Category Archives: Office

Beyond the browser: Microsoft’s ‘C3’ next-gen platform for HTML-based applications

Must a traditional Web browser be the primary way to interact with and navigate a Web application?

Microsoft researchers think the answer is no. They are building another option — ‘C3,’ an extensible platform for HTML-based applications. Along with University of Washington researchers, Microsoft researchers will show off C3 at the WebApps’11 conference this June in Portland, Oreg.

 

 



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(C3 may stand for “cloud computing client,” one of my contacts said.)

Word of the existence of C3 emerged last November when researchers posted a technical paper, entitled “Verified Security for Browser Extensions.” That paper made mention of C3, which researchers called “a new platform for HTML5 experimentation developed entirely in a type-safe, managed language,” specifically C#. (They also subsequently referred to C3 in that paper as “a research Web browser.”)

There’s a bit more information available now about C3 (though the full WebApps’11 paper on it is not yet available). From one of the University of Washington researcher’s description:

“We present C3, an implementation of the HTML/JS/CSS platform designed for web client research and experimentation. C3 introduces novel extension points and generalizes existing ones, creating simpler and more powerful opportunities for customization. In addition, C3’s typesafe, modular architecture lowers the barrier to web and browser research. We discuss and evaluate C3’s design decisions for flexibility, and provide examples for various extensions that we and others have built.”

And from a UW Engineering Web page on the project:

“Nothing inherently confines webapps to a browser’s page- navigation idiom, and browsers can do far more than merely render content.”

The C3 team, which includes on the Microsoft side Wolfram Schute and Herman Venter, have done a lot of work around the concept of extensions, it seems. That leads me to wonder whether C3 is somehow connected to another Microsoft Research project, known as Xax.

“Xax is a browser plugin model that enables developers to leverage existing tools, libraries, and entire programs to deliver feature-rich applications on the web,” according to the Microsoft Research web page about the project. “Xax employs a novel combination of mechanisms that collectively provide security, OS-independence, performance, and support for legacy code.”

Microsoft Researchers are working on other browser- and HTML-app-centric projects, as well, including the ServiceOS/Verve one about which I’ve blogged previously.

Update: If you want to understand Microsoft’s obsession on plug-ins, the just-posted blog entry from the Internet Explorer team on add-ons and IE 9 reliability is worth a read.

How to Recycle Your Technology

The Best Places to Recycle Tech

e-Stewards
This program is run by the Basel Action Network (BAN), a non-profit dedicated to confronting environmental injustice caused by toxic chemicals worldwide. BAN helped expose the atrocious things happening in Asia and Africa caused by the so-called “recycling” of e-waste exported there. With help from some corporations and citizens, it created e-Stewards to address what it says the government doesn’t: “prevent the toxic materials in electronics from continuing to cause long term harm to human health and the environment.” BAN and its group of e-Stewards Recyclers even recently called on the United States to halt all export of e-waste generated by the federal government alone; BAN says the feds buy around 500,000 new computers a year, making it “the largest source of electronic waste in the world.” Washington should lead by example. By checking out the list of e-Stewards Recyclers on the site, you can be reassured that you are taking your digital detritus to someone you can absolutely trust to recycle it in the safest way possible.

 

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Best Buy
The nationwide electronics retailer has, arguably, the best recycling program going. Its Web site details what exactly it’ll take (small tube TVs, Bluetooth headsets, software, UPS battery backups, to name a few) and what it won’t (projection TVs, rooftop dish antennas, hard drives, old cassettes and 8-tracks, go figure.) Small items such as ink/toner, old cables, and batteries can go in recycling kiosks right by the door.

The list of items it’ll take is tremendously long, and even if it won’t take it in store, it might pick it up. That goes for several large kitchen appliances, plus old CRT televisions over 32-inches in size. Check the listing for your state, however, as what Best Buy accepts could differ depending on local laws.

What’s the catch? Not much. You can take in up to 3 items per day. It doesn’t matter if you bought it there or not. It’s mostly free: if you bring in a small tube TV or CRT monitor, they charge you $10 to take it… then turn right around and give you a $10 Best Buy gift card. Again, state rules can apply.

Even smarter: check Best Buy’s Trade-In calculator to see if what you think is junk could be used to offset buying some new toys.

Staples
Bring in as many as 10 ink/toner cartridges per month and you get $2 for each in Staple Rewards to spend. Staples will also take any other old office electronics, like computers, monitors, and printers, for $10 per large piece of equipment. If the electronics are smaller, such as input devices, phones or cameras, the recycling is free. For items with the Dell brand, all recycling is free. Staples does not take TVs or big copiers.

Staples also offers a service called EasyTech to move data from an old computer you want to get rid off to a new PC. Plus, it sells a line of Sustainable Earth products, such as remanufactured toner cartridges.

Office Depot
At Office Depot, you can buy what it calls a Tech Recycling Box. You can put as much electronic junk in one of these boxes as you want, as long as it will close. Then bring the box back to the store unsealed and drop it off for inspection. Office Depot will ship it off to waste management partners to do the rest. It promises to break the devices down to components of glass, plastic, copper and aluminum to reuse. The boxes come in different sizes and costs: small (8x15x18 inches) is $5, medium (20x16x16 inches) is $10, and large (24x18x18 inches) is $15. Check out its FAQ PDF of items it accepts and items doesn’t (which includes such obvious items as devices covered in or leaking liquid and anything radioactive).

Mobile phones, PDAs, batteries, and ink/toner cartridges can be dropped off for free with any sales associate, however. Or if you go to OfficeDepot.com, you can buy boxes—for the price of $0.00, including delivery to your home—to directly recycle laser toner and inkjet cartridges by mail.

E-Cycle
It’s no surprise that the company that was on site at MacWorld to take old iPhones when Verizon Wireless announced it would sell the current iPhone 4 is in the market to get your old iProducts. E-Cycle will buy iPhones and iPads from individuals or organization. Just go to its site, tell it what kind of device you have, and it’ll generate a quote. It’ll even take broken devices. You simply mail it in a pre-paid box E-Cycle provides, and then payment shows up in the mail. I got a quote of $145 for a working condition first generation iPad with Wi-Fi and 16GB memory; $315 for an iPhone 4 with 16GB, which is more than most people pay for them brand new (with a contract). E-Cycle will take other phones if you ask, but won’t pay you for them.

Call2Recycle is a non-profit program specifically for collecting and safely disposing of rechargeable batteries. Visit the site and enter your zip code and it will display any number of retailers that have a Call2Recycle drop off location. Partners include Lowes, Home Depot, RadioShack, Sears, and Best Buy, to name a few. This goes for not just your electronics, but all those rechargeable batteries on your tools and flashlights as well—none of them are doing us any favors in the landfill. Plus, it’s free. Precious metals are recovered from the dead batteries and turned into useful stuff. For example, the kitchen flatware you eat with may once have been powering your drill or phone.

How to Recycle Your Technology

We love our computers and electronics. That is, until they stop working. Then these computers and their peripherals, from printers to monitors, not to mention your handhelds, batteries, and accessories, often become digital garbage.

These things aren’t made to last after all. (No computer or phone maker is going to mind if you buy an upgrade every year or two.) Consequently, all of this junk ends up in the back of your closet or stored in your garage, collecting dust, because you aren’t sure what to do with the stuff. The best thing to do with this growing accumulation of old electronic equipment is to either donate or recycle it.

 



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Donate your old computers and phones whenever you can to groups that will fix and clean them up and then put them back to good use. Even the oldest computer, something you consider the most obsolete of digital dinosaurs, can probably be used by someone.

There are times, though, when a device is too far gone and there’s nothing else that can be done to bring it back to life again. Even a charity doesn’t want your unusable junk. That junk—called e-waste—is potentially dangerous. Electronics are filled with “heavy metals” (read: toxic metals) and carcinogenic chemicals that are fine when you’re using them, but not so much when sitting in a landfill or, worse, when people try to recycle them incorrectly. Thousands of tons of e-waste is shipped overseas yearly to countries like China and India where it gets dumped and maybe burned, which puts mercury and lead into the air.

So on this 41st Earth Day, we want to point out the places you can take your old or even dead electronics, so they can end up either being used by someone in need or safely recycled.

InfoWorld preview: Office 365 beta

In spite of what you may have heard, Microsoft isn’t betting the farm on Office 365. But Redmond is certainly sacrificing its largest cash cow to the cloud gods.

With Office 365 available in open beta today, everyone has a chance to see what’s new, what’s old, and what’s in desperate need of improvement. Permit me to point out some of the high spots. I’ll also show you how to avoid a few pitfalls I encountered when getting started.

 

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[ Microsoft’s Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and Lync Online combo is good. Is it good enough to cost you your job? See “Will Office 365 get you fired?” | Follow the latest Windows developments in InfoWorld’s Technology: Microsoft newsletter. ]

A few pitfalls notwithstanding, the beta itself seems quite stable. I had no problems with any part of the beta using Internet Explorer 9, Firefox 4, or Chrome 10, and I used all of them extensively.

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Best of all, Microsoft has done a remarkable job of making Admin functions accessible to people with no Exchange, SharePoint, or Lync experience. Individuals and small companies that have shied away from the big server tools now have a chance to catch up with the large corporate installations, without breaking the bank or seconding an employee to full-time server servitude. That’s a notable achievement.

What, exactly, is an Office 365?
The best way to explain Office 365 to your boss is that it includes Office 2010, if you want it. But mostly, it includes cloud-based versions of the server glue that ties the Office pieces together: Exchange for email, SharePoint for document collaboration and Team Sites, and Lync for live communications.

For smaller organizations, Office 365 means getting all of those glue-together pieces without running your own servers or hiring network admins because Microsoft provides simplified forms for controlling the glue, as well as providing all of the server oomph your organization needs over the Internet.

There are lots of good things in the glue. For instance, Exchange lets you get at all of your email through the Outlook Web App, so you can move freely back and forth between Outlook on your PC or Mac and Outlook in a browser or on a phone or iPad. Actions you take on one device (such as sending or deleting an email) show up on the others. Exchange also lets you share calendars and contacts. SharePoint supports central document storage and collaboration in Team Sites. It even has a click-and-drag, rudimentary Web page construction application. Lync covers instant messaging, VoIP calling, and videoconferences, and it ties into Outlook and SharePoint Team Sites.

For larger organizations, Office 365 can, at least in theory, off-load some of the work currently performed by your network admins and make it considerably simpler to set up far-flung locations. Even a single location can mix Office 365 and non-Office 365 users. If your company is eyeing Exchange 2010, SharePoint 2010, and Lync 2010, Office 365 makes the deployment simpler. Microsoft guarantees backup, security, and uptime. There’s a great deal of debate as to how much of the network admin function should be off-loaded to Microsoft. And the process of moving from in-house servers to Microsoft’s servers in the sky promises to be a fertile, lucrative ground for specialized consultants for the next decade or two.