Software : Microsoft quietly kills free Public Websites feature |
- Microsoft quietly kills free Public Websites feature
- Downloads: Christmas crackers: Foobar2000
- Updated: Windows email: 5 best free clients
| Microsoft quietly kills free Public Websites feature Posted:  A little known feature that some described as Microsoft's online version of "FrontPage", the company's ill-fated WYSIWIG HTML editor, will be dropped within weeks according to a Knowledgebase post. The latter confirms that the SharePoint Online Public Website feature will be deprecated from January 2015 and will be available for existing user for a minimum of two years. New Office 365 users won't have access to it. Moving forward, the statement says, "Office 365 customers will have access to third-party offerings that will enable them to easily integrate their public presence with their Office 365 service". More details will be unveiled next month. Microsoft explained the move by saying that the "difficult decision" was taken to deliver the utmost value to its customers and focus future investments while relying more on potential partners who will provide solutions at "discounted pricing rates". It's interesting to note that Microsoft has been relying more on "partners" lately. The move to strategically allow others to get selected portions of Microsoft's cake (where the company was never expected to get big revenues) is interesting indeed. Back in November, Microsoft announced a strategic partnership with Dropbox allowing the latter to compete better against its own cloud storage, OneDrive. |
| Downloads: Christmas crackers: Foobar2000 Posted:  Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without a little music, and whether you're listening to traditional tunes or something a little different, Foobar2000 can take care of all of your music needs. This free player keeps things wonderfully simple with its clean, uncluttered interface. There's support for a wide range of popular audio formats including MP3, AAC, FLAC and many more, as well as audio CDs and CD ripping. If you have existing playlists, they can be easily imported into Foobar2000 and arranged onto individual tabs so you can easily switch between them, and you can also create new lists with ease. As with other media players, you can set up a watch folder so that any files that are added to it are automatically included in your music library. With the option of adding folders from other computers, networks drives and local storage, you may well end up with a large number of music files, so it's just as well that there's a sturdy tool available to help you find what you're looking for. Foobar2000 is a highly competent program from the offset, but you can add extra feature by installing free add-ons. |
| Updated: Windows email: 5 best free clients Posted:  Those who work with email detest it, but it is still a daily part of many of our lives – and the provisions made for email within Windows leave a lot to be desired. As someone who works online, I send and receive many emails a day and need a trusty email client that won't break or falter. After the disaster that was Windows Vista, Microsoft ditched Windows Mail (later brought back in Windows 8), leaving a gap in the market for email conscious users of Windows. Luckily, developers have created many free email clients that do the job: here are the best five. Mozilla ThunderbirdBest all-rounder; best for non-Outlook users. Created by Mozilla, the same people behind the Firefox web browser, Thunderbird is minimalistic in design, offering simple options such as "Get Mail" and "Write". Setting up my email account was quick and easy, needing only my email address and password – no server settings here – with options to import my Calendar and Contacts alongside my mail. Thunderbird filters out junk emails effectively, as would be expected from a renounced web brand. In fact, having Mozilla as the developer of Thunderbird is one of its greatest strengths; regular updates and bug fixes are forthcoming and support is good. The clear and well designed interface sets Thunderbird apart, with over 1,000 add-ons – integration with social networks, design tweaks, and so on – coming as a bonus. eM ClientBest for those who want a good indie email client. Offering an interface reminiscent of Microsoft's desktop Outlook client, eM Client – a clumsy name – offers a host of email services tied up in a streamlined way that works well and is, above all else, no frills. All of the options – Delete, Write New, Reply All, and so on – are presented at the top, with the three column layout offering a clear view of your emails, inboxes and email accounts. Of the five, eM Client is the best mix of simplicity of design and power, easily importing my emails and offering an Outlook-style experience for free. The only negative is that eM Client isn't backed by a large corporation – such as Microsoft, Mozilla or Opera – and so development could be slow. InkyBest for people with multiple email accounts. Offering a more casual twist to email, Inky is a fantastic option for those who want to use multiple accounts in one place. The interface is simple, with a two-column system offering easy access to all of your accounts as well as other utilities, such as the Calendar. Inky works with every major email service available and offers support for custom settings, enabling anyone to add any account if they know the server's inputs. Alongside this, Inky also has cloud syncing—via a proprietary account—which means that your email is synced across versions of Inky. As someone who has multiple email accounts, Inky's ability to seamlessly make them into one – at least for appearance's sake – is impressive, and earns it a place on this list. Claws MailBest for those who love simplicity. Unlike all of the other email applications on this list, Claws Mail is a throwback offering an interface reminiscent of Windows XP. For those who don't like the mess of unneeded animations or the swoosh of a tiled interface, Claws Mail offers a refreshing change: grey and blue is the colour scheme, offering a simple, straightforward interface. Don't let the utilitarian interface fool you though. Underneath, Claws Mail has all of the features and functions of a more illustriously designed email client, with the ability to have multiple email accounts and email threading. It's email convenience without the clutter. OutlookBest for those who rely on Outlook. For the 420 million users of Outlook.com, Microsoft's built-in application has always been the best option. Built by Microsoft for Exchange and Outlook accounts, the program offers extensive enterprise-level options and syncs Calendars, Contacts and Notes seamlessly between Windows devices. The Windows 7 version of Outlook is starting to look slightly outdated – despite being used in almost every work place around the world – when compared to the slick Windows 8 app, but it still does a great job and is the best client for those who rely on Microsoft's email option. |
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