I’m not in attendance at PDC this week (I’m saving my trip for ASP.NET Connections in November), but I am keeping up with some of the press filtering out. The best I’ve heard so far is “Microsoft Showcases New User Interface for Office ‘12′ Core Applications.” Normally, this isn’t spectacular news, but they are introducing “…the most dramatic changes since the introduction of the toolbar in 1997.” (I shamelessly took that from the article I just linked to)

However, I find the announcement post-worthy because of the included screenshots:

MS Word

MS PowerPoint

MS Excel

MS Access

I’m not a Mac user, I’m a Windows guy. But I’m not so rabid about the debate that I can’t admit it when Microsoft is shamelessly ripping Apple off. This is a clear-cut example of that. So much so, that the first thought that crossed my mind when I saw the screenshot for Word was that the fringe looked a lot like iTunes 5.

But I’m not complaining. I love the look of Mac apps. This way, I can get the great UI without having to buy a Mac.

Office 12, iTunes, Mac, PDC

Last week, I posted a link to an eBook by Seth Godin called “Knock Knock: Seth Godin’s Incomplete Guide to Building a Web Site that Works” and mirrored the download here. This week, seth has posted his follow up, “Who’s There? Seth Godin’s Incomplete Guide to Blogs and the New Web.” I’ve mirrored the download here again, so enjoy. Now I must go and drink it all in…

Seth Godin

Seth Godin introduced me to blogging 3 years ago. Three failed attempts at finding something of value to write about later, here I am.

If you’ve never experienced the great mind of Seth Godin, here is your chance. He’s offering a copy of his ebook “Knock Knock: Seth Godin’s Incomplete Guide to Building a Web Site that Works” free to all. I’ve mirrored the download on this site, so grab it and read up. To read Seth’s original post, view his mostly-brilliant musings and track to the other great sites that have linked to him, click here.

Seth Godin