Useful open-source utilities

I'm very careful of "free" utilities - more often than not they are loaded with, or are conduits for - spyware. These are totally safe, produced by the open-source community. These are what I use daily myself.

Paint.Net: Image Editor Similar in capability to PaintShop Pro v.8 or Photoshop 6 or so. A monumental open-source effort. Works great to tweak and resize images uploaded into Dynami Builder. http://www.getpaint.net/

PDF Creator Pro: Installs as a 'printer' and will turn any file into a tight .PDF with small file size. (many other competing solutions make giant files) http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/ .

IzArc: WinZip Replacement. Even though XP/Vista will “unzip” a basic .zip archive, more often than not a “zipped” installer won’t run or install unless you have a real utility to unpack it. This one works just as well as WinZip and will save you $40. http://www.izarc.org/

FileZilla: FTP Software. Equiv to CuteFTP or WS_FTP. A server version is also available. http://filezilla-project.org/

Office 2007/Business Contact Manager Resources

If you would like to see what an Outlook2007/BCM implementation will "look" like... here are some ery good BCM sites, and a couple articles about Outlook™ 2007 and SharePoint™

Non-Geek Resources:

Office 2007™ and BCM Online Demo: Test out the Office Apps in your browser without downloading or installing anything. http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/products/HA101687261033.aspx

Good Article about Integrating SharePoint™ and Office 2007™ (non-geek) http://blogs.msdn.com/outlook/archive/2007/09/28/sharepoint-outlook-the-perfect-link.aspx

Content Management in Office 2007™: Some examples of actual document workflow using new OF2007 features. http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/suites/HA102348991033.aspx

Pinpoint Tools: Lon Ornstein developed a BCM add-in for Realtors which used to be an ACT! application… so he has the most knowledge of migrating from ACT! to BCM. He also co-authored "Outlook™ 2007/BCM for Dummies" http://www.pinpointtools.com

"Geek" Resources for those of you with deep desire to Code

Office and SharePoint™ Pro
http://www.officesharepointpro.com/

WindowsITPro (Geek) integration series (registration required)http://www.windowsitpro.com/Articles/ArticleID/95919/95919.html

A good SharePoint™ feature/function Blog
http://blogs.devleap.com/romeopruno/archive/2006/04/12/7175.aspx

Microsoft Official SharePoint™/OF2007 blogs (Note that we are using WSS 3.0) http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/default.aspx

Business Contact Manager Blog
http://blogs.msdn.com/bcm/default.aspx

An independent SharePoint™ Developer Blog http://www.u2u.info/Blogs/Patrick/default.aspx

SharePoint™ 3.0 FAQ
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsserver/sharepoint/bb684455.aspx

More on SP3/Office Integration
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepointtechnology/results.aspx?qu=Outlook+2007&av=WSU120

Maybe the wildest piece of music I have ever heard

Was listening to the public classical station in my truck (no, that is not
my usual highbrow behavior... but many people do not realize I was a music
minor in college for a while, and every once in a while I like to 'sharpen
the saw' and see if I can still recognize one composer from another).
Anyway... a Vivaldi concerto for RECORDER came on. A recorder is a crude
penny whistle-like instrument with no keys... something you'd think of a kid
playing "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" on in
first grade music class, not a serious musician backed by a symphonic
orchestra.

Recorder ensembles were common during the renaissance (1450-ish) and baroque
period (1650-ish)... there are all kinds of recorder "voices" from the
Garklien/Sopranino (tiny, high-pitched) to bass and even contra-bass
recorders... and they are all pleasant enough- but the music was usually
pretty simple (relatively) - chamber music, borderline boring. Recorders
have a very limited range - about 2 octaves, so there's not much "stretch".
To be honest, I didn't realize Vivaldi had composed stuff of this complexity
for recorders. This falls into the 'you learn something new (hopefully)
every day' category

This piece of music blew me away - it featured absolute over-the-top
virtuosity. You could imagine it (barely) being played on a keyed flute or
other modern instrument by a Julliard grad...but sure as heck not on a $20
wooden recorder. Got me thinking about how proficient human beings can
become at some really niche endeavors. Someone probably spent a decade or
two of their life learning to flawlessly execute this (and others) piece of
music. There might be hope for us yet.

Check it out if you have Rhapsody or some other 'rent-a-music' service.
Just search "Vivaldi Recorder Concerto" and you'll get some results. I wish
I could give you an exact title - not sure there are any (beyond
"Allegro...Largo... etc.". If I get better info, I will definitely post
back.

Outlook 2007 as "Mission Control"

Yet another post in my "Office 2007™ is Actually Damned Good" series. While I think it's becoming clear the Windows™ operating system is pretty much headed nowhere (Vista™ by all accounts has been a major yawn at best, and the next Microsoft OS is years away), the advantages of using "real" Office 2007™ over the dozen or so alternatives are also becoming clear, at least to me.

Remember when Microsoft wasn’t “Getting” the online world ? Outlook™ couldn’t wire to anything except its own Exchange server, and

It's also clear that Microsoft is putting a lot of their eggs in the Office™ basket, and particularly the ability to wire Office 2007™ to various "stuff" online. Like SharePoint™ for example. Or other non-Microsoft sites and services.

Take OL2007 (MS shorthand for Outlook™ 2007) - as you can see in the screenshot above, I have my Outlook™ 2007 inbox turned into a pretty good “Unified Inbox” – meaning I can access just about everything in one spot. Exchange mail, Yahoo Mail, eFax faxes, my uReach inbox, SharePoint™ (including calendars, online/offline document libraries, other lists such as contacts and tasks, etc.) , plus a totally non-Microsoft inbox for these blog posts.

Even with all this – I’m just scratching the surface. I could, for example, also have voice mail from our office PBX system flow into my Exchange inbox. In a sense, Outlook™ is “becoming” my “operating system” - it’s the one piece of software I use 24/7.

I also think this spells eventual doom to other third-party developers. Two examples I can think of immediately – Small-business Accounting vendors (can you say “QuickBooks”) and third-party contact managers (think ACT!). Since Microsoft is rolling both basic accounting and CRM functionality directly into MSOffice, and then exposing all those components in Outlook™, I don’t think the other guys have a chance. Even though they all attempt to “integrate” with Office, it’s still a major kludge compared to just being there in the first place. I believe most users will give up a little feature/functionality in return for the convenience of having everything in one place.