December 2007 - Posts
I wish all my blog readers, and everyone else, a very happy and prosperous 2008.
Happy New Year!
Well, I made the move the SBS 2003 R2 and SQL 2005 Workgroup Edition and have now re-installed CRM 3.0. It seems to run even faster than before, but I could be wrong. I hate to disappoint any of my readers, but my blog on this is going to be on the CRM Team blog this coming Friday, December 28th. You can read it at http://blogs.msdn.com/crm/default.aspx.
I did have some major bumps along the way though, mainly concerning SQL Reporting Services. It was not pretty. I still don't have CRM reporting working right yet. I do not put the ready through that agony in my Team Blog. I'll eventually resolve it and blog about it here. Once I do, I will then be ready to make the move to 4.0. I'm looking forward to that. It will be a good way to start off the New Year.
Well, with the holidays upon us and therefore I have absolutely nothing else to do (right!), I've decided, well at least I'm inclined toward, upgrading my CRM 3.0 SBE (Small Business Edition) to the new CRM 4.0. As I see it there will be several phases involved. First, I have to upgrade my Small Business Server from SP1 to R2 so that I can have SQL 2005 which is required for CRM 4.0. As I currently understand it, it will entail uninstalling my current CRM 3.0, uninstalling SQL 2000, installing SQL 2005 Workgroup Edition, and then reinstalling CRM 3.0. Once I've got that up and running and working right, I'll be able to proceed to the actual upgrade to CRM 4.0. One of the things I'll have to determine is what version I should upgrade to, Workgroup, Professional, or Enterprise. I believe Microsoft is supposed to release information about upgrading on SBS on December 31st. I may have to wait until then to do that part. But I'll go ahead and upgrade to SQL 2005 now. I've found some good (I hope) step by step instruction for upgrading to SQL 2005 here. I'll try to blog along the way. Here we go!
The new Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 90 day evaluation code is available for download on Microsoft's download site. As usual, there is a Server portion, and the Outlook client. The downloads are deceivingly small. The Server is only 36.3 MB and the Client is 27.9 MB. But these expand to 200 MB for the Server and 134 MB for the Client. The 90 day license keys for Workgroup (5 CAL max!), Professional, and Enterprise are available on the server download page. You must supply a valid commercial key within that 90 period or the product stops working. I'm not sure what happens if you use the Professional key for the eval and then want to purchase the Workgroup product. Will be interesting.
The Server is available in both 32 bit and 64 bit versions and can be found here. The Outlook client appears to only be available in one version and can be found here. CRM Server can be installed on Windows Server 2003 and Windows Small Business Server 2003. The Outlook client can be installed on any combination of Windows XP SP2 or Vista and Office 2003 SP3 or Office 2007. CRM 4.0 requires SQL 2005 as well.
Have fun!
Here is a little more info on the recent release of CRM 4.0 from Microsoft Presspass. Also for a What's New in CRM 4.0, go here.
Reading the other CRM blogs I see that the CRM team has completed CRM 4.0 and has released it to manufacturing (RTM). I figured the team would get it out before the holiday break. For those with MSDN accounts, etc. it should be available there though i haven't had a chance to check it out. The blurb from the team blog can be found at http://blogs.msdn.com/crm/default.aspx.
Wondering what to do with yourself on a Sunday afternoon before Christmas? Install Vista Service Pack 1 Release Candidate 1. This afternoon I thought I'd do just that but didn't realize just what I was getting into. I was a participant in the VSP1 Beta and that was pretty straight forward, download the beta, install it, go about your business. I originally thought that's what I'd do with RC1 but when I went to the beta site (connect.microsoft.com) of the many versions I could download, none seemed to address my specific installation, Vista Ultimate FPP (Full Packaged Product). So, since this release is available via Windows Update, I decided to give that a try. After all, that will be the way most folks will do it for real. I tried Windows Update and it wasn't offered. So I went to www.microsoft.com/downloads and did a search on Vista SP1. It gave me the link for the Windows Update Experience for RC Public Availability. This turned out to be a small download. Hmmm. I thought a service pack would be bigger. What this download is is a script that updates the registry so that your Vista will request the service pack from Windows Update. There is also a readme of sorts (it's not called readme) so of course I didn't read it. But I did run the script which set a registry value to signal you want the SP from WU. I then ran Windows Update and it showed I had an update to download. Yea! I download this and install it. It requires a reboot. I check my version (right click Computer and look at Properties). Doesn't say SP1. I check for updates again, and again there is another update. I download and install that, reboot, check version, check for Windows Updates yet again. Another update is waiting. Same process. Then I read the 'readme'. It tells me that there are 2 or 3 prerequisite updates that must be installed before the service pack will be offered. It also says that it takes some time between the updates for them to fully install and enable the next update/service pack. Actually they suggest that after you've run the script to update the registry, you let the automatic Windows Update process do its thing over a 3 or 4 day period. I was in a hurry. Eventually the Service Pack was offered as a Windows Update! It took well over an hour to download and about 20 to 30 minutes to install. I have just completed that installation so don't know if it does any good or not. I'd like to see my Vista speed up a bit. We'll see. The whole process took me about 4 hours!
I have recently discovered a new feature on my new laptop. It's speech recognition. I am using it to write this post. I am writing this for the most part hands off. All I need to do is talk to my computer and it types the words I speak, well most of the time. Actually it does a pretty good job, though I am still learning and am having to figure out exactly how to make it work best. But so far, all that you are reading has been entered verbally without using the keyboard. I will admit to having to use the keyboard a little to wipe out some text. As I write this I'm really amazed at how well it does recognize what I'm saying. These
I have a lot to learn about how this all works but I think it's kind of cool that I can talk to my computer and it will write what I say.
Yesterday there was an ISV/VAR webcast where they stated that Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0, code named Titan, will be Released to Manufacture (RTM) in December and be in General Availability on January 2, 2008! I kinda figured the RTM would be out before Christmas but am happily surprised to the the General Availability on the 2nd. There is supposed to be additional information about the upgrade path from the CRM 3.0 Small Business Edition on December 31st. Happy New Year!
They will be a Launch Tour which will start in Nashville in March and end in Phoenix in mid-April. Be sure to attend at a city near you.
Well, it's been awhile (again) since I've blogged. The blog site was down for awhile and once it came back up I was kinda sorta out of the habit, plus Thanksgivings happened. But it's back up and hopefully I'll be able to post a bit.
I've been traveling a bit of late. In November I've done CRM training gigs in Minneapolis, MN, Peoria, IL, and Phoenix, AZ. All of these sessions generated questions which I posed to other CRM MVPs. I will try to post some of those answers in the near future.