Anyone used the Office 2013 preview yet? I'm suitably impressed so far, particularly with the Cloud Sync and Skydrive integration. Not sure I'd use it over Google Docs though, since the latter is truly cross-platform (though more limited of course).

If you are using Outlook be sure it's patched. Initial preview build had a bug that could delete all your email permanently.

I've been using it since it was made available. Very nice.

I've never been able to use Google Docs, too many "standard" features are missing, which is a shame. I like the concept.

It's been a long time since I've properly used Office. What does 2013 offer over the last version?

I've been using Open/LibreOffice for the past few years with LaTeX for anything serious.

If it's anything like the previous 2 versions the only reason for buying it will be full compatibility with the Office 2013 file format.

Outlook still uses word to render HTML emails, so yay, I still won't be able to use divs and CSS. I will be able to hold onto my table based layout skills for another year at least. Tbh, I'm sure outlook will stay the same for the foreseeable as it's been going on for five years now and they don't look like backing down anytime soon!

HTML e-mails are nasty anyway, I opt for plain text wherever possible (and plain text e-mails is a requirement where I work).

I din't really get the issue people have with HTML email, it doesn't bother me, in fact I prefer it for sales/marketing based communication. Perhaps I'm biased as that's partly how I make my living!

I find them annoying for the following reasons:

1) The potential for malware
2) The images are blocked by Outlook & major webmail providers anyway (and unblocking them is a pain)
3) They don't display properly on mobile devices
4) They can be tracked and can reveal my address to the sender (if I have not provided it to them previously)

I would say:

1) how?

2) unblocking is very easy.

3) yes they do. Mobile devices have better support for HTML email than outlook. The worst is blackberry, but that's not too bad.

4) that's illegal and mitigated by not downloading images if you're not super paranoid. Only download the images of emails you like the look of if you're worried.

Is it really really? It's common practice going by many of the the embedded URLs I see in my spam.

Well the action by itself is not illegal, but it's illegal to send an email to an address you don't know exists, which is what I assume is what's being talked about.

Worldwide, you can't send an unsolicited email, however, in the uk it is legal to send an email to a potential business contact (not a private individual). It pretty much mirrors our cold calling laws. Uk bulk email providers are quite expensive as a result as there is nowhere else to go for b2b business emails. Mail chimp or campaign monitor will drop you like a stone if they suspect you're involved in activity that is quite legal in this country.

1) Google is littered with examples, take this for instance: http://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/219 ... users.html
2) It's still a pain to do each email individually, and given the security & privacy implications I won't do a blanket exemption (even for a "trusted" address)
3) Simply not the case, they're terrible on Blackberry, but they're also terrible on my Android device (ICS) as it means I have to scroll around the screen. Plain text is supported by the text reflow system so all of it fits in the screen without any interaction from me
4) Illegal or not it still happens, much like the current cookie debacle I suppose.

I can't see how that malware would work as the article states. They claim it requires JavaScript, which isn't available on email.

The law in this country only covers this country. Just like you can't do anything about unsolicited phone calls from abroad, you can do nothing about spam from elsewhere. You certainly don't have any legal redress.

A lot of the spam you really don't want or need doesn't come from outfits like MailChimp or Vertical Response, so you can't complain to them.