What's the perfect size Company for IT work?

Interesting discussion I had today with a new employee at one of my middle sized clients.

She said, that this employer was just right. Smaller firms had too much putting out fires, little tasks to do etc, whilst big firms had too many processes and fixed ideas.

When I mentioned the Six Sigma with it's massive failure rate in industry, she mentioned a very large IT firm that uses it. No wonder they've tried to outsource so much work from india, because there are too many processes to get anything done.

This kind of changes the way one looks at what companies you'd want to work for.

The whole industry is changing at the moment due to cost cutting, so even the sizes and types of firms that are good to work for are changing.

Even one company that aggressively promotes that it was voted a top firm to work for a few years ago, now with it's Six Sigma implementation and other processes, everyone there seems under the gun and not the most pleasant workplace.

As for me, as long as the company makes sure it's employees have access to plenty of Moccona Coffee, they are ok.

Microsoft Access Upgrade Issues

Had someone yesterday said it was too hard to upgrade a Microsoft Access Application to the 2007 or 2010 version.
Where do people get this idea?
Ignorance is not good.

My answer was simply, "We've done it quite a few times".
There are a few issues and googling Microsoft Access Upgrade quieries brings up 35 million results.

And "MsAccess Upgrade Issues" brings up just under 10 million results. (Pros like me refer to Microsoft Access as MsAccess and if you are googling for help, this is useful to know).

The main issues with upgrading access that I know are:

• Moving the data, schema and logic to a 2007 or 2010 version, when you have access security set.
• Dealing with hard-coded references to Excel, Word or Outlook
• Some file manipulation macros
• Generally dealing with really badly written code
• ADO References caused by Windows 7 Service pack
• New APIis if you are also using the new 64 bit of office
• File Searching / handling functionality
• Making the toolbars apepar in the ribbon

The one major item from a coding perspective is that the new versions of access are "fussier".
This means bad code is more likely to cause issues than ever before.

Also, Windows 7 running MsAccess 2007 or MsAccess 2010 can have issues which weren't there with MsAccess 2003 on an XP PC running applications on the network file share.
To prevent this, my Excel Speed app can show up some network issues, and one often needs to tweak the network and the PCs via some group policies and registry settings to fix.

Also one often raised question, is why not move the backend into sql. That's ok if you are using sql 2000, but from sql 2005 onwards, Microsoft SQL Server locks a chunk of rows at a time. So a well behaving multi-user application will start locking up when you move the data into SQL.
To get around this, ASP.Net is one solution, as it copies the record to memory and releases and lock and only writes back when it detects you have made a change.
Why they couldn't just build this into MsAccess is quite silly, as it would promote more use of Sql Server which can only be a good thing for someone qualified in Sql Server like me.

Converting your MsAccess Applications to newer versions is not tricky if you use a professional. ###

Microsoft Office Migrations

Thinking of upgrading to Microsoft Office 2010?

A quick search in Google Insights shows a very interesting trend:
Searching on the words "microsoft office upgrade":
The top five in order are:

1. United States
2. Australia
3. United Kingdom
4. Canda
5. Germany

In the last 90 days, it's just the United states followed by the United Kingdom.

Does this mean that the US and the UK have put off their upgrades until now in order to reduce costs etc?


Then looking at just Australia, you get QLD followed by NSW and then VIC.
Does this mean the floods put QLD off and that NSW is just trying to cut costs?

There are a few pain points, especially in Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Access or (MsAccess) as it's commonly referred to in web searches.
There's a conversion tool aimed at MsAccess, from a mob called converter technology. They don't seem to have a handle on Excel or even a way to check the network is optimized for the combination of Windows 7 and Office 2010.


We even developed a network speed/locking tester written in excel that can show up issues before Office goes into production. Now to write one in MsAccess that covers issues with DAO/ADO connections taking forever.
One of the most interseting outcomes of the Excel Speed Tester is that a good network environment can read and write your file fastger than alot of PC hard disks can. This means that having your files on an optimized network can be faster in some cases than on your hard disk. We do say quite carefully, "In some cases", because once a network gets busy, most of us can feel if not see the effects.
For more information on the Speed tester email me via http://www.macroview.com.au.

The whole migration story gets murkier when Office 2007 is also thrown in as this is a nightmare version in terms of upgrading/coverting macro driven applications.

Unfortunately for us Excel and MsAccess Developers, Office 2007 will plague us for years, and even now, companies are migrating to Office 2007, because some ignorant adviser said this was less risky than office 2010. They obviously haven't consulted us!

###

Web Marketing

Seo is a four letter word. Find out why.
Web Marketing is different from print advertising in many ways and requires a different approach.
Three things to look at are:
1-someone with web marketing knowledge
2-optimizing your web sites
3-utilizing other sites, email marketing and other sources to enhance your internet presence
What do I know?
A 400x better response than a competitor. 20x the calls from 5% of no of visitors of a competitor. That is why SEO is a four letter word.
Whilst you can pay people to increase your seo, beware what happened to BMW. They got blacklisted by google!

Excel 2007 Chart losing ActiveChart

Interesting issue today with Excel 2007 and a little bit of VBA.

Have a client with issues with an excel addin not interacting well with the bloomberg addin.

So to get around this we used the old toolbar in the addins option.

Problem is that Excel 2007 deselects the Chart, so the active Chart code doesn't work.
This issue doesn't occur in Excel 2010 or Excel 2003.


We were first getting this ambiguous message:
"The specified dimension is not valid for the current chart type"
Another reason to go straight to Excel 2010 to crunch your data and charts.

Regards,
Tom Bizannes
Excel and Database Magician

Migration to Excel 2010 and Access 2010 the easy way

Migrating to a new version of Office used be quite painless. With the major openxml format changes and major overhaul to both Microsoft Access and Excel, there are many breaking changes that can break many an existing application.
With the right amount of planning, most issues can be dealt with prior or when the migration goes ahead.
What is disturbing is the amount of mis-information about the different versions of Microsoft Office.
This article focuses on what you need to be aware of, and what are the best choices when upgrading the desktops and notebooks of all your users.

Recently a client asked me to assist with migrating to Excel 2007 using a $20K tool.
This appeared to have been written in ancient vb and doesn't seem to be built to cater for the two biggest issues with Excel Migrations.
What I couldn't believe was how developers make tools without knowing the product or add extensions to their products as an afterthought.
The Tool did work okay against Microsoft Access databases, although still haven't put this under pressure to test how it deals with issues we have discovered in simple access databases like fields not being big enough so forms just crash erratically.


Firstly there's the choice between the Microsoft Office 2010 32 bit or the Microsoft Office 2010 64 bit version.
Recommendation from Microsoft is to upgrade to the 32 bit version.
Only a few super power users will need the 64 bit version, and that's most likely due to badly designed cubes or lack of good database guys to roll up information nicely.

Why not 64 bit version of Microsoft Office?
Because that's causes alot of applications with code to break. Also many addons will not work, due to library differences between 32 and 64 bit office. It's not because the 64 bit version is buggy. It's different.


Version of Windows 7 to go to?
Go to the 64 bit version of Windows 7. Any 32 bit office app that doesn't work in Windows 7 64 bit version should be trashed or the developers given a talking to. There are some issues about the Windows 7 Service Pack 1 causing problems for users who don't have the same service pack. Microsoft has a few workarounds.
On first glance it appears to be mainly office 64 bit users who would be effected. The solution being to change the code to use late binding on the adodb (MDAC) libraries. Thes are used mainly to link to sql and other dobc databases. Most Access developerws went back to dao development, unless there were sql links, so alot of code can be fixed quickly and easily.


Do you upgrade your Microsoft Access databases to SQL Server?
No. Not unless you know what you are doing. If the Access databases only have 5 to 10 users, then keep them in Access. If you have more, be ware that sql can cause more locking and other issues, if you do not know what you are doing.

What about Excel files. Should we upgrade them?
Only if you want to as many excel workbooks might be linked to others.
The solution we came up was to add an addon in the Excel ribbon that dealt the linking and the other major issues so the users could do their conversions with less pain, or one click of the button as they say.


What items are missed or done the wrong way?
The new colouring themes are often forgotten about or not done correctly.
Ironically, the word guys try to dictate the styles, but Excel and PowerPoint users are mostly effected by the colouring. Some clients have spent thousands on graphic designer ideas for styles and fonts, but these guys don't always have a grasp on Office 2007 or Office 2010 themes as they live in their adobe software world.

###

Tom Bizannes is a Microsoft Certified Professional with a business background.
He works for a Microsoft Gold Partner in Sydney, Australia
http://www.macroview.com.au

Web Marketing the easy way

What would you do if you could click a button and automatically have enough info to knock your competitor's links below yours?

By following some basic steps this can be easy to do.

The web us all about words. And it is also about providing information and entertainment to the masses.

As long as you can address these points and find out what your competitors are doing then you will get more business.

Tom Bizannes

Web Marketing faster and easier

Tom Bizannes
Web Marketing faster and easier

Excel having issues with dates importing CSV files

Have you ever had a csv file opened by excel and the dates are in MM/DD/YYY format when you want them in DD/MM/YYYY format?

After going nuts with setting regional settings etc, it seems there's a parameter off by default when you open a csv file with excel in VBA.

Here's what you need to do to open and read csv files with dates if youdo not want USA datye formats.

sMyFileBook = ThisWorkbook.Path & "\MyFile.csv"
Set wbMyFile = Workbooks.Open(Filename:=sMyFileBook, UpdateLinks:=False, ReadOnly:=True, local:=True)
Set wsMyFile = wbMyFile.ActiveSheet

Regards,
Tom Bizannes

Development Notebooks - why so hard?

It seems most notebooks come in only two flavours. HD and Full HD. and then there are netbooks.

HD doesn't have enough vertical pixels for viewing emails etc. So why does anyone use them?

So put hte question out there and got a few suggestions as follows:

Here are some of the responses:

I am running a ASUS G51J with 12GB RAM and FHD.

I'm using a Toshiba R700 with an I7 and a 256 solid state drive.  The fact they use both slots to give the 4GB so you have to chuck away 4GB to get 8GB is annoying.  At 1.1 kg it’s a great travel machine.

I've given up on trying to find a notebook with the resolution to develop and a size that's easy to fly with. So I use a Dell E4300 (13") and the docking station has a Dell U3011 (30" 2560x1600) monitor. I find the height of the monitor is great at 16x10 ratio. The U3011 is expensive but it makes a huge difference. It's like having the whole wall to work with. I'm also done with buying non-commercial grade hardware. I only get Dell Latitudes, no more Studios or XPS machines.

I have used a notebook with 1920 x 1200 screen res for about 5 years. You need to have good eyes since the text is pretty small (unless you change it to a larger DPI setting for text). I find it necessary for most of my work to have a higher res screen. My current laptop is an HP EliteBook 8530W with 8 GB RAM, and 7200 RPM HDD. It runs well for most tasks in development. I also hook it up to a second screen (1920 x 1200) via HDMI and it handles both screens at full res quite well.

As you can see, it was a mixed bag.

I need to carry the notebook so 17inches is too big.

At hte moment it's a choice between the ASUS g53W or the Apple Mac Book Pro.
The Sony one is nice but too expensive considering.
And hte dell xps15 is cheaper but .....not too sure.

Firefoxs addons for web development

Found a page listing 10 best firefox addons.

Some of these didn't deserve to be on that list.


There are a heap of them for checking the search ranking, and trying to find ones you've used can be hard like the one that helps you to clear your google cache so you see what others are seeing, plus a new one to get the mobile phone view.
Also one always needs a youtube downloader.

Here's three of mine:

1. Firebug - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/firebug/
2. FireSizer - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/firesizer/
3. MeasureIt - http://www.kevinfreitas.net/extensions/measureit/

If you have any other ones let me. Also one's for Internet Explorer or Chrome.
As you might figure, we use FireFox alot to figure out the css styles in web sites when changing them.

It's also useful to add your delicious and other link saving addons...

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