Summary
Microsoft Designer
Last week we discussed the “iron” news from Microsoft’s presentation, leaving the new Microsoft Designer program behind the scenes. I acted so deliberately, because on the fly I couldn’t figure out what exactly Microsoft was showing.
Several days passed, but the clarity did not increase.
First, Microsoft’s name is misleading. It appears that a program called Microsoft Designer is aimed at professional users. While the videos or screenshots suggest 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 about design, considering that Paint and PowerPoint are the pinnacle of design software.
To help such users, Microsoft has introduced a harvester. You throw words, images there (relatively speaking, you create what is called a “moodboard” in professional jargon, that is, a series of images designed to convey an idea and a mood), you choose a color scheme, a dimension. All this is confused, Dall-E 2 artificial intelligence is used and a variation on the theme is published.
Even the presentation video itself, in which cakes and pies are shown, seems to suggest that an audience example for such products is a kind of housewife who actively leads social networks in which she shares the secrets of cooking, children’s education and of a happy family life.
And here’s another example: “Time to adopt a kitten from a kennel!”. It is also easy to imagine who is doing this: schoolchildren, housewives, not indifferent activists. The program promises the possibility of direct publication directly on social networks.
Among other things, it is likely that Designer can be a useful thing. And not just standing up, but a hit like Paint, which, in 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 the premium features you’ll have to fork out a subscription to Microsoft 356.
Sony ZV-1F
Although I am a smartphone photographer (i.e. point and click) and the camera market is almost dead, I am still a bit interested in cameras. And I also took the cameras for review several times. However, as practice has shown, this is a thankless task: the subject has garnered few views and there has been much criticism from lens and aperture professionals (including the word “aperture”).
And yet I want to share the news about the camera just unveiled by 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 since switched to other business areas. This, by the way, is a funny fact, which is not yet known to everyone, but such large manufacturers as Olympus, Nikon and others have long received the main profit from companies that have absolutely nothing to do with photography, but related to precision and optics.
For example, Nikon relies not only on medicine, but also on lithographic equipment for chipset manufacturing. Thus, in the first half of this year, the company sold 13 latest generation machines (10.5G). And the lithographic sphere brought the company almost 2x more profits than all other segments combined. We will probably talk separately about the activities of the former photographic companies on Wednesday. There is some interesting news there.
Second, the market is dominated by “mirrorless”. But this segment is also constantly shrinking, which forces manufacturers to look for new niches, trying to attract buyers.
And now the Sony ZV-1F is a vlogging camera! On Sony’s official website he writes like this – vlogger – and offers to update his vlog. I don’t know about you, but I felt a sense of Spanish shame at how they bent a once powerful industry. Vlog!
The Sony ZV-1F is a 20MP swivel wide-angle camera with a focal length of 7.6mm and a 20mm lens. The camera can record Full HD video at 120fps (which is good), but the 4K camera is only 30fps. At the same time, the camera doesn’t know how to shoot RAW.
But the most important thing is the quality of the images and videos. Here, of course, we have to repeat once again that the camera is for VLOGERS, i.e. not for photographs. But even on the official website, I felt that something was wrong, looking at the example proposed by the camera.
By going to the profile resource, where there is already a review, I confirmed my guess. The reviewer writes that modern Samsung, iPhones, and Pixels don’t shoot worse (looking at the test shots, I thought it was even better!), But more or less on the same level.
Also there is no optical stabilization in the camera, no headphone jack, no optical zoom, just crop. And the price is $ 400.
Sony has ended up with a stillborn product that will likely be purchased as a second camera for secondary shooting. Well, or maybe I’m wrong and in fact the Sony ZV-1F has the right to exist? In my opinion, if you have $ 400 for a camera, add more and get an iPhone 12 Pro or one of the new Pixels. At least 4K 60 fps will be.
Leave the Microsoft Office brand
Big changes are coming to the Microsoft portfolio. Users have been using the Microsoft Office suite for over 30 years, which has in fact become not only a business standard, but also a global standard for electronic document format. Docs in doc or xls format can be found everywhere: from gym group schedules to government sites offering to download the application form in doc.
It may not be a mistake to say that the very word “office” has become a familiar word, such as a copier, photoshop, voice recorder or toilet. The last word was added as “fun fact minute”. Since 1909, the Spanish company Unitas has been supplying plumbing systems all over the world, including the USSR. By the way, the name is very symbolic. Translated from Spanish it means “unity, unite”.
And now Microsoft wants to eliminate the name of Office, replacing it with the incomprehensible Microsoft 365.
The formal explanation goes like this. Microsoft has long had a lot of productivity apps besides Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint, and the current name does nothing to reflect that. There’s also Project, Sway, SharePoint, Publisher, and loads of everything. Below is a screenshot from Microsoft’s official website showing what the company considers a productivity app. But in reality, there are a lot more applications. Microsoft still has a large level of programs at the intersection of business, programming, and web design. For example, software for creating chatbots on a website. And in all honesty, it should be noted that this whole pile works quite well.
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. Then the desktop versions will also be updated.
If I understand correctly, all individual applications will disappear, only one will remain: Microsoft 365, within 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 a past office suite that will no longer be developed, but will receive technical support for some time.
All new features and functionality will now only appear in Microsoft 365. As a result, the gap between versions will gradually begin to grow. I suppose in about three years Microsoft will introduce new document formats for which the old “office” will not receive support. Or new functions in Excel that will not work in previous versions (due to which the model created on the new version will not work correctly in the previous 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 purchase a standalone Office 2021 package for $ 150 (no 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 guess is that if something like this is shown, it will be a business-only version, as there are companies in the world that, according to internal standards, need such solutions.
PS Already in mid-autumn. Time flies surprisingly fast. Enjoy the autumn!
