Microsoft Dynamics CRM and the iPad - Better Get Moving, Microsoft

I assume out of the gate that SalesForce.com can run on the recently released iPad. It's a browser app. Why shouldn't it? Good for SalesForce.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM is an entirely different animal. Even though CRM is a "browser app" it requires Windows IE - can't run it on Mac IE or Firefox or Chrome or Opera or anything else. Kind of defeats the purpose of being a browser app, in my opinion.

And who is one of the largest target demographics for the iPad? Mobile Sales Professionals! While it may pain Microsoft to have to play well on non-Microsoft OS's and browsers, if they want to stay relevant in this space, they better get moving.

And yes, the iPad can terminal service in and run IE virtualized from Citrix, etc... but why should you have to? If I were SalesForce.com, I would be marketing this for all it's worth.

Weathering an economic challenge as a consultancy

As we all experience one of the more challenging economic times in our history, it becomes even more critical to revisit how companies can stay resilient.  At Pariveda, we have asserted that even in the most challenging of times the information technology knowledge worker pool is supply-constrained.  Does this mean that over the past six months, layoffs in our industry haven't occurred?  Absolutely not.  They have.  But what we have experienced first hand, is that our clients are having a harder time finding competent candidates.

We think the reason is straightforward.  After the first and second rounds of layoffs within the IT industry, the bottom percentages of workers are typically the ones laid off first.  This has resulted in a larger overall pool of candidates with the same amount of good candidates as before-- the same number of "needles" (good candidates) in a much larger haystack. 

We are investing in recruiting, training and growing our people now more than ever before.  We just hired a new recruiter, we continue our push for top-tier college graduates and experienced hires and our sales pipeline is strong.  Our clients continue to confirm our difference in the industry- our people. 

Now more than ever companies cannot afford to go with "average" firms.  People's jobs are on the line and project success is critical.  Does it matter what the rate of a firm is if they fail to deliver the solution? 

All of us at Pariveda could work at other places if we wanted; what keeps us at Pariveda is the ability to work with some of the most intellectually curious and talented folks in the industry.  Even in a down economy, we have fun and do interesting work.  The best way to beat the economic blues is to surround yourself with people who enjoy what they do, are interested in continuous learning and are focused on providing the most value possible for their clients.

Dallas DevCares Presentation - REST Based Services

Charles Knight did an awesome job presenting on RESTful Services in .NET.  Click here to download the presentation.

Data Access with LINQ to SQL - Update

As with all new technologies, you continue to learn as you work with it.  Some of my thoughts have changed from my previous post on using LINQ to SQL.

After attending TechEd 2008 in Orlando this past week and speaking recently on this topic at the Austin Code Camp, I have a (what I think) is a better approach to doing data access with LINQ to SQL in an ASP.NET web project.  First, it is definitely my preference to separate all data context activity to the business and/or data tiers.

Some key things that I have learned along the way.  You will want to use the Attach(entity, true), which essentially tells LINQ to "trust me, the entity has changed, update the whole thing."  In order for this to work with an entity that has relational entities such as the Customer with the CustomerAddress, you must do one of the following things:

1. Serialize and then deserialize the entity using the DataContractSerializer. This will be automatic if you are passing it over WCF, otherwise, you will need to write the code to essentially clone your entity.
2. Use the DataLoadOptions to get the full entity graph when you pull down the original entity.

I've started storing my code up on Google Code.  Here's a link to download the latest bits.  If you aren't already an SVN user, just download TortoiseSVN-- trust me, it's easy.

Technorati Tags: LINQ,ASP.NET,DataContractSerializer

Slow Typing in Word and Outlook on your ThinkPad?

This was driving me absolutely crazy and hopefully it will help others (write a comment if it fixes your problem).  I was getting significant delay when I would type in Microsoft Word and Outlook and when it would and I could not figure out what the problem was.  I tried removing all my user settings, uninstalling/reinstalling Office.  Nothing worked.

Turns out that the problem wasn't with Office at all.  It was the Client Security - Password Manager program that comes pre-installed on ThinkPad laptops with fingerprint scanners.  Uninstall it and everything works like it should.

Technorati Tags: Outlook,Word,Slow,Typing,Lenovo,ThinkPad,Password Manager

How to trigger a full postback from within an AJAX UpdatePanel

If you've ever used an AJAX UpdatePanel and needed to have a control within the UpdatePanel cause a full postback of the page, here's how you do it.

ScriptManager scriptManager = ScriptManager.GetCurrent(Page);

if (scriptManager != null)

{

    scriptManager.RegisterPostBackControl(SaveButton);

}

First you have to get access to the ScriptManager on the page.  Then you register the control within the UpdatePanel that needs to trigger a full postback.

Technorati Tags: ASP.NET,AJAX,UpdatePanel,ScriptManager

Visual Studio 2008 Hotfix Available

Microsoft has released a hotfix for Visual Studio 2008... thankfully.  We had noticed some severe performance issues with VS 2008 since we started using it back in October.  Hopefully this will speed up my team's development and will resolve some stability issues.

Here's a link to download the hotfix.

And here's a link to Scott Guthrie's post on what was resolved with the hotfix.