Every once in a while when Microsoft sends out updates, it can cause an issue with previous versions. Like an update for Office 2007 causes and issue with Office 2003.

One of these happened to a client the other day - all of a sudden they start seeing this message on every click to open a Word doc in Office 2003 - "Cannot open converter msword632".

If you search for this error, you should end up on this page - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/973904

About half way down the page there is a Fix It emblem (this is a screenshot) :

Click on the Fix It icon and select to "Run" the file. It doesn't take but a few seconds.

Not all of the Fix It's I have used work, but this one did on a WinXP Pro system, running Office 2003.

Techgal

A Kindle by any other name is a Nook

I haven't seen a whole lot of press around this yet, but I have to pass this on. I love to read, but I don't get much time to do so. I have been eying the Amazon Kindle, but thinking that I just couldn't part with the bucks for it. (Seeing as I have other toys I would like to have first). Then I had a question from one of my clients about whether the Kindle could do audio, because she would rather have her hands free and listen than hold the book? And, after a little research we found, yes, it does. I made a off-hand remark that I was surprised they had not come out with a color version yet.

I had no sooner got back to my office that I received an email announcement from Barnes and Noble with their new product, the Nook. It is the same price as the smaller Kindle, currently $259.00. The hook for why you should buy theirs? It has a COLOR touch screen, not just the gray scale of the Kindle. Near as I could compare, pretty much the same technical specs - over 1 million titles at B&N to choose from, wireless, 2Gb memory. And the ability to insert a microSD card for more memory capacity. These devices are very thin. Like the thickness of a pencil. Easy to carry around.

My curiosity has been piqued and I am going to go look at one. I'm thinking that as these come down in price a little more that they will be great gifts. I see them as the future of how education will  finally transition from hardbacks to electronics. If you can carry all your study books in one thin frame, you will have more room in your back pack for more important stuff, right? And think how many trees will be saved!

If you want to know more about the Nook, you can see specs here: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nook/features/techspecs/

I will have to say I noticed the Sony Reader at a BestBuy, but did not have time to do much more than a cursory glance. I did note in the Nook specs that it does not support the Amazon format (.amz)  or the Sony format (.lrz/.lrx). Which means that none of them are going to support each others formats. However, since they do support PDF, that should not be a big deal on getting widely read content. If it is proprietary to one, though, you won't be able to share between.

They might even some day replace the magazines in the doctor's reception area.

So what do you think of the Kindle, Reader or Nook? Do you have one, want one or don't ever think you will need one?