OL 2007 - OL - Web BCM?

[Jeffrey]

I have an Office Live Essentials account and want to start using the web
BCM, through outlook 2007.
I figured out how to "link" that business application into OL 2007 with a
SharePoint List. I set up an activity... at this point only EMAIL and
CALENDAR items cant be set up as an activity?

Wht is it I get no Tracking / History / Phone Logs in the sharepont list of
Web BCM? It there when I log into my web account and use it...

Is it better to just use the full version and set up the sharing in my
office?

 

[Luther]

I have an Office Live Essentials account and want to start using the web
BCM, through outlook 2007.
I figured out how to "link" that business application into OL 2007 with a
SharePoint List. I set up an activity... at this point only EMAIL and
CALENDAR items cant be set up as an activity?

Wht is it I get no Tracking / History / Phone Logs in the sharepont list of
Web BCM? It there when I log into my web account and use it...

Is it better to just use the full version and set up the sharing in my
office?

Is there a live.bcm newsgroup? They may be able to answer your
questions better.

I don't think outlook.bcm has any knowledge that Outlook is being
synced to a sharepoint site, but I may be wrong.

 

[mrtimpeterson via OfficeKB.com]

Jeffrey,

I think this is an extremely relevant question posted for this forum. The
Essentials and Premium version of Office Live are said to include the use of
Business Contact Manager. The great question is this the same or a different
"Business Contact Manager? I just completed reading Karen Fredericks "Office
Live for Dummies" book and syncronization with BCM is mentioned throughout as
one of the benefits of this hosted online application. However, exactly what
does or does not sync is not at all clear. There is a utility mentioned
called an Outlook Connector that is downloadable from MS for free but
something inside tells me that this is yet another one of those classic,
uncoordinated MS moments where the vague hype and promise turns out to be
more than the actual functional reality. Office Live would kick a-- if it
can truly sync with a PC BCM.

Does Office Live require one to use BCM with Outlook in order to sync or can
it sync a more limited data set with just Outlook by itself? Questions,
questions!!

Does anyone know exactly how or if this works? Lon?

-THP

I have an Office Live Essentials account and want to start using the web
BCM, through outlook 2007.

[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]

Is it better to just use the full version and set up the sharing in my
office?

Is there a live.bcm newsgroup? They may be able to answer your
questions better.

I don't think outlook.bcm has any knowledge that Outlook is being
synced to a sharepoint site, but I may be wrong.

 

[Lon Orenstein]

Yes Tim, I know about it... a sad tale, indeed.

I was an early beta user of Office Live and was supposed to be the co-author
of the Dummies book. All during the beta phase, the Office Live SDK
documented how Business Contact Manager for Office 2007 (that we all know
and love) would synchronize your business contacts, accounts, and
opportunities with Office Live on the web. They even changed the name of
Contacts in Office Live to Business Contacts Manager to more closely align
the two. Right up to the last month of beta testing before it went live,
they claimed that the build I was using was not the correct one and it
really would synch.

They were wrong. They took out the feature at the last minute and there is
no way to synch between the two programs. There have been sputtered
conversations between the Office Live and BCM teams in Redmond about making
them work together but so far, no synch.

The Outlook Connector is supposed to be for Outlook contacts, not BCM ones.
But, I haven't tested that out.

Hope that explains it better...

Lon

___________________________________________________________
Lon Orenstein
pinpointtools, llc
(e-mail address removed)
Author of Outlook 2007 Business Contact Manager For Dummies
Author of the eBook: Moving from ACT! to Business Contact Manager
www.pinpointtools.com

Jeffrey,

I think this is an extremely relevant question posted for this forum. The
Essentials and Premium version of Office Live are said to include the use
of
Business Contact Manager. The great question is this the same or a
different
"Business Contact Manager? I just completed reading Karen Fredericks
"Office
Live for Dummies" book and syncronization with BCM is mentioned throughout
as
one of the benefits of this hosted online application. However, exactly
what
does or does not sync is not at all clear. There is a utility mentioned
called an Outlook Connector that is downloadable from MS for free but
something inside tells me that this is yet another one of those classic,
uncoordinated MS moments where the vague hype and promise turns out to be
more than the actual functional reality. Office Live would kick a-- if it
can truly sync with a PC BCM.

Does Office Live require one to use BCM with Outlook in order to sync or
can
it sync a more limited data set with just Outlook by itself? Questions,
questions!!

Does anyone know exactly how or if this works? Lon?

-THP

I have an Office Live Essentials account and want to start using the web
BCM, through outlook 2007.

[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]

Is it better to just use the full version and set up the sharing in my
office?

Is there a live.bcm newsgroup? They may be able to answer your
questions better.

I don't think outlook.bcm has any knowledge that Outlook is being
synced to a sharepoint site, but I may be wrong.

 

[max maraj]

Yes Tim, I know about it... a sad tale, indeed.

I was an early beta user of Office Live and was supposed to be the co-author
of the Dummies book. All during the beta phase, the Office Live SDK
documented how Business Contact Manager for Office 2007 (that we all know
and love) would synchronize your business contacts, accounts, and
opportunities with Office Live on the web. They even changed the name of
Contacts in Office Live to Business Contacts Manager to more closely align
the two. Right up to the last month of beta testing before it went live,
they claimed that the build I was using was not the correct one and it
really would synch.

They were wrong. They took out the feature at the last minute and there is
no way to synch between the two programs. There have been sputtered
conversations between the Office Live and BCM teams in Redmond about making
them work together but so far, no synch.

The Outlook Connector is supposed to be for Outlook contacts, not BCM ones.
But, I haven't tested that out.

Hope that explains it better...

Lon

___________________________________________________________
Lon Orenstein
pinpointtools, llc
(e-mail address removed)
Author of Outlook 2007 Business Contact Manager For Dummies
Author of the eBook: Moving from ACT! to Business Contact Managerwww.pinpointtools.com

I think this is an extremely relevant question posted for this forum. The
Essentials and Premium version of Office Live are said to include the use
of
Business Contact Manager. The great question is this the same or a
different
"Business Contact Manager? I just completed reading Karen Fredericks
"Office
Live for Dummies" book and syncronization with BCM is mentioned throughout
as
one of the benefits of this hosted online application. However, exactly
what
does or does not sync is not at all clear. There is a utility mentioned
called an Outlook Connector that is downloadable from MS for free but
something inside tells me that this is yet another one of those classic,
uncoordinated MS moments where the vague hype and promise turns out to be
more than the actual functional reality. Office Live would kick a-- if it
can truly sync with a PC BCM.

Does Office Live require one to use BCM with Outlook in order to sync or
can
it sync a more limited data set with just Outlook by itself? Questions,
questions!!

Does anyone know exactly how or if this works? Lon?

-THP

I have an Office Live Essentials account and want to start using the web
BCM, through outlook 2007.
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
Is it better to just use the full version and set up the sharing in my
office?
Is there a live.bcm newsgroup? They may be able to answer your
questions better.
I don't think outlook.bcm has any knowledge that Outlook is being
synced to a sharepoint site, but I may be wrong.

THAT TRULY SUCKS.!!!!!!!! is there any other way or program to make
BCM like owa?

 

[mrtimpeterson via OfficeKB.com]

As usual Lon, you explain it quite better. I found the Office Live for
Dummies book to read as a mere promotional for the hosted service. It was
filled with vagueness and even the screenshots used were very coy and far
from detailed for a new user. It seems that the book's agenda was more of a
rah-rah to get folks to try to sign up rather than how to actually do useful
things with Office Live.

What I take away from this is that "Business Contact Manager" and "Business
Contact Manager" are NOT the same things. Only the MS Redmond bureaucracy or
the government itself could produce such a beautiful thing as this.

-THP

Yes Tim, I know about it... a sad tale, indeed.

I was an early beta user of Office Live and was supposed to be the co-author
of the Dummies book. All during the beta phase, the Office Live SDK
documented how Business Contact Manager for Office 2007 (that we all know
and love) would synchronize your business contacts, accounts, and
opportunities with Office Live on the web. They even changed the name of
Contacts in Office Live to Business Contacts Manager to more closely align
the two. Right up to the last month of beta testing before it went live,
they claimed that the build I was using was not the correct one and it
really would synch.

They were wrong. They took out the feature at the last minute and there is
no way to synch between the two programs. There have been sputtered
conversations between the Office Live and BCM teams in Redmond about making
them work together but so far, no synch.

The Outlook Connector is supposed to be for Outlook contacts, not BCM ones.
But, I haven't tested that out.

Hope that explains it better...

Lon

___________________________________________________________
Lon Orenstein
pinpointtools, llc
(e-mail address removed)
Author of Outlook 2007 Business Contact Manager For Dummies
Author of the eBook: Moving from ACT! to Business Contact Manager
www.pinpointtools.com

Jeffrey,

[quoted text clipped - 36 lines]

 

[Luther]

As usual Lon, you explain it quite better. I found the Office Live for
Dummies book to read as a mere promotional for the hosted service. It was
filled with vagueness and even the screenshots used were very coy and far
from detailed for a new user. It seems that the book's agenda was more of a
rah-rah to get folks to try to sign up rather than how to actually do useful
things with Office Live.

What I take away from this is that "Business Contact Manager" and "Business
Contact Manager" are NOT the same things. Only the MS Redmond bureaucracy or
the government itself could produce such a beautiful thing as this.

-THP

Yes Tim, I know about it... a sad tale, indeed.

I was an early beta user of Office Live and was supposed to be the co-author
of the Dummies book. All during the beta phase, the Office Live SDK
documented how Business Contact Manager for Office 2007 (that we all know
and love) would synchronize your business contacts, accounts, and
opportunities with Office Live on the web. They even changed the name of
Contacts in Office Live to Business Contacts Manager to more closely align
the two. Right up to the last month of beta testing before it went live,
they claimed that the build I was using was not the correct one and it
really would synch.

They were wrong. They took out the feature at the last minute and there is
no way to synch between the two programs. There have been sputtered
conversations between the Office Live and BCM teams in Redmond about making
them work together but so far, no synch.

The Outlook Connector is supposed to be for Outlook contacts, not BCM ones.
But, I haven't tested that out.

Hope that explains it better...

Lon

___________________________________________________________
Lon Orenstein
pinpointtools, llc
(e-mail address removed)
Author of Outlook 2007 Business Contact Manager For Dummies
Author of the eBook: Moving from ACT! to Business Contact Manager
www.pinpointtools.com
[quoted text clipped - 36 lines]

I don't think outlook.bcm has any knowledge that Outlook is being
synced to a sharepoint site, but I may be wrong.

I concur. Microsoft should not have two different products with the
same, three word, name.

 

[mrtimpeterson via OfficeKB.com]

A clarifying "heads-up" to all about BCM and the Office Live Small Business
version of BCM"

I am going to type out below the exact language of the very first paragraph
of Chapter 10 from the Wiley publications book titled "Microsoft Office Live
for Dummies" authored by Karen Fredricks:

["Office Live is all about mobility and accessing your data no matter where
your travels take you. However, there will be times when you'll want to look
at all your Office Live data in your desktop edition of Outlook. And, if
you're using the Office Live edition of Business Contact Manager, you'll want
all of that material to appear magically in your desktop version of Business
Contact Manager as well."]

This lead-in paragraph sets the stage for the author's subsequent vague
discussion about the Outlook Connector utility, etc. The sad thing is that
this "For Dummies" publication hit the shelves just a few months ago, long
after the various Office Live versions were finalized in their current form.
The implication of this exact language above is pretty clear and it indicates
to the reader that a user will be able to have "ALL" of their Office Live BCM
data appear "magically" on their desktop version of BCM. When I logically
read the word "all" twice used in 2 different sentences above, I naturally
assume this to mean "all" of my Office Live BCM data! Silly me for
struggling with my literal understanding of English in relation to this vague
spin. Until reading Lon's posting above, I was still hopeful about this
"magic."

However, I am now still searching for the "magic" of this apparent vaporware
as discussed by the author! I do not know who Karen Fredricks is. I believe
that she has written a few ACT books for Dummies some years ago. Who ever
she is, this is unforgivably sloppy writing and/or editing which can mislead
many. I rely on the "Dummies" publications to provide clear end user
guidance so often lacking elsewhere. I assume the authors to NOT be Dummies
like the rest of us about the topics that they write of.

Does anyone here know of any plans for a "timely" upgrade to this lack of
interaction between a PC based Outlook/BCM and its online counterpart known
as Office Live Small Business BCM?

Rant over!

-THP

As usual Lon, you explain it quite better. I found the Office Live for
Dummies book to read as a mere promotional for the hosted service. It was

[quoted text clipped - 51 lines]

- Show quoted text -

I concur. Microsoft should not have two different products with the
same, three word, name.