Windows users have enjoyed the free version after Office 2010 launched commercial bundle. But the case is different consumers experienced Office that uses the Apple machine, Mac. Office for Mac 2011, has been thrown on the market since October 2010 ago. But now Microsoft's new software gives free coffee to the user. Better late than never. Sure step from companies that offer free trial version of Office 2011 for Mac is considered special. "If you're still thinking and faithful use Office 2011. I am happy to announce that we have a full program trial version at www.microsoft.com / mac / trial. Software can be used freely to 30 days from download. "We know it's very important for you to test some of our features," said head of product management director of Office for Mac, Pat Fox. "For those who will try the software for the first time, we hope you enjoy some new items, Outlook for Mac, new co-authoring tools, Sparklines from Excel, Dynamic Reorder in Word & PowerPoint, and many more." Now both Windows and Mac users can download and test the Office 2010 or Office 2011, free of charge. It's just that there is a difference. When Office 2011 will expire in 60 days, but the Office for Mac 2011, designed to last only until one month A copy of the trial version of Office, both Mac and Windows is a copy of the full functionality of the original software. Management features make the user able to perform testing of the product total before determining whether they will buy or not. Fox mengumabar promise to users. "Office for Mac 2011 is a great launch. When I consider the results and we specify completed, I was very impressed with the improvement and the existence of the new features presented by the team. I can tell Office 2011 also have gone through our internal sales record," claims Fox.
Computers could be a lot more useful if they paid attention to how you felt. With the emergence of new tools that can measure a person's biological state, computer interfaces are starting to do exactly that: take users' feelings into account. So claim several speakers at Blur, a conference this week in Orlando, Florida, that focused on human-computer interaction.
Kay Stanney, owner of Design Interactive, an engineering and consulting firm that works with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Office of Naval Research, says that a lot of information about a user's mental and physiological state can be measured, and that this data can help computers cater to that user's needs.
Design Interactive is prototyping Next Generation Interactive Systems, or NexIS, a system that will place biological sensors on soldiers. If a sensor detects that a soldier's pulse is weakening, for example, the system might call for help or administer adrenaline. Similar technology could prove useful in civilian conditions, Stanney says. Sensors on air traffic controllers or baggage screeners could help prevent errors or poor performance, she says.
Design Interactive is working on another project called Auto-Diagnostic Adaptive Precision Training for Baggage Screeners (Screen-ADAPT), which would aid in training by using measurements including electroencephalography, eye tracking, and heart-rate monitoring to assess performance. The idea is to learn how successful screeners scan an image so others can apply similar techniques.
Stanney admits this is challenging, because not every successful baggage screener does the job in exactly the same way. "This will really come down to the art of the algorithm—what it is that we're trying to optimize," she says. Sensors can already detect when a person is drowsy, distracted, overloaded, or engaged. But it would be ideal to be able to determine other states such as frustration, or even to distinguish between different types of frustration.
Some companies are already applying these ideas. Mercedes, for example, has developed algorithms that watch how a driver operates the steering wheel to detect signs of drowsiness. Stanney says the approach could also make personal computers more useful. For example, a computer might eventually be able to detect when a user is overloaded and then suggest focusing on one application.
Hans Lee, chief technical officer of EmSense, a San Francisco company that measures users' cognitive and emotional state for the purpose of market research, says there are plenty of potential applications for a computer that can read a human's mood. "No matter what you do, emotion matters," he says.
Lee says studies suggest that 40 percent of people verbally abuse their computers. A device capable of recognizing a user's frustration and addressing it could make workers more efficient, and mean fewer broken monitors. "What if your computer could apologize to you?" he says.
