Microsoft opening up the vault of KB articles

Up until now, access to Knowledge Base articles for Dynamics Ax was limited to people with access to either CustomerSource or PartnerSource.  This also means access to people with a valid Service Plan for Ax.
Microsoft decided a while ago to align it's policy regarding KB's for Dynamics Ax with other MS products.  This means that all KB articles are now publicly available, no restraints.  Which of course makes it a lot easier to reference them in communication between partners and customers, on internet fora etc.  And it makes them accessible to search engines as well, helping to spread the information.

You can search for any KB over here:

Microsoft Support

or with this more specific link for Ax:

Dynamics Ax Solution Center

30.000+ articles are already available.  And new KB's will be created with a public profile.

The Cloud

You've heard about it. You've read about it.
Maybe you've worked with it. Or only had a short test drive with it.

What am I talking about? The cloud.

Or to be more precise: Microsoft's offering for the cloud. What's in?

Over at ZDNet, they do not believe in Microsoft as a serious cloud contender. A very critical voice is heard on Microsoft's cloud offering in this article, titled 'Why Microsoft really, really, hates the cloud'.
Summing it up: In 5 years Microsoft's operating income will drop by 75 %. Because it cannot adapt to the changing IT environment.

My opinion, for what it is worth: A bit over simplified reasoning in this article.

Will we see a move to cloud based applications: Absolutely. Your communications will be without doubt cloud based. Email only being one of them.
Your basic word processing, spreadsheet functions will be cloud based. I can dig that. Image, audio and video management, sure.
But your business critical applications like an ERP system? I don't think so. Partially maybe.
Small companies (-25 employees) will be interested. But anything above that?

I also do not see a reason on why Microsoft cannot adapt and change it's income pattern (that's without doubt needed). But are Cisco or IBM better positioned then Microsoft in this area then?

Microsoft is not postponing the arrival of Cloud Computing as stated in the article at ZDNet. It's just gearing up things and when and where there is money to be made with the Cloud, Microsoft will be around.
Remember the spread sheet. Lotus 1-2-3 was once number one. And the word processor, with WordPerfect. Or the internet browser.
Maybe this time around Microsoft's rival isn't another software company.

Convergence EMEA 2009

Earlier this year Microsoft cancelled it's Convergence EMEA 2009 event. It was supposed to take place in November, in the beautiful city of Vienna. Reason for the cancellation according to Microsoft was the economic downturn. But Microsoft vowed it would rework the concept, and come with something new. They kept promise, details for Convergence EMEA 2009 are now slowly becoming available.

Instead of one big event in one city, spanning multiple days, there are now multiple one day events, all over Europe. The idea behind it? Microsoft brings Convergence to you, so you don't have to go to them. More localized content, less travel expenses, shorter duration. All for the benefit of the customers.
The selected cities are London, Vienna, Frankfurt and Rotterdam. It's all taking place end of October, beginning of November. Find out more on the dedicated website.

I got to attend Convergence in Munich a couple of years ago and last year in Copenhagen. Lots of good sessions, lots of information, great quality speakers. I am curious to see if the change in concept has affected the overall quality.