Dynamo with Dynamics CRM » Interesting Links

Dynamics CRM related sessions from PDC 2008

Christian — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 23:06:41 +0000

John O’Donnell from the Microsoft ISV Developer Evangelism Team recommends viewing the following sessions for Dynamics CRM related content. These links also have downloadable PowerPoint decks. Be sure to check them out!

Andrew Bybee - Rapid Business Application Development with Microsoft Dynamics CRM
Adam Wilson – Microsoft Dynamics Online Commerce and Payment API
Humberto Lezama Guadarrama / Ben Riga - Microsoft Dynamics CRM – Appealing Business Applications
Josh Honeyman – Dynamics AX: Building Business Process into your Application
David Shutt – Case Study Microsoft Dynamics CRM : One code base On Premise and On Line

Must-read article regarding Microsoft and CRM, plus interview with Steve Ballmer [PDF]

Christian — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:05:58 +0000

Wow, lots of CRM news to catch up on this week! Destination CRM Magazine has an excellent piece regarding the history, competition and future of Microsoft CRM. There’s a Steve Ballmer interview discussing the concept of “xRM”, an interview with Microsoft CRM General Manager Brad Wilson, and more.

Download a PDF copy, or visit the online magazine at the second link.

Destination CRM Magazine, July 2008, “Is Microsoft Winning the CRM Race?” [PDF] 4.8MB
View the magazine in your browser:
- http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/crmmedia/crm0708/#/22

Xobni: an intelligent filter for your Outlook Contacts (free beta download)

Christian — Tue, 06 May 2008 20:53:16 +0000

Having Xobni in Outlook, I’ve noticed it’s starting to fundamentally change the way I view my Outlook contacts. It’s like a dynamic mini-dashboard for your e-mail contact history and metrics.

The easy way to remember Xobni’s name is that it’s an anagram of the word Inbox. After installation, Xobni takes a few minutes to index your Outlook messages. Once this Outlook plug-in is up and running it feels lightweight, without significantly dragging down your Outlook performance.

Here’s an excerpt from a great review article in The NY Times:

Other programs, like Google Desktop, perform that same basic index-and-search function. But Xobni, which its creators call an “intelligent filter,” adds a few more features. When it scours the inbox, it extracts phone numbers it thinks are associated with the sender. So when a user searches for a person, Xobni presents the number in a side panel to Outlook.

The software also interprets the social relationships between people who are sending messages to each other. For example Xobni recognizes that if an executive sends a copy to someone else on each message he or she sends, it might be to an assistant or another colleague. When someone using Xobni searches for that executive in Outlook, the second person is listed as well.

Relevant Links

Hilarious pic: Mac vs. PC

Christian — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 01:44:15 +0000

As always, Mac and PC fans rabidly defend their favorite OS all over the internet. I usually prefer to stay out of it, but at this Reddit.com entry I found the latest and funniest salvo from an apparent PC fan.

The comments page (warning: NSFW language) has several entries worthy of Comedy Gold.

A Linux fan wants a piece of the action with this comment:

Out of the frame:
Linux, barefoot, holding a Japanese bow, and slowly approaching.
From stage right.

A Mac fan wants to flip the script:

I think PC is taking some time to load.

But it seems a PC fan has the last laugh:

Mac sits with a grimace on his face watching PC play fun shooting games.

Interesting: Viruses modeled in 3-D for the “Infected Art” exhibit (pictures)

Christian — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 17:49:27 +0000

I had promised myself I would keep this blog strictly on CRM, but in this case I couldn’t resist sharing this with you.

I stumbled across this article in Valleywag.com regarding a fascinating exhibit called “Infected Art” at the Varnish Fine Art Gallery in San Francisco.

According to Valleywag.com:

The works represent what worms, virus and spam attacks such as Storm, MyDoom and Netsky look like when put through a “computational art” algorithm.

Each of these infamous malwares are represented uniquely. I’m curious how the artist(s) tweaked an “art algorithm” to process these images, but I’ll allow them their artistic licenses.

After clicking on the “Read More” link, you can:

Click on the thumbnails to see the full resolution.
Click on the name of each malware to see the Wikipedia article.

“Dating Spam” virus