Microsoft Office Live and OneNote

At the Microsoft PDC in 2008, the boffins at Microsoft demonstrated OneNote working with Office Live (officelive.com) For those who don't know, Office live is Microsoft's improvement on Google Apps. It provides you with many of the components of Microsoft Office (eg. Word, Excel, PowerPoint and some Event, Task and Contact items (Outlook items) so that you can work without requiring Microsoft office on your PC.

Interoperability with Microsoft Office is outstanding (of course) as you're working with Office format documents. You can install a plug-in into Microsoft Office that will allow you to open from and save directly into Office live which is great.

You gain file sharing capabilities, which (although I haven't tried it) allow several people to edit a document collaboratively. Sharing a document is easy and is basically like writing an email.

On the downside, there's no support for OneNote (boo hoo!). This is a real pain because I'm in love with OneNote. I tend to use it as a free-form database, being able to file tid bits of info including photos, typed text, scanned items and (if I ever get a tablet or digital pen) handwritten text. Like EverNote, it's able to search pictures for text items which is a great ability. As I said, this was demonstrated at Microsoft PDC in 2008, so I'm waiting with baited breath. Hopefully it will be released soon (ie this year).

The only other annoyance I've discovered so far is that I can't deliver my items directly to my blog as I can with Word 2007. I use Live Writer but I'd love to have Office live be able to do this for when I'm not on my normal PC... OK make that PCs (plural). :) The writer built into Blogger is a poor second place.

I'm still here...

No I haven't sailed off the edge of the world. The last quarter of 2008 was hectic to say the least.

To recap quickly:

• I scored an H1 for my Project and Change Management subject at uni.
• I only managed a Pass grade for Enterprise Systems :( though missed out on a H3 by only a couple of points.
• I've been working towards MCTS certifications for SharePoint Application Development and SharePoint configuration. I hope to sit at least one exam this month.
• I've bought a swanky new ASUS Eee PC 1000H! I'll post a review after I've had the chance to play with it for a while.
• I survived Christmas. :)

In any case, I'd better go as it's very,very late and I started back at work this week.

Cheers

Mike

My new Samsung i560

I bought my new mobile phone a few weeks ago now - a shiny new Samsung i560.

What appealed to me was the Symbian OS as I knew it was a widely used operating system, allowing me to install a wide variety of software.

The phone also came equipped with a GPS - a gimmick. It just goes to show I'm not immune to them. :)

I haven't had any success with getting the GPS unit to work and now my 14 day software trial is all over. I don't feel inclined to spend about 40 euros on purchasing the software to drive it.

I've also been disappointed with software availability - there are clearly different installation packages for S60 devices depending on the device. As I use Google Calendar and GMail heavily, I wanted mobile clients for these. To my dismay, they're not available for the i560, though they are for other S60 3rd edn. devices. I'm presently looking for alternatives.

I also use Remember the Milk for tasks and EverNote, for which I'm unable to get clients either. I can tolerate those but I'd love to see Symbian / Java clients. So I'm reserving my disappointment for Google. They're a big company and really should be able to support my device. Though Google isn't part of the Symbian consortium and is developing their own mobile phone OS so maybe they're sulking over it.

Anyway, I'm going to sulk. :(

Thoughts on implementing Enterprise Systems

First up a disclaimer: my only experience with ERP is SAP and it presently amounts to about 6 weeks. So please SAP, don't sue me for defamation.

For me the jury's out on the value of ERP.

One of the major issues with SAP (and similar) is that can force a business process to change to match the software's built-in (ahem!) "best practices." Best practice is a marketing term that helps to sell things. A more accurate term would be "sound practice."

While there are often many things in common between businesses (especially within the same industry), there are going to be differences. Perhaps these can be because of a business's culture. Culture isn't just an overlay; rather it's at the core of a business and it affects the way a company goes about its business.

In the case of ERP systems like SAP, they are flexible to an extent in how their business processes can be configured but ultimately, the business will have to flex too.

Before starting my masters, I thought that if IT gets in the way of the business process, then the IT is wrong. I think I need to revise it, adding that the business process must contribute value to the business or the business process is wrong.

So let's revise this: If IT gets in the way of a sound business practice that contributes value to the business, then the IT is wrong. It will be interesting to see how this view changes over time. As the semester is progressing, I'm finding that this is the key problem that I keep returning to.

So what would be my advice to someone looking to implement ERP? It would be that implementing ERP won't magically turn the Titanic into the QE2. If your business is heading full speed towards an iceberg, ERP won't save you. It will however, give you a real-time picture of your ship being smashed to a pulp by that little old iceberg and will probably give the duly appointed administrator a decent head-start on salvaging the wreck. I would add that the scope of an ERP implementation is so big it's scary and that you need to evaluate carefully whether there is value in abandoning sound business practices for the practices that an ERP system will impose. The extent of the process changes will have a bearing, possibly a large bearing on the short term hit your business will take in the wake of go-live.

Installed Ubuntu under VirtualBox tonight

I installed VirtualBox tonight. VirtualBox is an open source virtual machine environment that runs on a variety of host platforms (including XP Home which I run at home). Set up was easy and working my way around the interface is dead easy.

I also installed a copy of Ubuntu 7 from an ISO that I had lying around to see how it would go. The VirtualBox wizard for setting up the virtual machine was easy, as easy as using Microsoft Virtual PC, which is really pleasing. While much get heaped on MS, it can't be said that their wizards and installers are vague.

VirtualBox supports snapshotting your VM. Snapshots are handy for when you think you might be about to do something that could break your VM. It gives you a backup point.

So far I haven't had success with my USB multi-function unit but there's some stuff on the VirtualBox site about driving USB devices, so I need to check that out properly.

So far so good!

Cheers
Mike

Week 2 at Uni

I've bitten off quite a bit this semester.

Enterprise Systems has a lot of work. My first assignment is due on Friday next week. I need to review 4 webcasts from SAP's SAPphire 2008 and write an additional 1500 words or so to tie them up. Thankfully I'm feeling more confident after today's class. The interface also feels like it's UNIX heritage would suggest. It's built for speed that's for sure. All in all, there's a ton of info to consume here.

IS Project and Change Management (ISPCM) sounds familiar from my Business Analysis subject from last semester, so should be easier. It should be an OK subject and thankfully not the same amount of work (I think) as Enterprise Systems.

Well I'd better be getting back to it.

Cheers
Mike

Sharepoint Developer Webcast Series

John Holliday blogged about a new webcast series on Sharepoint development with Robert Bogue and Andrew Connell. The ones I've seen so far have been very clear and full of info.