. Perhaps, each talk can be scaled down to just 30 minutes in future, with 10 minutes of discussion time in future! All in all… this was a relatively enjoyable event abeit the lengthy session. Unfortunately, I will not make it to the Dec session as I would be abroad, but I am sure it will be very much looked forward to by many others.


And yes, something was missing throughout. REFRESHMENTS! *hint hint*

 

---

OT(not related to event review, and warnings: technical dangers ahead): I have to also point out that web application developments arent that straightforward as some inside the room seem to think so. Yes I know PHP has its own MVC model too - afaik CakePHP is one of them. However, many PHP coders I have asked do not even know what that is (to date, Michael and I are still looking for CakePHP programmers for a project, please contact us if you are one!). I cannot comment much on how effective CakePHP functions as a MVC framework too, but my experience in using Java to code many web applications has been beautiful so far. I cant complain much about the support, the community, the elegance, MVC frameworks such as Struts, and commercial Java Servers for superior performances. The only thorn is probably EJBs for me, which its true intrinisic value is something I have yet to figure out. Similarly, some systems would require thread applications in the background on top of the web tier application. It is thus desirable at many times to use the same language for the entire system so the team does not have to deal with multiple languages. This is where Java and even ASP.Net would come in very beneficial for many companies; Disclaimer though: I do not know if PHP is a good language choice for thread or background applications (it can be done i think for scripting), nor know much on perl’s features. Perhaps, to draw a more compelling comparison of PHP’s true value compared to the rest, I should try developing a PHP web application myself (=

 

On the point that banks prefer more established technology, thats spot on, but its more than just that too. In evaluating web technologies, as mentioned earlier, we should look at other factors such as framework and number of developers who understand that framework, and availability of established vendors who can deliver robust applications. This goes as well for MNCs. Now, the golden rule of IT development is the all familiar “if it aint broken don’t fix it”, which these companies would follow religiously, especially when these platforms are already working so well for them. Even if PHP is established, I doubt the switch to PHP will come so easily. Another suspicion I have, though I cannot confirm, is that PHP programmers generally charge less than their ASP, JAVA peers, and thus are more suitable for SMEs and start-ups.

 

 

* I apologise for this very unstructured review, as I am doing this at the wee hours of the morning. *

Wednesday, November 7th, 2007

Looking to innovate a successful IT business? Get your hands dirty!

Recently in our shared office in SMUBIG, I had a chat with Leonard Lin, one of the key founders and drivers of Tyler Projects (already relocated elsewhere though!), who has brought us Battlestation in Facebook, and Mobile Weapons. Do check their very cool applications out! Anyhow, we discussed very briefly about the business of innovations in the IT world; A theory popped out of my head. Looking at the most successful technology companies in the world - Apple, Microsoft, Google, Oracle, and recently Facebook, they all had a very common similarity.

 

 

They all had founders who got their hands dirty.

 

 

All of these companies had founders and leaders who did everything themselves, or at least got heavily involved in the developments. Bill Gates hid in his catastrophically-sized room for months while coding; Facebook was almost singled handedly coded by the founder and current CEO Mark Zuckerberg (of course, with a little support from his buddies); Google “Wonderkids” Page and Brin both coded their PageRank algorithm and offered many companies who laughed them off, and the rest they say, is history. There are many more examples in Dell, Creative and LinkedIn. And now, the closest to heart local example whom I mentioned right in the start; Leonard and his team of developers. Now, dont kill me for stating the obvious, but this is exactly what a geek can have in advantage over many people! building a giant business on their computers. My point is, you can’t just have a great IT idea and expect some others to execute it all beautifully and perfectly for yourself. Heres 5 reasons why.

 

 

1) IP Issues. Heard of Connectu.com? Mark Zuckerberg was supposed to code this pre facebook social network for them as a paid developer. He is currently facing a lawsuit and charge that he had stolen the concept from his former employers.

 

 

2) Failure in translation. This is a classical case of vision mismatch; the CEO articulated his ideas to the CTO. The CTO builds him something. The CEO screamed and ranted. The CTO remains helpless. The programming team scratched their head. The COO shaked his head in disbelief. The designers cried their heart out after learning they had to change the whole design.

 

 

3) Lack of ownership. The programmer and his master, the visionary sit down together. The visionary promises 10% equity stake to him. The programmer must finish everything. If everything works out nicely the visionary will be CEO and the visionary will get rewarded. If everything fails, the visionary does not lose anything. The programmer wasted his time. If you are the programmer, you would probably give your all, 110%.. NOT.

 

 

4) Misalignment of vision. The developer and the CEO have different ideas and dreams. The CEO wants a cube, but the designer thinks a bubble is nicer. Would this partnership ever work out? Yes, if the CEO force his ideas on the developer, and the developer became grumpy, and finally deliver a half past six job. yay.

 

 

5) Inexperienced IT Leader. The CEO thinks technology is magic, and expects the developers to give him the world; 3 months down the road, the team gave him half of what he expected; the least important features which took more time then any other important functions.

 

 

Of course, these problems can be mitigated through counteractive measures in each of them. However, that technically-inexperienced leader should be articulative, charismatic and trusted as well. So far, I have found very few examples of such leaders in innovative IT products. Now, the innovation process is very complicated and tedious - clearly, just having an idea is not sufficient; nor does having just the technical skills. If you have a wonderful and killer innovation in mind, I urge you to either pick up the relevant IT skills yourself, or establish a clear rewarding system for your team, properly outlined.

 

On the first point, I recently heard that a middle aged friend is picking up Ruby On Rails. It did not surprise me a bit; That bloke has wonderful Web2.0 ideas and concepts, and probably want to build a killer web app himself. I applaud him on his efforts. On my second point, no one likes to work with nothing promised, and thus you will get nothing too. If you have some spare cash and want to outsource it, sure, do it, but make sure for your money that company understands exactly what you want, and does not steal your idea somehow. If not for these potential touchy issues, at least, getting your hands dirty will mean saving you some costs (yes yes… theres the opportunity cost… but well…. )

 

Finally of course, a best friend who is a geek would really help your business idea a long long way. Trust me, if not, at least trust Steve Jobs (: Start befriending one now!

Saturday, October 20th, 2007

4 Lessons for Innovative Projects Consulting

I quote the following from SMU knowledge Hub, which is an article which I posted earlier in the Voice Biometrics post featuring one of my projects and team. On closer look the writer, Low Shiping, had really articulated well whatever we were asked on in consulting projects during the interview (which we could not really translate well to words!). The following are excerpts from the article.

 

* In consulting projects, clients are often uncertain about what they want as the end result. The onus is therefore on the consultant to assist their clients to accurately define and understand their needs and problems. This process could require a significant investment of time, effort and patience after which the imperative is on the consultant to articulate the various possible end results as well as the means to arrive at them.

* It is vital to keep the end user in mind at every stage of the business process. Consultants must put themselves in the position of the end user and try to imagine how their proposed solutions will affect them. Ideally, the solution should be user-friendly and hassle-free, no matter how technically sophisticated. The goal is to retain the end user and attract new ones, not to put them off and drive them towards the competition.

Keith: These 2 points really emphasize the importance of having good communications skills and acute business acumen. Bear in mind, in consulting projects, clients often want to act “fools”. What I really mean here is, clients tend to allow the consultants take charge and lead the war. Thus, it is important to remember to find the right questions to ask our clients, so we could unveil some hidden business values and concerns they had in mind. Do not wait till it is too late

 

* Dare to innovate. Every problem has an infinite number of solutions, but finding the best ones can only be done by taking risks and facing rejection. Without innovating, there will be no forward development.

Keith: If some part of A does not work, try B. If some part of B does not work, try C. If some parts of A,B,C do not work, try A+B+C combined - who knows, it may finally work. Technology acts in a mysterious way!

 

* Work with a multinational team to lend a “global” perspective to the task at hand as far as possible. Solutions that need to be applied in a global context can benefit from being developed by a diverse team whose members represent different educational and cultural backgrounds. Thus, different points of views can be presented and challenged, leading to well-rounded discussions about how to deal with the tasks at hand.

Keith: This was a team with 1 Burmese, 1 Indian, 2 Indonesians, and 1 Singaporean. Our China friend Huang Liang left for his master’s education in CMU; otherwise it would have been an even further amazing combination. The synergy, creativity, and dynamics - amazing stuff. Singaporeans indeed have a lot to learn from our counterparts, since we are brought up in an education system that have already been destroyed and revamp - one which do not encourage us to think out of the box, think creatively. Surely, our efficiencies alone won’t bring us too far in this dog eat dog work, but once “sprinkled with the different flavors” of the world, we can excel and ride the waves together in this globalized economy. A diversified environment definitely works for me, and is a hell lot of fun too!

Saturday, October 13th, 2007

Good Industry Email Etiquettes and Practices

I am a self confessed EMAIL addict. Almost every time I have access to any PCs, I immediately log onto my web-based mails. And when I am using my IBM x41 at work, I frequently check my Outlook to make sure I do not miss out any mails. The first thing I do when I wake up, is not brushing my teeth - no prize for guessing correctly; is checking that darn mailbox(es). The anxiety and obsession associated when I do not check my mailboxes for 1 week include facing 100 unread mails, in which one of clients asked when that IT project finally is getting delivered, an announcement from the Professor, or a notification from Facebook.

 

Kind to think of it, there is no need to be panicking around even if I do not check my email regularly - it is just a natural habit, akin to not carrying your cell phone for 1 day. My life has become so intertwined with emails (& technology), and Im sure that is so with bulk of you too. The emails that you send out invariantly define and shape you, and so does the email that you do NOT send out when others anticipate your response. Clear, effective communications between parties too, has a prestigious place in modern emails. In this post, I will share some important email etiquettes and practices ensuring rightly that EMAIL, possiby one of the best inventions after Internet ever, does not screw your life.

 

 

 

1) Reply when expected.

 

This is a silly point to even bring up, but many people suffer from this basic dysfunction. When a simple email for availability for a meeting goes ignored by some, it frustrates the sender into doing extra work like calling them up. Even if you are unsure, the general expectations is to at least let everyone knows that you are NOT too sure, and you will inform earliest time possible (of course, this depends on whether you are able to find out promptly and if the email is urgent).

 

This is simple courtesy and manners. There is no rule of thumb when you should reply. You simply have to use your best judgment for different situations.

 

 

2) Let others know you arent checking that mailbox!

 

Again, this is common sense. If you are not going (or a chance where you are not going to exist) to visit your emails in 3 or more days, (a long time in the modern email standards for professionals!), it will do you good to inform your peers! For a start, an auto responder (e.g. out of office wizard) like what you see when you sent an email to complain to your favorite manufacturer, is appropriate explaining where you are, what you are doing, when you will back, and a disclaimer that you will try to reply where possible as soon as possible is the bare minimum.

 

Note however, this is insufficient in certain cases. If you expect someone to write to you anytime soon, or there is a party whom you have been liaising with for some time, remember to inform them before you go kaput, so they do not get a surprise door gift when they write to you expecting you to be around. It reeks of irresponsibility, especially when that party is a client of your company whom has been having some problems with a product you sold but urgently needs attention. Handover the case to a colleague, and inform your client about it if you are not going to be around for a week. That client would appreciate your thoughtfulness and considerate attitude.

 

 

3) Check, Double Confirm and Verify your To-List! ( i.e. check, check & check)

 

Reply-to-all appears to be a deadly invention. Many times, I have received emails that are supposed to be addressed to just one subject, but I end up getting it because the victim mistook Reply to All for Reply. Other times, fingers have lightning speed reflexes and hits Alt-S before the brain reacts. How deadly is this oversight when a Reply-to-All gets executed disastrously?

 

Remember not to tell Jason about …….
That client was a joker! LOL
Nice email. Now… when are we going to get that dinner sweetie?

 

Till today, I do not know of an email client or any technology at least in Outlook that prompts you to double check if you are going to send that email. Some ideas that emulate this though includes a Spell Check function that forces you to confirm sending the email or deferring sending all your email by 1 minute (allowing you to cancel sending if you have a bad feeling; silly but effective!).

 

Otherwise, it is good to cultivate a habit of making sure the email should reach the right people. On a side note, in the past, I often forget to attach attachments though I have not made the above mistakes before. It would too, reflects negatively, especially on my carelessness, and I have since decided to cultivate a habit to check my email contents too.

 

 

4) Is your content understood by your mum?

 

The above statement is an exaggeration, but it is crucial to be clear and explicit in your email nonetheless. And where possible, reply to all points in an email addressed to you. Imagine a chain of emails like the following about a web project

A (project manager): The interface .. something wrong. Cannot click somehow. The buttons on the top too.
B (designer): Interface? And buttons on the top too? Which page? All the time?
C (designer): Arent buttons part of the interface?
A (project manager) : I mean, there is something wrong with the interface. The buttons at the top. They cannot be clicked even after I tried clicking on it 10 times later.
B (designer): And what page is that at? Did you experience it all the time?
A (project manager): It is at the front page. Yes it happens all the time I tried for 10 times!
B (designer): I mean, even after you log in? or before you do?
C (designer): … lets just meet up.

 

The number of emails exchanged would have been reduced by half had the project manager been clearer and answered every question. The designer, B, too was guilty too but it is possible he was frustrated by the vague content provided by the project manager earlier too. Now, poor C has been copied in all these emails and has stepped in appropriately to stop the rot.

 

One final point: please do cache your emails on a personal folder where possible, if your mailbox has a defined amount of space. You will never know when you need to refer to these old forgotten emails!

Friday, October 5th, 2007

Creating Adobe PDF for Beginners

Its Friday and before I give a quick tip or two on creating PDF files, heres one of my fav strips from http://www.pbfcomics.com/ to end off a fine week. Its so BAD its funny

Anyway, back to topic. Many of us create PDF files for different reasons: For that extra niche touch to your resume, reports or quotations, or to prevent people from modifying, printing or copying contents from the file. Don’t ask me why people want to do the later, but generally, PDF files carry an aura of professionalism and is considered a real essential. I personally use CutePDF for this purpose. Read the rest of this entry »

Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007

Down to Basics - Part III: Best Practices for the Average Professional

This is the last of the “Down to Basics” series. The Average Professional is one whose life depends on IT literally - laptop or data loss counts among the worse tragedies, while personal friendster accounts being hacked into is something that I have experienced myself - reputations can be ruined to ashes when the friendly hacker becomes overly friendly with your female friends (or male friends if you are a lady). This post aims to describe some important practices that should be adopted in this world where social and technology factors interlinked closely with one another.

 

BACKUP, BACKUP & BACKUP
I cant help but emphasize how critical this underrated task is 3 times. If you have finished a seemingly-take-eternity-to-finish report, save it in multiple locations such as your thumbdrive instead of just at your laptop. Note, I am not asking you to back up the whole machine everyday, but at least, save new critical deliverables whenever possible into multiple places especially if the new version is worth more than 5 hours of changes. Your professor or your boss will not accept reasons like “My lBM was working just fine!” when it decided to hibernate forever. If you need a good free backup & restore tool, please see the previous post.

 

CHECK, CONFIRM AND CLEAR ON PUBLIC MACHINES!
Why risk your reputation and all the confidential email exchanges between you and your loved ones when using the library pc? Social Networks like Friendster may have saved your password by default whenever you log in, while key logger programs may track your activities. Ensure the machine is cleared entirely before you trust it. Otherwise, what is the hurry anyway? Wait till you get home then!

 

MSN VIRUS - WHATS THAT?
There is no harm is asking additional questions whenever friends on MSN or other messaging programs sends you some “nice photos”. Some bots may be smart enough to even reply you - in that case, allow your intuitions to decide - does the naming of the file seem unlikely of that party’s nature? is the reply even “normal”? Gullibility will punish you severely, and even your friends.

 

LEAVE THAT BATTERY IN (YOU TRUST YOUR POWER CABLE THAT MUCH?)
If you are using a laptop regularly in your office or school, take it from me - just leave it in and allow the laptop battery to depreciate and finally exchange it under warranty. Battery has a finite lifespan, with or without regular usage. By leaving it outside of your machine, you are exposing yourself to risk of power failures or someone tripping over your cables, and in some cases, others mistakenly taking out the wrong cords (blur cords). When these things happen, you may not just lose any work that was not saved, but also eventually your hdd. Most importantly, don’t take out it during presentations by just running on Power!

 

CACHE YOUR EMAILS
I redirect all my emails from all accounts (School, Business) to a common mail account which allows up to 2GB storage; you guessed it - GMAIL. It not only an amazingly smart search engine when you track emails a decade ago, it also allows you to label them appropriately. I use MS Outlook Exchange (Rules & Alert) to forward all my emails to this GMAIL account. In times where my web outlook fouls up, or I got locked up of the school’s account, the Exchange server would continue to redirect all mails to my GMAIL account. This also serves more advantages in allowing me an easy mind when I am deleting mails from that limited 100mb storage in my school account - well knowing that mail, if required, can always be retrieved somehow.

Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007

Down to Basics - Part II: Top 5 Applications for the Average Professional

There is often a software/web application produced for every useful feasible thing you can wish for - e.g. to rip off that youtube video for your presentation (google for it!), or a 3rd party to enable wonderful effects you see in Mac keynotes for your MS Powerpoint. Such is the power of Internet, where individuals all around the world share ideas and constantly innovate being aware of a potential huge global market.

 

It thus amazes me how poorly equipped is the average professional down the streets is when it comes to their machine. To most of them, a notebook is probably simply a tool to use MS Word, PPT. Hopefully, this post would be useful to professionals like yourself in determining the must-have applications you should have in your laptop in order to facilitate your projects and lifestyle. (DISCLAIMER: This post assumes users use Windows OS, and I am in no way affiliated to any of the following products or companies).

Note, on top of this list #0 would definitely be Mozilla for me - It is too good, too sacred to be even ranked on this list, and of course, deserves no mention since its akin to telling you water is necessary for you.

 

#1 - DriveImage XML : This software ranks number 1 in my list for very good reasons; It is free, easy to use, and saves lives (by preventing heart attacks and suicide attempts). Data Backup, at least on a fortnightly basis is good practice but few professionals religiously do it because they complain they have no time. This is a clear fallacy - you only need to leave your machine overnight after spending last than 30 seconds starting it. You should also use an external HDD to store your image in, so when your HDD crashes, your backup still survives on a separate element.

 

#2 - ScreenPrint : One of my favorite utilities on my laptop. This software is also free, and allow me to put together a presentation or report quickly by bypassing cropping, editing, resizing optimally any print screens. It is number 2 on my list, also because of its user friendliness and minimal resource requirement.

 

# 3 - AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition : Again, a freeware that is hugely popular. I do not have to elaborate how critical Anti-Virus softwares are: They are simply a necessity in modern systems. AVG is my alternative on machines that do no have bundled anti-virus solutions. The only downside is the occasional advertisements that that does not bother me. For added security, I recommend upgrades or Trendmicro’s online web scan - HouseCall

 

# 4 - CCleaner : This is one utility I use every week - to clean up the hundreds of megabytes that clog my temp folder after I unzip files or uninstall any obsolete applications, or the pile of chunks that resides in my Mozilla or IE repository. I also use CCleaner just before I do my defragmenting, just to save more time and to avoid processing negligible files.

 

# 5 - Microsoft Outlook : Not the most perfect application, but definitely the best in the trade for me. The fact that it supports Exchange, which is commonly used in many Organisation, alone justifies its no. 5 spot. I have minimal complaints about its Calendar, Notes and Task functions too - except that it should support a 7 days view in a way similar to 5 days view especially for wide-screen users (there may be 3rd party solutions, or is implemented in Outlook 2007). I frequently ‘abuse’ the spell check, the easy of attaching files via copy & paste, and the compatibility when sync-ing with many modern Smart Phones using Windows Mobile OS. There is also a handful of 3rd party software supporting syncing with Palm OS as well (I personally use Tungsten and is currently evaluating such solutions like Beyond Contacts and Keysuite - work like a charm!)

 

There you go, my interim top 5 applications for the average professionals - subject to changes. If you have anymore suggestions, or objections, share it right here!