[FUN] Site down - hilarious error message

Definitely an interesting error message:

My host, being satan incarnate, messed up the database. Im in Orlando still, so i shall be diligent and fix it when I return.

Tags van Technorati: error+message,fun

Musings about Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009

I did a practice session about integrating Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 and the Business Intelligence capabilities of Microsoft SQL Server a couple of weeks ago.

I'm mostly a SharePoint guy but I  was pretty impressed with the capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009. Since Dynamics AX 2009 finally RTM'ed (Download on partnersource - https://mbs.microsoft.com/partnersource/support/selfsupport/productreleases/DynamicsAX2009release.htm

For more info check out these links:

• What's new in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 (Partnersource login required) - powerpoints of both new technical and functional aspects in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009
• What Will Be the Most Important Performance Enhancement in Dynamics AX 2009? Try Scaling of the AOS
• What's new in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 - technical resource (Partnersource login required)
• AX 2009 - Quick overview - Great blogpost from Arijit about MS Dynamics AX 2009.
• Channel 9: a preview of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 with the Dynamics Team (mp4) - (lowres version)
• Solution Monkey : AX 2009 Enterprise Portal architecture
• Dynamics AX 2009 : The Halo for Microsoft's app platform

The coolest thing for SharePoint developers is probably the ASP.NET based Enterprise Portal - everything is basically an ASP.NET web part which makes it a lot easier to develop a light-weight web access for your Dynamics AX back-end.

Something which still strikes me as odd though is the fact that almost all of the documentation is partner-access only - so you will need a Partnersource logon to take a look at the most interesting bits of info. I truly believe that the key to the success of a platform is the community which drives it  ... and it seems as if the Dynamics AX platform solely relies on its partner platform. Too bad ... [This is my personal opinion and not necessarily this of my employer]

Tags van Technorati: microsoft,dynamics+ax,axapta,axapta+2009

Interactive Media Manager (IMM) and SharePoint Server 2007

Interactive Media Manager is a Digital Asset Management (DAM) system built on top of SharePoint Server 2007. Some interesting features:

• Media (MPG,WMV, ...) is not stored in a SharePoint list, the media asset storage is completely separate which allows you to store in a SAN or leverage 3d party solutions such as Aspera and Telestream through a web services layer
• Provides an extensive metadata management layer which supports W3C Resource Description Language (RDF) as well as the Web Ontology Language (OWL)
• Web parts to handle rich media such as IMM import web part, a media viewer web part with support for annotations/comments, Silverlight based Rough Cut editor and the Media Library
• Adds extra IMM specific workflow activity blocks

For a great demo of the capabilities - check out IMM@NAB 2008 (Video)

Related links:

• Channel 9: Interview with Mark Kashman, Product Manager Interactive Media Manager
• IMM on Codeplex
• Interactive Media Manager - link to Starz Entertainment case study
• IMM Team Blog
• IMM MSDN Forum
• IMM Developer center on MSDN

Tags van Technorati: sharepoint+2007,sharepoint+server,MOSS+2007,MOSS,IMM,DAM,Interactive+Media+Manager,microsoft

Enterprise 2.0 and organizational culture

Enterprise 2.0 is probably one of these buzz words you have heard a lot lately. It is also a term which is surrounded by confusion. The simplest definition of Enterprise 2.0 would probably be "...the application of Web 2.0 technologies in the enterprise." . This is similar to the definition which has been put forward by AIIM in one of their studies recently.

Enterprise 2.0: A system of web-based technologies that provide rapid and agile collaboration, sharing, emergence and integration capabilities in the extended enterprise.

Another cool one - probably my favourite:

Enterprise 2.0 is about empowering your end users to connect and collaborate.

Now let's talk about the key thoughts in the presentation.  The red line in the presentation is the link between organizational culture and Enterprise 2.0. But  what is not clear is whether your organizaiton needs a "culture of collaboration" to successfully use wikis and other Enterprise 2.0 tools or that these tools can enable your organization to embrace a "culture of collaboration".

This might seem like the chicken-and-the-egg problem ... 

I think that you will first need to create a mindset within your company which is ready to embrace collaboration and knowledge sharing before you can start thinking about Enterprise 2.0 - a view which is confirmed by this guy  - Enterprise 2.0 - Culture required?  But on the other hand for those people in your company who get it, you want to provide the necessary tools - so you might want to take a look at a platform which might already be present in your company - guess which one? SharePoint offcourse  ... LOL.

Related links:

• Knowledge and talent in a people ready business
• Knowledge is power! So why share your knowledge?
• SharePoint and Web 2.0
• The value in social networks
• Colleagues, Social Distance & Relevance in People Search, and other Social Networking tools in SharePoint

Tags van Technorati: sharepoint,microsoft,web2.0,enterprise2.0,organizational+culture,knowledge+management,knowledgesharing

Getting started with SharePoint and Silverlight - Part IIb

Silverlight 2 beta 2 has been released - so time to install the required tools fo finish my series about Getting started with SharePoint and Silverlight.

• Getting started with SharePoint and Silverlight - Part I
• Getting started with SharePoint and Silverlight - Part II

First uninstall Expression Blend 2.5 March preview, Silverlight 2 Beta 1 and Microsoft Silverlight Tools Beta 1 for Visual Studio 2008. Next install all of the new components:

• Silverlight 2 Beta 2
• Silverlight Tools Beta 2 for Visual Studio 2008 - this will install  Silverlight 2 Beta 2, Silverlight 2 SDK Beta 2 , KB950630 for Visual Studio 2008 RTM or KB950632 for Visual Studio 2008 SP1 Beta  and Silverlight Tools Beta 2 for Visual Studio 2008
• Expression Blend 2.5 June CTP
• Deep Zoom Composer June 2008 Release (Version 0.9.0.3) - if you don't know deep zoom you should definitely take a look at  Hardrock memorabilia which is an excellent show case

Interesting about Silverlight 2 Beta2 is the fact that it has a go-live license that allows you to start using and deploying Silverlight 2 for commercial applications.

Interesting links:

• Silverlight Beta 2 tutorials available in PDF
• Silverlight 2 - now with more controls
• Silverlight 2 Beta 2 Released (Blog Scott Guthtrie) - excellent overview of new features

Tags van Technorati: sharepoint,silverlight,expression+blend,blend,deep+zoom,microsoft

Silverlight 2 Beta 2- annonying popup and the Silverlight XBOX Gamercard

I noticed this really annoying popup today on my blog  -

"The evaluation period for Silverlight 2 Beta 1 has ended. You can visit the Silverlight web site to download the latest version. Do you want to go there now?"

So I uninstalled Silverlight and saw this  "Install Microsoft Silverlight to view My XBox Gamercard". But when I clicked this - it redirected me again to the Silverlight Beta 1 download. Therefore I remove the XBox Gamercard silverlight app untill it has been upgraded. Too bad, I hoped that upgrades would be seamless from an end-users perspective.

Tags van Technorati: silverlight,xbox,microsoft

Where is WinFS now?

Interesting interview with Quentin Clark who led the WinFS project from 2002 to 2006 ... This is something which you should read, it also puts the evolution of the Entity Framework, Filestreams in SQL Server 2008 (Take a look at Managing unstructured data in SQL Server 2008 ) ,  LINQ and the Microsoft Sync Framework into perspective, ...

Tags van Technorati: microsoft,development,sync+framework,winfs,linq,sqlserver+2008,entity+framework,ado.net

Euro 2008 webparts

Check them out - http://www.euro2008webpart.nl/ 

Best indoor soccer goal ever ....