Microsoft Office 2010 Launch Party

Guess where was I on Monday evening?

Yeap, I was at the launch party for the Microsoft Office 2010 software. The event, 2010 Idea Jam, was held at *SCAPE park (a stone's throw away from Cineleisure).

What I found in the 'goodie bag' - Clappers

(To be honest, the goodie bag wasn't that fantastic... Should have included the Office 2010 software itself. LOL! Of course I'm kidding... Though a discount voucher to purchase the Office 2010 will be good enough. Hehe.)

Look who I jio-ed to come along? My parents! :)
And yes, Mum was clapping away with the clappers.... Heh!

And @anthonyl1m came along too! So did my bro. :)
But he was sitting beside us, so obviously that guy in the plain white top isn't my brother.

The whole event was rather entertaining with various performances by a 16yo DJ (but I think my bro's the best DJ!) and live performances by 53A. I must say that this band plays awesome covers! Check out the band's FB page (HERE). And not forgetting Jack & Rai (the guys who brought you this song, as seen in the Youtube video below) who also performed and jammed with 53A!!!

The Fa La La Song by Jack and Rai

53A performing away....

I decided to head to another tentage where one can access into Facebook to rave about the event. Or to tweet about the event via Twitter (Hashtag:#office2010sg). But I wasn't there for that. My intention was to try out the new Office 2010 software. Oh by the way, you can download the beta version through the Microsoft website.

Once again, my fave animal!!!!! PENGUINNNNNNNN

Let's say that I insert the above penguin picture into a Microsoft Word document. But maybe..... I don't like the background and I really want to remove the background. And I realised that I do not have any photo editing software installed in my computer. And even if I do, I don't know how to remove the background nicely. So how??! What if I REALLY dislike the background!!! Can I remove it using the features found in the Word application?

Yes, you can! And with just 2 simple steps!
FWAH!

(1) Go to [Picture Tools]. Click on [Remove Background]. The background of the picture will be highlighted with a saturated color like the purple below.

(2) Select the area (see where the arrow is pointing in the pic below) and then click.

And TA-DAH!!! Background Removal mission is completed! (^_^)

There are also many new features for the Excel application. I wasn't quite impressed with some, but I was attracted to the Sparklines feature. Sparklines are the lines you see in Column G of the excel document, as seen in the picture below. They are something like those "up-down lines" you see in stock market activities. Still don't get it? Then maybe you can read this 'how-to' article on Sparklines. :)

Sparklines in Microsoft Excel 2010

I discovered that IT IS POSSIBLE to edit and trim your VIDEOS in a PowerPoint document itself! Simply awesome! And you can use some sort of a 'cookie cutter' to shape your video - So instead of a rectangular box (like Youtube), your video can be in an oval shape, for example. I was totally wow-ed by this feature!


I only managed to try out the three features as mentioned above, as it was nearing to 2010hours (08.20pm), which was the time that the Office 2010 would be officially launched! And with a blast! Hence we were told to move to the stage area. Otherwise, I would have loved to try out the other features found in the Office 2010 software luh~~~

All guests had moved off to the stage area by then...

My brother helped me to take a video footage of the Office 2010 launch...
While I was near the stage area, taking photos with my DSLR.

Pardon the quality as video was taken using my mobile phone.

Digicam's still undergoing repairs and my DSLR does not have the video function.

The emcee was really good in engaging the crowd. THUMBS UP! There were quizzes and games which the winners won for themselves prizes such as the Microsoft Arc Mouse and Office 2010 software (and signed by Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's CEO).


But I bet everyone wanted to be one of the lucky winners for the Lucky Draw. I didn't know there was a LED television set to be won or the laptop mann..... Wouldn't it be awesome to win something?

And my Mum did! LOL!

We were given lucky draw coupons upon arrival. My mum's number was 1609 and my dad was saying how lucky that Mum received the lucky draw coupon with this set of numbers (since 1609 is my dad's birth date - 16 September). When the emcee announced 1-6-0, I held my breath and exclaimed "Oh My God!" aloud when the final number was 9!


Since all of us in the family have a laptop set already, its naturally decided (feels like Adam Smith's 'invisible hand' theory, but not in the business context. LOL!) that it will be given to my bro (who uses the desktop and doesn't have a laptop yet). Afterall, he was promised a laptop after his year-end exams. He's lucky that his laptop came early and very unexpectedly! LOL!

It was a very enjoyable evening... Spending time with my loved ones! (^_^)/

And by the way, Microsoft decided to introduce free Office 2010 web apps such as Word and Excel. Yes, it is something like Google documents. Below is an excerpt from this TODAYonline article:

If you have a Windows Live or a Hotmail account, lightweight, cloud-based versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote - collectively called Office 2010 Web Apps - will also be available free of charge.

This is part of Microsoft's strategy to go up against free online alternatives like Google Docs and Zoho Office Suite. Microsoft argues that rival offerings are not fully compatible with its files. Certain types of information - such as charts, fonts and tracked changes - appear different when you open Office files in Google Docs, for instance.

With Web Apps, the software giant is touting a high-fidelity viewing experience, meaning your documents appear in Web Apps exactly the way they do on the installed client apps of Office 2010.

Office 2010 is really amazing! You should really go get it! :p