Last night, flying back from holidays on the East Coast, I was cleaning out my inbox. This was very cool.
Not because I was flying some super-modern wifi plane (instead 1970s fabulousness of US Airways), but because my new Microsoft Outlook works OFFLINE. I wrote emails all through the flight and when I landed in LA, my computer hooked into the internet and sent them all off. Kinda like magic.
I should preface this by noting there are some aspects of the movie biz that are stuck in the technological dark ages. Sure we have CGI and THX and 3D (if that doesn’t say it’s the 1960′s I don’t know what does!) but our business infrastructure is woefully outdated. Chalk it up to the temporary nature of film offices, the constant moves and travel — who knows, but the dirty truth is we’re still doing business the way it was done when my airplane rolled fresh off the assembly line. The new freedom that comes with my Microsoft Outlook is a blessing – Hooray! (Said with only the barest touch of irony – I really do like to work more than almost everything else).
Now I know that the most junior sales guy in corporate America is laughing at me right now (“Hello Elizabeth, the 90s on Line 1!!”) but this is new to me. As a solo businessperson, I have spent the last six years loving (or hating) my web-based Mail, and hooked into my inbox ONLY when hooked into the internet. Not to say I can’t read email on my phone, but I certainly couldn’t write email while on the same plane my mother took coming back from college.
(not my photo - thank you Panoramio!)
It was amazing – I returned holiday greetings, cleaned up 500 emails in my inbox, and got some lovely views of the Rocky Mountains.
This amazing new Outlook program comes as part of the new Microsoft Office365 (in the cloud!). Two Camels Films are partnered with Microsoft through their Your Office, Your Terms project. Step one – installing Office Pro Plus 2010 and now discovering the wonders of offline email. Step Two – migrating my older emails and contacts and calendar to turn this Outlook into Two Camels Films central (coming soon).
I am technologizing like it’s 2003 and ain’t nothing gonna hold me down.
