2008 REMINDERS
2008 appears to
be throwing a lot of things our way:
1) GST Tax
Changes – Starting January 1st, GST will need
to be adjusted to 5% and HST to 13%. This affects most billing, purchasing and
tax reporting modules.
2) CPA cheque
compliance will be required at some point in 2008. The repercussions of
non-compliance have yet to be announced but will likely take the form of extra
services charges per non-compliant cheque.
3) Windows Vista
II will be released to try and undo the damage that Windows Vista
has done to Microsoft’s reputation. While many end users were given no choice
when they purchased a home computer, businesses have unanimously rejected
Windows Vista due to performance and
compatibility issues. Vista II will be
released first or second quarter of 2008 and we will review it at that time.
For now our recommendation is to stick with Windows XP Professional for
business use until such time that Windows Vista
II passes the grade.
4) Payroll users
are reminded that they should have applied the 2008 payroll updates, ran the
year-end closings and copied the 2008 tax tables. If you haven’t already
ordered sufficient quantities of T4 and Relevé 1
forms you should do so as soon as possible.
OFFICE
2007, EXPLORER 7 ISSUES
Microsoft Office
2007 and Internet Explorer 7 were products meant to complement Windows Vista. Both work with Windows XP but have some repercussions
on other software as well. The biggest change in these applications is the user
interface which is more Vista like. My first
experience with Office 2007 had me scratching my head as to where to find
common functions that has seemed so obvious in prior versions.
Once you get over
the culture shock however it is not difficult to operate. It does have one
peculiar side effect on users of Outlook Express. It deletes the English,
Spanish and German spell checkers. While
I can see that the new Office programs may want their own more advanced spell
checker, I can’t see why Microsoft would sabotage one of their own products
like this. Their official stance is that you can obtain your own 3rd
party spell checker if you want to use Outlook Express.
Similarly,
Internet Explorer 7 often impacts other programs as it implements new Windows
security features. It tries to determine the publisher of many programs and
pops up warnings in many cases. Reverting back to Internet Explorer 6 fixes the
problem.
WINDOWS VISTA FEEDBACK
Microsoft is a
little defensive when talking about Windows Vista
these days. Apple Computer has had a field day poking fun at various user
complaints in their television ads. “Many customers have upgraded by
downgrading to Windows XP” as the Apple ad states.
Microsoft claims
that Vista sales are going well but that is mainly due to the fact that home
computer users are being forced into buying Windows Vista.
If the truth be known large numbers of home users have replaced Vista with Windows XP to solve the problems. Business
users, on the other hand, order most computers from business suppliers and as
such have continued to order Windows XP Professional almost exclusively.
That trend will
likely continue unless the reviews for Vista
II appearing later in 2008 are favourable. For business users the impact of
software incompatibility can be significant. If you are a home user, with one
computer, the fact that a few of your favourite programs no longer work is a
minor inconvenience. For a business user, those same programs may be used
across the entire corporation which means that tens or even hundreds of
computers may need to be upgraded to solve the problems caused by a single
computer.
Our last
experience with Windows Vista resulted in numerous blue screens and system
restores as we spent a day trying to determine what would and would not work
with Windows Vista. Admittedly Vista was
helpful and realized that we were having problems and suggested system restores
to reverse the problems, however the whole Vista
experience was far more troublesome than it was worth and we ultimately
reformatted the drive and reloaded Windows XP Professional Edition. After that
our problems disappeared and the computer has been fine ever since.
In the mean time
hardware advancements have made the typical computer a little better prepared
to run Windows Vista. You do need a least 2gb
of Ram, a fast processor ( Dual Core or Quad Core ), a
large hard drive and a high level video card to run Vista
effectively. These requirements are easily met by even the more basic computers
these days, so the possibility of a Vista
resurgence is possible, providing Microsoft can solve a few more of the general
software compatibility issues.
From my
perspective Microsoft needs to acquire a little more sensitivity in dealing
with the public. When they can sabotage one of their own products like Outlook
Express and then just tell you to use something else it seems like they have
become a virtual dictatorship. At times Linux and Apple seem a little more
democratic.