Sonoma Partners Microsoft CRM Blog

Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2007 client is here

This morning I hopped on to the Central Region Quarterly Partner Marketing call, and I was prompted to install the Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2007 client to join the meeting. Of course I did, and it installed with no problems. If you're never seen the Live Meeting 2007 client before, it is QUITE different than the previous versions! The first thing you will notice is the great video display. I am not sure if we'll use the video option when we present but I thought it was nice to see as an attendee. I also like the new streamlined user interface so that attendees get the "big screen" by default. In Live Meeting 2005, users have to hide all the extra panes that appear which sometimes causes some confusion. Overall, the 2007 version seems like a great improvement and I'm looking forward to being able to use it as a presenter.

Finding the link to install the Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2007 client wasn't easy, but our good friend Menno was kind enough to post it on his blog:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HA101733831033.aspx

SQL Server 2008 and CRM

Today Microsoft released a CTP (Community Technology Preview) download of the next version of their SQL Server product. While it is code-named "Katmai", Microsoft said that the product will go to market next year with the name "SQL Server 2008". I haven't been following Katmai too closely, but I did find this marketing-speak on what's new:

"SQL Server 2008 capabilities deliver on the four key areas of the data platform vision.

• Mission-Critical Platform – SQL Server 2008 enables IT groups to be more productive by providing a more secure, scalable, and manageable platform. It includes a new policy-based management framework that shifts from managing by scripts to managing by rules. SQL Server 2008 also protects valuable information in existing applications and disconnected devices. In addition, SQL Server 2008 delivers predictable query performance with an optimized platform.
• Dynamic Development – SQL Server 2008 along with the .NET Framework enables developers to build the next generation of applications. Developers are more productive because they work with business entities instead of tables and columns. They can build applications that enable users to take their data with them and synchronize their data with back-end servers.
• Beyond Relational Data – SQL Server 2008 enables developers to consume any type of data, from XML to documents, and build applications that incorporate location awareness.
• Pervasive Business Insight – SQL Server 2008 provides a scalable infrastructure that can manage reports and analysis of any size or complexity while at the same time empowering users because of its close integration with the Microsoft Office System. This enables IT to drive business intelligence throughout the organization. SQL Server 2008 makes great strides in data warehousing, enabling users to consolidate data marts in an enterprise data warehouse. "

I read these bullets three times and I still don't have a real good idea what new features/benefits will be in SQL Server 2008! However, I assume that at a minimum that SQL Server 2008 will perform faster than SQL Server 2005 and it will integrate better with Microsoft Office 2007. Of course those two benefits will make life easier for all you Microsoft CRM customers out there!

I also found out that Dundas Charts will be included in the SQL Server 2008 product too, so it should allow developers to create much sexier looking reports. That is indeed very exciting. Why didn't the marketing geeks just list that tidbit as a bullet point up above? It should have said: "Your reports will look better!"

Now we just have to wait until next year to get our hands on it.

Windows Mobile 6... a must have?

Three weeks ago I posted about Windows Mobile 6 arriving for Dash owners. I downloaded the goods from T-Mobile on May 4th and ran the upgrade. It did crash and burn the first time through the upgrade, but I ran it again and it seemed to work fine. I've been using Windows Mobile 6 over the past few weeks and my thoughts are:

• The new graphics are very nice, it makes the system more enjoyable to use.
• It sounds silly, but I like the new message sound effect better in Windows Mobile 6!
• Sorry, no new games built-in.
• Some minor annoyances were fixed, such as the ability to "skip" the email account selection screen when you have a new message.
• They moved some of the functions around, so now you can delete an email message directly from your Inbox with one click. Before you had to select Menu and then Delete. Not major, but it is nice.
• The email viewer supports HTML, which makes is easier to read a lot of different messages. Much appreciated.
• Built-in Word, Excel and PDF viewers rock!
• The battery life seems to be a little worse, but not to the point where it is an issue. I definitely have to charge it every night though.
• The new calendar view makes it easier to check your schedule and flip from day to day.
• A few times I have had the phone "black out" for no apparent reason, the only way I was able to get the sucker working again was to remove the battery and turn the phone back on. Now sure what that is all about.
• I have not tried the new Live Search yet so no comment.

Overall, despite a few minor glitches I've really enjoyed Windows Mobile 6 and I would recommend that everyone such upgrade if their device supports it. In fact we like it so much better that Sonoma Partners made the decision to switch our employees away from the Motorola Q so we purchased all new T-Mobile Dashes. The Motorola Q can't be upgraded to Windows Mobile 6, plus the Dash has a much nicer form factor than the Q.

Out of curiosity, I did a few searches on "Windows Mobile 7" but nothing too interesting came up.

Windows Mobile 6 arrives at T-mobile tomorrow?

I have been using a T-Mobile Dash as my cell phone for several months now, and I really like it a lot. So I was going along perfectly happy with my T-Mobile Dash (which runs on the Windows Mobile 5 operating system) until Bill Patterson gave me a sneak peak of Windows Mobile 6 at the Convergence conference. As happy as I was with my dash, I had some serious envy of the shiny new Windows Mobile 6 OS. It appeared much faster, it looked very cool, and I wanted it right away. Unfortunately unlike Bill, I didn't have access to the goods so I have been patiently waiting for T-Mobile to post the Windows Mobile 6 update on their website, and it appears that tomorrow is the big day. Can't wait!

Here are some of the other great new features in Windows Mobile 6:

• Support for HTML e-mail: Improve readability with the ability to send and receive e-mail messages in HTML format, preserving tables, bulleted lists, colored text, links, and inline images.
• Out of Office Assistant*: Retrieve, set, and change your Out of Office status and AutoReply notification from a Windows Mobile 6-powered device.
• Smart on-device filtering: Search call history, contacts, and e-mail more quickly and efficiently.
• Exchange e-mail search*: Search for any e-mail message stored in an Exchange Server mailbox from your Windows Mobile 6-powered device.
• Enhanced Word Mobile editing tools: Cut/copy/paste and Spell Check

* requires Exchange Server 2007

Office 2007 available on MSDN downloads!

Microsoft posted Office 2007 to MSDN today! We are downloading everything right now, and I'll be running on Office 2007 RTM version within an hour. My wife is looking at me strangely because I am somewhat giddy about this news, and I'll admit it is kinda weird to get fired up about a software download. However, I have been patiently waiting for Office 2007 for well over a year so cut me some slack.

Hopefully the Microsoft CRM product team will release the new version of the Outlook client soon so that I can use Outlook 2007 with the CRM Outlook client installed.

Office 2007 - whohoo!

I was finally able to spend some time playing with Office 2007 Beta 2. I only tooled around for 10 or 15 minutes, but it is AWESOME. This is definitely not your regular 'ole upgrade! Within literally the first 3 minutes I found 3 great new features in Word 2007:

• Live previews - hovering over buttons in the "ribbon" will update the document on the fly so you can preview what it would look like if you applied the formatting.

• Save to HTML improved - anyone who has tried to work with the HTML that Word 2003 generates knows the meaning the pain. I tried the Word 2007 save to HTML (filtered) and it was clean looking HTML code...ah nice.

• Blogging in Word - Write your posts in Word and then publish to your provider. Love it.

My only complaint is that I am too chicken to start using the Beta 2 for my system, out of fear for bugs and incompatibility. Alas, I'll wait a few more months for the real deal.

UPDATE: Microsoft announced that Office 2007 will not be released in October, but it will be released some time in 2006.

Hell hath no fury like...

William Congreve once famously wrote:

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."

With all due respects to Billy C, I would like to submit my own addendum/revision to this good 'ole axiom:

"Hell hath no fury like a software developer scorned."

I bring this up in regards to the absolute firestorm caused by Microsoft's recent announcements on Win FS. If you're not familiar with Win FS, my non-expert description of this technology is that Win FS is a new file storage system that would store all of your data files in a relational database...instead of the current crazy file system in Windows XP. This of course would provide lots of benefits, and everyone was really excited about its potential. Originally slated as one of the design pillars of Windows Vista (then known as "Longhorn"), Microsoft announced in August 2004 that Win FS would not be part of the original Vista shipment. However they said they would release Win FS as a separate product after the release of Vista.

But just last week Quentin Clark (who runs the Program Management team for WinFS) blogged that Win FS would no longer be released as a separate product. Unfortunately, he tried to convince the readers that this was a GOOD thing because Win FS would morph into SQL Server and ADO.NET. He also litered his blog with tons "marketing speak" and "blah blah blah". To make matter worse, he said "it's what people have been asking for". As a final insult, Microsoft held sessions at the Tech-Ed conference just a weeks ago hyping up Win FS.

The software development community was not buying it.

Developers from all over the world torched Quentin's post with negative comments, and bloggers took Microsoft to task. The software developers felt scorned, and they let poor Quentin feel their wrath. Yesterday, Quentin posted a follow up and came clean with more information about Win FS.

The software development community was still angry, but at least a little more understanding this time.

Reading through the comments to yesterday's post, I got a few chuckles. Here's one funny one:

"The vision remains alive"
TRANSLATION: Unfortunately the current version of Visual Studio does not support compiling visions.

"But some of the technology, especially the end user value points, are not ready"
TRANSLATION: Of course, by "end user value points," I mean "stuff people will use."

Now I know almost nothing about Win FS, but here's my perspective on how this all went down. Working against Microsoft:

• An update this important about Win FS should NOT have been made via a blog post. This poor Quentin guy, he's got like three blog posts over the past 12 months. Who decided this guy has to fall on the sword?!?!

• Microsoft had to know this news would not be well received, so they should have just sucked it up and made the announcement at Tech-Ed, instead of waiting a few weeks after the conference. Yes it would have been painful but it would have been the right thing to do.

However, in Microsoft's defense, I am not surprised at all that Microsoft had to alter their Win FS product plans:

• Creating new and revolutionary technology like Win FS is HARD WORK. Creating new and revolutionary technology for the world's most popular operating system is RIDICULOUSLY HARD WORK. The Microsoft CRM product team has hundreds of developers on it, so I can't even imagine how many developers worked on Windows Vista and Win FS! Coordinating a software project of that size boggles my mind.

• If some of your products don't work out as envisioned, then in my opinion you're not pushing the limits hard enough. So kudos to Microsoft! Keep trying new and cool stuff, and we'll try to be more understanding when some great ideas don't come to fruition.

• I'd rather have Microsoft stop a product now, then ship an inferior product that is slow, buggy, insecure or doesn't meet the end user requirements...even if they publically announced it 5 years ago. Yes we were excited for Win FS, but I'm willing to give Microsoft the benefit of a doubt that this was the right decision based on where they're at today.

• Stuff happens. Windows Vista started in 2001, and it's 2006 now! Think about how much has changed in technology over the past 5 years. There was no blogging, no podcasts, no Ipods, no RSS, Google just started, and so on. Even the best laid plans are subject to change due to external circumstances. Five years ago I didn't even know that Microsoft CRM existed. Now we're one of the top consulting firms in the world in Microsoft CRM!

In summary, I understand that developers are frustrated because Win FS offered so many potential benefits. However, I think I understand Microsoft's position on this product. For me, I am 100 times more excited about Office 2007 than I ever was about Win FS. So here's hoping Office 2007 lives up to my expectations, and I never scorn software developers!

Windows Live Messenger Beta sneak peek

One of my friends that works at Microsoft sent me an invite to try the new Windows Live Messenger Beta (the new version of MSN Messenger):

Hello!

We'd like you to be among the first to try the beta version of Windows Live^TM Messenger.

If you use MSN® Messenger now, we think you're really going to enjoy Windows Live Messenger. It's as fun and reliable as the Messenger you already know, and you won't lose your contact list or any other personal information when you try this new version. Check it out to experience new ways to connect to your friends via text, voice, video, and more.

And in case you were wondering about the name change, Windows Live Messenger is part of a new family of services from Microsoft® that includes Windows Live Mail (now a simpler, safer, faster mail), and Live.com (a new personalized homepage experience), to name just a few.

Thanks,
The Windows Live Messenger team

I installed the new software and it looks super slick!

I have only used it for a day or two but I already found a great new feature: offline messaging. This feature allows me to send a message to a contact when they're offline and then Windows Live Messenger will hold the message and automatically deliver it for me the next time the contact signs in! How cool is that?

Microsoft Office 2003 Service Pack 2 Released

Microsoft released Service Pack 2 for Office 2003 today, and you can download it here. I checked the "official" Microsoft CRM system requirements, and there is no mention of needing Service Pack 1 for Office 2003, so we assume CRM users are safe to update their machines with Office 2003 Service Pack 2...

GARTNER: Microsoft's collaboration "dominance" vs. IBM

Got this little tidbit from Dale Timberlake, our Midwest District Partner Team Lead:

Hot off the Gartner presses, a terrific report entitled “Microsoft and IBM Share Similar Collaboration Goals, but Follow Different Paths.” The report compares the long-term vision of each company in order to predict how successfully or unsuccessfully IBM will compete with Microsoft’s “dominance” and “early lead” in the space.

A few highlights:

• “By 2009, Microsoft’s collaborative vision will achieve significant, if not overwhelming, enterprise adoption (0.9 probability). The viability of Microsoft in the integrated collaboration market is not really in question.”

• “Given Microsoft’s dominance and ambitious plans for Windows and Office System, it will almost certainly continue to dominate. Whether IBM is a distant second or a realistic challenger depends on how it executes its basically sound strategy. Based on current performance, we believe IBM is more likely to be a distant second.”

• “IBM has the more difficult job ahead of it, because Microsoft has taken an early lead in building support for its vision of integrated collaboration.”