SQL Server 2005 SP1

SQL Server 2005 SP1 is now available for download. These packages can upgrade the Enterprise, Standard, Developer and Workgroup versions.

To download SP1 use this link:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?
familyid=CB6C71EA-D649-47FF-9176-E7CAC58FD4BC&displaylang=en

You can run the following query to check your build (this query will not run on SQL Server 200 or previous versions):

WITH Version(ver)
AS
(
SELECT SUBSTRING
(
@@VERSION,
CHARINDEX(' - ', @@VERSION)+3,
32
)
)
SELECT Build = LEFT(ver, CHARINDEX(' ', ver))
FROM Version

Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office

How close is Microsoft Dynamics to Microsoft Office? It's VSTO away.

A current GotDotNet project had started which gives users a collection of software programs for Microsoft Dynamics that snap in to Microsoft Office 2003. That's the good news, the bad news is nothing has been done for Dynamics GP. The current snap in were only developed for Dynamics AX and CRM.

The developers promised that snap in for Dynamics GP would be available soon. Snap is a set of add-in applications in Office that surface business data and processes. It uses VSTO to program the Office Object Model and Dynamics Business Connector to interact with the data in Dynamics without requiring any server side code or changes.

Snap in should not be mistaken for Information Bridge Framework (IBF). There are white papers available that could provide more in-depth analysis when to use IBF or VSTO, check this link:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/office/understanding/ibframework/
techarticles/default.aspx>

Microsoft acquires Proclarity

On April 3,2006, Microsoft annouced that it acquired Proclarity Corp., a software company that develops analysis and visualization technologies that work in association with Microsoft’s business intelligence (BI) platform.

SQL Server 2005 would gain more ground on Oracle with this acquisition. Proclarity brings in more than 3000 global customers. There is opportunity for PeopleSoft/JD Edwards customers using Proclarity to now look at Microsoft Dynamics as an alternative system, Oracle's Fusion should show some effective marketing to not lose dissatisfied customers.