Windows Live Writer

Well this post isn’t ACT! related at all and I’m still trying to get used to writing a Blog  Initially I was using the web-based interface from the WordPress Admin screen. After that I started to write in Word and copy-paste into the web editor.

I did a quick Google to see if it was possible to directly connect Word to my Blog  and as I suspected it was possible but the really interesting thing was everyone seemed to be talking about Windows Live Writer. I did remember seeing some reference to this when I downloaded the newest version of Windows Messenger but hadn’t really paid any attention to it. Now that I have a Blog, I thought I might as well try it out and see what everyone was talking about.

I have to say I am impressed with this little utility! I’m actually using it at the moment to write this up! It’s light, quick and very simple to use and I get the opportunity to Preview as well with my chosen theme. I’ve installed a couple of plugins such as Insert Video and Insert Code. The only downside to all this is that the Insert Code plugin seems to be a little buggy in this Windows 8 version of Live Writer 2012, it seems to work fine when I boot into Win 7. The other point is that as I understand it, Microsoft have stopped any further development on Live Writer and thus it retains the old “Live” brand name. I would love to hear from others about their views of offline Blog editors.

Perfecting ACT! 2013

Wow only a few weeks left till this year’s Perfecting ACT! (PA) kicks off, and this time it’s going to be an absolutely can’t miss event! As anyone reading this most probably already knows, Swiftpage have purchased ACT! (and Saleslogix) off Sage and are now our new Overlords. All praise and all glories to our new rulers and masters…yadda yadda yadda!

So what does this mean to us humble ACT! fanbois and ACCs? Well it’s really exciting and one of the best bits of news we could have hoped for. ACT! has been floundering for years under Sage’s stewardship, the secret truth was that Sage never invested in the product vision or the R&D. The management team behind ACT! had a passion and drive for the product that was both bipolarly divergent and far out reached the vision that Sage ever had for ACT!. Sage as a company are, by behaviour, primarily a M&A vehicle i.e., they acquire software companies to capitalise upon a market rather than innovate or develop. ACT! was such a product that had languished in budgetary anorexia due to executive disillusionment in the revenue it generated. The expectations far out stripped the reality that any business productivity software requires…R&D and marketing investment.

Swiftpage is a very different beast entirely. It is a software company that has grown only by investment as an add-on as well as a stand alone e-marketing product. I have to be honest here and confess that I have felt in the past that Swiftpage was a clunky and slightly out-dated product compared to some of the market leaders such as MailChimp etc. I think with not only ACT! and SLX within their portfolio now, all products can symbiotically benefit with the renewed investment, vision and above all budget.

PA 2013 will be the first time I will get to meet the key strategic members of the Swiftpage team and we will all get the opportunity to see the future vision and road map for ACT!.

The other point of note for me personally, it will be the first PA that I shall be presenting to the delegates. The topic I have chosen is reporting and PowerPivot. Expect some posts in this blog regarding PowerPivot, either in the near future or in the past (please see my About page to understand that weird comment!).