First of all an apology for being out of the loop for so long. I have taken on a project internally that has been consuming much of my time of late. ...It is not without rewards however (pains too). The TS2 team will be conducting several SQL Server 2005 and Visual Studio 2005 presentations to Direct Markeing Resellers nation wide before the products both Launch on November 7th.
A few things you should know about the products from licensing and availibility perspective:
Although the Launch is November 7th, 2005 the products will be available on November 1 in the licensing price lists.
If you are a partner that is also a developer and you subscribe to MSDN, please be aware that there will be branding changes to the subscriptions. They will be titles Visual Studio x with MSDN x Subscription, "y" is the version of the product and "y" the type of subscription.
Here is a chart. Please keep in mind this for Open, Select, and EA pricing.
|
License |
Software Assurance |
|
Visual Studio Team Suite |
Visual Studio Team Suite
with MSDN Premium Subscription |
|
Visual Studio Team Architect |
Visual Studio Team Architect
with MSDN Premium Subscription |
|
Visual Studio Team Developer |
Visual Studio Team Developer
with MSDN Premium Subscription |
|
Visual Studio Team Test |
Visual Studio Team Test
with MSDN Premium Subscription |
|
Visual Studio Professional |
Visual Studio Professional
with MSDN Premium Subscription |
|
Visual Studio Professional
with MSDN Professional Subscription |
The most important aspect of this change to you is that by upgrading to MSDN Universal now (until October 31st) you will be privy to one of the new Visual Studio Team Edition for Architects, developers or Testors (you get a choice). These will be sold for ~$3000 separately after launch. Additonally you have step-up option for the whole suite (all 3 aforementioned products). If you are an MSDN Enterprise subscriber you get the Visual Studio Team edition for Deelopers (No Choice). Every one else gets none of them. That is why upgarding is key. Please note that there is no step-up SKU for Open Business or Open Volume, only Open Value and Select!
I realize that this is not for everyone, but it is important all the same. Let your customers who do software developent know of this change!!! The sooner the better.
Signing off from Starbucks in Chicago
--Woody
Just a quick entry to answer a question I posted in a previos entry regarding Small Business Accounting. The question was asked whether SBA handled "Fund" accounting and unfortuntely the answer is basically no. By peer Larry Gracia found the following and I quote him
"….from what I have found we do not market SBA as a “Fund Accounting” in the way this person describes the system. SBA will create a recommended chart of accounts in the start up wizard for non-profit orgs, including campaign and donation income, membership fees and more but this is really related to running the business and not the actual funds… tracking would have to be manually done in the application and still would probably not suit all their needs…"
Just to add a note here, there are several accounting applications on the market specifically designed to meet the needs of those who deal w/ fund accounting.
Thanks,
Woody