Microsoft have released a small business accounting package which has been tailored for the UK.

There are two version Express (which is free) and Professional which has features such as Stock, Sales Orders and Job Costing and costs £150.

My colleague, Richard, is not particularly keen on a payroll service rather than software but at £9.95 per month for up to 25 employees this is a good deal. You can also sign up to e-payment services.

We run our business using CRM for projects, staffing, expenses and invoicing and Sage for accounts. I will be looking at integrating CRM with OA2008 (using the SDK) and am particularly interested in the job costing aspect to allow us better insight into project profitability

You can download Express or a 60 day trial of Professional

For those with an MSDN Subscription the Professional can be downloaded from there.

If you are an accountant Microsoft provide you with free software and support. Click here for more.

I was a beta tester for Windows Home Server which was released last month and is now available both as OEM and as pre-built systems

My own WHS is running on a Dell PowerEdge SC420 which although not as nice as the Tranquil PC or HP Media Smart Home Server dedicated systems does the job of backing my home PCs and my MediaCenter as well as storing all my pictures and other files making them available over the web.

Take a look at this marketing material Stay at Home Server

For more information and all news on Windows Home Server check out We Got Served

If you are running Windows XP Service Pack 2 and Internet Explorer 6 and downloaded the latest IE security fixes then you may be experiencing IE crashing.

There is a hotfix for this. See KB946627 and KB942367

You also need to set the registry described in the document. For those who have difficulty or need to roll this out to multiple machines Jesper has done the hard work for you.

My company, Vigence, was approached by Microsoft a few months ago to provide CRM training to partners and customers in Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

The idea is to have the people delivering the training to be experienced in implementing Dynamics CRM.

My colleague Adrian Shaw was already a Microsoft Certified Trainer and, although I have delivered training throughout my career, I needed to become an MCT. I took the train the trainer course in October and passed the assessment. Hence we are now part of the Microsoft Dynamics Authorised Training Team.

Adrian and I have been preparing with an early look at the training material and we shall be continuing with this over the next few weeks.

A number of courses have been arranged:

What's New in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0: 22-23 Jan

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Installation and Deployment Training Course: 29-31 Jan

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Configuration & Customisation Training: 5-7 Feb

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 applications Training: Feb 12-14

Adrian and I are also delivering the Accelerated learning at Firebrand Training CRM and CRM Developer courses.

For details on all Microsoft Dynamics CRM Training click here

I have stayed away from blogging on CRM 4.0 as may others are doing a fine job.

However as CRM 4.0 is available for download this will change so come back soon

CRM 4.0 Download