MSCRM

Before I begin let me clarify a few points so you are aware of the context of this post.
1) I currently work for a Microsoft Gold Partner, been contracted to Microsoft (through my employer) and spoken at TechEd.
2) Before that I worked for company which used almost solely open source software and developed software for that. I also did work with the Shuttleworth foundation at the linux days event.
So I have been on both sides of the fence, now on to the content...

Go anywhere near Slashdot and mention Microsoft and you will get atleast a few zealots who complain about it's attitude/actions to FOSS (Free and Open Source Software).

Well I am not going into the free part, since until I can live without money making everything free doesn't help and there is many people in the traditional OSS community which do make money (RedHat, Novell, many linux contributors etc...) so I guess I am not alone in this view.

But many people bring up the open source side, which makes less sense to me. Microsoft does have this shared source thingy which is some special license for special people, but that doesn't fit with true OSS where anyone can access it so I'm not including it. Microsoft has Port25 (there public front for their internal open source lab) which has some interesting information, but not really pushing OSS. There are also a few "sponsored" projects on SourceForge and the now defunct CodePlex. Neither of these push OSS as part of major projects. So while benefical aren't big enough.

So what is it that doesn't make sense to me? Simple, the .Net framework is completely open source. All of the .Net assemblies are in source code (IL) all the time and thanks to reflection can be transformed into a convient language of choice of the viewer. Since .Net is the big push from Microsoft the new core of their systems will be open source. This can be seen currently with their applications built on top of it, like Microsoft CRM which has all their assemblies in .Net and can all be opened and viewed. Microsoft CCF is even further advanced with it including some applications in .Net (like the admin console) but the bulk is available in direct source code. BTW Neither are obfuscated in anyway, so there is no attempt to close this source.

Agreed that the core big money makers (Windows, Office etc...) are still closed source, but how much of that is legacy versus how much is based on the choice of language tool (C++ Win32 vs Dot Net) and how much of that is specific plans to close off the source I can not say and no one outside the core executive at Microsoft could say, but the argument that Microsoft doesn't get it, is just wrong. They get it and probebly more than most of the zealots mentioned earlier since they have figured out to use it strategically.

One of my favorite features of SQL 2005 is SSIS. It actually is usable (compared to it's old dumber brother DTS). One thing I have had the priviledge of working on is a component which Bruce mentioned on the newsgroups which allows SSIS and MSCRM to work together.

One of the worst points of the SSIS development is the error messages that SSIS throws back. Well there a place you can vote for actually providing some feedback to MS around pushing/advising them to help correct this. So go out and vote for better error messages and SSIS!!!

https://connect.microsoft.com/SQLServer/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?Feed…

I ended up typing this over MSN to a few people today (don't ask why) and I thought this is entirely possible and amazingly easy to customize MSCRM to do this (hell half a days work at most). The sales vibe is partly inspired by the Microsoft CRM Demo Days happening between the 13th and 15th Feb at Village Walk which we are involved in. I haven't posted this to the Information Worker blog since some people may not appriate my style of humour. New MSCRM ad: Are you a hitman, assassin, or garden variety serial killer? Do you spend too much time trying to plan murders? Do you have problems identifing the right match of critiea for your next murder? Well fear no more, with MSCRM 3.0 you can easily track all your potential victums with details specific to each of them and then using the powerful scheduling system easily plan that murder to be home in time to watch Friends or wash your mother. And wait, if you order in the next 15min we will preload your MSCRM installation with all your family members details!!! Order now!

What is this new and very powerful download for BI with MSCRM? Well you can find out more on my Information Worker blog.

Thanks to Greg Nichols for highlighting this the bug caused by a security update which is killing off MS Outlook with CRM installed. This is definately something we are seeing in production enviroments everywhere at the moment.