Archive for February, 2007

Steelray Software Adds Schedule Analysis and Security to Microsoft Project

Sunday, February 25th, 2007

Atlanta, Georgia –
February 26, 2007 — Steelray Software, maker of the leading Microsoft Project
Viewer software, announces the release of two new Microsoft Project Add-In
products. Steelray Project Analyzer is a
schedule analysis and scorecard tool that plugs into the desktop versions of
Microsoft Project. Steelray Project
Protector is a low-cost security and access control solution for sharing
Microsoft Project files.

 

The patent-pending
technology at the core of Steelray Project Analyzer was developed at a leading
Aerospace and Defense company and licensed to Steelray Software. Using statistical analysis, a team of project
managers at the A&D company analyzed project schedules spanning several
years to derive a set of common characteristics of the project schedules that
were considered successful. Steelray
Project Analyzer uses a built-in set of criteria to generate an easy-to-read
scorecard and helps the project manager improve their schedule.

 

Steelray Project
Protector was born from a need that Steelray’s Microsoft Project viewer
customers requested. "Our customers
asked us for a way to share certain parts of project files, " said Brian
Leach, Managing Director of Steelray Software. "With Steelray Project Protector, we’re delivering an easy, low
cost solution to that problem." With password-based protection, the project file is protected or exposed
in its entirety (all or nothing). Steelray Project Protector is a big improvement because it offers
filter-based protection, which allows
the project manager to specify exactly which parts of the project file may be
hidden or shared.

 

For more information
on Steelray Software, or to download a free trial of any Steelray product,
visit www.steelray.com.

 

About Steelray
Software

 

Steelray Software is
the leading provider of Microsoft Project Viewer software and offers easy, low
cost project management software solutions. Steelray Software is headquartered
in Atlanta, Georgia.

 

Contact Information

Ray Paseur

(404) 806 0160 x1

ray.paseur@steelray.com

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Have We Given Up?

Sunday, February 18th, 2007

I can’t remember the specifics of the commercials for the chain of drive-thru restaurants, only the slogan:  “You Gotta Eat.”  My reaction, the first time I heard the slogan, was amusement.  Have they just given up?  No “Great Food”, “Low Prices” or “Fast Service” message?    Expanded, what I get is this:  “Listen, you have to eat something, right?  So, why not get the food from us?  What message does this send?

Recently, I installed a copy of 64-bit Vista to make sure that our Microsoft Project Viewer runs flawlessly on Microsoft’s latest software conglomeration, and I’ve noticed a peculiar new “feature”.  Vista frequently warns me that someone is attempting to do something that might pose a security threat.  So far, in every case, that someone has been me.  I’m installing some software, or setting up a network connection.  Up pops the box, asking me to accept the security-intrusive operation.

I get the purpose behind the feature.  One day, I might be happily composing a blog entry or working on one of our exciting new products (no wimpy attitude here), and up will pop a window that someone is installing a plugin to Internet Explorer, and on that particular day this message will come as a surprise.  The someone is presumably an intruder.  Microsoft security feature to the rescue!

Still, I can’t shake the feeling I got when I first heard the “You gotta eat” slogan:   have they given up?  Expanded, what I get is this:  We’re apparently unable to lock the doors to your building, but we will tell you that a criminal is running around checking doorknobs.

That thought is followed by:  what is the Vista consumer user going to do when they get one of those messages, other than panic and maybe call 911?

Couldn’t Microsoft have detected that I, the user, used my real mouse to double-click on the setup.exe program on my Desktop?  If I were an intruder, I’m going to click the “Allow” button anyway.

Have we just given up?

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