On Friday 30th March there will be a launch event for the new Microsoft Windows Vista and Office 2007 showcasing the new features and capabilities of the 2 products.

Many topics will be covered, with some of the interesting features including:

• Windows media centre, the new Aero interface and sidebar gadgets in Vista.
• New ways to visualise data in excel, creating “smart art”, the new user interface and applying themes to entire documents in Office.

There will be a free BBQ afterwards for all students that attend the presentation
Date: Friday 30th March
Where: School of computing, video conferencing room, 4th floor
Time: Presentaiton 11-12, BBQ 12-3pm

The 28th of Feburary was Societies day at the University of Tasmania. It is a chance for all the different student societies to setup a stall and encourage students to signup to their society by offering ‘incentives’ (Usually in the form of alcohol).

As the president of IDS I helped organise our stall this year. When students sign up to our society for $10 they get

• 1gb of storage on our linux server to host their own website (supports PHP, MYSQL, etc.)
• Access to our monthly events (BBQs and LANs)
• 5 vodka Jelly shots
• a free BBQ (provided by the Australian Computer Society)
• drinks card for a local bar

I used this oppoturnity to also spread the word on my MSP events (Microsoft Student Partner). You can see the office 2007 CD’s on the table (as well as the vodka shots). I lost count of how many CD’s i gave away that day, but I don’t have many left now.

I also told any interested students about the Imagine Cup to try and spread the word.

And also gave them all the heads up on the upcomming Vista/Office2007 launch event that is happening at the end of March