Office Software

iWork on the iPad is a great way to work

Of the many apps available on iPad release day--and the continuing flood of new additions coming in as developers get their apps primed for the new device--a few key apps came straight from Apple. As reported when the iPad was initially announced, Apple has created iPad versions of its popular iWork productivity suite, including Pages, Numbers, and Keynote apps--each of which is available for $9.99 at the iTunes App Store.

We've had a chance to get a close look at each of the iWork apps and have found them to be extremely useful on the new platform. Obviously, … Read more

Microsoft's big gamble with free Office

SAN FRANCISCO--Microsoft has a new plan to make more money from Office: give it away.

With Office 2010, one of the biggest changes is how many ways there are to get Microsoft's most profitable software program for free.

In addition to the free, browser-based Office Web Apps, Microsoft is also offering PC makers the ability to install a basic version of Office on new computers. The new program, Office Starter, includes a stripped-down version of Word and Excel. PC makers, retailers and Microsoft can all make money if the PC buyer later upgrades to a paid version of Office. … Read more

How to share ridiculously large files (the video)

Did you somehow miss our feature from earlier this month on how to share ridiculously large files? Does reading make you sleepy? My CNET colleague Tom Merritt has taken it upon himself to present some of the highlights from that how-to guide in video form, so you can absorb its knowledge through moving images instead.

And, hey--if you do like reading (which is probably why you've made it this far), the sites mentioned in the video are: Dropbox, Glide, SendThisFile, WeTransfer, and FileDropper.

Gwabbit's handy contact slurper gets cloud sync

PALM DESERT, Calif.--Gwabbit, the contact-slurping tool that launched at last year's Demo conference has made the much-needed shift to the cloud.

The new tool offering, which the company is calling the "gwab-o-sphere," takes the contact information gathered from incoming e-mails and syncs it with updated information from places like Twitter, Facebook, and Salesforce.com. If changes are made by these users in any of these locations, the updated information is ferried back over to Gwabbit, where it's synced back out to all the clients with the Gwabbit plug-in installed.

The need for services like … Read more

Calendar app and sailboat-racing game: iPhone apps of the week

As we get closer to the launch date of Apple's iPad (April 3), I can't help but ponder how each application I use might translate to the new device.

Games obviously will have a lot more flexibility with the added touch-screen space, and having more available screen room will probably make development of more complex control systems easier. Apps in every category will have a little more processing power to work with, taking away any delays we've grown used to on the iPhone and iPod Touch. But another noticeable difference for me is how I look at … Read more

Remote computer access and 2D car racing: iPhone apps of the week

The big news of the day is the announcement of when Apple's latest creation, the iPad, will be available. According to Apple, the "magical and revolutionary" product will be in stores April 3 starting at $499, but you can preorder the device as early as March 12. Only the Wi-Fi model will be available at first, with the Wi-Fi/3G capable iPad to come later in April.

There is already plenty of analysis all over the Web about who will buy the iPad and whether it's truly a viable alternative to laptops and Netbooks. Most reviewers … Read more

Office 2010 nearly ready; upgrade offer launched

Microsoft said on Friday that it plans to finalize the code for Office 2010 next month and, as expected, it kicked off a program enabling those who buy Office 2007 in the coming months to get a free upgrade to the new version.

In a blog posting, Microsoft said that it will have a business launch for the Office 2010 products on May 12. The company has said it expects the software to be broadly available in June.

As for the technology guarantee program, Microsoft says it will apply to those who buy Office 2007 between now and September 30 … Read more

Microsoft to fix eight Windows and Office holes

Microsoft will issue two bulletins fixing eight vulnerabilities rated "important" in Windows and Microsoft Office products on Tuesday, the company announced on Thursday.

This represents a light Patch Tuesday, a contrast to last month when the company patched 26 holes with 13 bulletins, including critical vulnerabilities for Windows.

Meanwhile, Microsoft is continuing to monitor the situation with a VBScript vulnerability that was disclosed on Monday, Jerry Bryant, senior security communications manager lead at the company, wrote in a blog post.

Proof-of-concept code has been published on the Internet that exploits that vulnerability, which affects older Windows systems running … Read more

Nuance's bold PDF reader goes free

Editors' note: After the program launch, the PDF conversion feature started functioning properly. Additional comments have been added below.

Nuance brings its crisp interface to a new free PDF reader, and it's got a decent feature set that should appeal to casual PDF users. Exclusive today on CNET Download.com for its first day of release, Nuance PDF Reader 6.0 is a strong entry to the growing field of zero-cost Adobe Reader alternatives such as Foxit Reader.

Nuance comes with two toolbars. The one at the top of the program is loaded with big icons, but it avoids … Read more