Exchange, MobileMe, iPhone

I'm working with a desktop computer, a notebook and a phone. All of them Apple branded.

I'm experimenting with MobileMe in order to get synchronized all of them.

I also use 2 POP3 email accounts, one of them is Gmail and my most important email is an Exchange Server based mailbox.

One of the most painful experiences lately was the sloppy relationship with Outlook. Now I'm working with iCal.

Wouldn't it be great if I could get all the contacts from Exchange, email accounts, calendars and to do's always up to date no matter where I am or no matter which device I use?

So far MobielMe solved all the problems. I will be writing a more complete report so stay in sync with this Blog!

A message to Steve Jobs

Dear Steve,

There is an interesting opportunity I wanted you to know about. Knowing that you are one of the few readers my Blog keeps I decided to post a message for you.

There is a growing number of Notebooks and desktop computers that are operative and in good condition but using very slow Windows XP operating system.

During the past few weeks I made some experiments and the machines with old processors are working fine with Ubuntu and the pre-release of Windows 7.

Anyway, looks like the way of using those machines have to be as "purpose oriented" computers. Then I will tell you what is needed to make them really useful:

1. NAS software. Use the machines as a networked hard disk.
2. Time Machine. Use old computer as backup drive for 1 or multiple PCs.
3. Web conferencing.
4. And all the obvious: Web browser, Email, calendar...
5. Grid computing

Don't you think that having sub versions of an OS for specific purpose is a good idea?

I think that populating the World of old computers with Mac based OS designed for specific functions would be a great thing to do.

The rest I let it to your imagination... just think on Starting the Mac Time Machine OS.

I've heard that you are not as nice as we think and I've heard that when you don't like something (like the Kindle) you just don't use more time to think on that. SO, if you don't like my idea just stop reading and let others like Adobe, Palm or Google to think about.

Wishing you good health and a fast recovery,

Sincerely,

Jose Antonio

Windows 7 with an old notebook

This is an IBM Thinkpad with more than 5 years of life. It was ok for making PowerPoint presentation but for other things and after many many Windows XP upgrades the computer was really a headache!
That kind of Notebook includes many drivers and strange things that were difficult to find in the case of a "cleanup format". Without the original drivers the keyboard would work bad and the wireless would never work fine. Even installing the original drivers would make conflicts with the Windows drivers for netwroking.
I have used the 32 bit version of Windows 7. Here what I found:

1. Setup was very fast
2. Options for formatting, deleting, etc the previous system were clear and explanatory.
3. When the computer finished and restarted for first time the resolution wasn't the correct one (even looked so good that I wasn't sure).
4. Sound and wireless not working... it was not surprising. Then I connected the network cable to look for the drivers online.. and:
5. An automatic update got all the drivers!! after a suggested restart the computer was working fully! The special keys on the keyboar all working fine, the volume controls are really good, wireless network offerd no pain.

So add one more line to your list of options for "what to do with my old computers?"

Some notes:

1. Avast Antivirus (free edition) works well with Windows 7
2. Lotus Symphony works well with Windows 7
   

Windows 7 on VmWare Fusion

How simple is it to install? very simple!

1. Download Windows 7 (it is a big download so better make it at night, when you will wake up it will be there waiting for you).
2. Add a new virtual machine from your VmWare fusion.
3. Select Windows Server 2008 (Windows 7 is still not a supported OS for VmWare Fusion).
4. Go to Step five at the end of this post :)

First I wanted to show you Windows 7 running on my Mac!




5. Step five: I advise you to see the video instructions:

SharePoint templates until 500MB

You need to use the command:

stsadm.exe -o setproperty -pn max-template-document-size -pv 520000000

With that your SharePoint templates can store until 500MB. By default the templates only resist 10MB.

Information Source

SharePoint Simple CMS and TinyMCE

The SharePoint Simple CMS was born using the same editing controls and capabilities from SharePoint. That is good but not ideal; the problem is that users of FireFox or Safari could not get access to rich text editing... they were pushed to work with Internet Explorer.
We have managed to integrate the SharePoint Simple CMS with TinyMCE.
That is great news because it means that soon we will be able to release templates that can work perfectly with many browsers. We still have some work to do with some weird behavior... but we are getting very close to a final solution!

This is a screenshot from FireFox for Mac. The Web site is a development project with our customer Doculabs:

Now it is even possible to edit existing links, image properties... etc :)

SBSC PAL for CEE Region

I'm very happy to announce that for third consecutive year Microsoft renewed my status of Partner Area Lead for the central and eastern region of Europe. Now we are 2 PALs in Slovenia.
If you don't know what the SBSC PAL is you can visit this Web site. There you can find who is the PAL for your region.
If you are a Microsoft Small Business Specialist and you would like to know more about what the program can offer you please contact me. If you have doubts or suggestions about the SBSC program and you would like me to take it directly to Microsoft I would love to help.

The World in 2009 and SharePoint Simple CMS

As you can see in the image there is a special note about an event that will take place in Slovenia. It is the international World Ploughing competition: www.worldploughing.si
The reason why I'm shwowing this Web site is because is an important site hosted by us and developed by us.
When a visitor to the site wants to register to the event then they can use the registration system. It will notify each person responsible for any different part of that process, from information verification to billing and logistics.
How to make the site? the same know how from SharePoint Simple CMS. Really cool!

The strategy on the back of SharePoint Simple CMS (Part 2)

What we are learning is that the technological part matters mostly to us, I mean to B4Contact. Many of our customers doesn't really care on it.

Said that, we had to question ourselves who else cares about the technology. Of course the answer is obvious: the IT professional. Are they our target? well, yes. But no our principal target. Staying in touch with IT pros is very healthy for us and helps us to understand the industry trends. Some of them become our partners and participate on the development of Web sites based on SharePoint Simple CMS. That is good!

Now it is even more relevant because we are adding importance on the concept of developing with partners. We see much more innovation that way. B4Contact will generate ideas and concepts. Our partners will filter the ideas and transform some of them into usable functionality. That means that they aren't a main "sales target" but they are part of our long term strategy.

B4Contact is the organizer of the Slovenian SharePoint Conference and that helps us to get in touch with SharePoint MVPs and the Slovenian community of SharePoint administrators and developers. The past year was a success! and we plan to get more success this year. The event will take place sometime in November.

For concluding I can say that partnership is essential for SharePoint Simple CMS in the future. Currently we have 5 partners from US and EU. We will work hard during this year to get more!

The strategy on the back of SharePoint Simple CMS (Part 1)

When I'm talking about the SharePoint Simple CMS something that captures the attention is how we defined our product.

In this article I will also publish information about what we are finding out and what are we planning to do with our product.

1. Trying to modify the out of the Box Sharepoint is senseless. At least from the perspective of adopting new future versions of SharePoint. Any deep modification on the current SharePoint would be expensive when a migration to a new version would take place.
2. SharePoint by itself presents many limitations when thinking on Web design. Isn't it better to start with a blank canvas? Masterpages are synonym of freedom!
3. Many users doesn't care if they use SharePoint or whatever else... the important thing is that can be "used" and serves its purpose. That means that the interface is important.

Then we thought: "We need to make an easy to use CMS that limits advanced functionality to editors, that can look great and be compliant with standards, that doesn't touch any our of the box SharePoint page and of course that uses independent custom master pages". Therefore we made the SharePoint Simple CMS.

It is great because it lets users to have good looking public facing Web sites and edit them with ease. The SharePoint Simple CMS is delivered as a STP file and it is compatible with WSS and MOSS. Having a STP file out f a Web site is great! because you can create as many sites as you wish using that template.

After a year we havediscovered some things that need to be improved:

1. The code should be simplified and optimized.
2. We should include more code on the "server side" instead of the "Client side".
3. We need to include more capabilities to customize the layout of the pages.

So.. how are we thinking to cover the challenges? we are building a community of partners that can use SharePoint Simple CMS and build solutions on top of it.