AMAZING LOVE QUOTES

Don't find love, let love find you. That's why it's
called falling in love, because you don't force
yourself to fall, you just fall.

~ Unknown ~

* * * * * * * * *

Lucky is the man who is the first love of a woman,
but luckier is the woman who is the last love of a man.

~ Unknown ~

* * * * * * * * *

It takes a minute to have a crush on someone,
an hour to like someone, and an day to love someone...
but it takes a lifetime to forget someone.

~ Unknown ~

* * * * * * * * *

It breaks your heart to see the one you love is happy
with someone else, but it's more painful to know that
the one you love is unhappy with you.

~ Unknown ~

* * * * * * * * *

If love is the answer,
can you please repeat the question?

~ Unknown ~

* * * * * * * * *

Faith makes all things possible.
Love makes them easy.

~ Unknown

I believe that to truly Love, is the ultimate
expression of the will to live. A heart that
truly loves is forever young.

~ Unknown ~

* * * * * * * * *

Love makes life so confusing, but without love
would you really want to live?

~ Unknown ~

* * * * * * * * *

Do you love me because I am beautiful
or am I beautiful because I am loved?

~ Unknown ~

* * * * * * * *

Love me now, love me never,
but if you love me, love me forever.

~ Unknown ~

* * * * * * * * *

Three things of life that are most valuable -
Love, self-confidence & friends.

~ Unknown ~

* * * * * * * * *

To the world you may be just one person,
but to one person you may be the world.

~ Unknown ~

* * * * * * * * *

Love is like heaven, but it can hurt like hell.

~ Unknown ~

* * * * * * * * *

Who do you turn to when the only person
in the world that can stop you from crying,
is exactly the one making you cry?

~ Unknown ~

* * * * * * * * *

He taught me how to love,
but not how to stop.

~ Unknown ~

* * * * * * * * *

Of all forms of caution, caution in love is the most fatal.

~ Unknown ~

* * * * * * * * *



We come to love not by finding a perfect person,
but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly.

~ Unknown ~

* * * * * * * * *

Many a young lady does not realize just how strong
her love for a young man is until he fails to pass
the approval test with her parents.

~ Unknown ~

* * * * * * * * *

Is it better for a woman to marry a man who loves her
than a man she loves.

~ Unknown ~

* * * * * * * * *

Give her two red roses, each with a note. The first note says 'For the woman I love' and the second, 'For my best friend.'

~ Unknown ~

* * * * * * * * *

A good marriage is like a casserole,
only those responsible for it really
know what goes in it.

~ Unknown ~

* * * * * * * * *

No one is perfect until you fall in love with them.

~ Unknown ~

* * * * * * * * *

Love, true love, is that which can give the most
without asking or demanding anything in return.

~ Mazie Hammond ~

* * * * * * * * *

Where there is love, there is God also.

~ Leo Tolstoy ~

* * * * * * * * *

All, everything that I understand,
I understand only because I love.

~ Leo Tolstoy ~

* * * * * * * * *

Love cures people -- both the ones who give it
and the ones who receive it.

~ Dr. Karl énage ~

* * * * * * * * *

One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life:
That word is love.

~ Sophocles ~

* * * * * * * * *

It is wrong to think that love comes from long companionship
and persevering courtship. Love is the offspring of spiritual
affinity and unless that affinity is created in a moment, it
will not be created for years or even generations.

~ Khalil Gibran ~

* * * * * * * * *

When they asked me what I loved most about life,
I smiled and said you.

~ Tina ~

* * * * * * * * *

Just because you know someone doesn't mean you love them,
and just because you don't know people doesn't mean you can't
love them. You can fall in love with a complete stranger in a
heartbeat, if God planned that route for you. So open your heart
to strangers more often. You never know when God will throw
that pass at you.

~ Heather Grove ~

* * * * * * * * *

Love... What is love? Love is to love someone
for who they are, who they were, and who they will be.

~ Chris Moore ~

* * * * * * * * *

Why do you say you love me,
if you are only going to leave me?

~ Julia ~

* * * * * * * * *

Love is like a river, always changing,
but always finding you again somewhere
down the road.

~ Kelly Elaine ~

* * * * * * * * *

Love is a language spoken by everyone,
but understood only by a heart.

~ Shirley Rindani ~

* * * * * * * * *

People need love even when they don't deserve it.

~ Nikki Ledbetter ~

* * * * * * * * *

For every word you say,
another piece of my heart you take.

~ Tiara Johnson ~

* * * * * * * * *

Maybe God put a few bad people in your life,
so when the right one came along you'd be thankful.

~ Andrea Kiefer ~

* * * * * * * * *

Love the heart that hurts you,
But never hurt the heart that loves you.

* * * * * * * *

Love me for a reason,
let the reason be love.

* * * * * * * * *

It doesn't take a reason to love someone,
but it does to like someone. You don't love
someone because you want to, you love someone
because you are destined too. It's because you
fall in Love with them, that you then try to
find a reason, but you always come up with
the answer, No reason!

* * * * * * * * *

Love is the beginning of all the joy
which nature has store for us.

* * * * * * * * *

Never say goodbye when you still want to try.
Never give up when you still feel you can take it.
Never say you don't love a person when you can't let go.

~ Dons ~

* * * * * * * * *

Say I love you and mean it,
don't just say it cause you can

'Top Ten' Favourite Love Quotes

Favorite Love Quotes #1
Love doesn't make the world go round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile.
Franklin P. Jones
Favorite Love Quotes #2
At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet.
Plato
Favorite Love Quotes #3
Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired.
Robert Frost
Favorite Love Quotes #4
If you have it [Love], you don't need to have anything else, and if you don't have it, it doesn't matter much what else you have.
Sir James M. Barrie
Favorite Love Quotes #5
Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence.
Henry Louis Mencken
Favorite Love Quotes #6
Love is a friendship set to music.
E. Joseph Cossman
Favorite Love Quotes #7
True love comes quietly, without banners or flashing lights. If you hear bells, get your ears checked.
Erich Segal
Favorite Love Quotes #8
Love is a canvas furnished by Nature and embroidered by imagination.
Voltaire
Favorite Love Quotes #9
They do not love that do not show their love. The course of true love never did run smooth. Love is a familiar. Love is a devil. There is no evil angel but Love.
William Shakespeare
Favorite Love Quotes #10
Like the measles, love is most dangerous when it comes late in life.
Lord Byron

Microsoft Great Plains Implementation - Overview for IT Director/Controller

What is installation in the language of technology? Installation has server and client sides.
Server side - Installation creates security environment (logins) on MS SQL Server or MSDE, creates system database - DYNAMICS and then company databases. All these tasks are performed by Microsoft Great Plains Utilities
Workstation side - workstation installation copies the client side application, installs current version of MDAC (we need SQL ODBC driver - please check documentation on ODBC DSN setup), registers the application. If you plan to run Great Plains Utilities from the workstation to create server side (see above) - you need to check Install Client and Server Components

What is following implementation? Implementation requires combination of technological and accounting skills
System Setup - you should refer to GP documentation. In general setup consists of Company information, General GL/AR/AP/Payroll setup, User classes, Customer/Vendor/Employee classes to name a few
Master Records - you should either use integration tools, such as Integration Manager, SQL queries or have users to type in all your GL Accounts, Customers, Vendors, Employees .
Beginning Balances - this is recommended approach - you place aside the old accounting application for querying the historical data and enter beginning balances in Great Plains GL, AR, AP, SOP, POP, Payroll. When you have balances in the system you are ready to use it in production
Historical Data conversion - this is optional, in order to do historical data conversion you need to know basic Great Plains tables structure (Setup->Tools->Resource Description->Tables Structure). This is similar to surgery - so you probably need outside consultant to help you. If the volume of historical data is small - you can deploy Great Plains Integration Manager and then post the records in the modules.
User Training - we are just listing this item - it is up to you to decide on the way to train your users
Using Two Systems in Parallel - this is recommended. You should print the reports from both systems during this test period and compare the results
Customization - typical areas of customizations: Invoice form, Crystal Reports, pulling info from multiple databases, including Great Plains database, Great Plains forms modification with Modifier/VBA, Great Plains Dexterity forms and logic customization, integration with CRM, RMS and other business systems, web publishing from Great Plains tables, EDI with your suppliers, SQL Data Transformation packages

Do I need consultant? We strongly recommend you to use consultant in the following cases
You have identified the need for Great Plains Dexterity customization
You are doing migration from Pervasive/Ctree to Microsoft SQL Server/MSDE, especially when you have third-parties without migration tools
You are doing migration from Great Plains Accounting to Microsoft Great Plains
You have to create a lot or ReportWriter Modified Great Plains Reports
You have old version of Great Plains: Dynamics or eEnterprise 6.0 or prior - in this case you can not appeal to Microsoft Technical Support - it is discontinued
Your Great Plains has more than 20 users in this case the mistake may lead to serious business problems
You don't have support for your old Great Plains - then you have to select your Microsoft Business Solutions Partner and pay for the annual support/enhancement plan - you will get new registration key and will be ready for the upgrade
Good luck with installation, implementation, upgrade and if you have issues or concerns - we are here to help! If you want us to do the job - give us a call 1-866-528-0577! help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer in Alba Spectrum Technologies - USA nationwide Great Plains, Microsoft CRM customization company, based in Chicago, California, Texas, Florida, New York, Georgia, Washington, Minnesota, Colorado, Canada, UK, Australia and having locations in multiple states and internationally (www.albaspectrum.com), he is CMA, Great Plains Certified Master, Dexterity, SQL, C#.Net, Crystal Reports and Microsoft CRM SDK developer. You can contact Andrew: andrewk@albaspectrum.com

The Importance of Friendship

THE YOUNG PEOPLE'S Leisure and Lifestyles project based in the Department of Education at the University of Aberdeen has just completed a seven-year study. One of the many topics covered by the research team was that of friendships and their importance to adolescents.

ALTHOUGH relationships with parents determine in large measure our longer-term preferences, attitudes and values, during adolescence it is often relationships with friends that cause most concern and which pre- occupy the thoughts of young people as they grow up.

Friendships are based on a completely different set of structural relationships to those with parents. They are more symmetrical and involve sharing and exchange. Friendships are important to young children but there is a change at the beginning of adolescence -- a move to intimacy that includes the development of a more exclusive focus, a willingness to talk about oneself and to share problems and advice. Friends tell one another just about everything that is going on in each other's lives... Friends literally reason together in order to organise experience and to define themselves as persons.

The role of friendships
In adolescence friendships normally exist within the larger social structure of peer relationships. In this larger social setting each adolescent has a particular role to play and is usually aware of their own status within the group. Close friendships are not independent of such status. Popular or successful youngsters stick together. Those who are 'in' do not mix as frequently with those on the periphery of what is acceptable to the group. Whereas the standards and styles set by the peer group can set highly influential markers around acceptable and unacceptable behaviours for young people, it is in individual friendships that young people find support and security, negotiate their emotional independence, exchange information, put beliefs and feelings into words and develop a new and different perspective of themselves.

Data from the YPLL project indicates that young men and young women use and view friendships in quite different ways. For instance, as far as young women are concerned, we can trace the development of friendships through an early adolescent period when emotional commitments are minimal and the focus of friendship is common activities, a period in mid-adolescence when young women become most anxious about being rejected or excluded from a same-sex friendship. There is strong emphasis on loyalty and support at this stage:

'...People should remember that you need attention too, and not ignore you and sneak away from you. People who sneak away from you cannot really be your friends in the first place. Sometimes friends gang up on you. So you have to make another friend in another class. That is not pleasant. I should know...'

Friendships become easier for young women in later adolescence as they develop a clearer sense of self identity. Young women of this age show a high regard for each other's individuality and a greater ability to tolerate differences. Young men's friendships rarely achieve the depth of intimacy of young women's. Larger peer groups - the boys' or 'the lads' - often appear more important to them than individual friendships. Young men in middle adolescence describe their friends to researchers in the YPLL team in terms similar to those used by pre-adolescent girls - failing to see emotional support, closeness or security as important qualities of a friendship.

Apart from these general trends, the YPLL data also reveals interesting social class differences between youngsters. Young people from working- class backgrounds, for instance, are more likely to spend time with a boy/girlfriend whereas young people from G middle-class backgrounds continue to move around in mixed sex groups for a longer period, perhaps anticipating an extended period of dependence on parents as they head for further or higher education.

The role of the peer group
Peers and friends are not the same thing. Peer groups appear to have a dynamic role, the function and influence of which shifts across adolescence. The adolescent uses the peer group to evaluate the perspectives of others, while developing his or her own values and attitudes.

Style of dress, hairstyles, musical interests, speech and language use, leisure activities, and values are among the characteristics that teenagers appear to learn, in part, by watching and comparing themselves to others in their group. Further, teenagers learn methods of handling social relationships by observing and imitating peers. The influence of the peer group appears to be particularly marked where parental influence is not strong.

Of course, being liked, accepted and defining one's role within a social group are important features of life at any age, but because peers play such an important role in the lives of adolescents, social acceptance is an urgent concern for most young people. Young people in the YPLL study were asked to identify from a list which items they felt influenced popularity and unpopularity amongst friends. From this question we discovered that young men are more likely to regard being like their friends in behaviour and appearance and physical attributes as important, whereas young women are more likely to value qualities in the personality of their friends, like honesty, cheerfulness and so on. The importance attached to attractiveness declines throughout the adolescent years . Lastly, there are class- based differences. For example, amongst both boys and girls, more importance is attached to qualities such as 'a good personality' and 'being oneself' by young people from middle- class backgrounds.

These findings highlight the importance of peer pressures in adolescence. The peer group gives out clear signals to its members both about style and about fundamental values and perspectives. Conformity to the group is the price that has to be paid for approval and acceptance by peers.

Alone and lonely
One set of findings from the YPLL project included evidence of a concern with personal loneliness and the absence of confidants among a substantial number of adolescents. Though adolescence is generally a time of intense sociability, it can also often be a time of intense loneliness. Being with peers and friends does not necessarily solve this feeling of loneliness. Adolescents are notorious for their frequent shifts in mood, frequent periods of rumination over relationships and identity, and time spent alone.

In the YPLL survey a sixth of adolescents reported spending a lot of spare time on their own. This issue was followed up in qualitative interviews with a panel of young people, for while we cannot make a simple equation between aloneness and the experience of social and psychological difficulty, young people do seem to need to interact with friends in resolving some of their conflicts. We found clear differences between the ways in which boys and girls cope with problems. For instance, the panel members in the YPLL study were asked to respond to a number of statements about what they would do if they had a problem. Confiding in a friend when unhappy or worried tended to be something which young women rather than young men were inclined to do.

The more negative and distressing aspects of friendship are rarely examined in the literature on adolescence. By way of exploring this neglected area members of the YPLL panel group were invited to talk about problems experienced with friends. Such discussions highlighted the significance of arguments and broken friendships. Asked about what might spoil a friendship, the breaking of a confidence and (for boys) 'stealing' another person's girlfriend were considered particularly disloyal. Young people are not alone in having problems with friendships, but the psycho-social issues that confront adolescents make it more certain that such difficulties are likely to be of concern to them. Adolescents can be highly egocentric.

They sometimes find it difficult to see other people's point of view and to interpret other people's behaviour. They can be touchy and hypersensitive to rejection, and their social skills are, as yet, underdeveloped.

Equally, at times, adolescents feel the need to 'escape' and to be on their own. The YPLL panel study asked young people: Where do you go and what do you do if you just want to be alone to think?' The answers highlighted young people's desire for a private place of their own. The overwhelming response was to escape to the bedroom:

'In my room - close the door, ask not to be disturbed, and put on some soothing music, sit on my bed, relaxed, and think...'

Another young person disclosed:

'I stay in my room and if I'm feeling troubled about something I write it out on paper and that helps me to work things out.'

Others went out:

"I go down to the swing park and swing slowly on a swing."

Other places frequently mentioned were walks in parks or woods. A number of young men mentioned going off on their bikes to get away from it all, and amongst older adolescents driving around or driving out of town and parking to view the scenery were popular 'escape' mechanisms.

As the individual adolescent seeks to grow more independent of the family, peer groups and friends become important points of reference. They provide social contexts for shaping the day- to- day behaviour of adolescents, and encourage conformity to norms and values. Despite much popular mythology about 'the generation gap', such standards are startlingly similar to parental values, though the similarities are masked by different youth styles or expressions. Such groupings clearly have a developmental potential in enabling young people to make the social adjustments necessary for them to operate in adult society.

Educationalists concerned with young people have begun to pay much more attention to the concept of 'peer education'--for example, in relation to smoking, drug or HIV education programmes (eg Smokebusters or Fast Forward in Scotland). How much attention do these programmes pay to the real dynamics of peer group pressures as they ebb and flow across adolescence?

Microsoft CRM Custom Design & Development: SDK, C#, SQL, Exchange, Integration, Crystal Reports

Microsoft CRM is new player on the CRM software market. The whole conception behind CRM seems to be different. In case of traditional CRM software (Siebel, Oracle) - the application was designed with platform independence in mind. Microsoft CRM is dedicated to Microsoft technology and so deploys all the Microsoft tools: Windows Active Directory, Microsoft Exchange 2003/2000, SQL Server, Crystal Reports Enterprise, Biztalk server, Microsoft Outlook, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Great Plains as backend, etc.

If you are software developer, database administrator or web designer who is asked: how do we customize Microsoft CRM - we are giving you directions in this article.Microsoft CRM SDK - this is software development kit with C# and partly VB.net code samples - it is supported by Microsoft Business Solutions technical support. It is based on web service calls, if you are C# .NET developer - you are excellently positioned to do this type of customizations. This is the preferred modification scenario and this should be easily upgradeable customization. VB.Net examples will be available soon.
Legacy SQL Data integration. This is also easy and safe. If you have SQL database, sitting on the same or linked SQL Server - you can create ASPX .Net application and simply integrate it into CRM. You can place it on the navigation bar or menu in isv.config - please refer to MS CRM SDK
Legacy ASP integration - this is somewhat more sophisticated. You have to deploy HTTP handler to be a middle party between CRM which is .Net based and ASP which is legacy IIS. The trick is - you have to have INI file with security settings to penetrate into MS CRM with proper credentials, calling web service.
Microsoft Exchange Programming. Microsoft CRM has Exchange connector - which moves CRM incoming email to MS if it has GUID in its subject. You can alter this logic (for instance - move email to CRM if it doesn't have GUID but it is from the sender who is contact or account in MS CRM). Refer to MS Exchange SDK onsyncsave event handling. Then simply apply some MS CRM SDK programming - you need some COM+ objects creation and VB programming experience.
Direct SQL touch - in #4 above I described you the scenario with MS Exchange handlers - this would be ideal world if MS CRM SDK does the job. But - in real world this is not always true - you have to do direct flags correction in CRM database (like making Activity closed, moving email attachments/octet streams, etc). This is not supported by MBS technical support - but you can rescue to this technique if you have to get job done.
MS CRM Customization tool - this is rather end-user tool and we don't describe it here - read the manual. We've described above the options to use when this tool doesn't do the job
Crystal Reports - feel free to create Crystal report - tables and views structure is self explanatory. Try to avoid the temptation to create your own SQL view or stored procedure in MS CRM database, instead - create custom database and place your view and stored proc in it.

Happy modifying! If you want us to do the job - give us a call 1-866-528-0577! help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer in Alba Spectrum Technologies - USA nationwide Microsoft CRM, Microsoft Great Plains customization company, based in Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Miami, Canada, UK, Australia and having locations in multiple states and internationally (www.albaspectrum.com), he is Dexterity, SQL, VB/C#.Net, Crystal Reports and Microsoft CRM SDK developer.

Microsoft Great Plains Upgrade - Version 8.0 Overview for IT Director/Controller

If you have Microsoft Great Plains as main accounting and ERP system you need to know some technical details on Great Plains version upgrade and what is going on behind the scenes, which options do you have in case of Dexterity, VBA, SQL customizations, ctree/Pervasive migration to MS SQL/MSDE. As of right now it is reasonable to upgrade to Microsoft Great Plains 8.0


Is upgrade required? Not actually, but you have to consider these factors
? Technical Support discontinuation - the old version may not be supported - currently if you are on version 6.0 - support is already discontinued. You can not have Microsoft Business Solutions help you, but obviously you have MBS partners who can still help you. If you are on Ctree or Pervasive SQL, then your support expires December, 31 2004.
? Tax Updates/Magnetic media expiration - if you have US Payroll module and depend on it with W2 and other forms - you must stay with the version, which is supported and has tax updates. If you are on Ctree or Pervasive SQL - then you will not have tax updates for these platforms at the end of 2004 and your W2s maybe inaccurate. If you have a lot of employees - you may have issues with government.
? Following the Technology and Microsoft rules - Microsoft wants you to be on the newest platform and provides you the best support when you follow this rule
? If you do have heavy customization - we recommend you to skip one version, for example if you are on version 7.5 - do not upgrade to 8.0 and wait for the next version

What is upgrade in the language of technology? Upgrade has server and client sides.
? Server side - upgrade converts tables from old format to the new one. In general words - Microsoft Business Solutions developers may change table structure, append additional fields to add new functionality, things like that. Upgrade copies the table with changes to temporary table, then drops original table, recreates it with new structure and copies all the data from temp table to the newly created one.
? Workstation side - workstation is written in Great Plains Dexterity and has Dynamics.exe - engine and DYNAMICS.DIC - dictionary. These two plus all the additional files will be replaced with the new ones. Other dictionaries, such us REPORTS.DIC and FORMS.DIC should be also upgraded and upgrade will try to deal with them automatically. In some cases modified reports (in REPORTS.DIC) could not be upgraded and need to be recreated in the new version.
What is customization upgrade? You should consider different types of customizations: Dexterity, VBA/Modifier, SQL, ReportWriter, Crystal Reports
? Dexterity Customization - being very short - Dexterity may have so called Custom Forms - these do not need upgrade - they should work as is. Then Dexterity may alter existing Great Plains forms (so-called Alternate Great Plains forms) - in this case Dexterity customization should be redone for these forms/screens. Plus additional consideration should be given to Dexterity triggers, shadow tables, etc.
? VBA/Modifier customization - Modifier allows you to modify existing Great Plains windows - it creates so called modified Great Plains windows, stored in FORMS.DIC. Usually modification is placing new buttons or fields, which in turn will be given VBA scripts (stored in DYNAMICS.VBA). VBA scripts may call something nice, like Crystal Report, or have some data access logic. Usually the old version of DYNAMICS.VBA workds with the new version. You may need to rearrange buttons on the modified form.
? SQL - you may have some stored procs for data integration, EDI or the like - if the addressed tables will be changed in the new version then you need to analyze your SQL code. The good news is - Microsoft Business Solution doesn't make a lot of changes since version 7.0, because Microsoft is now trying to merge the products it owns: Great Plains, Solomon, Navision and Axapta - and so has different priorities
? ReportWriter - MBS doesn't change tables, but it keeps changing Dexterity formulas used in ReportWriter original reports - this is the problem in so-called Modified Reports upgrade - usually you have these reports modified: SOP Blank Invoice form, SOP Blank Picking ticket, etc. If report can not be upgraded - it should be redone in the new version with some exceptions.
? Crystal Reports - the nice thing about Crystal Report - id doesn't need to be upgraded (if the fields in the tables exist in the new version - which is usually true statement)
What is upgrade for third-party modules? Your Great Plains may have so-called third party modules: Mekorma, Kampdata, Horyzon, Wennsoft, Avalara, Truepay, Trinity, Intellisol to name a few
Third party modules may have their own utility for upgrade. You just need to know that your third-party is ready for the new Great Plains version - if not - you just wait and stay on the old version.

What is migration from Ctree/Pervasive.SQL 2000 to MS SQL/MSDE? MBS has migration tool. You need first to install Great Plains on SQL Server with exactly the same account/segments structure and then install migration tool (it is Dexterity chunk) on your ctree/Pervasive workstation - then, when you integrate the chunk - you will map it to target SQL-based Great Plains Company, select all system and company tables, click the button and it will move all your tables one-by-one. In the case when your Great Plains ctree/Pervasive has third parties - you need to check if the vendor has migration tool - otherwise you have to do manual move, use SQL Linked server to your legacy data

Do I need consultant? It is probably good idea to have consultant to do the upgrade. We strongly recommend you to use consultant in the following cases
? You have Dexterity customization
? You are doing migration from Pervasive/Ctree to Microsoft SQL Server/MSDE, especially when you have third-parties without migration tools
? You have a lot or ReportWriter Modified Great Plains Reports
? You have old version of Great Plains: Dynamics or eEnterprise 6.0 or prior - in this case you can not appeal to Microsoft Technical Support - it is discontinued
? Your Great Plains has more than 20 users and you have to have upgrade done over the weekend - if it fails - you have business problems
? You don't have support - in this case you have to select your Microsoft Business Solutions Partner and pay for the annual support/enhancement plan - you will get new registration key and will be ready for the upgrade

Good luck with upgrade and if you have issues or concerns - we are here to help! If you want us to do the job - give us a call 1-866-528-0577! help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer in Alba Spectrum Technologies - USA nationwide Microsoft CRM, Microsoft Great Plains customization company, based in Chicago, California, Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, Texas, New York, Washington, Georgia and Florida and having locations in multiple states and internationally (www.albaspectrum.com), he is Dexterity, SQL, C#.Net, Crystal Reports and Microsoft CRM SDK developer.

INSTANT MESSAGING IS A SWEET WAY TO COMMUNICATE

MSN messenger is a pretty cool invention. I mean I'm not really into serious discussions on the email, answers to questions can often take a few days to arrive because people are so busy these days. I've just been 'hooked up' into Messenger and it's really a different kind of communication, quick, simplistic and even humorous with the capability to express your feelings with 'emotion' cartoons. With Messenger you can communicate with a group of close friends or business partners instantly whenever they are at their computer. When a message is received you are informed instantly on your desktop, you don't have to be at an email site. A little box appears flashing the name of the sender, you read the message and send a reply when you've got a second free. There's a contact list and when you go on-line, it automatically tells you who of your connections are on and off-line at that moment. If someone goes on-line after you've already been at your computer, a small box appears on your screen to tell you who are now also instantly message able. It's like the spontaneity of a telephone call but you don't even have to dial any numbers! Just log in your password and you're connected. The huge array of smiley faces and other 'emotional' icons add another dimension to the conversations. Some of the smiley faces actually move (sticking their tongues out etc.) and there are many other symbols to express the moment. E.g.: Show a little sun when it's sunny in your neighborhood, flash a wilted rose when your love life isn't going to well, put up a black sheep when you're feeling disconnected from society. How about expressing your dream of a holiday by flashing up the tropical island icon when you're stuck in dreary office working hard on a cloudy day. They say a picture speaks a thousand words? Well I certainly don't work for Microsoft but I guess Bill Gates and his buddies have made a few bucks because they've had a couple of good ideas. They're helping the world with their knowledge, and I reckon their MSN Messenger is another step forward in bringing the Earth together into one world. Besides the normal email format you can also have web cam and audio conversations, as well as sending files and photos instantly. It's as sweet as that first time you kissed your honey bunny, well maybe not that sweet.