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Elon Musk buys Twitter
You don't even need 280 characters to deliver this momentous news: Elon Musk just bought Twitter.
The Tesla CEO and SpaceX founder has been circling the popular social media platform for weeks, using Twitter itself as a medium to announce both his intentions and ongoing frustrations with the platform in its current form.
Now, after lining up the funds (his own and hefty support from Morgan Stanley) Musk will pay $43.4 billion -- roughly $54.20 per share -- in a tender offer that gives him control of the company. The deal now faces regulatory approval.
With Twitter's earnings report just days away, it's likely the new owner will show up during the company's Q1 earnings call - at least just to say "hi," and demurely refuses to answer most analysts' questions directly.
In a release on the acquisition, Musk said, "Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated.
"I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potential – I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it."
I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech meansApril 25, 2022
Bret Taylor, Twitter's Independent Board Chair noted in the release that "The proposed transaction will deliver a substantial cash premium, and we believe it is the best path forward for Twitter's stockholders."
Parag Agrawal, Twitter's CEO and the person who may end up working most closely with Musk said in the release, "Twitter has a purpose and relevance that impacts the entire world. Deeply proud of our teams and inspired by the work that has never been more important." He notably did not reference Musk directly.
Musk's triumph comes after a circuitous path to ownership: First he bought almost 10% of Twitter shares, giving him a seat at the table and inviting him to the board. Musk accepted and then just as quickly backed out. But he wasn't finished. Soon, he was offering $43 billion for the company, which prompted Twitter's board to adopt a poison-pill plan that would have sold cheaper shares to shareholders had Musk sought to purchase more than 15% of the company's shares.
Soon after, Musk, who has been on the platform since 2009, returned to a tender offer, which meant he'd need to pull together all the money to buy the company. As of last week, Musk secured the funds, and over the weekend, Musk and Twitter's executive team met in person to hammer out the details.
A bumpy road
Not everyone is thrilled at the prospect of a Musk-owned Twitter. In the run-up to the announcement, #RIPTwitter was trending on the platform.
As for what comes next, Musk has made clear his intentions to ensure that Twitter supports free speech from all sides (the implication being that it currently does not, though there is no empirical evidence to support this).
He may revisit some user bans, including that of former President Trump.
He'll likely open-source Twitter's code.
A fan of blockchain and NFTs, Musk might push the platform more aggressively into the crypto space.
But investors and backers will be most interested in Musk's growth plan. Twitter has done a decent job of generating more revenue from existing users, but its growth has in recent years been relatively slow and flat. It's not clear that Twitter could ever have the broad-based, global appeal of, say Facebook (which has its own growth struggles) or TikTok.
It's unclear what Musk can do to reenergize some of Twitter's biggest celebrity accounts.
Musk will probably fast-track the already-under-development Tweet Edits feature, since he made it clear during the acquisition effort that he's a fan.
What will Elon do?
What happens next depends on Elon Musk, or rather the Elon Musk who shows up to run Twitter. Will it be the brilliant, sure hand that, through SpaceX, regularly ferries astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station? The man who basically created the EV market with Tesla?Â
Maybe.
It might also be the man who impulsively tweets his inner ID and EGO. Who jokes that "The next Twitter board meet's gonna be lit," with a picture of him smoking a joint on Joe Rogan's podcast.
There sometimes seems to be little middle ground for Musk, who is both extremely successful and rich and extremely impulsive and emotional.
The fear that Musk will let the worst element back on Twitter -- Nazis, trolls, anti-vaxxers, Donald Trump, and so on -- is real. A free-speech absolutist might demand ALL voices be heard, even the dangerous ones.
Still, Musk doesn't truly know the inner workings of Twitter's extensive (and still flawed) content moderation system. He soon will. That may inspire some different and more rational thinking about how to excite and energize Twitter for the future while protecting the most vulnerable who still use it every day.
Date
25 Apr 2022Sources
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Remote working has pushed me away from PC gaming
Read MoreYou don’t need me to tell you how much the pandemic has changed our habits. Remote working may have been a blessing in disguise on some level, but it’s hard to deny that over the past two years, it’s been slowly eating away at the line between our personal and professional lives.
Don’t get me wrong - you’ll never find me complaining about not having to spend several hours a day commuting to and from the office. Still, despite this, working from home has completely destroyed my desire to go anywhere near my gaming setup anymore.
I still play video games, but with each passing day, I’ve found it much more comforting curling up on the sofa with a previous-gen console rather than spending my evening's gaming at the same desk where I work eight hours a day.
Ditching my gaming PC
(Image credit: Capcom) I assembled my trusty gaming PC shortly after finishing school. Since then, it’s been with me through thick and thin, even going through a few CPU, GPU and motherboard upgrades throughout the years. This same gaming rig now sits by my work setup at home where I’ve spent the majority of the pandemic working from.
My gaming rig continued to be an important part of my life throughout university and the early stages of my professional career as a communications consultant. Even throughout the pandemic, my PC helped me power through 2020 and allowed me to enjoy some of the best games of 2021 while in lockdown.
However, I’ve only recently realized that the more I felt exhausted and burnt out at work, the less time I wanted to spend gaming at a desk. I understand that working and gaming are wildly different activities - and in my case involves having two separate PCs - but I just couldn’t get past the fact that there I was glued to a computer at the same exact chair and desk.
At first, I wondered whether or not I had outgrown video games - as if. I still felt a longing for gaming, even if the thought of sitting at my gaming PC made me a tad sick. I initially turned to Twitch streams to try and live vicariously through various gaming content creators, but it just wasn’t the same.
That’s when I had a lightbulb moment - I still haven’t been able to nab a new-gen console like the PS5 or the Xbox Series X, but I did have my dusty original PS4, which I decided to set up in my living room as far away from my work desk as physically possible. This solution worked a treat.
Of course, an eight-year-old console could never compete with an average mid-range gaming PC in terms of hardware specifications and graphic capabilities. But I never seemed to care - even with the occasional FPS stutters aside, I was able to breeze through new releases like Resident Evil Village and Mass Effect Legendary Edition with minimal issues.
I will however admit that consoles will likely never be able to reasonably contend with PCs in terms of having a comparable selection of games to choose from. Even taking into account Xbox Game Pass as well as rumors that PlayStation may be developing its own gaming subscription service, the versatility of computers will always mean that PC users will have access to a wider variety of games than their console counterparts. Personally, whenever this became an issue, I simply swiped my partner’s Nintendo Switch whenever the mood for more casual gaming struck.
Is there a solution?
(Image credit: Shutterstock) While I’ve switched to console gaming for the time being, I definitely don’t see it being a permanent change. Even as my PC continues to collect dust, I still believe I’ll return to it one day as soon as my patience for remote working stops wearing somewhat thin. In the meantime, in the event that you find yourself in a similar situation, I’ve put together some possible solutions that haven’t entirely worked for myself, but very well may do for you.
First off - and I admit this may not seem like a viable solution for those living in a tiny London flat like myself - it may be worth thinking about separating your gaming rig away from your workspace if you have the space to do so. Moving your gaming setup over to a spare room, hooking it up to your TV or even just moving it to another desk can make a world of difference in helping you mentally separate your workspace from your place of leisure. If this sounds like a reasonable plan, we have a round-up of the best cheap gaming desks available right now.
If moving your gaming PC away from your current desk just isn’t possible, there could be some other things that you could do to change the way you think about your workspace. Making a conscious effort to form healthier working habits worked for me on more than one occasion. For example, this can include things like taking small breaks throughout the day or blocking out time for a short midday walk whenever your work schedule permits.
Another trick is to stop yourself from eating lunch in front of your work laptop, but that’s just a good life tip in general. Essentially, the goal here is to minimize the amount of time you spend at your desk as much as possible to make sure you have the energy to game later.
Having a reliable group of PC gamer friends can help bring back your motivation to game too. You’ll also be less likely to flake if you schedule regular gaming sessions throughout the week.
- Want to try out PC gaming for yourself? Here's the best gaming laptops of 2021
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Best Microsoft Office alternatives of 2021: Free, paid, online mobile office suites
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Google Workspace : Collaboration + productivity apps
There are many different office software suites but Google Workspace formerly known as G Suite remains the original cloud one and one of the best business office suites, offering a huge range of features and functionality that rivals can't match.
Try it free for 14 days.The best Microsoft Office alternatives make it simple and easy to complete office tasks and increase productivity.
Best Microsoft Office alternativesMicrosoft Office remains the most popular productivity suite for documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and more - whether as a download software package, or as the cloud-based Microsoft 365 suite - through powerful apps such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, Access, Outlook, and more.
However, a range of alternative competitors have become increasingly attractive, not least because of more price-competitive licensing fees, and some are free to use. However, paying less, or nothing, doesn't necessarily mean that the software is of lower quality, as the open source community can testify.
Yet there can be issues with sharing documents between different office suite platforms, which can be a real concern. This is why when choosing an alternative to Microsoft Office, you need to be certain of any shortfalls that might limit your use of the software, especially if you need to share or collaborative on documents with other users who have one or more different office suites.
If you're using the office alternative as a standalone piece of software there shouldn't be any such issues, but it is something to be mindful about if you end up changing to a different software suite.
That said, the best in the Microsoft Office alternatives are generally strong programs with full functionality, and little problem sharing files with other platforms, though few come close to the full functionality of Microsoft 365 with it's cloud service bundle that includes OneDrive and Microsoft Teams.
Here we'll show the best of them, along with their strengths and weaknesses.
- We've also highlighted the best free word processor.
(Image credit: LibreOffice) LibreOffice is the offspring of The Document Foundation and split from OpenOffice in 2010. The suite itself is free and open source, and is made up of a word processor, spreadsheet and presentation software, and is available in 110 languages.
While LibreOffice uses the ODF (OpenDocument) format it still supports a range of other format types such as those used in Microsoft Office. LibreOffice is the default suite for most Linux distros and it is also available for use on Windows and macOS. There's also a LibreOffice viewer for Android.
As with most open source software all your technical support comes from online, but seeing how easy this is to use, support will be rarely needed. The platform also offers the option to export your files into PDF format amongst others.
You can add extra features to LibreOffice via extensions from its website. These include extra templates for documents.
- Read our full LibreOffice review.
(Image credit: FreeOffice) If you are looking for a free and easy alternative to Microsoft Office, then FreeOffice is the suite for you. The company, SoftMaker, has been developing office software since 1987 and its office suite is their flagship product.
FreeOffice is a complete office suite that is free to use for both home and in the workplace. It is developed for both Windows and Linux, and offers a basic version for Android users.
The suite itself is fully compatible with all Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint formats. This means that you can not only view but save files in formats such as DOCX, XLSX and PPTX. It also supports older file types such as PPT and XLS.
The new interface that was launched this year gives you the option of either working with modern or classic menus and toolbars. This makes switching from Microsoft Office easy to do as the interface is eerily similar.
For those users who have the luxury of a touchscreen PC you can use touch mode with larger icons. This mode is available for both the newer version look and the classic menu-based interface.
(Image credit: WPS) WPS Office was released in 2016 by Chinese software developer Kingsoft. It is an office suite that is available for Windows, Linux, Android and iOS. The suite is available in English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish and Russian.
It offers a free and a premium tier. The free tier allows you to use Writer, Presentation and Spreadsheets, which are alternatives to the Microsoft Office suite which it also resembles closely. WPS offers a PDF to Word converter which is fast and easy to use. It supports bulk exportation and can also split-merge PDF files if needed.
The suite offers 1GB of free cloud storage for iOS and PC users, but this service is not yet available for Android.
The 'Premium' tier allows the user to connect up 9 devices at once. It also gets rids of all those annoying adverts that are commonplace on the free tier.
WPS has been criticised for not allowing collaboration beyond those that track changes and allow users to insert comments. Users have also said that the interface can be quite slow at times when it comes to loading documents. Linux users have mentioned that not all fonts are automatically included and that they have to be installed separately.
For Android users installation is quite large and criticism has been levelled imploring the developer to make it more lightweight.
(Image credit: Calligra) Calligra Office suite was initially released in October 2000 as part of KOffice. It is an office suite developed by KDE as well as being suitable to use for graphic art design. It is available on Linux, macOS, Windows and Android.
Calligra is a free and open source software suite and can be downloaded directly from its own website or from KDE's downloads page. It is completely distinct from LibreOffice.
While LibreOffice has the familiar look and feel of MS Office, Calligra does not. A lot of the useable features tabs are set on the right-hand side of the screen and not on the top like MS Office and other office suites. This means that the page you are currently editing does not take up the full screen.
One of the extra features that makes Calligra stand out is that it offers a mind-mapping and project managing tool. Usually these cost extra.
Calligra allows you to read DOCX and DOX formats but you cannot edit them. This can cause difficulties if your contacts send you Microsoft Office documents, so ask them to use a different format such as ODT (Open Document Text) instead.
(Image credit: Mobisystems) OfficeSuite is an application that was developed by MobiSystems and is available for Android, iOS and Windows. Devices that are made by Amazon, Toshiba, Sony and Alcatel often come with OfficeSuite pre-installed. The Android app has been named among the top applications for business.
You can synchronize between devices using your OfficeSuite account and only one license is needed for all your devices.
It has several tiers to choose from. The 'Basic' tier is free and allows users to view and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents. The suite has full compatibility with most formats such as ODT, RTF, CSV, DOC, and ZIP. The free tier also enables users to view PDF documents and offers cloud support via services like Dropbox, OneDrive and Google Drive.
The 'Personal' tier enables the suite on one desktop, one tablet and one phone. It has all the free tier has to offer along with the ability to track changes, export PDF's to other editable formats and advanced PDF features such as digital signatures and passwords.
The 'Group' tier allows you to use across five desktops, five tablets and 5 phones. A Home & Business version is available as a one-time fee download.
- Read our full OfficeSuite review.
(Image credit: Polaris) Polaris Office is developed by Intraware and was initially released in March 2014. It is a free office suite that is available for Android, iOS, Windows and macOS. It appears to be a popular suite amongst businesses and is used by the likes of Amazon and Samsung.
While the free version is very generous there is a business version to which you can upgrade. To enquire about the cost, you will need to send Polaris a 'Purchase Query form' which can be found on their website.
With this powerful suite you can edit many different file formats including PPT, XLS, DOCX and HWP. As your account synchronizes amongst your devices you will be able to edit and create from wherever you are. All your data is secured by AWS (Amazon Web Services).
With the latest edition of Polaris you can now convert and edit PDF documents. Users can also convert voice and image files to documents if the need arises.
The suite supports several different languages such as French, German, Korean, English and Russian.
The only real criticism there is of Polaris is that while the free edition offers a huge range of features the ads can be a little distracting at times.
- Read our full Polaris Office review.
(Image credit: OnlyOffice) OnlyOffice is an open source office suite developed by Ascensio Systems SIA. It is available in over 22 languages and boasts of Oracle being one of their leading clients.
The completely free version, known as the 'Community Edition' is most suited for small business and allows up to 20 connections at once. This suite does not just offer the usual features such as word processing or spreadsheets but is very useful in relation to order fulfilment and for documenting sales.
The handy calendar feature allows user to keep up to date with personal and work-related tasks as well as keeping an eye on deadlines. Third party integration is also supported. You can create your own Mailboxes with the 'Mail' tool.
As with other office suites there is the ability to create and edit documents, spreadsheets and presentations. Users can collaborate on projects and make comments in files where necessary.
- Read our full OnlyOffice review.
(Image credit: WordPerfect) WordPerfect has had a number of owners over the years since it was developed in the late 1970s. Fast forward to 1996, it was purchased by Corel who, back then wanted to build a business capable of competing with Microsoft and Adobe. WordPerfect was most popular in the 80's where it was known for its DOS and Microsoft Windows versions. It was soon eclipsed by Microsoft Office upon its release.
It is an all-in-one office suite. It offers its own word processor, spreadsheet program and a slideshow creator. The latest version now includes improved photo-editing and management. WordPerfect offer a free trial version which you can download from the main site.
Like other suites it can save to many different formats such as DOCX, PDF and HTML. The common file extensions for WordPerfect files is WPD. It also offers ebooks publishing and macro management.
The PDF feature gives users the ability to edit and fill in forms via PDF, as well as change the form's appearance e.g. font/color. WordPerfect supports opening multiple documents at one time.
While WordPerfect is a perfectly reasonable program, and many early Windows adopters may remember it fondly, the pricing just isn't very competitive when compared to the rest of the market.
- Read our full WordPerfect review.
(Image credit: Zoho) While Google Docs is, thanks to the strength of its brand, probably more widely used, Zoho Workplace is very good in its own right. It's certainly closer to a desktop office package, and it's strong enough to have attracted businesses like the BBC and Nike as regular users.
Zoho's new-look word processor (which ditches the classic Word-style interface in favour of a formatting sidebar) is very well-presented and capable of producing professional-looking docs, and it has a sterling spreadsheet and reasonable presentation package alongside it.
They're just the tip of the iceberg, however – Zoho Workplace includes a powerful site creation tool, a file management solution and many collaborative tools. Some are on the simplistic side, so they'll likely not replace anything you might already have in place, but if you're starting out as a small business Zoho is probably a good jumping-off point.
If you want to signup for the free version of Zoho Workplace you need to search the pricing page for the "Forever free" plan. However, there's no one-click set up or access, and instead you have to go through a sign up process that begins by providing details of an existing business domain.
- Read our full Zoho Workplace review.
(Image credit: Google) Google Workplace is another Microsoft Office alternative worth considering, as it's development by the internet behemoth Google specifically for collaborative and group work. The three key tools run happily in any web browser, and are available as mobile apps for Apple and Android devices.
Google's free office suite doesn't offer the advanced tools you'll find in Microsoft 365 or many rivals, but everything is laid out in a clear, logical way and all your files will be saved and synced automatically so you don't have to worry about transfers and backups.
The chief disadvantage of Workplace is that opening files created using other office software is a cumbersome process and file formatting isn't is always converted properly. This is partly because Google's office tools use web fonts rather than ones stored locally on your device, and partly because Microsoft documents sometimes contain features not supported by Google.
Additionally, there are some quirks with Google Docs that make it less user-friendly than other office software. As free software it does the job fine, but as a paid product it still lags behind the features and functionality of Microsoft Office.
- Read our full Google workspace review.
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Microsoft is launching a free website builder
The easy to use tool is aimed at small businesses.
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