I've spent a few hours playing with the current BCM and feel that a major
change/new version must be in the works. I would be happy to sign up as a
beta tester if there is an easy place to sign up please let me know.

The first Office beta is expected this month. The URL to sign up was
posted a while back. You can probably find it by searching this group
on Google.

Thanks - I did a search but couldn't find it. If it isn't too late to sign
up, I would love the link.

"Luther" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> The first Office beta is expected this month. The URL to sign up was
> posted a while back. You can probably find it by searching this group
> on Google.
>

I found this - unfortunately it doesn't mention BCM - honestly at this
point - BCM integration with Exhchange is about the only thing that would
justify an upgrade of office for any of my employees. Outlook is still the
product that needs the most development in my opinion.

Activesync hangs Outlook when trying to exit Outlook - not sure if that is
more Activesync or Outlook at fault.
Outlook is still notorious for not really exiting even though the icon is
gone from the tray.
You can't run to Outlook profiles simultaneously.
Outlook searches - don't give you the right information if you do a search
covering inbox and sent items you have to change the fields/columns
afterwards to display To AND From
Profiles with more than one account - it frequently shows the same account
inbox in more than one account!

BCM does not show in OWA
BCM does not sync with WM5
BCM can't sync with the normal inbox.

I honestly don't have any pressing issues with Word or Excel or Powerpoint

OK - Access still sucks for picture integration - space useage, does not
register picture objects(JPGs) properly.

"Luther" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> The first Office beta is expected this month. The URL to sign up was
> posted a while back. You can probably find it by searching this group
> on Google.
>

Office Beta 1 is out.

BCM 3 supports custom fields!

None of the items on your list look like they'll make it into BCM v3.

I'm curious about this recent out cry for OWA support. In one of the
BCM docs a couple years ago, Microsoft indicated that BCM was targeted
at small businesses, which back then meant 95% of expected users would
have from 1 PC to 5 PCs in a workgroup network. The other 5% might have
a dedicated server, a domain, or even Exchange. So the request for OWA
support is a little surprising. Doesn't that require an Exchange server
on the internet? Are these requests coming from small businesses? Or
did Microsoft misjudge the audience for BCM and it's actually corporate
IT departments that are trying to use BCM?

Just curious.

Sorry - I tend to think of a small business as any under 50 users - Small
Business Server is targeted for such companies and it includes Exchange w/
OWA. I think of 5 or less PCs as home office, not small business.

"Luther" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Office Beta 1 is out.
>
> BCM 3 supports custom fields!
>
> None of the items on your list look like they'll make it into BCM v3.
>
> I'm curious about this recent out cry for OWA support. In one of the
> BCM docs a couple years ago, Microsoft indicated that BCM was targeted
> at small businesses, which back then meant 95% of expected users would
> have from 1 PC to 5 PCs in a workgroup network. The other 5% might have
> a dedicated server, a domain, or even Exchange. So the request for OWA
> support is a little surprising. Doesn't that require an Exchange server
> on the internet? Are these requests coming from small businesses? Or
> did Microsoft misjudge the audience for BCM and it's actually corporate
> IT departments that are trying to use BCM?
>
> Just curious.
>

Oh - and another thing it really could use - right click on an incoming
e-mail and add contact to bcm contact - not regular contact.

"boe" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:ePX$(E-Mail Removed)...
>I found this - unfortunately it doesn't mention BCM - honestly at this
>point - BCM integration with Exhchange is about the only thing that would
>justify an upgrade of office for any of my employees. Outlook is still the
>product that needs the most development in my opinion.
>
> Activesync hangs Outlook when trying to exit Outlook - not sure if that is
> more Activesync or Outlook at fault.
> Outlook is still notorious for not really exiting even though the icon is
> gone from the tray.
> You can't run to Outlook profiles simultaneously.
> Outlook searches - don't give you the right information if you do a search
> covering inbox and sent items you have to change the fields/columns
> afterwards to display To AND From
> Profiles with more than one account - it frequently shows the same account
> inbox in more than one account!
>
> BCM does not show in OWA
> BCM does not sync with WM5
> BCM can't sync with the normal inbox.
>
> I honestly don't have any pressing issues with Word or Excel or Powerpoint
>
> OK - Access still sucks for picture integration - space useage, does not
> register picture objects(JPGs) properly.
>
> "Luther" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> The first Office beta is expected this month. The URL to sign up was
>> posted a while back. You can probably find it by searching this group
>> on Google.
>>
>
>

I agree the messaging of "small business" is confused--MS CRM also has
a version for "small business" that's clearly intended for a different
size customer.

I don't think that usage needs are as much determined by the size of the
organization as Microsoft would like to project as a justification for BCM's
design and function. This is likely why BCM limitations have existed due in
large measure to this limited thinking paradigm. Why not make the
application as versatile as possible and attract a broader range of business
entities? I understand that no application can be everything to everyone in
every situation but BCM's limitations are laughable and not due to a
miscalculation over the intended user base. I don't know of a single smaller
sized user that is content with the rudimentary features of BCM as being well
targeted to their needs. For the most part the smaller users (like myself)
that find a way to use BCM just "live-with" these things and hope for
improvement over time. Whether it is 1 to 5 users vs. 20 or 30 is irrelevant.
Remote access to a centralized source of data will meet the demands of all of
these users equally. Hopefully, the small business edition of the upcoming
CRM 3.0 release will be priced sensibly as a monthly web hosted option in
order to provide this type of need.

-THP

Luther wrote:
>I agree the messaging of "small business" is confused--MS CRM also has
>a version for "small business" that's clearly intended for a different
>size customer.

--
Message posted via http://www.officekb.com

Additonal thought:

One of the most notable trends over the past decade has been the evolving
demand for more versatile access to one's data. Mobile computing from
anywhere at anytime has been a guiding directive for Microsoft and rhetoric
aside, they show a lot of promise with this ... sometimes. If there were 1
feature change I would love to see above all of the others on my very large
wish list of BCM improvements, it would be the ability to more easily access
my BCM data from any location without the hassle of synching,etc. BCM is
built upon the .Net framework and could be made much more web-centric. I
wear a lot of different hats with my service business and these different
roles rarely have me sitting conveniently inside of my little office under 1
roof using my peer to peer network as a sharing method. I am usually the
mobile warrior on the run with my laptop at my side. My "Small Business"
office is more often where ever I happen to be. BCM remains too much of a
limited geographic-specific application in my opinion in this regard. As I
intend to grow and add others to my enterprise it will be more and more
difficult to collaborate effectively with these others in my team. There are
numerous sales force workers out there who could use something like BCM but
rarely are they ever under the same roof yet they need to coordinate data in
an easily centralized fashion. This seems to be a fairly common theme from a
lot of the posts in this newsgroup regarding data sharing. I just hope that
posting my own real world usage needs are helpful in this regard.

-THP


Tim P wrote:
>I don't think that usage needs are as much determined by the size of the
>organization as Microsoft would like to project as a justification for BCM's
>design and function. This is likely why BCM limitations have existed due in
>large measure to this limited thinking paradigm. Why not make the
>application as versatile as possible and attract a broader range of business
>entities? I understand that no application can be everything to everyone in
>every situation but BCM's limitations are laughable and not due to a
>miscalculation over the intended user base. I don't know of a single smaller
>sized user that is content with the rudimentary features of BCM as being well
>targeted to their needs. For the most part the smaller users (like myself)
>that find a way to use BCM just "live-with" these things and hope for
>improvement over time. Whether it is 1 to 5 users vs. 20 or 30 is irrelevant.
>Remote access to a centralized source of data will meet the demands of all of
>these users equally. Hopefully, the small business edition of the upcoming
>CRM 3.0 release will be priced sensibly as a monthly web hosted option in
>order to provide this type of need.
>
>-THP
>
>>I agree the messaging of "small business" is confused--MS CRM also has
>>a version for "small business" that's clearly intended for a different
>>size customer.

--
Message posted via OfficeKB.com
http://www.officekb.com/Uwe/Forums.a...k-bcm/200511/1