ERP & Supply Chain from Microsoft

Interview with Manhattan Associates

2008-10-23T20:55:32Z

Last week I had the opportunity to spend some time with Sam Addeo and Webb Armentrout of Manhattan Associates. You may not know Manhattan Associates, but their software is used by companies large and small to manufacture and distribute both real and consumer goods. In this interview we discuss ILS.NET, their supply chain management solution built in .NET from front to back. Manhattan Assoc. is also a believer in Team Foundation Server which they use for both project management and...(read more)

US ISV: Incubation Week in Silicon Valley

2008-06-25T20:40:57Z

digg_url = "http://blogs.msdn.com/jvast/archive/2008/06/25/us-isv-incubation-week-in-silicon-valley.aspx";digg_title = "US ISV: Incubation Week in Silicon Valley";digg_bgcolor = "#555555";digg_skin = "normal"; digg_url = undefined;digg_title = undefined;digg_bgcolor = undefined;digg_skin = undefined; The US ISV team is holding an Incubation week in the Mountain View MTC. The event is targeted at startups and students driving awareness around Silverlight, Windows Live and other Next Gen Internet...(read more)

Last Week's Football Scores

2007-09-13T08:37:00Z

So in our family we are very sports oriented. Since I have five children we live our lives according to the sport seasons. Right now its football . I've been helping coach my ten year old's team and last year they won the South Puget Sound Super Bowl. This year looks like it may be a repeat with them winning two close season opening games to the toughest teams they'll see before play-offs later this fall. They beat Puyallup 6-0 and their longest drive lasted 5 minutes to close the game in their favor....(read more)

Coming soon and I want one

2007-08-28T00:16:14Z

I don't usually put out posts like this one, but I really want a Tesla. I can't afford one, but I think a silent fast car is the pinnacle of sheek. I do see that GM has a more affordable concept car in the works, but 0-60 is around 6 secs. vs the Tesla's 4 seconds... Technorati Tags: Lunch Topic...(read more)

Jack Gudenkauf on the CLR and Add-In Model for ISVs

2007-08-15T22:19:00Z

Video: Jack Gudenkauf on the BCL and Add-ins Several weeks back I was able to coax Jack into doing an interview on the CLR targeted at ISVs. Jack talks about the BCL team and how they work within the larger Server and Tools business unit. An inside view of the new Add-In Model in 3.5, (Its Jack's baby and he's rightly proud). The Process ISV should mentally walk through when moving to managed code. Tools and utilities used by the CLR team. Technorati Tags: JackG , CLR , .NET3.5 , BCL , Add-Ins ,...(read more)

The Story of Being: BeOS

2007-07-19T23:28:00Z

Way back in 1991 a small company created a new Operating System called BeOS. The timeline is similar to Linux and almost as interesting, but it's a story wrought of high hopes and failure. (Ok, not ultimate failure as it has been newly resurrected as Haiku ). The point is a lot can be gleaned from looking backward on a project that technically did everything right, but ultimately failed. Fast forward a bit from 1991 to 1995. Microsoft releases Windows 95 and the Linux wave is becoming a tidal wave...(read more)

If its .NET – Kick It

2007-07-14T03:48:00Z

So this week I came across a cool new site. DotNetKicks.com This last week Gavin Joyce open-sourced the code base and I'd like to help drive traffic to the site. Not because he took the code base Open Source. I like the concept. The concept is similar to Digg but the content is entirely .NET focused. When you compare the .NET community to others like the Java, Linux and Ruby, the .NET community is much more sedate. Why?!? Look at the monster list Jeff Atwood's been building which at my last count...(read more)

Hey, Hey, …. Get Off of my Cloud!

2007-07-11T21:03:00Z

Yesterday at the Worldwide Partner Conference Steve Ballmer announced that Microsoft will be entering the software services space and launched MSCRM Live. The reaction seems to run the gamut from downright surprise to outright consternation even though this has been a stated intention since the dotcom era. Lloyd Ketchum summarized the situation very well: "Microsoft has a problem - a big one and as software and services inverts to services and software [and that will happen], those in the channel...(read more)

Open Source and Mono Desklets

2007-07-04T01:06:00Z

I run Ubuntu on my main desktop machine at home and I've been watching Mono for quite a while. I was elated when the Microsoft-Novell agreement was put into place this fall because it meant Mono was getting something like an "official stamp of approval". Or at a minimum Novell wasn't going to be sued and the project shut down. Sadly, I think it also meant we're never getting another version of Rotor. Why do I run Linxu? I come from a UNIX background, primarily BSD. I can't give up an operating system...(read more)

Interview: Paul Andrew on WF

2007-07-02T21:18:00Z

Video Interview: Paul Andrew on Workflow Foundation In this interview I caught a few minutes of Paul's time to talk about Workflow Foundation or WF for short. Paul moved to Redmond from down under to take a role on the Evangelism team covering WF and WCF. The interview is not long, but that's the point, short and focused. To some, WF may seem like a "Johnny come lately", but MSFT has committed to use WF as its common workflow engine across its product lines beginning this year. (Fiscal years for...(read more)

Interview: Dr. Nat Natarajan on GISV Strategy

2007-06-28T08:55:00Z

Video: Nat Natarajan on FY08 Global ISV Strategy I was able to grab a few minutes of Nat's time 2 weeks back. In this interview Nat is all business as I ping him about how Microsoft partners with the largest Independent Software Vendors. We talk about the Rhythms for this coming fiscal year and what our focus will be in working with our partners. The following are the current Rhythms where you will see Microsoft actively engaging partners and customers over the next 12 months: Windows Server 2008...(read more)

Off Topic: Recipe for Caramel Popcorn

2007-06-23T20:08:00Z

I'm throwing this up here since I've been asked several times recently for this very simple recipe. Every Friday night at our home is "movie night" where no one has friends over and we all sit around the television watching a child appropriate movie. This Vastbinder family has a very sweet tooth and often a quick run to the Wal-Mart candy section is made before the festivities begin. I'm not a big fan of candy except for twizzlers and caramel popcorn, if I eat too much candy I get sugar sores on...(read more)

Who do you want me to interview?

2007-06-15T21:31:44Z

I have a very busy travel schedule, but I want to fit in short 10 minute videos about the technologies and their owners. Next week I'll be posting a video of an interview with Nat Natarajan talking about our FY08 Goals and Strategies. In March I moved from the US ISV team to the Global ISV team out of corporate. Before I had left, I had started doing some video interviews. The idea is for the video to be very short and focus on topics relevant to Independent Software Vendors, ISVs. I think we are...(read more)

It’s been a long time….

2007-05-29T19:45:41Z

So the last year I've learned what it is like to be bullied. It's not fun, I won't go into particulars, but the base idea is that a group of neighborhood women decided to begin bullying my wife and kids two years back. We've been in and out court quite a few times this last year, but I think there is finally a light at the end of the tunnel. I've put together a blog detailing what happened and I want to turn it into a resource for others in a similar circumstance. We have our home up for sale and...(read more)

Brad Abrams interview on AJAX

2007-01-22T19:26:00Z

I was able to sit down with the great Brad Abrams two weeks back. It was a very interesting interview where I mauled the word Microsoft and no I didn't fix it in post editing. Brad provides a quick review of his career and answers some hard ISV focused questions on ASP.NET AJAX. He even shares the name of his favorite band. The US ISV team decided to go with a short 10 minute format for our vcasts and expect future vcasts to include a downloadable mp3. http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=276182#276182...(read more)