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I just returned from the 1st ever Microsoft Office Devloper Conference in San JoseLes jeux sur notre poker en ligne virtuel n’ont rien à prétendre à leurs modèles réels. held 2/10 - 2/13/2008. My reasons for going were to find out how some of the newest Microsoft platform components all fit into the big picture, since my role at work is to define and implement our IT strategies. I am always looking outward at the 3 - 5 year timeframe, trying to anticipate the changes that may take hold and impact our IT world in a meaningful way.

Our department is largely based on Microsoft technologies. We use Server 2003 (now Server 2008 is getting ready to ship), SQL Server 2000 and 2005 (SQL Server 2008 is in beta), Microsoft Exchange 2003 and ISA Server 2004. The office workers all use Office 2003 (Office 2008 is out), we use Actuate 8 & 9 for reporting and Proclarity for BI (Microsoft bought Proclarity several months ago and it is coming out as Microsoft PerformancePoint Server 2008). We tried using Sharepoint 2003 and ran into problems we could not solve to our satisfaction so we tabled it for a while and now Sharepoint 2007 is out.

So why have a conference on MS Office development? Don’t we all know that MS Office uses VBA and it is a good but limited platform? And, why all of the radical changes to the Office 2008 user interface? Well, I am a software technology change tracker who has made a career out of anticipating where the next big thing might be and I had some serious “suspicions” that this conference was going to be a lot more than what it seemed. One would have to ask why Bill Gates would be doing the keynote session for such an inauspicious platform as Office? Several of the Microsoft Product VP’s would also be speaking. There was more to this than was obvious.

Well, I was right. This conference was the “coming out” party for a significant shift in how application developers will do their work in the future, if they live in a Microsoft-based world. Here are some of the highlights:

компютри втора употреба
• All Microsoft Office 2008 products can now be customized through Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Studio 2008, using the .Net framework. This means an Office application can serve as the “host” to custom applications and workflows that are embedded into it. The implication is that we can make our users more productive by keeping them in applications that they already know and use every day. For example, I spend most of my day in Outlook. If I want to send an e-mail to one of our customers who is not already in my personal Outlook contacts, I have leave Outlook, log into our ERP or CRM system, find the customer contact information, copy the e-mail address to the clipboard, leave the ERP or CRM, go back to Outlook, open a new mail message and paste in the adress. Obviously, this is not hard for a skilled office worker to do, but it is a lot of steps. Why can’t I have a custom Outlook contact list be dynamically populated in Outlook from my ERP or CRM automatically? Well, because this used to be a hard thing to do. Not any more.
• MS Office 2008 documents are now all stored in an open xml format. This means they are all searchable, if you think about it. So entrprise search for content becomes much easier. It means also that these documents can be created by programs other than Microsoft Office, like a server-side process. A program running on a server could create an Excel spreadsheet without having to have Office installed on the server. Maybe its a SQL Server job that runs during the night and updates some sort of Excel workbook.
• Sharepoint 2007 now supports Business Data Catalogs. This allows easy access to almost any data from a web part that you can build in Visual Studio and deploy in a MS Office Business Application (OBA) or in a SharePoint web portal. This enables businesses to leverage the business knowledge that is locked up inside their SQL stored procedures and views.
• While PerformancePoint does not yet offer the full functionality of Proclarity, it is all based upon building web parts that can also be used inside an OBA or Sharepoint portal. This allows you to more tightly integrate your key performance indicators with other data components used to manage and monitor your enterprise. Again, this is pretty easy to do in the new Visual Studio platform.

 I guess the whole point for me is that Microsoft is finally delivering a robust toolset and platform suite that will allow me to decide how and when I want to use all of my company’s data, letting me decide where I want to have the data accessible to my users and still make this a straightforward process in terms oif application development. It will be interesting to observe how well this plays out in corporate America. I predict it will be a huge success, however I won’t say how long it will take for widespread adoption because that always takes longer than we expect.

by Daniel J. Hader

Knowledge can be viewed as we see the world itself. No matter how hard we try or what peaks we reach we are never able to encompass all that knowledge has to offer us. There is always a horizon. A slight curve that constantly shields us from knowing all that is there. You can elevate your viewpoint to see more clearly points we can not see from the ground, and see unhindered the paths that must be taken immediately and what lay in store for us on our journey. Always be moving, for no matter how hard the journey is or what direction you head you are putting your self in a position to see more than you are currently able. As in all things no matter what you discover, no matter what treasures you find, and what misfortunes befall you the lessons will all come from the journey. Understanding knowledge in this way allows us to learn things beyond ourselves. 

Knowledge is not something that was meant to ever fully befall man. Both biologically and metaphysically it is impossible for a human to possess all of knowledge. The human brain functions at less than 15% of its potential capacity. If the human brain were allowed to function at its peak unhindered by biology it would be able to compute and create thoughts that we aren’t even capable of comprehending. The other side to this is that using only 15% gives us the ability to improve ourselves and work towards unlocking more of the brains hidden functions. If it were possible within our anatomy to hold on to all that we learn and fully understand all problems presented to us at what point would we attain full knowledge. Learning what secret, discovering what truth, reaching what goal would ever put us at the point of omnipotence? The easiest way to learn is to except the fact that you will never be able to know everything. Learn what you desire to learn with the understanding that there will always be more. Even when barriers are reached and walls rise up block you, the obstruction will always have another side. The question then becomes do you have the tools and the will to see it, or are you complacent to call it an end and go elsewhere. 

Knowledge is a sphere. The more you try to reach the edge the more it curves away from you. The clearer you can see the edge the more distant it appears. It was fashioned in such a way that it constantly draws our gaze and spirit to reach the frontier that persistently eludes us. By remaining unseen we are constantly challenged to speculate at what is there. Only by working towards it, do we begin to understand that even though we never reach an end we are continuously reaching a new horizon. With every new view you take in you allow yourself to see more of what is available. With every step you shift your vantage point to see something that which was hidden before. Learning to see fully all that you are able is the only way to understand all that is potentially viewable. Only by seeing the horizon and remaining mindful of it, can we work towards it. Do not travel reach the end but to reach that which we cannot see. 

It’s easier to see the horizon when the obstacles that are immediate to us do not obstruct our view. You are required to raise yourself above where you are to be able to see the best course for your journey and the places that you want to reach. Only from a foothold higher than ourselves can we see all that is in our reach. When we are able to lift ourselves we must see all that there is to see. Take in the good and the bad so you will be able to see not just where you want to go, but where you like to avoid. No matter how high we climb we will never be able to see all of our own world’s potential. It will always remain hidden from us. The farther away a place is the smaller it seems and the less we can understand it from where we stand. That is why in order to understand it the best we are capable we must always be moving to make the objects that were distant become things we can touch and interact with. 

Despite our desire to reach all things, we must remain ever mindful of the places we are. It is human to look ahead and see where we are going in order to stay on the path we have set for ourselves, but the only control we ever have begins and ends with where we are. You must always be mindful that even though you may stick to a path, your path runs through a world. It isn’t set above your surroundings. The only way to reach new places is to travel through where you currently are. The only enjoyment you can experience is that which is here and now. Absorbing your journey is the only reward you are ever offered. To strive without relent towards any place will result in missing all that can be learned along the way. You must know that your goal is always there to be reached, and on the your way to it you can build memories and learn the lessons that become your life. 

Knowledge like all great concepts is round. It has more to offer us than we will ever be able to understand. It is not two-dimensional and can never be seen from just one point of view. It can never be fully viewed, but is always seen. Even though we will never view it in its entirety we can always see what’s visible to us. Think about the things man discovered when it stopped viewing the world as flat and thought of it as a globe. If we view knowledge as a sphere think of our potential to learn.

If you are a fan of CGA (computer generated animation) you have to see the movie Beowulf. It has the best interaction between real actors (Anthony Hopkins, Angelina Jolie, John Malkovich and more) and a completely CGA set. I happened to be able to see it in its I-Max digitial 3-D format which was really outstanding. True, the movie is a litle more graphic than my personal tastes would prefer, but it was still worth seeing. On the gigantic I-Max screen it was pretty easy to detect the real versus the CGA. It might be less obvious on a smaller screen. I’m guessing that on my home 50″ DLP, you might not be able to tell at all. The I-Max screen is so large, it is hard to miss.

Associates at my job recently brought forth an interesting problem that I am thinking about and maybe someone has some ideas:

We are a manufacturing company. We issue production orders that instruct the plant what products they need to make on each manufacturing line. Since we make food, everything that goes into the food or touches the food (like the package) must be tracked by lot numbers. So, a final product has a lot number (like 123) and that lot number was made up of, say 3 different ingredients. Those ingredients each have their own lot numbers issued by their manufacturer. The lot numbers of the ingredients are recorded as they are used in the manufacturing process and are associated with the production order. This is extremely important. If one of our suppliers finds a problem with one of their lots, we have to be able to track which of our products used that particular lot number. This is called the product pedigree. The pedigree has to be accurate. Therefore, the more granular your lot tracking is, the easier it is to trace a pedigree, if needed. Theoretically, if each individual sellable unit was a lot, you could trace each individual item. This is not really practical. Just think about the pharmaceutical industry. They have the same requirements, but it would be impractical to try to track the millions of tablets they create. As a result, lot numbers are assigned to some increment of a product’s production, a shift, a day, a period of time or some other increment. The more lots you create, the better tracking you have, but it also requires more work in terms of procedures need to effect a lot number change.

Read the rest of this entry �

or is anything that is free worth exactly what you paid for it?

We’ve all heard it said, “There is no such thing as a free lunch. You can’t get something for nothing!” I am sure we all believe it to a certain extent. It is true, all things worthwhile have a cost. The real question is what are you willing to invest?

Well, I have recently decided to try a “free” business called Power Mall. Basically, you sign-up for free and you receive your own private shopping mall with over 1,000 stores. And not just no-name, never heard of it, don’t know if you can trust it stores. Many, many are major brand-name retailers like Target and Macy’s.

You make money by saving money shopping from your own Power Mall. Every purchase earns you cash rebates. Now, I’m not going to get too excited about saving 1% or 2%.  But the discounts can be up to 55%! Okay, that seems pretty good.

That’s if you join as a non-business member. You shop — you save. No cost, no obligation.

But, if you want to MAKE some money, you sign up for a Business Power Mall. Here, you save a little less, but you can make more by giving Power Malls to others. When they shop, they save and you get a commission. The more malls you give away, the more money you might make. 

If those that sign up from your referral sign up for a Business Power Mall, then they make money when they give away malls and so do you. This keeps going for up to nine levels deep. The geometric progression could be huge.

So is this a legitimate opportunity or is it just another scam or MLM program that hopes you will coerce all of your friends and family members into joing?

Well, since you are not asking anyone to invest anything and you are not asking them to buy anything from you, I don’t have the usual reservations like I do with MLM programs. I am impressed with the stores that Power Mall has signed up. I don’t think of stores like Macy’s and Lands End as being the type to get involved with a program unless they really trust it. They have a lot more at risk than I do.

So, we will see what happens….

In the opening paragraph of this sermon, John Wesley aptly points out the conditions of righteousness for those who have not heard the Gospel. It is taken from Micah 6:8 and Romans 2:13-15. I like the New International text:

Micah 6:8
He has showed you, O man, what is good.
       And what does the LORD require of you?
       To act justly and to love mercy
       and to walk humbly with your God.Romans 2:13-15
For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.)

Basically, these texts call our attention to the question of what standard will God hold an unbeliver to on judgement day? If one has not ever heard the good news, what is the judgement of a loving God? If we have not heard of “sin”, are we accountable to avoid it? The texts indicate that God has embued each people with a sense of “right and wrong” and that though individual standards might vary widely according to the circumstances of one’s location, education, social mores and economic standing, God’s evaluation is not necessarily based upon a fixed set of behavioral norms. I think the text is asking the question, “Did you treat others fairly? Did you show compassion on your fellow man? Did you do the right thing according to your conscience? Did you hold yourself as being better than someone else?”

Then Wesley turns his attentions to the Christian believers with citation of Phillipians 2:12-13 to draw us into the topic of this sermon. Wesley calls our attention to the fact that it is God’s Holy Spirit that is at work in us:

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. Read the rest of this entry �