All about Microsoft

(Just prior to today’s pricing announcement, Microsoft offered two versions of CRM Online: Professional (which was already $44 per user per month, and Professional Plus, which was $59 per user per month. Starting today, Microsoft is condensing these two into a single version that will have all the features of Professional Plus — including the offline Outlook access — and selling that single version for $44 per user per month.)

Here’s the competitive pricing chart Microsoft is touting as part of the new promotion:

More fine print around the six-months-free offer: The deal is good in the U.S. and Canada only. Users must have a minimum of five seats and a maximum of two-times the number of seats subscribed to under Oracle or Salesforce. After six months, the price goes to $44 per user per month for 12 months.

Microsoft announced the new promotion on November 3. Microsoft also began rolling out today the November 2009 service update for Dynamics CRM Online, its third update in the past 18 months. The rollout will be complete by November 15, company officials said.

The update includes several new features, which existing customers get for free, including:

Enhanced data import via an “Import Data Wizard”
A new “Get Started” pane providing guidance, training and access to Knowledge Base articles
Faster online access. Users can get started with a trial or paid subscription to CRM Online in less than five minutes, according to Microsoft
Free mobile access for any device running an HTML 4.0-compliant browser

I’d be interested in hearing from Oracle and Salesforce users if the new Microsoft deal and pricing is tempting — and if not, why not.

September 28th, 2009

Microsoft offers no reasons for discontinuation of two Dynamics mobile products

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 10:22 am

Categories: CRM Live/CRM Online, Channel, Corporate strategy, Dynamics CRM, Dynamics ERP, Windows Mobile

Tags: Microsoft Dynamics, Mobile, Microsoft Corp., Advertising & Promotion, Marketing, Mary Jo Foley

Microsoft officials notified the company’s partners on September 1 that Microsoft is discontinuing the mobile versions of its Dynamics AX and Dynamics NAV ERP products.

(Word of the move trickled out broadly last Friday, via a report from IDG News Service.)

What is still not clear is why Microsoft officials made the decision to phase out the two products. I asked why Microsoft decided to discontinue the mobile clients for the Dynamics products, but received an answer from a spokesperson that elaborated on the “when,” but omitted the “why.” Here’s the statement:

“As you may know now, the discontinuation of Microsoft Dynamics Mobile only affected Dynamics AX and Dynamics NAV. No future updates to the Microsoft Dynamics Mobile solutions for Dynamics AX and Dynamics NAV will be provided and consequently, from August 31, 2010 on, it will no longer be possible to purchase Microsoft Dynamics Mobile. To be clear, Microsoft Dynamics CRM is NOT affected by any of these changes.

“The discontinuation of Microsoft Dynamics Mobile for Dynamics AX and Dynamics NAV was announced to partners on September 1, 2009. Microsoft Dynamics Mobile-Server Components as well as Microsoft Dynamics Mobile-Device Components will be removed from PartnerSource and other download sites on August 31, 2010, thus providing partners with a notice period of one year before the solution will no longer be available for them to deliver to customers. Partners also provide existing mobile solutions for Dynamics AX and Dynamics NAV, and by clarifying Microsoft’s role in delivering mobile solutions moving forward, the company is providing an opportunity for partners to extend their mobile offerings for customers.”

The spokesperson also noted that Microsoft is still planning to provide support and maintenance for the discontinued products through January 14, 2014.

Microsoft posted a two-sentence acknowledgment of its plans to discontinue the two mobile Dynamics offerings on the Dynamics Mobile Team blog on September 24. There was no information about the reason for the decision. (Not even a “cost-cutting’s to blame” disclaimer.)

Brandon George, Senior Technical Architect with Microsoft partner Sunrise Technologies (and author of a blog that covers Microsoft’s Dynamics moves), had some educated guesses of his own as to why the Softies may have decided to pull the plug. His list:

“1.) Most mobile applications for Dynamics AX are either running third party developed solutions or fully customized to the customer needs Mobile UI to DAX processes and business logic.

“2.) There is a purchase a foot, that will lead to easier development of mobile applications for accessing and working with X++ busienss logic, and the DAX controlled data model.

“3.) Microsoft is wanting their partners to continue to be the source for such developments and vertical offerings, and they want to provide, as usual the platform in which those vertical offerings are developed and delivered on.”

Anyone else have any guesses to share about what’s going on with Microsoft’s mobile ERP strategy?

Update: It’s sounding like George’s suggested Reason No. 3 might be behind Microsoft’s plan to discontinue its two mobile ERP products. The aforementioned spokesperson just sent the following update:

“Microsoft believes the most effective mobile solutions will be those that meet specific business and industry needs and can be constantly developed to keep up with changing market conditions. The close contact of Microsoft partners to the market and their unique area of expertise allow them to tailor mobile solutions to the specific needs of their customers. With partner-built mobile solutions, businesses can benefit from the core functionality in Microsoft Dynamics, enhanced by the mobile expertise of local partners. Due to the broad availability of such partner-developed mobile solutions, Microsoft made a strategic decision to discontinue the current development of Microsoft Dynamics Mobile.”

In other (fewer) words: Microsoft decided to drop the products to alleviate conflict with its channel. If I get any more from the company on this, I’ll update this post again.

August 4th, 2009

Microsoft PDC 2009: What's on tap for developers this November?

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 5:41 am

Categories: Azure, CRM Live/CRM Online, Channel, Corporate strategy, Database, Development tools, Live Mesh, Microsoft Big Brains, Multicore/distributed computing, Office 2010/Office 14, PDC 2009, Red Dog, SQL Server, SharePoint Server, Silverlight (wpf/e), Utility/cloud computing, Visual Studio 10 ("Hawaii"), WinHEC, Windows 7, Windows Mobile, Windows Server 2008 R2 /("Windows 7 Server"), Windows client, Windows server

Tags: Developer, Microsoft Corp., WinHEC, Microsoft Windows, Operating Systems, Mobile Operating Systems, Mobile Applications, Handhelds, Software, Hardware

Microsoft opened up registration for its Professional Developers Conference (PDC) 2009 on August 4. This year’s developer-fest is in Los Angeles again, as it was last year, and will run from November 16 to 19.

As it will be too early for Microsoft to start detailing publicly what’s coming in Windows 8, what will the Softies be highlighting at this year’s conference?

Keynotes are on tap from the elusive Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie and Server and Tools President Bob Muglia. (Other keynotes will be added to the agenda later this year, company officials said.) Azure, Microsoft’s cloud platform, is slated to go from beta to final around the time of the PDC. And Microsoft also plans to offer a number of sessions on its hosted-development strategy at the show, as well. (Think xRM, SharePoint Services, and other “utility computing” building blocks.) Sessions dedicated to SQL Azure, Microsoft’s hosted SQL Server service, also are on the agenda.

Even though Microsoft will have launched Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 less than a month before the PDC, on October 22, there will still be lots of sessions around developing for those platforms. Windows expert and Technical Fellow Marc Russinovich is on tap to talk about the kernel changes Microsoft made in Windows 7/Windows Server 2008 R2.

Russinovich isn’t the only “Big Brain” slated to speak at the confab. Other Microsoft Technical Fellows, including parallel-computing expert Burton Smith and database guru Dave Campbell are on the line-up, as well.

There is going to be a lot of content on .Net Framework 4 and Visual Studio 2010 (both of which are expected to launch around spring 2010, last I heard). Microsoft also is promising a “sneak peek” at some of the so-far unspecified new features in the next version of Silverlight (which I’d expect to be called Silverlight 4) during the PDC.

There are a few sessions dedicated to developing for SharePoint 2010 on the docket. There’s a session on “Office 2010 as a RAD (Rapid Application Development) platform.” I’m assuming this is Microsoft’s updated Office Business Applications (OBA) platform/strategy.

I asked Tim O’Brien, Director of Microsoft’s Platform Strategy Group, whether there would be much, if any, PDC content dedicated to developing for Windows Mobile. The first Windows Mobile 6.5 phones are set to launch in October and developers are champing at the bit for information on Windows Mobile 7.

“We are marching toward getting 6.5 out. That’s our focus right now,” is all O’Brien would say. In other words, guess we’ll have to wait and see if WinMo makes it onto the PDC agenda in any meaningful way.

I also asked O’Brien whether Microsoft was still planning to hold a Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) this year. Last year, Microsoft cancelled WinHEC.

“There’s no reason to say we won’t,” said O’Brien. But he also acknowledged he didn’t know for sure whether or when Microsoft would hold a WinHEC in 2009. Guess that’s another wait-and-see, too.

Microsoft is planning to Webcast the keynotes and many of the PDC sessions for those who can’t make the show in person. Me? I’m planning on making the cross-country trek myself to my favorite Microsoft show of the year.

July 7th, 2009

Life beyond Windows 7: Microsoft updates other products

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 7:45 am

Categories: CRM Live/CRM Online, Code names, Corporate strategy, Dynamics CRM, Dynamics ERP, Office, Service Pack, Speech, Telecommunications, VOIP, Web conferencing

Tags: Microsoft Commerce Server, Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft Office, Server, Microsoft Windows, Service Pack, Microsoft Corp., Microsoft Update, Microsoft Office Communications Server, Enterprise Software

Believe it or not, Microsoft is still developing enterprise products besides Windows 7 and Office 2010. While those two are garnering most of the headlines and attention lately, other Microsoft product teams are still chugging along, rolling out updates and readying new versions.

Here are just a few of the latest updates that have come across my RSS reader:

Dynamics CRM/ERP: Microsoft has changed the support policy for service packs for its Dynamics line (Dynamics CRM, AX, GP, SL and NAV). According to Microsoft’s Support site, users will now get “24 months of support for a previous service pack, when a new service pack is released. Previously, when a new service pack was released for these products, Microsoft provided 12 months of support for the previous service pack.” Those currently deploying a currently supported Dynamics CRM or ERP service pack will get an additional 12 months of free support. Microsoft also is reactivating support for a number of Dynamics service packs that had expired, but would be grandfathered in under the 24-month policy. There’s no change in the dates for extended, paid support for these service packs.

Office Communications Server: Microsoft has made licensing changes around the instant-messaging connectivity supported by its Office Communications Server (OCS) product. Microsoft is renaming the Live Communications Server Public IM Connectivity (LCS PIC) license to “Office Communications Server Public IM Connectivity (OCS PIC). Those with certain OCS Client Access Licenses (CALs) will no longer require additional licenses to federate with Windows Live — but still will require them to federate with AOL and Yahoo. Windows Live Federation offers users the option to add Windows Live Contacts to their Office Communicator contact lists, view presence status and send/receive IMs between the two products. The OCS licensing changes took effect July 1.

Commerce Server: Last we heard about Commerce Server, Microsoft was planning a number of releases — including the 2009 Commerce Server “Mojave” release and the 2009 R2 “Mojave R2″ release. Microsoft is in the final throes of recruiting Technology Adoption Program (TAP) testers who want to check out the private R2 test release. Microsoft released Commerce Server 2009 to manufacturing in March 2009. The R2 release is looking like an early 2010 product, at this point. The Commerce Server team said to expect yet another Commerce Server release in late 2010 or early 2011. No word on what that one will be codenamed and officially designated.

June 17th, 2009

Microsoft bets big on a new platform subscription license

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 7:40 am

Categories: CRM Live/CRM Online, Channel, Corporate strategy, Database, Development tools, Dynamics CRM, OEMs, Resellers, SQL Server, SharePoint Server, System Center, System builders, Systems integrators, Windows server, Worldwide Partner Conference (WWPC)

Tags: Microsoft Corp., CRM, Application Platform Agreement, Dynamics CRM, Advertising & Promotion, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Enterprise Software, Servers, Marketing, Software

Microsoft quietly started rolling out a new subscription licensing option, known as Application Platform Agreement (APA) at the start of this year. But it is in the coming Microsoft fiscal year, which kicks off on July 1, that the APA will start gaining some serious traction, the Softies predict.

Microsoft execs will be talking up the new APA license at the company’s upcoming Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans in mid-July, hoping to get its partners onboard with selling Microsoft’s core enterprise products via the APA.

The APA — which is somewhat like the company’s existing Software Assurance (SA) license — is an add-on to Microsoft’s Enterprise Agreement license, which it offers to business users who buy in volume. It is a subscription license, meaning that users who pay for it are entitled to upgrades to the covered set of products for three years. (Microsoft receives recurring revenues even if it doesn’t release updates to the covered wares in that period.) The Directions on Microsoft research firm has described APA as an “all you can eat” license for Microsoft’s server products.

The APA is focused on products that Microsoft considers part of its “application platform.” To date, company officials have defined the Microsoft app platform as Visual Studio, SQL Server and Windows Server. More recently, the Redmondians have been rounding out the Microsoft application platform to include a bunch of other products — everything from SharePoint Server, to System Center, to Dynamics CRM.

The Dynamics CRM offering (both the on-premise and the Microsoft-hosted versions) is one of the newest additions to the line-up Microsoft and its partners will be offering to corporate customers under the APA license.

Read the rest of this entry »

June 12th, 2009

Microsoft takes off its xRM platform-as-a-service gloves

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 8:24 am

Categories: .Net Framework, App Compatibility, Azure, CRM Live/CRM Online, Channel, Corporate strategy, Development tools, Dynamics CRM, PDC 2008, Red Dog, SharePoint Server, Systems integrators, Utility/cloud computing

Tags: PaaS, Microsoft Corp., xRM Platform-as-a-service, Advertising & Promotion, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Cloud Computing, Enterprise Software, Marketing, Software, Mary Jo Foley

Two years ago, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer mentioned for the first time publicly that Microsoft was building a new platform based on its CRM core engine. Since that time, it’s been tough to get the Softies to provide any real specifics on that technology, once known as the “Titan” platform, and now known as xRM.

But with Salesforce.com stepping up its Force.com push, Microsoft seems to have decided it’s finally time to talk turkey about xRM and how Microsoft plans to position a Microsoft-hosted version of it as part of its Azure cloud platform.

Anyone who has been studying Microsoft for a while knows “platform” is one of the company’s favorite terms. Microsoft execs love nothing better than to take a standalone technology and figure out a way to build it into a developer ecosystem, encouraging its reseller partners and independent software vendor (ISV) allies to write apps that layer neatly on top of the Microsoft stack.

xRM is an “anything relationship management” platform, upon which hundreds of partners,ISVs and customers already have written line-of-business apps (LOBs) using the core stack that powers Microsoft Dynamics CRM, explained Bryan Nielson, Microsoft’s Director of Worldwide Product Marketing for Dynamics CRM and XRM. The kinds of LOBs built using XRM range from a seeing-eye-dog application to complex human-resource-management systems, he said.

Some customers are relying on xRM to help them consolidate their applications, making them more easily customizable and manageable because they are written on top of a common, .Net-based platform. Others are using xRM to create extensions to CRM, Microsoft execs said. Some users decide to “turn off” Dynamics CRM but still use the xRM core to create and maintain other applications, they added, as part of their move to reduce use and dependency on legacy applications.

The element of xRM I was most interested in hearing about during my meeting with Nielson and his colleagues this week, was how it fits in with Azure, Microsoft’s cloud platform.

Remember Microsoft’s fall 2008 rollout of Azure, when execs briefly outlined forthcoming “SharePoint Services” and “Dynamics CRM Services” that would be part of the services layer that sits on top of the Red Dog (Windows Azure OS)? (See the Azure architectural diagram if you’re feeling dazed and confused.) It turns out that mysterious “Dynamics CRM Services” box is actually “xRM application services,” the team told me this week, and said Microsoft’s slideware department would be updating their diagrams accordingly.

What that means to customers and partners is when Microsoft launches the first final release of Azure this fall, the ability to host relationship-management applications in Microsoft’s cloud — something to which Ballmer alluded vaguely two years ago — will be live, too. This hosted xRM offering is Microsoft’s answer to Force.com and other “platform-as-a-service” competitors.

Any customers or partners out there who potentially might be interested in Microsoft’s xRM platform-as-a-service offering? What kinds of features/pricing would make you more curious?

May 1st, 2009

Hosted CRM, ERP: Another Microsoft and Oracle battleground in the making

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 1:53 pm

Categories: Azure, CRM Live/CRM Online, Corporate strategy, Dynamics CRM, Dynamics ERP, Systems integrators, Utility/cloud computing

Tags: Hosted CRM, Oracle Corp., ERP, Microsoft Corp., CRM, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Enterprise Software, Advertising & Promotion, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Software

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison is famous for blurting out potential product ideas even when they are nothing but a glimmer in his eye. But maybe in the case of offering hosted financials, CRM, HRM and other similar services, there’s a chance such Oracle-hosted entities could come to market sooner rather than later.

If Ellison & Co. do make good on their hosted services threat, they’ll be competing with Microsoft, which already offers hosted Dynamics CRM — and has made noise about possibly delivering Microsoft-hosted ERP in some way down the line.

At least in this economy, selling CRM/ERP (in the form of software, services and/or both) has proven a tough task for the Softies. Just this week, Microsoft rolled out three new “incentive offerings” aimed at the CRM/ERP space.

The three:

Business Ready Flexible Pay, aimed at new ERP and CRM customer in the U.S. Provides “the option to purchase the solutions today but pay for them in equal payments over three years.”
New discounts targeted at getting users to dump competitors’ products. A new U.S.-only partner-targeted program, which kicks off this month, will allow partners to “extend their customers an offer to move to a Microsoft Dynamics ERP solution with a 50 percent discount on licensing, and receive a rebate equal to 25 percent of the suggested retail price of the Microsoft Dynamics solution (up to a maximum of $25,000) to help offset the costs of switching from Sage MAS 90 or MAS 200, or Oracle’s JD Edwards EnterpriseOne.”
Business Ready Licensing changes allowing Dynamics CRM to be purchased as a standalone product (even though it also continues to be available through Microsoft’s volume-licensing programs, as well).

Any of these new programs sound appealing? What other kinds of incentives does Microsoft need to offer to get (or keep) you in its CRM/ERP fold?

March 10th, 2009

Microsoft touts new CRM freebies

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 8:26 am

Categories: CRM Live/CRM Online, Channel, Corporate strategy, Dynamics CRM, Dynamics ERP

Tags: Microsoft Dynamics, Microsoft Corp., CRM, Advertising & Promotion, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Sales Strategy, Enterprise Software, Marketing, Software, Sales

Microsoft is making new CRM services and add-ons for free to appeal to business users hurting from the worldwide recession, according to company officials.

Microsoft announced the new wares during the first day of its Convergence conference for customers and partners of its Dynamics CRM and ERP products.Among the new offerings: A service-level agreement (SLA) guaranteeing 99.9 percent uptime to all Dynamics CRM Online customers; eight new, downloadable CRM Accelerators, or extensions, for both on-premise and cloud-based CRM customers, that provide additional marketing and sales functionality.

“The 99.9 percent guarantee is higher than Salesforce or NetSuite offers — if and when they offer these kinds of guarantees,” said Chris Caren, General Manager of Dynamics Product Management.

Microsoft also offered “qualified” attendees of Convergence “savings of as much as 75 percent on Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online and up to 20 percent on Microsoft Dynamics AX, Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Dynamics NAV and Microsoft Dynamics SL,” company officials said.

Last fall, Microsoft offered its Dynamics CRM and ERP customers zero percent financing options to try to help spur sales. On March 10, Microsoft execs reiterated that offer, and also noted the company is offering Dynamics customers zero payments for six months through its SmartPay program, with extended payments from Microsoft Financing.

Dynamics is a billion-dollar business for Microsoft, but billings for that division were down two percent in the first half of Microsoft’s fiscal 2009 (ending December 31, 2009).

In addition to touting freebies, Microsoft also is planning to highlight its “CRM is a development platform” message during this week’s show in New Orleans, Caren said. Microsoft officials have touched on this in the past, mentioning the company’s Dynamics “xRM” platform as a “relationship management” framework upon which third-party developers can build their own solutions.

January 13th, 2009

A new member of the Office 14 family: Office for Sales

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 1:16 pm

Categories: CRM Live/CRM Online, Corporate strategy, Development tools, Dynamics CRM, Office, Office 2010/Office 14, SharePoint Server, Utility/cloud computing

Tags: Office Business Application, Sales Strategy, Sales Force Management, Microsoft Office, Sales, Office Suites, Software, Mary Jo Foley

Several years ago, Microsoft execs seemed to be leaning toward delivering different versions of Office that were tailored to particular verticals. As time went by, I assumed that plan had been abandoned. Looks like it wasn’t.

Alpha testers who’ve started getting access to early Office 14 code are reporting there’s a new server-based product known as “Office for Sales 14″ that is part of the line-up. Here’s what I’ve managed to glean from them so far about Office for Sales:

It’s an end-to-end CRM product that will incorporate both software and services components
The product is based on and hooked inextricably into SharePoint Server
Developers will be able to customize the system to integrate with third-party products, like Siebel CRM
Features include the ability to store customer information in Outlook; maintenance of a centralized Sales Center SharePoint site; the creation of sales communities; and support for “sales interaction management” (SIM)

SharePoint Server 14 is expected to provide offline support and, based on what sources are saying, Office for Sales will allow users with ofline editing inside Outlook, as well.

Office for Sales is built on top of the Office Business Application (OBA) foundation. OBAs are designed to allow developers to build composite applications that extend Office and/or SharePoint.

How does Office for Sales fit in with Dynamics CRM and CRM Online, Microsoft’s hosted CRM service? I don’t know (yet). Anyone out there have any guesses — educated or wildly speculative?

Update: Microsoft declined to comment about Office for Sales 14.

November 19th, 2008

Microsoft-hosted Online security-service for business users due in 2010

Posted by Mary Jo Foley @ 7:35 am

Categories: Azure, CRM Live/CRM Online, Channel, Corporate strategy, Exchange Server, Management tools, Network service providers, Office, Resellers, Security, SharePoint Server, Speech, System Center, Systems integrators, Telecommunications, Utility/cloud computing, VOIP, Web conferencing

Tags: Microsoft Corp., Blogging, Security, Internet, Mary Jo Foley, Service, Forefront

Microsoft’s just-announced free anti-virus/anti-malware service, codenamed Morro, isn’t the only new Microsoft security service in the works.

Company officials made a passing reference at their SharePoint Online/Exchange Online launch earlier this week to a new Microsoft-hosted service that will be part of the Online family. A Microsoft blog posting on November 18 shed a bit more light on the new service.

Microsoft is planning to make the new (and so far not-officially named) security service available in 2010, according to the post on Microsoft’s Server and Tools Business News Bytes blog. A companion service — Microsoft hosted management — also is set for delivery in 2010, the blog posting said. The posting went on to note:

“(T)hese new offerings will enable IT managers to secure and manage desktops using Web-based subscription services. These management and security online services will be based on components from existing systems management, identity and security offerings, and will complement Microsoft’s on-premise solutions.”

As I noted earlier this year, there has been talk for a number of months about Microsoft turning its Forefront security software into a Microsoft-hosted Forefront Online service.

Forefront is the uber-brand for a family of Microsoft enterprise security products that handle everything from Exchange security, to firewalling. In June 2007, Microsoft officials said they had started work on the next-generation versions of Forefront Client Security, Server Security and Edge Security and Access solutions, plus a new, unified management console for these products. This group of offerings is known as Stirling. Stirling products will be tightly integrated with one another, as well as with Active Directory and Microsoft System Center.

I also had heard previously that Microsoft was taking its System Center management software and morphing parts of it into a Microsoft-hosted management service. Tipsters said earlier this year that a “System Center Online” service potentially could include anti-virus, anti-spyware, system monitoring, backup/restore, asset inventory monitoring, policy management and software distribution/deployment services.

At the Microsoft Professional Developer Conference in October, company officials said Microsoft’s gameplan is to offer a services complement to every one of its enterprise software products.

Existing offerings in the Microsoft Online Services portfolio include the Dynamics CRM Online service; the now-shipping Exchange Online and SharePoint Online services; Office Live Meeting (a new version of which, slated to be built on top of the Azure cloud platform, is in the works); Office Communications Online, the hosted version of Office Communications Server due in the first half of 2009; and the Business Productivity Suite Online, a bundle of Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Communications Server Online and Live Meeting.

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