Microsoft Office 365 Indiblogger meet in New Delhi

The name Blue Frog tripped off my tongue so many times on this day that I was myself surprised.
Generally, the auto wallahs seem to know all places. You can stop one at random and ask him about any
address and chances are he will know it and you would then reach wherever you want to go.
But on this day all of them, yes all of them shook their heads and said that they had no idea where this Blue Frog was or even how far it was. I was stumped as I was on foot after having got down from the metro at the closest  station.
At one point I was standing at the crucial road turning which led to the Blue Frog and it was just about half a kilometer away but there was still no confirmation from any one that this was the right turn.
 After some more confusion and heart ache my daughter Whatsapped the postal address to me and it said Kila, Seven Style Mile etc.
Then everyone around knew where I wanted to go and guided me.
So long story short, after having been lost for the better part of an hour and getting into a foul mood I reached the illusive Blue Frog. What a funny name!
Don't ask why I did not research and find out the exact location before I left home as to where it was. That is
 a story that has to stay untold.
I was warmly welcomed at the registration counter and handed my distinctive  Indiblogger T Shirt.
The Microsoft Office 365 presentation was in full flow. I got the hang of it mostly by listening to the audience questions and their answers. The questions were incisive and technical. They stretched the resource people and kept them on their toes.
From what I understood of the Microsoft Office 365 product, it is a good fit for small businesses. Here Is why I say that:
The upfront cost is reasonable. The same licence can be used to load the software into five devices of the same user.How they propose to ensure that one person uses all five of these devices is not clear to me.
But the presenter insisted that it would be one user, five devices. Not five devices belonging to five different users.
There is a provision to store your data in the Cloud and access it from anywhere in the world using the user ID and password. It is a secure system that is suitable even for financial products.
Another interesting point is that users can work on the documents stored in the Cloud serially or  at the same time without interfering with each others' work.
A document can be checked out by a user. Till he completes his part and checks it back into the Cloud, it shows as having been locked by this particular user for changes (I think).
If this is how it is, it will help with the version control of documents.
I have seen and worked with similar features in WriteRap, an online sharing system used in publishing houses.
The author, copy editor, compositor, proof reader, and indexer all use a common site to access and work on documents turn by turn. The document stays locked for use when one user is working on it.The other user can see the document but cannot make any changes to it till the document has been checked back in  by the first user.
I am not sure if in Microsoft Office 365 there is such a provision of locking the document to ensure version control.
Another attractive but extraneous feature is that Airtel proposes to bundle its internet service with the Microsoft Office 365 product http://www.office365.in
It would help the small businesses to stay online and do their thing without paying through their noses for internet. Well hopefully. You never know how the prices will be when the actual product is used in real life situations.
Over all good meeting, some learning points, meeting other bloggers and realizing that this is a good thing. It is not just one person sitting and writing on his computer all alone. Slowly it is becoming a community of bloggers who give each other feedback and help the whole to become more than the sum of the individual parts.
Cheers! Keep blogging.

My dream business

I am not a business person by nature. Coming from a long line of service class people, the entrepreneurial gene has been long suppressed. But the power of imagination can take us anywhere.
My dream business is one where I work for myself and for others in such a way that I am doing good for others as well as feeling fulfilled as a person.
Money has never been much of a criteria. I look forward to the challenges and the pleasure of a job well done. That is what motivates me.
We learnt about the Microsoft Office 365 ( http://www.office365.in )  in the Indiblogger meet in Delhi the other day. The online resources at Lync Online and Sharepoint Online filled in the gaps in my knowledge.
My understanding of the product has made me realize that this would be a great asset in my work.
We are used to the normal MS Word, Powerpoint, Excel, Outlook etc. All of these are there in Office 365 in an improved version along with a host of new features like Cloud, Sharepoint, Video conferencing facility and other value added options.
We can do many new things with the improved Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook applications.
The new features in Word make it fun and easy to use. The fonts, colors and other text styles can be chosen from a dial type menu. One can insert pictures and graphics directly from the world wide web using the Online pics button. Thus making the Word document/blog attractive, effective and easy to work with. There is a Read mode which allows us to make changes like increasing the size of a graphic or change the background light and shade as per our reading preference.
Cloud ensures that I can begin writing my blog on my laptop at home and continue the work wherever I go. It could be on my tablet in the public transport and even on my phone.
The best part is that every time I can begin right where I left off as all the changes that I made in the earlier session of work would be carried out and ready for me in the Cloud where the data is stored.
The Cloud allows the data/document to be ready to use and secure at the same time. At home, in a train, on a plane or sitting on a garden bench.
It is like carrying your office with you whenever you go. As long as there is connectivity it will work.
I am not sure that is such a good thing though specially because it will stop us from switching off work ever.
The temptation to do a little more and refine our work will always be there with the means to do it at our finger tips.
It will definitely save time, effort, and money and open up opportunities to do more.

 It's like a  little magic going on there.

 Microsoft Office 365 is a good fit for a baby-steps business like mine. Here is why I say this:
The upfront cost is reasonable. The same licence can be used to load the software into five devices of the same user. How they propose to ensure that one person uses all five of these devices is not clear to me though.
There is a provision to store the data in the Cloud and to allow access  to it from anywhere in the world using the user ID and password. It is a secure system. This will help multiple users to access and work with the data.
An interesting point is that users can work on the documents stored in the Cloud serially or  at the same time without interfering with each others' work.
A document can be checked out by a user. Till he completes his part and checks it back into the Cloud, it shows as having been locked by this particular user for changes (I think).
It will help with the version control of documents.
Another attractive but extraneous feature is that Airtel proposes to bundle its internet service with Microsoft Office 365 http://www.office365.in
The bundle of Microsoft Offfice 365 and good quality internet service would help my small businesses to stay online and do my work without paying through the nose.

Who knows my dream business may soon be a reality with this new Microsoft Office 365 product.
Imagine.