July 2007 Entries
Finally Microsoft has decided to help everyone of us to obtain an hotfix for a product in a quick manner: no more special requests or phone calls, now there's a single place where, simply by filling a web form, you can request the hotfix you want. The link that makes the "miracle" is this: https://support.microsoft.com/contactus2/emailcontact.aspx?scid=sw;en;1410&WS=hotfix You will get a form mail in response, and in it will be a link to an http site you can download the fix from. I've personally tested the service yesterday evening (I need a fix for a NAV client) and this morning the hotfix was...
I've received directly from one of the authors (Rich McIver) the segnalation for an interesting tool: The CC PDF converter (beta) is a free (open source) application that enables you to create PDF documents from almost any application (Word, Excel, Internet Explorer and more). The CC PDF Converter also allows you to easily embed a creative commons license in your PDF file. Sounds interesting for many of us I think... Thanks Rich.
One of the powerful feature of the future Dynamics NAV 5.1 version is surely the new web service layer: Dynamics NAV will finally permit us to expose tables and business logic to other external applications, so a new world of possible application scenarios wil be opened to the NAV users. But one of the common questions I receive is: should I become a web service expert in order to use these new features? Although understanding the core concepts of .NET web services is always the best way to approach the new NAV service layer, Dynamics NAV will offer a simple and...
I've received an interesting set of official and unofficial news from friends involved in the Microsoft World Partner Conference that I like to share with all my readers. In a casual order, here is the list: If you're interested on Dynamics NAV as a possible ERP solution but you've small requirements in terms of users and functionalities, Microsoft has announced a new product called "Microsoft Dynamics Entrepeneur Solution", totally based on Microsoft Dynamics NAV standard and able to satisfy the needs of up to 5 users. The main feature of this new version is that it will be really...
On my CRM VPC that I use for product demonstrations I have an integration with a Sharepoint portal where custom webparts present some data analysis to the users. In order to update my VPC machine with WSS 3.0 I've checked for the new Microsoft Dynamics CRM Analytics Foundation (it offers interesting dashboards with KPIs) but (with a bit of surprise) it doesn't support WSS 3.0 webparts. Now I've two questions for the team: Is the WSS 3.0 support on the to-do list? Will be this product natively integrated into "Tytan"?
With a big surprised, I've just read this news on my blogroll: Microsoft Learning announces its decision to move forward with Prometric for delivery of its Microsoft professional certification and Microsoft Dynamics exams. Pearson VUE will discontinue selling Microsoft professional certification exams after August 31, 2007. To accommodate those who purchase Microsoft professional certification exams through August 31, Pearson VUE will continue to administer the exams through December 31, 2007. Pearson VUE will discontinue selling and administering Microsoft Dynamics exams after December 31, 2007. Additional details regarding this transition will follow over the next few months. Read the...
I'm glad to see that Roberto Andreoli has leave me a great answer on his blog by explaining his 50-30-20 theory. On his previous post about the possible Microsoft leadership in the business application's world, I said him that "Microsoft has a great platform expecially on the ERP side (AX and NAV are products so customizable that can fits every customer's needs). When their future releases will be more integrated into the .NET world, I think that the primary role on the market will be for sure. However, the CRM platform is a step below the ERP. Microsoft CRM actually...
I love MSN and it's one of my favourite Instant Messaging tools for fun but... try to imagine this situation: You're using an Instant Messaging (IM) tool for a communication between coworkers in different places around the world and you've an ADSL connection in your office. You start your IM program and you're ready to communicate with all your contacts. The communication works good for hours but at a certain moment your ADSL provider has a DNS problem. What happens now? If your IM program is MSN (but this happens also for Yahoo Messenger or Skype for example) you're out... you...
Trika has published an in-depth post about the future lifecycle of every Microsoft certification. Basically, the new word to keep in mind for every future Microsoft title is "currency". Every MS certifications will have a strict lifecycle and at the end of this period the title must be renewed or it will be retired. In summary: Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) certifications will be retired when Microsoft discontinues mainstream support for the technology (usually 7-10 years from the product's initial release) Professional-series credentials (MCITP and MCPD) will require an update every three years from the date you earned the...
With a bit of surprise, Roberto Andreoli today has published on his blog a post about one of the topic that I'll try to demonstrate during the next weeks for who has the fortune :P to be present at the next events organized by my company (I'll talk about these events later). The question is: Has Microsoft the chance to be the leader in the Business Application world in the near future? Is the Microsoft platform ready for this step? Roberto has published exactly what I'll try to explain (and demonstrate) the next week: "Microsoft with Dynamics and the OBA (Office Business...
We in EID have always original ideas...
With Microsoft Dynamics NAV, if you try to open a database created with a version older than the current client version (from example a 4.0 SP2 database opened with a 4.0 SP3 client), the system prompts you with a message that says something like "The database must be converted to the new version. Are you sure?". If you press the YES button, the db is automatically converted to the new version. But what can you do if you want to rollback this upgrade? There's not an official way for doing this, but if you're running a SQL Server database you can...