http://serverinstallationguides.weebly.com/home-networks.html
If you thought that a small NAS for home use cost a couple of hundred pounds, think again. Amazing as it might seem, you can get one from just 99p! Okay, there are a few compromises - it's fairly basic and performance is not exactly stellar, but it does work. To find our how, check this article on our sister website (it's towards the bottom half of the page):
http://serverinstallationguides.weebly.com/home-networks.html Last Summer we carried an article on a laser printer that was cheap enough to be regarded as disposable (see here). There's now another one that possibly represents even more of a bargain. At the time of writing, Tesco are selling the Ricoh SP 201N for just £34.00 in some of their stores. This is a B&W networked laser printer (Ethernet, not wireless), with a 150-page paper tray and a claimed print speed of 22 pages per minute. As such, it may be suitable for use in a very small business. It's reasonably compact, and looks quite well made. It includes a toner cartridge; it is not apparent from the documentation whether this is a full or starter cartridge. But even if the latter, if it's good for say 500 pages then that's still a printing cost of less that 7p a page. If so, then even if you threw it away once the cartridge runs out you'd still be getting a bargain. Office 365 is Microsoft's combined offering of it's ubiquitous Office software (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook etc) combined with online services such as email and storage. Traditionally, Office software has been purchased but Office 365 is a subscription service, paid monthly or annually. In effect, the software is being rented. What are the advantages of this? Firstly, it removes the need for large upfront purchases, potentially improving cash flow. Secondly, it is flexible as you can add, remove or reallocate licenses. Thirdly, it is always up-to-date, providing the latest versions of the software. Besides the software, there is corporate-level email, calendaring, collaborative software and websites, operated by Microsoft. As Microsoft is such a huge company it backs these with massive resources, ensuring the highest levels of availability and performance. Office 365 comes in different flavours. Office 365 Home Premium is intended for home users and allows Office to be installed on 5 computers. This is the full version of Office, comparable to Office Professional. Office Professional usually costs around £300 to buy whereas Office 365 Home Premium is just £79.99 a year, pretty much making it a no-brainer for a household with multiple computers. Besides the main software, it also provides monthly Skype credit, access to web versions of Office, plus up to 100GB online storage on SkyDrive. When you consider that a 100GB Dropbox account alone is some £70 a year this really helps put things in perspective. The next version is Office 365 Small Business, aimed at businesses of up to 25 users. This is really an online service as it does not include the Office software itself (although does allow use of the cut-down web-based versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint). Rather, it provides email, calendaring, conferencing and both private and a public-facing website. Office 365 Small Business is of most interest to small companies wanting a professional email system and who have maybe already purchased the Office software or do not use it. For instance, many small businesses still run an in-house email system established years ago or use services provided by relatively small ISPs; both of these things are less tenable these days and Office 365 provides an excellent alternative with email that works with Outlook, webmail and with tablets and Smartphones. An additional consideration is that Office 365 mailboxes offer use capacity. It costs £39.60 per user per year. Office 365 Small Business Premium is the same but includes the full Office suite software. Again intended at small businesses with up to 25 users, it is priced at £100.80 per user per year. Both Small Business and Small Business Premium can also be paid for on a monthly basis. Finally there is Office 365 Midsize Business, slightly more expensive, available for up to 300 users. All business versions can be managed from Windows Server Essentials, making it a natural companion, with Office 365 Midsize Business featuring Active Directory integration with Windows Server. Japanese consumer electronics giant Sony is pulling out of the computer business. For around 15 years it has sold its VAIO laptops (and desktops at one point), but this will end in March with the exception of its home market of Japan. Although a huge global brand, sales have been modest and last year Sony had less than 2% of the worldwide market for computers (the UK was actually one of its stronger markets). Analysts believe that it was just too small in this market to compete, particularly as it was priced as a premium brand.
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