Table of Contents
Microsoft Designer
Last week, we discussed the “iron” news from the Microsoft presentation, leaving behind the scenes the new Microsoft Designer program. I acted so deliberately, because from the fly I might not comprehend what exactly Microsoft was showing.
Several days passed, but the clarity did not increase.
First, Microsoft’s name is misleading. It seems that a program called Microsoft Designer is aimed at professional users. While the videos or screenshots hint that this is some kind of diary of a little princess on steroids. And, in my opinion, this is exactly the most accurate description of Designer.
Despite the flashy name, Microsoft Designer is intended for those who know nothing regarding design at all, considering Paint and PowerPoint to be the pinnacle of design software.
To help such users, Microsoft introduced, in fact, a harvester. You throw words, pictures there (relatively speaking, you create what is called a “moodboard” in professional slang, that is, a set of pictures designed to convey an idea and mood), choose a color scheme, size. All this is mixed up, artificial intelligence Dall-E 2 is used and a variation on the theme is issued.
Even the presentation video itself, in which cakes and pies are shown, seems to hint that an example of an audience for such products is some kind of housewife who actively leads social networks in which she shares the secrets of cooking, raising children and a happy family life.
And here is another example: “Time to adopt a kitten from a shelter!”. It is also easy to imagine who is doing this – schoolchildren, housewives, not indifferent activists. The program promises the possibility of direct publication directly to social networks.
It is likely, by the way, that Designer can be a worthwhile thing. And not just standing, but a hit like Paint, which, for all its simplicity, is a powerful program in capable hands.
So far, Microsoft Designer is in closed beta. Then the basic version of the program will be available for free, and for premium features you will have to fork out for a Microsoft 356 subscription.
Sony ZV-1F
Despite the fact that I am a smartphone photographer (that is, point and click), and the camera market is almost dead, I am still a little interested in cameras. And I even took the cameras for review several times. However, as practice has shown, this is a thankless task: the subject collected few views, and there were many criticisms from lens and aperture professionals (including the word “aperture”).
And yet I want to share the news regarding the just presented camera from Sony. There are a couple of interesting points here.
First of all, I want to remind you that DSLRs are dead. And most of the major manufacturers have long switched to other areas of business. This, by the way, is a funny fact, which is still not known to everyone, but such large manufacturers as Olympus, Nikon and others have long received the main profit from businesses that have absolutely nothing to do with photography, but related to accuracy and optics.
For example, Nikon relies not only on medicine, but also on lithographic equipment for the production of chipsets. So, in the first half of this year, the company sold as many as 13 machines of the latest generation (10.5G). And the lithographic sphere brought the company almost 2 times more profit than all other segments combined. Probably, we will talk regarding the activities of the former photo companies separately on Wednesday. There is some interesting news there.
Secondly, the market is ruled by “mirrorless”. But this segment is also steadily shrinking, which forces manufacturers to look for new niches, trying to attract buyers.
And now the Sony ZV-1F is a vlogging camera! On the official website of Sony, he writes like this – vloggers – and offers to upgrade his vlog. I don’t know regarding you, but I felt a sense of Spanish shame at how they bent a once powerful industry. Vlogs!
The Sony ZV-1F is a 20MP swivel wide-angle camera with a 7.6mm focal length and a 20mm lens. The camera can record video in Full HD at 120fps (which is good), but the 4K camera is only 30fps. At the same time, the camera does not know how to shoot RAW.
But the most important thing is the quality of pictures and videos. Here, of course, we must repeat once more that the camera is for VLOGERS, that is, not for photographs. But even on the official website, I felt something was wrong, looking at the proposed example from the camera.
Going to the profile resource, where there is already a review, I confirmed my guess. The author of the review writes that modern Samsung, iPhone and Pixel shoot no worse (looking at the test shots, I thought it was even better!), But regarding the same level.
There is also no optical stabilization in the camera, no headphone jack, no optical zoom, but only crop. And the price is $400.
Sony ended up with a stillborn product that will probably be purchased as a second camera for sub-shooting. Well, or maybe I’m wrong and in fact the Sony ZV-1F has a right to exist? In my opinion, if you have $400 for a camera, add some more and get an iPhone 12 Pro or one of the new Pixels. At least 4K 60 fps will be.
Dropping the Microsoft Office brand
Big changes are coming to the Microsoft portfolio. Users have been using the Microsoft Office suite for more than 30 years, which de facto has become not only a corporate, but also a global standard for the format of electronic documents. Documents in doc or xls format can be found everywhere: from the schedule of groups in the gym to government sites offering to download the application form in doc.
Perhaps it will not be a mistake to say that the very word “office” has become a household word, like a photocopier, photoshop, voice recorder or toilet. The last word was added as a “minute of entertaining facts.” Since 1909, the Spanish company Unitas has been supplying plumbing all over the world, including the USSR. By the way, the name is very symbolic. Translated from Spanish means “unity, unite.”
And now Microsoft wants to drop the Office name, replacing it with the incomprehensible Microsoft 365.
The formal explanation goes like this. Microsoft has long had many productivity apps beyond Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint, and the current name does nothing to reflect that. There is also Project, Sway, SharePoint, Publisher and a bunch of everything. Below is a screenshot from Microsoft’s official website showing what the company considers productivity apps. But in fact, there are many more applications. Microsoft still has a large layer of programs at the intersection of business, programming and web design. For example, software for creating chat bots on a website. And in fairness, it should be noted that all this heap works quite smoothly.
In November, we are waiting for the first visual changes. The Office.com website will change its logo and design. Then the applications on mobile devices will be updated. The Office icon will disappear, Microsoft 365 will appear. And then the desktop versions will also be updated.
If I understand correctly, then all individual applications will disappear, only one will remain – Microsoft 365, inside which there will already be Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, Outlook, Microsoft Designer and other programs.
Of course, the Office brand will not disappear overnight. However, now Office is an office suite of the past that will no longer be developed, but will receive technical support for some time.
All new features and functionality will now appear only in Microsoft 365. Accordingly, the gap between versions will gradually begin to grow. I suppose that in regarding three years, Microsoft will introduce new formats for documents that the old “office” will not receive support for. Or new functions in Excel that will not work in older versions (as a result of which the created model on the new version will not work correctly in the old one).
I think one of the reasons for this decision is the desire to move everyone to a subscription model over time, because Microsoft 365 is a subscription product. But this point will become clearer later. There is still an option to buy a standalone Office 2021 package for $150 (without subscriptions). At the beginning of next year or early 2024, Microsoft, according to the previous logic, should offer a new version of the “standalone” office. My assumption is that if something like this is shown, it will be an exclusively business version, since there are companies in the world that, according to internal standards, need such solutions.
PS Already the middle of autumn. Time flies surprisingly fast. Enjoy autumn!
