Microsoft Dynamics GP Technical Airlift 2012: Day 2

Welcome to Day 2 of the Microsoft Dynamics GP Technical Airlift!

Personally, today marks a transition day for me... getting some additional rest from the previous day, focusing on my presentation for tomorrow, and catching up with old friends.

I had a chance to catch up with fellow MVP Leslie Vail (twitter: @Leslie_Vail), who as usual, was quite distinguishable from the rest of attendees, by wearing her pink GPUG cape and her 5 MVP pins, each representing  - I much prefer to call them stripes, ehem!



MVP Leslie Vail showing off her 5 MVP pins

Breakfast was a quick swipe and it was now time for the Keynote speach by Mark Hindsbo (twitter: @mhindsbo), Vice President of Developer and Platform Evangelism for Microsoft in the United States. Mark's presentation was key to demistify the concept that Windows 8 is a handheld or tablet device only solution and showed the capabilities of Windows 8 to address various form factors.

Mark showed some really cool Windows 8 features, incredibly enough, by adding a personal touch throughout the demo.

It was time to go meet up with old friends. First up was the duo of Pam Misialek (twitter: @PamMisialek), Product Manager Microsoft and Gary Tronson, Principal Development Manager, both with Microsoft. I always enjoy catching up with Pam and Gary since they always have a huge smile on their faces.

Pam Misialek and Gary Tronson

Earlier, during the Keynote introduction, Jay Manley, Microsoft Dynamics GP Senior Product Manager, was sporting a cool polo shirt from the early days of the Technical Conference. The way-back machine kicked in and I knew I had to get a couple shots of what really matter - sorry Jay, that wasn't you. Back then, the conference was known as the Great Plains Software World Wide Developer Conference.

Down the memory lanes: Jay Manley sports the 1,997 Great Plains Software World Wide Developer Conference polo 

Trivia: what did the acronym CIS stand for? Add your comment below.

The Taylor Group was the original ISV developer of Integration Manager. They later became ManagedOps.com, the first Great Plains Dynamics GP ASP

Not only did the polo have the theme logo for the conference, but it also featured the logos of the sponsors: Digital, The Taylor Group. The Taylor Group was the original developer of Integration Manager and became the first ASP hosting company after it became ManagedOps.com

The polo also featured the traditional Great Plains Software logo. For a walk through memory lane, take a look at David Musgrave's article, GP logos through the years.

At lunch time, I met up with my friends Paramesh and Nilesh who seemed to be deep in thoughts on a few subjects prior to me interrupting for a picture. However, they were kind enough to allow me a quick snap. Nilesh works with Microsoft in UK and is in charge of the team responsible for developing most of the LATAM localizations.

Paramesh Rajan (System Advisers Software Serv) and Nilesh Thakkar (Senior Program Manager Microsoft UK)

I spent most of the afternoon walking through my presentation and working through the examples for tomorrow. My session, D110 Troubleshooting your developed solution, runs from 9:45 AM to 10:45, just before the closing session.

Across from me was Jen Kuntz (twitter: @kuntzconsulting), who I had traveled with on the flight from Minneapolis to Fargo on Monday. Jen is a tremendous resource to the community in both Canda and the United States. Please be sure to visit her blog.

Jen Kuntz (Kuntz Consulting)

Next up was the legend himself, Mr. Tom Irsfeld., a.k.a, the International Man of Mystery. Tom was my Dexterity mentor (along with Dave Gaboury who is now hiding in retirement) and worked with me on developing the initial localizations for the Andean area, back in the days. Tom now works on the Microsoft Dynamics AX team as a Program Manager.

Mariano Gomez and Tom Irsfield

At my quiet table, I had a chance to catch up with a number of partners and ISVs who had some questions on maintaining their current applications and working through hurdles to make them compatible with the Web Client. As mentioned in my post yesterday, I will be launching a Web Client series next week. At the tail end of that series, I will address some development considerations to make your product compatible with the Web Client. They are effectively things that you can be doing today to make a successful transition - these things by the way have always been considered best practices.

However, all good things must come to an end and the dismantling of the tent was just a reminder of it. Tomorrow marks the last day of the Technical Airlift, certainly one of the best tech events in recent memories.

Workers dismantling the tent

Stay tuned for the events of Day 3 tomorrow.

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
IntellPartners, LLC
http://www.IntellPartners.com/