Moving from mac after 10yrs - suggestions for apps etc

[79jonesy]

A friend has let me play around on a windows 8.1 laptop that he doesn't use as much so I've tried most of the recommendations. I like the Metro UI so find it really disappointing that Google does not support it with native apps? It makes no sense to me. I can't move away from their services due to work but have tried metromail and onecalendar.
I think iCloud may be a little more problematic. The family shared calendar is on it but I haven't seen a metro app for that yet. I'm also not looking forward to reorganising my photos so will pop them into onedrive and start from there.

scfoster - using 8.1 for a bit has made me realise how often I hit spacebar to preview a file!

Thanks for your responses - it really helped.

 

[Len J]

I think iCloud may be a little more problematic. The family shared calendar is on it but I haven't seen a metro app for that yet. I'm also not looking forward to reorganising my photos so will pop them into onedrive and start from there.

scfoster - using 8.1 for a bit has made me realise how often I hit spacebar to preview a file!

Thanks for your responses - it really helped.

If you have office 365 Home, you can put it on up to 5 Mac or MS Pc's plus 5 portable devices, so your family can share with 4 other family members. You would be administer, but they would have separate individual set-ups. You can then have both individual and shared calendars.

Len

 

[Moonsurface]

Does the surface count as a "portable device" for Office 365? I'm asking because my Husband took out the 365, he's got it on his macbook and his windows laptop, I have a copy on my desktop PC and he gave two licences to his two children, so there's no "full OS" licenses left for me to use one on my surface... unless the surface counts as a portable device.. which I doubt. Is it possible to add another licence to 365? Should I use webapps or do you recommend purchasing again for my surface??

 

[BillJ]

Surface counts as a "full PC" in regards to your Office 365.
(The airport TSA still considers it a "tablet", however...)

Be careful of running iCloud on the SP3; I tried this so that I could sync my wife's iPhone calendar to outlook. When I tried this, I was no longer able to sync my Windows Phone calendar to the SP3. I had to reset the SP3 to get iCloud completely removed.

I ultimately resolved the problem of synching my wife's phone by getting rid of her iPhone...

 

[Len J]

Does the surface count as a "portable device" for Office 365? I'm asking because my Husband took out the 365, he's got it on his macbook and his windows laptop, I have a copy on my desktop PC and he gave two licences to his two children, so there's no "full OS" licenses left for me to use one on my surface... unless the surface counts as a portable device.. which I doubt. Is it possible to add another licence to 365? Should I use webapps or do you recommend purchasing again for my surface??

I'm not certain, but I'd guess that it is counted as a PC not a portable device.

I think You can use the webapps (but again I'm not certain) I personally like the desktop apps better, especially outlook (do to it's integration) but that's a personal choice. Maybe try the webapps and see how you like them compared to the desktop.

I suspect you can't just add 1 additional license.

I opted for Office 365 small business premium because I'm using it for my one person business, I needed LYNC, like the inclusion of Exchange as the e-mail server & the integration with my Domain so my info on the home edition is just from web research.

Len

 

[GreyFox7]

I think MS will be forced to start spoofing Safari and Chrome when interfacing with Apple and Google assets as they are determined to screw everything up when it come to interfacing with MS .

 

[Moonsurface]

I think MS will be forced to start spoofing Safari and Chrome when interfacing with Apple and Google assets as they are determined to screw everything up when it come to interfacing with MS .

I'm currently a heavy google user and just considering my options as I rely heavily on google calendar and gmail and also have an android phone. I'm not sure whether i'm ready to wholly move to MS for phone yet though due to the app store limitations - though I do actually like the look of the Nokia phones and the livetile interface (I like my homescreen widgets and flexibility that Android gives and features that iPhones always seem to be catching up with like the ability to choose the keyboard etc so haven't ever been interested in an iPhone).

 

[jnjroach]

The Surface according to Microsoft can count as either a Portable Device or PC, some additional flexibility that MS is offering its customers....

http://www.zdnet.com/office-365-users-surface-pros-now-qualify-as-pcs-or-tablets-7000029190/

 

[Len J]

The Surface according to Microsoft can count as either a Portable Device or PC, some additional flexibility that MS is offering its customers....

http://www.zdnet.com/office-365-users-surface-pros-now-qualify-as-pcs-or-tablets-7000029190/

That's great and makes perfect business sense.

Learn something every day.

Len

 

[Moonsurface]

The Surface according to Microsoft can count as either a Portable Device or PC, some additional flexibility that MS is offering its customers....

http://www.zdnet.com/office-365-users-surface-pros-now-qualify-as-pcs-or-tablets-7000029190/

Great... I guess I'll wait and see if it lets me install to my surface.