The World According to Mitch

Like so many geeks I have been patiently waiting for the beta release of Microsoft Office 2013.  I downloaded and installed it this week, and have been liking it.  I will start posting about new features as I discover them, and here is the first such post.

Like many people I live in Outlook… or at least in my Exchange calendars, which when I am on the PC means Outlook (see my article from February 3rd, 2010 on Connecting to Multiple Exchange Servers within Microsoft Office Outlook 2010).  That means that any time they add clarity and relevant information to Outlook I am happy.

I have been on the road this week so I have not had a lot of opportunity to play with the new Outlook, with the exception of checking my mail.  This morning however I went into the calendar for the first time (I love the look and feel… as you can see I have five calendars open simultaneously, and being able to manage them all the way I want to is important… four of them on one side together, and my SWMI calendar separate on the right in this case). 

I noticed something new at the top of the calendar… a cloud icon.  At first I figured it had to do with my cloud-based e-mail, but that didn’t make sense.  I quickly realized that Outlook (within the Calendar context) was showing me the local weather, along with a three-day forecast.

Nice!  By default it detected New York City, but it did not take much work to click on the drop-down arrow and select my home town of Oakville, Ontario.

Now when I turn on the computer from my basement I will be able to see what the forecast is for the next few days… wherever I may be .

I’ll be in Chicago next week… any bets that it will be windy?