WerkBOX - StartReady nieuwsbrief nr 5 maart 2011

StartReady bouwt Ricoh WerkBOX

StartReady bouwt Ricoh WerkBOX zo kopt de laatste nieuwsbrief van StartReady van maart 2011.

'Startready faciliteert en host de Ricoh werkbox. Dit op SharePoint gebaseerde systeem is volledig geïntegreerd met de Ricoh Multifunctional. De Ricoh werbox digitaliseerd alle informatie binnen de organisatie. Deze informatie wordt gescanned en vervolgens in de juiste mappen opgeslagen. Vanaf een beveiligde omgeving kunnen medewerkers deze informatie raadplegen. Klik voor info op www.ricohwerkbox.nl'

Startready en Ricoh zijn beide Goldcertified partners van Microsoft.

Vraag gestuurde informatie bij de gemeenten - Informatie is Chaos

De overheid heeft de afgelopen jaren fors ingezet op elektronische dienstverlening en het ontsluiten van overheidsinformatie voor burgers en bedrijven. Tegelijkertijd zag met name de rijksoverheid zich geconfronteerd met toenemende digitale informatiestromen waardoor ook de eigen informatiehuishouding steeds ingewikkelder werd.

 

3 maart j.l. heeft het event van eBurg plaatsgevonden. Het Thema van het event was: De gemeente agenda 2010 - 2014.

Ard van Someren behandelt in zijn lezing met de titel 'vraaggestuurde informatie bij de gemeenten' de complexiteit van die informatiehuishouding, alsmede hoe vragen van burgers deze huishouding beïnvloeden. Besproken wordt hoe afwijkende vragen de gestandaardiseerde processen van de veel voorkomende vragen totaal kunnen verstoren. Logischer is om de vragen te groepen en te stroomlijnen.

Daarnaast signaleert Van Someren een trend: van push naar pull. Informatie wordt meer vraaggestuurd. Hij bespreekt wat deze verschuiving betekent voor de digitale informatiehuishouding:

• hoe ga je die inrichten;
• hoe ga je die beheren en
• hoe zorg je ervoor dat informatie ook op juiste manier hergebruikt kan worden in de juiste context.

 

Tot slot gaat Van Someren in op de voorwaarden voor werken met vraaggestuurde informatie.

Kijk voor webcast en presentatie op de site van eBurg.

The Future Of Productivity - The Cloud demands smarter devices, and cheap too!

The smarter device - one of five dimensions
The Cloud demands smarter devices is one of the dimensions that Steve Balmer introduced when he claimed that Microsoft was - All In - last year at the Washington University. Microsoft COO Kevin Turner mentioned a sweet spot in their ´three screens and a cloud´ vision on the future of productivity during his 2010 WPCDC speech. An open space between the consumer focused space of the apple iPad and the fat desktop devices on the other end. Actualy he positioned the Kindle on the the far right end of the spectrum, but that is the kindle static ´read only´ interface.

A new Game
...It is not about the interface, added value is about making content available, mixability. This is the changing game, new opportunites demanding other skills, new kind of job opportunies, new ways of combining information, crowdsourcing, mashedup apps never thought even possible.

...It is not about technique, added value is about making technology available. Hardware is becomming cloud enabled and web applications are becomming 'client aware' (*). No need to worry about where to put your data, how to format your information considering the different form factors of hardware that will be used now and in the future to access the information.

...It is not about YOUR device, added value is about a seamless experience. Transparant adding information both in digital and analog format. Transparant extracting information or sharing content again. No need to worry about, 'where is MY digital environment to put my information?'. No need to worry about, 'where is my printer where I can send this document to?'. The devices are there and so is the functionality to add or extract your information, where ever you are, when ever you need it. As Larry Ellison (Founder and CEO Oracle) stated a long time ago: 'The network is the computer'. So bring your own device (BYOD) or maybe even you do not need to bring any device. The information you need is simply there.

In an earlier post I mentioned a development of Ricoh. A device near the right end spectrum of Kevin Turner. Rumor is that this device is turning the eReader into an eWriter. I am currious how the layer is added on top of the reading capabilities of the Kindle. Will keep you posted on that.

Pay as you go
If the added value is not in the device itself but in the production and consumption of the information. What does these developments mean for the position of the devices, the pricing of the devices and the business models? Prices will drop dramatically! Devices like an eReader are just a window to the information and will deliver information to the masses. Forrester recommends strategists to diversify their next wave eReader portfolio to secure their ownership of reading experience. Forrester mentioned a drop to a price level of $50 for a stripped down pocket reader.
Apple is speeding up their iPAD release frequency with the iPAD2. The rumor machine about iPAD3 started even before the release date of the iPAD2 was revealed. The second version of the popular leader in the segment is mainly an incremental update of the iPAD. The pricing of the updated version will not change, leading to a dramatically drop of the pricing of the predecessor.
With the comments of Steve Jobs about the price level of the new version, the features of the new version and the rumour that this new version will be released early 2012, put an enormous pressure on the competition. Steve Jobs calls them the copy cats by the way.

It will be hard for the device manufactors to maintain their position and to keep up with the expected experience of added value. In my opinion, the biggest challenge is to 'blend' with the cloud and the information.

(*)Intel has developed a technology for cloud-based web applications to recognise the hardware capabilities from client computers, leading to a better optimised experience for end users.

March 7
Mary-Jo Foley posted a blog on a Microsoft research project: 'A low-tech Microsoft slate for the masses'.

On pricing the researchers estimate a cost of $100 when massmanufactured:
'While there are “no immediate commercialization plans” for the low-tech slate, the researchers estimated that a single unit witht he digital slate and pen could cost about $100 (U.S.) if/when mass-manufactured.'

She concludes the post with: 'I have no idea what Microsoft’s intentions are regarding this device/market, but still thought it worth noting that there’s room — and need — for lots of different kinds of slates and tablets, at lots of different price points. Microsoft seems to still consider the stylus/pen as worth supporting in slate/tablet designs (as do a lot of you readers). I wonder how many of the coming Windows 8 slates will provide pen-input, alongside multi-touch….'

Cloud computing - The Cloud needs smarter devices

A while ago Steve Balmer CEO of Microsoft declared that Microsoft is All In at the Washington State University, starting the campaign well known today. Back then Microsoft provided us with a definition on what Cloud is in their opinion:

The cloud is a computing model where physical computers are abstracted in a way to enable people, whether they are at work or play, to have access to there data across devices. Interact with friends, families or colleagues, make better decisions and power the world businesses.

Dimensions
Microsoft highlights five dimensions of The Cloud:

• The cloud creates business opportunity's and responsibility
• The cloud learns and helps you to learn, decide and take action
• The cloud enhances your social and professional interactions
• The cloud wants smarter devices
• The cloud drives server advances that drives the cloud

The Cloud wants smarter devices

 

In the light of this subject I found the following news publication from a week ago interesting: microsoft and Ricoh anounced a global partnership:

 

Ricoh and Microsoft Partner in Cloud Business

Combining Microsoft's cloud services with Ricoh's nationwide sales and support

structure to drive enterprise IT deployment and utilization
Ricoh Co., Ltd. (head office: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; CEO, President and Representative Director: Shiro Kondo), Ricoh Japan Corporation (head office: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; CEO, President and Representative Director: Kenji Hatanaka) and affiliated sales companies in Japan (hereinafter referred to as the Ricoh Group) and Microsoft Co., Ltd. (head office: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Yasuyuki Higuchi) have announced that they will partner in cloud business.

Overview of Partnership

1.Joint development and provision of solutions by the Ricoh Group and Microsoft

The two companies will offer solutions that combine Microsoft's cloud services for the enterprise including Exchange Online, SharePoint Online and etc., with Ricoh's helpdesk, deployment support and other services. They will also combine these services with Ricoh's NETBegin BB Pack Select, an information system integration and maintenance service for small and midsized businesses used to date by 90,000 companies in Japan, to generate synergy with the aim of gaining 200,000 users nationwide over the coming three years.

2.Training of human resources for cloud service rollout

With respect to its rollout of cloud services, the Ricoh Group will apply its well-developed on-site information system sales and support structure to the development of cloud business. To this end, Microsoft will provide training to 11,700 sales personnel and engineers of the Ricoh Group around Japan to enhance their understanding of relevant products and technology.

3.Joint marketing, sales and support

Microsoft will leverage Smart Business Center, its general information website for small and midsized businesses, to disseminate information, hold seminars and otherwise further strengthen its collaboration with the Ricoh Group to implement sales promotion activities, sales and customer support.

Ricoh Japan plans to leverage this partnership to double its sales of Microsoft products in Japan to \20 billion within the coming three years. Ricoh too will further accelerate the global rollout of all of its IT services through applying the achievements and success stories of its partnership with Microsoft in Japan to its global business. Microsoft will continue to work with the Ricoh Group to promote the deployment and utilization of IT by businesses.

Partnership Background

As a leading Microsoft Large Account Reseller (LAR) and Microsoft product solutions partner in Japan, the Ricoh Group has long provided Microsoft products to a wide range of customers from small to large enterprises. Ricoh currently sells over \10 billion worth of Microsoft licenses annually through a well-developed sales and support structure manned by approximately 7,700 sales personnel and 4,000 engineers stationed in 310 sites (including group companies) that provide the same high quality customer services throughout Japan. Ricoh has also been looking into the possibilities for applying the strengths and expertise that it has built up over the years to the handling of Microsoft's cloud-related offerings.

Microsoft for its part has long sought to drive the further take-up of its Microsoft Online Services through cooperating with partners equipped with rich sales and support capabilities for serving customers nationwide.

The two companies decided to work together in the cloud business because they felt that combining Microsoft's products and technological capabilities with the Ricoh Group's sales and support networks will enable delivery of cost reductions, shorter deployment time and other cloud service strengths backed up by a structure for providing the same high quality support as for on-site systems.

January 25, 2011
Ricoh Company, Ltd.
RICOH JAPAN Corporation
Microsoft Co., Ltd

The Future of Productivity - the sweetspot of eReaders and Business Solutions #li #il #yam

The worlThis post was published before july 2010. The information in this post was asked to take offline until now to make sure that Ricoh Innovations had room to wrap up the release of their first production version.

This year Microsoft World Partner Conference me and my collegue had the opportunity to meet Ron Barr of Ricoh Innovations. Our goal was to get to know each other since we are collegues in the Ricoh family and share some developments and ideas. Ron had this prototype with him of a Ricoh eReader. The device has a WIFI and 3G connection, the surface is based on the kindle technology on top of that a pen interface is implemented. Writing on the surface realy feels like wrinting on paper. Not to smooth, and a lot like writing with ink on paper.
Ron informed us that this was the first time he was able to show a prototype of Ricoh so upfront and I´m really glad we experienced the tablet. Some things are changing. As Steve Balmer announced several times now, The Cloud demands smarter devices and Microsoft COO Kevin Turner mentioned a sweet spot in their ´three screens and a cloud´ vision on the future of productivity during his WPCDC speech. An open space between the consumer focused space of the apple iPad and the fat desktop devices on the other end. Actualy he positioned the Kindle on the the far right end of the spectrum, but that is the kindle static ´read only´ interface. Well this Ricoh device rocks, it is able to go beyond the crisp display of books and is able to deliver support to business processes. The layer on top of the Kindle infterface is able to capture writen input and will integrate that interaction with business processess.
There will be a SDK available. We think it should be free of charge. The community will take care of the huge opportunity. We discussed the need in logistic processes and other paper and information appended processes. The possibilities are infinited. How should we price the product itself. Well in our opinion the added value of the product is not the issue, it´s the huge added value of the process behind that. Maybe free of charge is not the way to go, but look at the US eReader forecast and the prediction the prices of a stripped down device will drop to less than $50.

The device will launch in the US april 2011. We in the front line of Europe will try to support the device as soon as possible.

Something is changing #il

Yesterday June 22nd I was one of the speakers on the third SharePoint and Storage session at Microsoft NL organised by Ricoh. In between we organised a roundtable discussion on the same subject at our headquarters in 's-Hertogenbosch.

Since quit a long time now I'm advocating the possibility's the Microsoft stack with SharePoint as platform can come available for your organization. In the last say three years I build the competence at Ricoh and in the last two years the productline Ricoh Document Store has been build.

I personaly had a special experience during the seminar. We used some surveys to measure the 'mood' of our public. Last November and December generaly the public was not convinced of the document management capability's of the SharePoint platform. Now about 9 mounth later and a lot of talking, some major developments and last but not least a new version of SharePoint released last Mai 12th this mood has changed dramatically.

The public was convinced of the possibility's and was looking for the reallife cases and best practices to use it now and with the upcomming changes in the SharePoint 2010 platform on premise and ofcourse the promisses of SharePoint online based on the new funtionality's.

Opportunity's for us ISV's and Integrators. We finaly can concentrate more on the functionality that adds the most vallue to the business processes and productivity of our customers.

The content of the seminar can be found on the YouTube and SlideShare channels of Ricoh.

Ook Ricoh levert oplossingen op basis van Microsoft Online diensten #li

'Wanneer u online bent kunt u via Outlook zien wie van uw collega's bereikbaar is, en heeft u altijd inzicht in agenda's. Ook kunt u videovergaderen, en uw bureaublad delen op afstand. U heeft bovendien altijd de laatste documenten binnen handbereik - óók als u niet op de zaak bent.'

Dit is de belofte zoals op de nieuwe site voor Microsoft Online diensten staat geschreven. Ricoh Nederland levert al meer dan 10 jaar aan haar klanten. De laatste jaren - als Microsoft Gold Partner - worden oplossingen op basis van SharePoint gebouwd. Deze oplossingen zijn inmiddels door ontwikkeld naar producten als de Document Store van Ricoh. Hiermee wordt een verbinding gelegd tussen de wereld van het papier en de digitale informatie.

Documenten spelen een belangrijke rol als informatiedrager binnen bedrijfsprocessen. Enterprise Information Management, Informatie Engineering en de logistiek die deze informatie op het juiste moment in de juiste vorm op de juiste plek brengt zijn specialismen die in de oplossingen zijn terug te vinden. Specifiek voor een aantal processen zijn hier frameworks voor opgebouwd en geven templates invulling aan de behoeften. Zo kent iedereen de vraag en de daaraan gerelateerde problemen om een factuur van een leverancier efficient door een organisatie heen te begeleiden.

Het besef dat het klassieke Document Management slechts voor een deel de huidige bedrijfsprocessen ondersteund wordt steeds groter. Denk aan de ontwikkelingen waar Microsoft in haar nieuwe SharePoint 2010 release de mogelijkheid biedt om documenten in een set te verzamelen. In de overheid kennen we deze relatie tussen documenten en informatie als ´een zaak´, in de verzekeringswereld of de advocatuur wordt wel gesproken over een dossier of een case. Ricoh heeft deze functionaliteit in haar Frameworks opgenomen en biedt de mogelijkheid om naast het document ook de hele set van gerelateerde documenten als een dossier te behandelen.

Steeds vaker komen documenten in digitale vorm binnen en de integratie met deze digitale stromen worden steeds beter. Feit is dat in de huidige wereld nog steeds erg veel informatie in een ongestructureerde vorm op papier wordt aangeleverd. Postkamers hebben nog steeds een zeerbelangrijke rol in het verzamelen van deze binnenkomende stroom en het voorbewerken en afleveren van deze gegevens op de juiste plek in het bedrijfsproces. Efficiente en effectieve verwerking is de eerste stap in de besparing in het informatielogistieke proces. Door een deze informatie stroom te digitaliseren en te integreren in een digitale postkamer waar verschillende informatie kanalen (digitaal en analoog) samenkomen wordt dit proces in gang gezet.

Lang niet elk bedrijf ziet het beheer van de ondersteunende informatiesystemen als taak. Men ziet op tegen de complexiteit en de kosten die de investering met zich meebrengen. Ontwikkelingen die de laatste tijd beschikbaar komen geven een antwoord op deze behoeften. Al een aantal jaren is het met de grote beschikbaarheid van grote bandbreedte via het internet heel goed mogelijk om (een deel van) een systeem buiten het eigen bedrijf te plaatsen. Een voorbeeld van deze ontwikkeling zijn de online diensten van Microsoft. Ricoh investeerd in deze ontwikkeling en brengt haar oplossingen naar deze online platformen. Naar verwachting zullen in hewt verlengde van de release van het Microsoft SharePoint 2010 platform 12 mei 2010 al vrij snel de online varianten beschikbaar komen.

Voor die bedrijven die graag van hun beheer af willen, maar de infrastructuur en de data binnen het eigenbedrijf willen houden is een appliance een oplossing. Een combinatie van server, software matige oplossingen en het beheer in één. Direct beschikbaar.

22 juni 2010 organiseerd Ricoh haar vierde seminar over SharePoint in het auditorium van Microsoft Nederland in Schiphol. Er zijn geen kosten verbonden aan deelname.

Microsoft Excecutive Briefing Center visit about 'Cloud' with a special event at the end: 'the ASHcloud'

The 13th of April me and my collegue took a plane to Seattle. We planned our trip back to The Netherlands on the 18th. Well... The volcano 'Eyjafjallajökull' on Iceland changed the plans of a lot of people depending on the 'Cloud'. It took us some extra days to get back to Europe.

Cloud was the theme of the Microsoft Excecutive Briefing. Azure and BPOS. These developments at Microsoft are huge. Major investments in this area. Checkout the -We're All In- statement of Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer at his keynote at the University of Washington.

During this briefing the latest developments were unveiled. We had the opportunity to take a look at the investments in datacenters all over the world. More important is the evolution in the way the datacenters are build, a different level of utilizing 'flexponsive' computing and storage.

This is the layer 'Azure' is build on. Eventualy most of Microsofts products will be ported to this platform in the cloud. At this moment BPOS is not yet build on the Azure platform.

BPOS (Business Productivity Online Suite) is the name of the suite that includes Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Office Live Meeting and Office Communications Online. This package with this terrible name has been given the code name 'Union' and will be rebranded. Expect this to happen at the WPC10 (Microsoft Worldpartner Conference) in Washington DC July this year.

The functionality set of Union is much, much more comprehensive than the functionality available now in BPOS. The first step is the launch of all wave14 developments (Exchange2010, Office2010, SharePoint2010 etc). One of the biggest complaints in the market (partners and customers) was the problem that the SharePoint part of BPOS lacked the possibility to be customized. Well you have some possibility's to make changes, but no custom code in the multi tennant BPOS environment. A single tennant environment (dedicated version) is available from 5000 seats. This is all going to change.

The pricing per seat per month has been changed since the introduction about a year ago. In the Netherlands you can have the functionality of a total set for just €8,52 pppm. So you get a Mailserver; a collaboration site where you can store your documents, share information etc; one can setup online conversations and even choose to do so if a person appears to be available (presence). Think of the infrastructure needed to build and maintain this in your own datacenter!

Launch new release SharePoint

SharePoint 2010 was expected to be released in the first half of 2010. My estimate was somewhere in the period May - June. Microsoft did better than expected on this point.

On the site of Microsoft SharePoint Team Blog the official launch date of the 12th of May was anounced. Exiting, I agree.

The RTM will be released April, just before launch.

Derde seminar SharePoint and Storage Ricoh succesvol

Gisteren 21 januari 2010 heeft voor de derde maal het Ricoh seminar SharePoint en Storage plaats gevonden. Deze is als buitengewoon nuttig en plezierig ervaren door alle aanwezigen.

Daar waar het nieuwe werken geleefd wordt

De opzet van het seminar was deze keer wat anders. De eerste twee maal heeft deze plaatsgevonden in de inspirerende omgeving van Microsoft Nederland in Schiphol.

Vanwege het succes is er na het bekend maken van het event in september / oktober 2009 direct aangegeven dat er een tweede event georganiseerd zou worden. Helaas ;-) was ook dat niet voldoende om iedereen die interesse had (240 aanmeldingen) een plekje te garanderen. Daarop is besloten om onze (potentiele) partners in een derde sessie op ons hoofdkantoor in Den Bosch uit te nodigen.

Intieme opzet, intensief delen van informatie

In een groep van ca 20 mensen is een vol programma van presentaties en discussies doorlopen waarin Ricoh en partner ProAct zich als specialist hebben kunnen presenteren op het vlak van ECM, DM, SharePoint en Storage. De reacties van de aanwezigen (bijna 100% opkomst) hebben actief en enthousiast op de inhoud en de opzet van het event gereageerd.

In het programma zijn ondermeer onderwerpen als Het Nieuwe Werken, een inkijk naar SharePoint 2010, SharePoint producten van Ricoh als Ricoh Document Store en SharePoint@Once en tot slot Storage behandeld.

Ricoh Document Store (RDS) en SharePoint@Once maken snelle en robuuste implementatie van Document Mangement functionaliteit in een SharePoint omgeving mogelijk, met minimale inspanning. RDS wordt geleverd binnen de omgeving van de klant of kan volledig zonder zorgen met een appliance geleverd worden. De oplossing op de appliance is samen met StartReady ontwikkeld.

Met de uitrol van de Ricoh Document Store op een appliance, levert Ricoh haar oplossing op een basis voor - Software and Services -

De appliance waarop Ricoh haar Ricoh Document Store (RDS) levert kan enerzijds gezien worden als een vehicel om de software te leveren bij de klant. De appliance is in conceptuele zin echter veel meer. Het is een platform, een basis van waaruit een grote hoeveelheid van functionaliteiten geboden kan worden.
StartReady, de leverancier van de appliance en de partner van Ricoh waarmee samen een software distribution layer in de appliance is gebouwd legt uit:

StartReady biedt Microsoft OCS als een appliance. Wensing: “Het is een combinatie van Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) en een lokaal geïnstalleerde (on premise) oplossing. De hard- en software installeren we bij de klant, maar we bieden Microsoft OCS als managed service aan. In tegenstelling tot
volledige SaaS-diensten kun je dit wel makkelijk integreren in de rest van je infrastructuur. Tegelijkertijd bied je bedrijven de voordelen van SaaS, zoals een snelle implementatie en betalen via een vast bedrag per maand in plaats van een forse eenmalige investering.

bron: artikel TAMTAM

In het voorbeeld van het artikel is het product wat geleverd wordt Office Communication Server (OCS). Ricoh biedt met RDS een op SharePoint gebaseerde document -en dossiermanagement platform dat geïntegreerd is met de Multi Functionele Printers (MFP). Sinds lange tijd heeft Ricoh de middelen om deze (en nu dus in combinatie) te leveren tegen een bedrag op basis van afname van de dienst, zonder investering.

Ricoh succesvol met Microsoft SharePoint en Ricoh Document Store

Voor de meeste bedrijven is een periode van relatieve rust aangebroken. Juist in deze periode lukt het Ricoh om de propositie Slim Samenwerken met een concrete invulling van de Ricoh Document Store succesvol in de markt te positioneren.
Key in dit traject is de focus en volharding gebleken. Vooral het opstellen van een heldere roadmap is een belangrijk handvat gebleken. De verankering in het businessmodel en het distributiemodel maakt de keuzen in de roadmap voor iedereen herkenbaar. Het maken van een heldere en consistente keuze leidt uiteindelijk tot succes, ook op het moment dat de handel stil lijkt te vallen.
Inmiddels zijn er in heel korte tijd een flink aantal deals gesloten waarin Ricoh Document Store een centrale rol speelt. Het aanbieden van de oplossing in een gedifferentieerd distributie kanaal is hier vol benut: RDS on premise (in eigen infrastructuur) en in een lease constructie, de keuze voor de appliance in het eigen netwerk en de appliance, maar dan gehost (dus als een ASP model) en ook gefinancierd.
Medio september zal RDS2.0 gereleased worden en drie solutions templates beschikbaar komen: postkamer, factuur distributie en leerling dossier. De laatste is gebaseerd op het dossiermanagement framework en als verticale oplossing in onderwijs ingericht.
Het volgende release slot is inmiddels grotendeels gepland en voor invulling van de roadmap zijn de workshops met de segmenten gestart. Deze toetsing vindt niet enkel intern, maar vooral ook met het gezicht naar buiten plaats. Op naar het volgende gezamelijke succes!

Ricoh Document Store is een concept waarin de intelligente multifinctionele devices geintegreerd worden met een platform gebaseerd op Microsoft SharePoint. De appliance maakt een zeer snelle en stabiele implementatie mogelijk. De appliance maakt bovendien het afnemen van beheerdiensten mogelijk.

The New Orleans #Microsoft #wpc09 started

Today the Microsoft World Partner Conference in New Orleans started with a good breakfest at the convention center.

After some Microsoft warmpup the session of Allison Watson kicked the conference off. She was followed by Stephen Elop and Bill Veghte. So what's new? Allison launched the new Microsoft Partner Program. Looks like a lot of new tools. On first side there are some nice opportunity's to expand business. I'm afraid though that these tools are not as straight forward as shown. I expect them to be a lot beter and more usefull.

Stephen Elop showed a bit of the products that will be launched shortly and demonstrated some feautures of Office 2010 (we all get an technical preview invitation for it), Microsoft Online products like BPOS and also the SharePoint 2010 platform.
Elop is convinced that 90% of our customers will ask us to help them develop an Software and Services strategy within 12 months. The products are designed to support that, that's for sure.

The part of Bill was about Windows 7. It's not my core interest but it promises to be a hell of a lot better than vista. One partner told the story that he had to down grade customers after delivering Dell hardware to Windows XP. Now so has to be expected not only Windows 7 will be provided with new hardware in the way it used to work, but according to Microsoft also a lot of hardware in the installed based can be upgraded to Windows 7.

Microsoft is aiming on bigger deals in this changing world. They even named a figure of 16% a deal bigger. I wonder on what facts they based this 16%. I understand the opportunity to take advantage of the level of integration of Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010, the opporunity to add collaboration and communication to propositions. I however can't put numbers to it. We'll see.

9000 visitors on this event from 125 country's. That's about 40% less than last year. Still a lot of people. With 250 of them The Netherlands is the biggest group after the US itself.

Let's collor this event orange! Tonight the dutch partner reception. A lot of business friends are here. Look forward to meet them too.

Exploring New Orleans

Today wake up at about 6:30 am. Not bad for a jetlag. Slept quit allright. Had a little fight with setting the right temprature for the airco and wake up a few times.

This morning try to relax a little, write some stuff, plan the day and take a look at the programm of this week Microsoft World Partner Conference. First some coffee on the hotel room and ofcourse a refill, this is the US.

Weather report makes me worry a bit. Hot and change rain will hit New Orleans. Bad combination I figure. Today 90 degrees Fahrenheit and probably a lot of moisture.

For funn I'am planning on a geocaching trip. Have to do this today, I do not want to take them back again.

Business trip New Orleans

Yesterday was travel day. The trip Amsterdam to New Orleans contains a transit. I choose to travel on Houston and a little hour flight from Houston to New Orleans. The trip from Amsterdam was quit bumpy. No very big turbulence, but a long time more than usual. That is more than I expected and got use to the last trips to the US.

At the Amsterdam airport almost everryone was trying to get in one plane. Glad I was not on the SunExpress! Besides the bumps it was a flight as all others, to long and borring, even with the old bat flight attendents (where are those young lady's still dreaming help us travelers in these aire busses?).

After a few times US I'm used to the madness at imigration and customs. Just do not pay attention and follow orders while standing in line. This time in Houston We sensed the heat despite of airco's. Some 100 degrees, that's F.

Getting on the plane was special to. We had to walk to the continental gates for the flight to New Orleans, way on the other side of the airport. We got there just in time. Than when boarding, they opend a backdoor and the heat hit us. Again a short walk - outside - to a little 'bus'. We tried to get in and bearly managed it.

The trip to New Orleans was a short one, less than an hour. New Orleans was HOT. Finding a shuttle took us another hour. You know we make jokes about public servants. How many people needed to dig a hole? Well, here they needed 5 people to get us in the shuttle! One pointing out the way to get our tickets, one to open the door and put our bags in the shuttle, one to collect the tickets we just bought, one to drive, one to navigate for him... madness.

At the hotel everything fine JW Marriott on Canal st in the CBD (Central Business Deistrict) just a block from French quarter and two from Bourbon st. I called some guys here in New Orleans visiting the WPC and we made an appointment for dinner 7:30 pm CT.

After a shower I went to the hotel bar to drink a couple of Corona's and went of to get some stuff for the kids. Afterwards I had to experience Bourbon st. A lot of things going on there! No Mardi Gras but I spotted the Beads and the tits. Bear on the street (take away)and the Hustler sex shop crowded with family's. Weird this is the US too.

I met Lucas, Nils and Nelson at the cornor af Bourbon and Canal. We had some nice seafood dinner. 10:30pm time to go back to the hotel. But first again a short look on Bourbon. Well it was crowded, people dancing on the street, lot's of drinks on the street, beads and tits and live music everywhere.

Enough for one day. Finaly around midnight - nighty night.

Microsoft World Partner Conference 2009

So I almost finished packing. That is I try to pack only the most important things, i.e. nothing. Wondering, should I pack all of my stuff in just one little backpack? It's only a week New Orleans.
Got a new Backpack. Last time Seattle bought a new nice small Asus EEE. The BIG laptop backpack is handy, but a little heavy. I do not need the extra weight of the protection for my little partner. Lots of clothes I do not need. It's a business trip to the Microsoft WPC09 but, casual and it's hot in New Orleans.

Again a long flight to The States. I took a few travel bugs with me. For those who care: GEOCACHING. A nice way to 'hire' a local guide in a foreign city.

I'll travel with a business friend and I expect to meet some more along the way. First apointment in New Orleans: Diner with Lucas and Nils. We want to make clear to the Dutch Ecosystem what the nice Ricoh - StartReady aliance adds to the Microsoft technology based propositions. We will post you on that matter.