News Bits: Gateway Shareholders Mad, Generous New Asus Warranty, Office 2007 Ultimate $60

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Gateway shareholders sue over Acer takeover; $710M not enough

In late August, Acer purchased Gateway for US$710 million. However shareholders are suing Acer in two separate lawsuits that say Gateway was worth more than the price Acer paid. The shareholders claim Gateway disregarded its shareholders when it made the deal. The lawsuit claims that &quot;The Company’s directors breached their fiduciary duties to stockholders by approving the Merger Agreement and the transactions contemplated thereby, including but not limited to the Offer, and claims that these transactions are both unfair and coercive to the public stockholders in a sale of the Company.&quot;

The lawsuit also claims that the company's directors denied the stockholders &quot;a fully informed voluntary choice whether to approve the Merger Agreement or seek appraisal.&quot;

Read More (DailyTech.com)


Asus to offer free notebook accidental damage warranty

Asus today announced that it will be offering an one-year accidental damage warranty on Asus-branded notebook models for free. Asus said in a statement &quot;Whether you drop your ASUS notebook computer or spill coffee on your notebook keyboard, you’re now covered. And you will always enjoy the convenience of assistance 24/7 from ASUS technical representatives.&quot;

The free accidental damage warranty applies to notebooks bought on or after September 10, 2007. It is not valid on non-Asus brands including &quot;ASMobile,&quot; &quot;Built on Asus,&quot; &quot;Powered by Asus,&quot; or the Eee PC.

Read More (Laptoping.com)


Students: get Office 2007 Ultimate for $60

Microsoft on September 12 announced &quot;The Ultimate Steal,&quot; a promotion for college students in the US, Canada, and the UK starting on September 20. The limited-time promotion allows actively enrolled college students to get Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007 for US$59.95. For those outside the US, a one-year subscription license will also be offered for $22 in addition to the perpetual license. The Ultimate Steal is an online only offer and the promotion will expire on April 30, 2008.

Microsoft Press Release
The Ultimate Steal Website


Windows Update patches XP, Vista silently?

During the past two weeks, Windows XP and Vista users have noted some unusual behavior. Windows Update was updating their machines even when the updates were set to &quot;manual.&quot; Microsoft has proven the rumors wrong - apparently only the Windows Update software itself was being updated, which Microsoft does from time to time. Microsoft says that if they do not do the updates, users will not be able to successfully check for updates or get them automatically.

Read More (TheRegister.co.uk)


Should you buy cheap printer ink?

Computer Shopper is running a lengthy article on buying cheap aftermarket printer ink/refill kits or simply buying from the manufacturer. While retail OEM cartridges are expensive they do provide the best quality and ensure compatibility, but aftermarket solutions are significantly cheaper. The catch with the aftermarket solutions is that some are decent and some are nothing more than colored water. Which one should you buy?

Read More (ComputerShopper.com)


The next geek gadget - the USB Greenhouse

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Plants are typically grown in a garden - or, at least they used to be. Brando has come out with yet another geek gadget, the USB Greenhouse. It comes with marigold seeds, artificial soil, and an artificial light. Included PC software tracks watering and growth. The USB Greenhouse goes for $43.00.

Read More (Gizmodo.com)
Product Link (Brando.com.hk)

 

Why can't Microsoft include us High School Students? I won't buy Office 2007 until its less than $100.

 

Uh. Because you are high school students? College is quite different when it comes to $$$.

 

yea its not like high school students are on a tight budget.

 

umm i beg to differ... i have 2 jobs, and barley enough for my cloths, food (when i go out) and other stuff.

 

The USB green house looks like something right off of The Sims 2

 

im intrested to see the out come of the lawsuit filed by the hare holders

LOL guess now its fair to say that acer PAID for TROUBLE

amzing what gadgets people coome up with specially usb powered
wonder when they would coome out with a usb powered cofee machine

 

Anyone know how many copies/licenses you can buy? I'm going to guess one, but I'd like more than one.

 

Purchase Limitations: Each eligible student is limited to one purchase per valid e-mail address and billing address.

 

Perhaps convince a friend who isn't planning on getting a license to order it for you?

 

if it is purchased through MSDNAA there's no limit i got 12 copies of vista.

 

I don't care if Office 2007 is only $60. I cannot stand it, its new interface, and the new file types. They installed this garbage on most of the computers at my university and we're having all sorts of problems. People are always complaining they can't find something, that the interface is overly simplified, about file compatibility issues, and at the new office being slow and laggy. I have a feeling Micro$oft is doing this in part to try to bolster standards support for their new formats as well as try to spoon-feed college students a product designed to lock them into Micro$oft software more aggressively than ever before.

As for the Gateway/Acer thing...ouch. I would side with the shareholders here because there's so many cases of big executives pulling a fast get rich quick scheme on the company by having it transfer hands. Something has smelled funny about this acquisition from the beginning...

 

Indeed. My University switched over the summer and sure enough they are having trouble. I just laugh. 07's interface is disgusting.

 

Given how poor Gateway's performance was in recent years and its stock price decline without a turnaround in sight, I don't understand such claims as "Gateway worth more". I don't even remember seeing any Gateway laptops reviews on this site in recent month/years. If shareholders were indeed denied their voting rights, then that's is another story.

 

Granted the new interface has a pretty steep learning curve, once you learn it, it's simply more efficient than the older interface. I moved from Office 2003 to 2007 as a beta tester and have grown to love the ribbon interface. Overly simplified? Well, perhaps if you take it at face value, but dig a little deeper into the menus and you'll see that all the functionality from before and more are there. Plus, graphs and charts looks absolutely amazing. It makes 2003 graphs look like they came from the medieval ages.

As for file compatibility, you can easily save it as a 97-2003 document, thereby keeping it compatible with older versions.

 

Wow, way to go Acer. That's great that they're offering a warranty like that. 1 year FREE accidental damage protection? Pretty alluring, and they have a pretty good design now too.

 

Asus not Acer. I hope you haven't already ran to the store.

 

Hmm, yea, I hate Office 07 too, mostly because the new formats seriously screw people up. Its not me personally, but I have plenty of friends screwed over by that. I prefer the interface of Office 03/XP as well, so thats what I'm gonna stick to.

And Asus just made the best warranty in the business ever better. A pity then that their laptops are going downhill.

 

wow, if they actually honor that accidental warranty that's pretty awesome. I wonder how well it works...

 

Wow, that is a great deal for Office IMO, even if 2003 is better (I've heard it go both ways). I just ordered it to go along with my new T61p since I don't have a copy of office I haven't used yet. Thanks for the link!

 

ASUS is looking to 'buff' up their warranty services, probably an introduction marketing move towards the North American budget.

 

No, I'm still here. How embarassing though.... Can't believe I mixed the 2 up. Oh well, it's still a great warranty and a big selling point in my opinion.

 

Forget that, everyone at my school can upgrade to Office 2007 Enterprise.... for FREE!!

I haven't done it yet, only because 2003 still works fine, and I'm not sure if I'd like the new interface. And although the additional programs, such as OneNote, look very appealing, I don't feel like using another 2GB of HD space. My philosophy with M$ software: If it ain't broke, don't upgrade!

 

Oh yeah! MSDNAA ftw! I can get vista business and office 2007 for FREE!! Not that I would want to, because I don't

Except... Last year, I tried downloading OneNote 2003, and the downloader utility NEVER worked. Emailed the guy in charge twice (once last year and once this year) and he has yet to respond.

 

You're not paying thousands a year for tuition, books, and housing.

Us college students are.

 

^ ^ yea I have to agree. its kind of ridiculous.

 

The "free" ASUS warranty is not so free considering ASUS pricing .

And like always you do pay for everything one way or the other , some users are more carefull then others or use their notebooks lightly , those will "subsidize" careless or "heavy" users more prone to accidents .

Still its nice of ASUS , I hope the rest will follow ( on high price notebooks only , on budget it would be best to allow the user to choose ) .

 

Wow I'm impressed at Microsoft selling it to us University Students so cheap. I must be one of the minority that really likes Office 2007, though the default blue colour is ugly (why is everything blue with Microsoft? Black is where it's at!). I don't have a problem with the file formats, if I'm going to send anything I just save it as a .doc instead of .docx. Even one of my Linux/Open source zealot friends loves Office 2007 .

gilo: what do you mean about ASUS pricing? Their prices are excellent for the laptops you get. They were the cheapest manufacturer of the type of laptop I wanted before the Inspirons were released.

 

as the saying goes
you get what you pay for
but i personally am fine with the asus pricings and fins them to be quite reasonable

asus's strategy of gaining more share in the US market is starting to look more promising now
specially with the free accidental cover now offered
rock on asus

 

white for me
well i tried the 200 interface and felt it was crappy its i dunno too not me i guess and too simpified in my opinion id rather stay with 2003 for now

 

I agree I really did not like office 2007... so I went back to 2003... I like vista alot!!! well so far anyway.

 

Oh no I feel so sorry for you. *plays world's smallest violin*

 

The Ultimate Steal website said you can order the DVD at a fee. But when I tried to checkout my order, I can't find the DVD option. Am I missing anything?

 

Not just you Joyce, I can't find it neither. At another forum(where I first found this deal) the description was that $13 extra gets you the discs, but upon checkout no one has yet to find a checkbox or anything to distinguish a download or a disc.

 

wow, less power to these asmobile notebooks. The notebook I have isn't even listed in the NotebookReview.com Database and it has 2 reviews along with a owner's thread in the Asus forums, wtf. Now no accidentally coverage =[.

 

what a nice deal by Microsoft. I almost want to buy it.

 

finally one product from Microsoft priced properly

 

I sent an email to the customer service, and below is their response with the link. The DVD costs $12.95 (license not included). Hope it helps.


"Dear Customer,

Thank you for contacting the Microsoft Student Hero online store.

You may order the DVD from the link below.

Here is the link that you requested: http://gc.digitalriver.com/servlet/..._phy&id=ProductDetailsPage&productID=81594400

(please note that the link may need to be completely copied and pasted
into the address area in your browser window if you encounter problems)

If you have any further questions or concerns, please reply to this
e-mail.

Sincerely,
Bradley P.
Microsoft Student Hero online store
Customer Service
[email protected]
http://www.theultimatesteal.com"

 

Awww that's for US only. I emailed them last week and I have yet to get a response!

Thanks for the info though!

 

I just tried the link. I ordered the DVD using my university email. Then I went to the UltimateSteal.com website to order the product key, and do you know what happened? It prevented me to do so because their record shows that my university email had been used to purchase the product already! Now I have to email their customer service again and ask them what I should do next.

 

Can office be run run on one machine only per purchase ?

 

I recall the details saying ONE desktop and ONE notebook...

May need to confirm that.