Meeting time...

Anyone here had much involvement with Microsoft Dynamics CRM?

@Izzy: sorry, no.

:7078 Yep

@ChrisS Thoughts? They're pumping millions of dollars into the project here simply because we spent the GDP of a small country on a global Dynamics AX implementation

I'm just not convinced that going with the product because it's in the same family is the greatest idea ever

To be fair, I work for a MS Partner who sells CRM, so I'm a bit biased. It does a great job of what it was meant for; and you can extend it a bit while still maintaining good performance and usability. If they're customizing it too much, they might have been better off starting with something else. I've seen businesses get really crazy with it, doing things it was never meant to do.

So I'm hesitant to weigh in on your project specifically, but most projects don't climb into the millions unless the business is trying to make the square peg go into the round hole...

Interesting. That really touches on the culture here. The AX project took 3 years of customisation (and even now that it's rolled out, is still being customised)

AX is a different beast. The whole Dynamics family of products, each product share nothing in common with the others. They were all developed by different 3rd parties, MS bought them, and re-branded them to Dynamics XX.

Does the CRM module interface in to AX at all? Or are they standalone products?

Meh

GP and CRM are currently the only two that "talk" to each other with MS only software.

AX will interface with CRM with 3rd party software, I'd have to pull out my cheat book to know who does that.

Never worked with SAP, but the Dynamics suite is a direct competitor right?

There's a book with a list of 3rd party software the MS unofficially endorses as the "best" solution for the most popular problems.

:7091 Yes.

But SAP is fully integrated?

I know the astronomical fees SAP consultants charge though, which was a major deciding factor

I always see job postings for SAP that pays a ton of money just because nobody wants to touc hit :-)

I'm not as familiar with SAP as the Dynamics line; but as I understand it, yes. SAP is considerably more expensive

@KyleBrandt It seems like a really really closed technology too

:7096 I know how the Dynamics products look on the inside, and I can't imaging how ugly the swiss-army knife SAP looks...

I mean, how the hell do you get into the SAP world?!

@Izzy: I don't know .. probably starts with cocaine

heh

:7100 Most consultants come from two areas, DB consultants or Businesses that use it (in-house dev).

Then one day you wake up in a strange place with admin accounts on SAP servers

You go to leave but then you see a giant paycheck .... and you can get more cocaine

AX/SL/GP/NAV are all accounting packages.

We use AX for sales and logistics mainly

They each have a different twist on the accounting cycle that makes them more suited to particular types of businesses.

but they're trying to integrate HR into it at the moment

@KyleBrandt: regretting career decisions? :-)

I feel like SAP is purchased when the people who make the decisions never actually use it

Well, the $ph charged by SAP consultants is a very very tempting carrot

Yes, and will still be on Oct 1st.

Been very busy taking the required tests.. So nice of them to up the requirements 3 weeks ago.

:7118 I'm trytanium. They won't certify me but bosses want me to try fixing it anyway.

And from my understanding, most SAP consultants don't know much more than the client - they just have the phone number for the guy in Germany who does know

Then again, that could be said for a lot of consultants

:7123 That's for sure!

@Izzy: see! Sometimes it's more important to know how to FIND the information you need!

Knowledge is power - even if that knowledge is just knowing someone else with the knowledge

Knowledge by proxy

@Izzy they're paying the consultant because the consultant knows the person with the answer, not paying him to know the answer.

four more machines and this lab is done...lab is done...lab is done...four more machines and this lab is done...

Have you danced with the devil in the pale moonlight? No, but I installed Windows.

And then there was a Batman reference

Iron Man used Dell computers.

I wonder what Thor will use

Heh

I've played enough with Active Directory to think that the Joker was on the development team.

Ick; I can't remember the last time I installed XP; we've got images I've written now an then; but by year end we'll be 100% Windows 7 and I'm never looking back.

I <3 AD. It's just most organisations shoddy, half-baked implementations

@ChrisS: we're trying to go XP, but we have at least one software package using some kind of Access redistributable that's not compatible with Win7.

The company's solution? "You need a Windows XP system they can use for the program."

Most companies that have been around for more than a few years, have had Novell once upon a time. And one day, someone heard about NT, so they ran out and bought themselves some NT servers. A strange new world for them. They tinkered with this thing called Active Directory, made some user accounts, didn't populate enough data into anything

a few decades later, and poor bastard after poor bastard has inherited this shit show, and has been forced to live with the mistakes of that first inexperienced guys mistakes, migration after migration

<----- poor bastard

remind people that they need to pay down their technical debt.

I loved that blog post

I printed it out and handed it around the office

I wish more people would actually do it. Cleaning and correct bad decisions really will help you in the long run. Even if it does seem a bit costly today...

Only now does it seem like they're trying to fix that.

:7146 blogs.technet.com/b/askds/archive/2010/06/19/…

How do you get the version of a running linux module?

@KyleBrandt: does modinfo do that?

@ChrisS Migration isn't the issue. The problem is the inertia to clean up the mess as we go. "Well, that's just how we've always done it? You want us to put all the meta data in the for the user accounts? We have to change processes! People have to be retrained! Mountains must be moved! Pass, let's just move it like it is, and clean it another day"

$Technical debt = $Technical debt ^ 2

If Outlook 2010 crashes one more time today I'm going to go postal

@DougLuxem Mine keeps refusing to show email bodies "this message cannot be displayed"

about every 2 hours

Just use owa for everything... If you can accept the limitations it seems more stable

Lunch o'clock!

I had a lot of problems with Outlook 2010 Beta, the but release has worked flawlessly since I installed it.

mail.app and thunderbird for the win!

:7168 Maybe if your only using it for e-mail...

@ChrisS-well..yeah.

@KyleBrandt:looks almost like you have to use a script to put together lsmod and modinfo and grep for the version out of each one unless you know the module you want info from.

cyberciti.biz/tips/…

Outlook...ugh.

\action I put on my robe and wizard hat...

\action and troubleshoot Outlook again...

Is it possible to view a dump file from vmware server?

@KyleBrandt:philosophically?

@Kylebrandt: like with a viewer, or getting the file?

Have the file

You should be able to transfer it with scp.

But it is binary

Strings to extract something useful?

@kyl

@KyleBrandt what are you tyring to troubleshoot?

Chopper3's answer links to a simple vmdump guide

Woooo new SQL Server installation comin' up

Gonna be a good afternoon

@Zypher: VMWare Server crash

Too much sushi

ahh have you checked /var/log/vmkernel ?

Windows Hosts

ohh ... nevermind ... i'll shut my yap then :)

I just printed out Jeffs Technical Debt blog post again, but this time pinned it up on the notice board

/cue warm, fuzzy, smug feeling inside

I hadn't seen that before, its a good one

The Hershey's Cookies 'n' Creme is never as good as you want it to be

Oy, am I glad this week is coming to an end.