Microsoft and Yahoo! -- Stay on Target?

We Microsofties and Yahoos just entered some interesting times. Thank goodness we can take a break from talking about Win7 M1 leaks for a while. And thanks for the quality of comments in the previous post.

(Update: Google just posted about Yahoo! and Microsoft: Yahoo! and the future of the Internet - things are going to get real interesting.)

Here's a check-in on what TechMeme looked like at the end of the day on Friday the first. I'm not even going to begin to try to point to interesting articles: there is an abundance. Most cluster around "two wrongs don't make a right." Some are extreme in how bad an idea this is, and others are extreme in how good an idea this is. I like those that bring up the spirit of competition, saying that the combined entity would give a serious option to Google (which would help with prices) and that it would keep Google sharp and competitive (good for Google fans).

I've spent time checking in with various people I know to hear their opinion about the hosti- er - unsolicited offer and how it might impact them.

(I found out if you really want to piss some people off, send them an email with snarky Yahoo! questions. They've gone through disclosure and, man, they don't want to do that again. And I guess neither do I. So, no more electronic Y! trail there. Word to the wise.)

Reactions from most Microsofties: talk to me in a year.

No one anticipates anything happening by the end of this year, between the additional financial courting that might happen between Yahoo! and other suitors and then the subsequent complicated international regulatory phase. During a US election year, to boot. Here Nellie was getting bored and trawling through Office protocols. Consider this an early Valentine, Ms. Kroes. Mmmm-wha!

There's no way this is happening fast. Microsofties in groups most affected by a Yahoo! acquisition are plowing ahead, course unchanged, for the foreseeable future. No thoughts around brand or collaboration or nada. "Stay on target." Uh-huh.

Most engineers, as expected of engineers, see all the problems and that it's going to be a staggering mess, let alone that there are things that Yahoo! does way better than us and that our stuff should be dropped. Strategic optimists and those looking for a promotion will rebrand it as a synergistic opportunity to align our technological assets into a virtuous, hyper-competitive cycle to benefit our users, partners, and shareholders.

Get ready to find out what someone trying to make Partner or VP at Microsoft is all about, dear Yahoos. Be sure to ask about SPSA goals for a successful integration of Yahoo! and Microsoft assets.

At the basics, though, our imperial Lego blocks and their metric Lego blocks use very differently sized connectors.

I'm more concerned about the Yahoo! workforce. The talented remaining in the Yahoo! workforce, specifically. What a sucky week of events for them. Two weeks, really. Layoff rumors, bad financial results, layoff for real, and then a big corporation darkening their door, sans chocolates, saying that we're done with the sweet-nuthins-talk and it's time for my way or the highway. Well, actually, saying that it's time for my way or my way. What's a Yahoo to do? Wait it out, keeping things purring along? Start learning Windows Server, IIS, .NET, and Silverlight? Jump ship for a start-up, right in the middle of a looming recession? Damn.

Like I've said here over and over again, talent is talent and if you're good you can decide what you want to do and where you want to be. You're not locked into Yahoo! anymore than any Microsoftie is locked into Microsoft. It's a choice. And to feel good about your choice, you need to know and explore all of your options. There are no victims here. And the risk of that is that when the acquisition goes through, those left are those who either can't or won't find a position elsewhere. How much passion will remain? How do you keep the engagement going?

If we can help Yahoos explore Microsoft and it's culture, I'm happy to help. Realize this isn't the sunshine and teddy bear ice-cream parade site, though. I know little about Yahoo! culture so I don't know how different it is from Microsoft, although comments from former Microsofties tell me that its engineering groups aren't too different (which might be good and bad).

The Microsoft leadership also has to realize that the "Stay on Target" strategy isn't going to work for groups that heavily overlap with Yahoo! or would be replaced by Yahoo! implementations. On the surface, the coming year or two for a lot of online groups is looking like nothing more than a lot of angst, crap, and loss of momentum and brand. Why not dive into http://career/ and find something more rewarding? What's the reward for staying on target? It certainly looks like a bold opportunity to break through, but it has to be recognized as such and driven as such. Otherwise, it becomes the elephant in the All-Hands that starts chasing people out of the group, looking for a vision and hearing none.

And then: Ballmer. This will certainly serve as a transition out of the Gates era. Is Ballmer an Ahab figure, chasing the white whale of Google once and for all by roping two whaling ships together? If I write a book on my years at Microsoft one day, will it start out as "Call me Mini," as I reflect on the Microsoft flotsam and jetsam swirling around the world? I hope not. This will serve to define Ballmer, however. All online decisions and strategies have led to this point. And the scale of leadership required to pull success out of this bold move is, to tell you the truth, beyond any accomplishments I've seen so far. I have hope, but not much to back it up.

Oh, and this pretty much puts on the kibosh on any other big acquisitions for a while. So no need to speculate about Microsoft buying Adobe or anything like that. For now. One less thread for the rumor mill.

(Update: s/Yahooligans/Yahoos/g per comment. Added TechMeme link to Google's shot across the bow.)

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Mini-Microsoft Microsoft MSFT

A not-so-easy game about Earth

Here is a fun game that challenges your brain. It's not really about AX, but can drive you crazy as well :)
I am still stuck on level 9, and it turns out there are so many places I haven't even heard of, not mentioning actually placing them on the world map. Very entertaining!

Microsoft + Yahoo! = Microsoft - $44,600,000,000 ?

Oy.

My first reaction: "That's a lot to pay for flickr."

I'm surprised yet not surprised. Internally, a number of us had heard reasons from Steve Ballmer why a Yahoo! acquisition didn't make sense. One that sticks in my mind right now is how if we acquired Yahoo! - such a big company - we'd have to naturally have layoffs within Microsoft to accommodate it.

Maybe there are HR people wandering around Microsoft this morning asking, "What color slip did you say? Pink?"

Man, if I was in the Online Services Division I would be worried. Especially if Yahoo! did something my team did and did it well.

I guess you can track down the 10:00am meeting and see if you can get your question answered.

Forty-four point six billion US dollars. In long hand: $44,600,000,000 USD.

So, if your team is naturally at risk due to the acquisition I would start checking in on your local network and see what's going on elsewhere in Microsoft. If there's someone within Microsoft you've always wanted on your team that has some turbulence ahead due to the acquisition (yeah, I know, Ballmer's telling us "stay on target") check in with them and tell them the groovy things your group is doing.

If the buy goes through, it will be one huge turning point for Microsoft: I think we'll either turn it around brilliantly and our mega-investment will be worth it, or we'll be torn asunder and revert back to our core cash cows. It will be a story worth telling, one way or the other. In the meantime, that big huge money-chest is going to go empty, and that might bring a new sense of clarity to our operations.

Initial posts:

• Mr. Todd Bishop: Microsoft's big Yahoo bid Behind-the-scenes details - nice flow of updates over time and info on the Yahoo! board. Follow-up story by Mr. Bishop: Microsoft offers $45 billion to buy Yahoo
• Ms. Mary Jo Foley: Microsoft to become Micro-ad All about Microsoft ZDNet.com

(more later.)

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Mini-Microsoft Microsoft MSFT

Microsoft FY08Q2 Results

FY08Q2: As always, my favorite post-analysis sites for the results:

• MSFTExtremeMakeover,
• Mr. Joe Wilcox, and
• Mr. Todd Bishop.

At a simple level, I feel anything that Microsoft reports is like spitting in the wind during the current financial storm. I'll be interested in hearing if we have anything encouraging to say as being a safe-haven for investors during this period, given the current releases and the upcoming releases.

Mr. Todd Bishop has a preview and nails my concern about the analysts concern of our forward looking statements. Also - though I doubt it will come up except as a generalized catch-all warning - with the EU feeling us up again to try to figure where we moved our wallet to, we have more legal uncertainty to deal with.

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Update: After the release...

FY08Q1: ba-da-Boom!

FY08Q2: ba-da-BING! (or should that be, "ba-da-Cha-CHING!"?)

Channeling an upbeat attitude that could be heard as, "no, really, our poo doesn't stink," Mr. Liddell got to take lead on one of the most positive and reassuring Microsoft quarterly results conference calls I've heard in a long time. He expressed extreme pleasure over the results, as do I imagine every Microsoftie (unless you do want to point at the stinky poo of OSB and how E&D / Xbox has a deep, deep hole of billions to fill income into).

I'd say every time I heard an analyst try to give Mr. Liddell a soft-pitch opportunity to say something negative or overly cautious, Mr. Liddell was like, "Nope, things are going great, and will continue going great. Or greater."

Safe-haven for the investors' money, indeed!

Oh, and kudos to Jason Maynard for asking Liddell about the new EU actions and how that figured into Liddell's thinking. Not much of a meaty answer (well, most of the answers weren't very meaty) but it was nice to hear such a challenging question. I hope it comes up again during our Friday Town Hall Meeting in 34, though I wouldn't expect a more detailed answer.

Follow-up posts:

MSFTExtremeMakeover: Q2 FY08 Earnings. Snippet:

Short version: strong results, increased guidance, generally upbeat tone, and no really embarrassing items for analysts to question. Good job! Yes, online continues to be a sinkhole for cash. But everyone is used to that by now, and at least the top line result is semi-respectable. Yes, there's still no color on actual large scale Vista deployments. But at least client revenue and unearned remains solid. Bottom line, if last report was sufficient to get some investors to take another look at MSFT, then this one should attract others and perhaps reduce doubts that last time was merely a fluke.

Mr. Joe Wilcox: Microsoft Watch - Corporate - Microsoft Q2 2008 by the Numbers. Snippet:

Liddell's confidence may have something to do with where Microsoft makes its money. Just four years ago, the majority of revenue came from North America. Now, 60 percent of sales are outside the United States, Liddell said. For the quarter, Microsoft sales increased 30 percent in emerging markets, 20 percent in established markets like Europe and 15 percent in the United States.

Even if the U.S. economy slows down, overseas sales could offset any decreases in technology spending here.

Mr. Todd Bishop: Microsoft beats quarterly estimates, raises forecast. Snippet:

Microsoft's Online Services Business was the only one of the company's five divisions to post an operating loss for the quarter, $245 million in the red. The company's Entertainment and Devices Division climbed to a $357 million operating profit thanks to holiday video-game sales. Chris Liddell, the company's chief financial officer, said this afternoon that Microsoft is still expecting that division to be profitable for the full fiscal year, which ends in June.

And the general attitude of the rest of the reports:

• Microsoft in the Money Financial News - Yahoo! Finance: Snip: If the economy is slowing down, Microsoft isn't feeling it.
• Microsoft raises fiscal 2008 outlook for divisions Markets Markets News Reuters
• Microsoft CFO sees no spillover from US economy Markets Markets News Reuters
• Microsoft Set To Move Markets - Forbes.com
• Microsoft 2Q Profit Tops Expectations Financial News - Yahoo! Finance
• Microsoft Looks Mighty - News & Analysis - Software - MSFT: Snip: Even inside the domestic market, growth was 15% in the quarter. "You have to look really hard to find any weakness in our results," Liddell said. [Mini: aka: our poo, no stink.]
• Microsoft earnings surge; raised forecast a boon for shares - MarketWatch: Snip: Liddell told analysts not to expect a profit from online services for some time. "We see it as a multiyear journey that we're going on," he said, adding that Microsoft hopes the unit will "be at a critical mass in several years."
• Command Performance By Microsoft - Forbes.com. Two interesting snips here: (1) [Trip Chowdhry] said there was no indication as of yet that Google Docs, Google’s online office tools program, has negatively impacted Microsoft. (2) A major shift in the marketplace, Chowdhry said, is that the rapidly growing BRIC nations--Brazil, Russia, India and China--have realized that open-source software, where anyone can copy anything, is not the way a country builds core competencies in technology. Microsoft did well in BRIC nations during the second quarter.
• Microsoft profit rises 79 pct Financial News - Yahoo! Finance: Snip: "Microsoft often sets the bar low for itself," said Kim Caughey, senior analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group. "These numbers tell me that Microsoft is seeing strength in the pipeline."

Ba-da-cha-CHING!

Now, let's be sure we don't start slipping back to our old sloppy ways, because, well, our poo does stink. Just like everyone else's.

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Mini-Microsoft Microsoft MSFT

Creating and Posting Inventory ProfitLoss journals in DAX using .NET Business Connector

Yesterday, I was helping a friend from Canada create a small solution that would create and post ProfitLoss journals in Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0 using .NET Business Connector.

In the end, we created 2 solutions - one was entirely written in X++, and only simple class static method calls were made from C#. The other was completely written in C#, using various classes, available with .NET business connector.

I uploaded the solution to the following link, in case anyone would be interested to download it and play around with it or use in their projects.
Download ProfitLossPostingAppl

Also, here is the source code - it is a small console application, and I tried to add as many comments as possible, so that even complete X++ beginners would be able to easily read the code.

Notice that in the solution, there is a reference to the business connector dll.
You can find the Microsoft.Dynamics.BusinessConnectorNet.dll in the Client\Bin folder of your Dynamics AX installation. This dll is what provides you with access to the Dynamics AX application and the set of classes to use AX tables and classes.

using System;
using Microsoft.Dynamics.BusinessConnectorNet;

namespace ProfitLossPostingAppl
{
    class AxProfitLossPostingEngine
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            Axapta ax = new Axapta();
            // company name, language, object server, configuration
            // this uses Windows Authentication
            ax.Logon("cmul", null, "localhost", null);
            
            try
            {
                // Start a transaction
                ax.TTSBegin();

                // AxaptaRecord is a class that allows to work with Tables in AX
                AxaptaRecord header = ax.CreateAxaptaRecord("InventJournalTable");
                AxaptaRecord journalName = ax.CreateAxaptaRecord("InventJournalName");
                AxaptaRecord line = ax.CreateAxaptaRecord("InventJournalTrans");
                AxaptaRecord inventTable = ax.CreateAxaptaRecord("InventTable");
                AxaptaRecord warehouse = ax.CreateAxaptaRecord("InventDim");

                // You can call static table methods using the following syntax
                journalName = ax.CallStaticRecordMethod("InventJournalName", "find", "IPL") as AxaptaRecord;

                // There is a set of predefined methods on the AxaptaRecord class, like the clear(), initValue, DML operations, etc.
                header.Clear();
                header.InitValue();
                // You can call table object methods as well, not only static
                header.Call("initFromInventJournalName", journalName);
                header.Insert();

                line.Clear();
                line.InitValue();
                line.Call("initFromInventJournalTable", header);
                // You cannot use table fields directly as in X++. Instead you have set/get methods
                line.set_Field("itemId", "B-R14");

                // Instead of using static table methods (like find) you can execute a direct SQL statement and receive the result in the AxaptaRecord object
                inventTable.ExecuteStmt("select * from %1 where %1.ItemId == 'B-R14'");
                // If you receive more that one record you can iterate through them using Next (as in AX)
                line.Call("initFromInventTable", inventTable);

                line.set_Field("Qty", 160.0);

                warehouse.Clear();
                warehouse.set_Field("InventLocationId", "MW");

                warehouse = ax.CallStaticRecordMethod("InventDim", "findOrCreate", warehouse) as AxaptaRecord;
                
                line.set_Field("InventDimId", warehouse.get_Field("inventDimId"));
                line.Insert();

                // Notice AxaptaRecord is passed by reference here
                ax.CallStaticRecordMethod("InventJournalTable", "initTotal", header);
                header.Update();

                ax.TTSCommit();
                
                // You can call static class methods the same way you call table static methods, but using a different method on Axapta class
                // So in case you wrote the posting in X++, you would be able to call it, passing the JournalId as the argument
                // int numOfLinesPosted = (int)ax.CallStaticClassMethod("DEV_ProfitLossEngine", "postProfitLossJournal", header.get_Field("JournalId"));
                
                // Or, you can use the AxaptaObject class to accomplish the same from C# 
                // You can initialize a new class using the Axapta class method
                // AxaptaObject journalCheckPost = ax.CreateAxaptaObject("InventJournalCheckPost");
                
                // Or using a static method, if that suites your needs better
                // Notice here that an object of type AxaptaRecord is passed into a method that expects InventJournalTable as the argument
                AxaptaObject journalCheckPost = ax.CallStaticClassMethod("InventJournalCheckPost", "newPostJournal", header) as AxaptaObject;
                // You can object methods the same way you would on a table
                journalCheckPost.Call("parmShowInfoResult", false);
                journalCheckPost.Call("parmThrowCheckFailed", true);
                journalCheckPost.Call("parmTransferErrors", false);
    
                journalCheckPost.Call("run");
                int numOfLinesPosted = (int)journalCheckPost.Call("numOfPostedLines");

                Console.WriteLine(String.Format("{0} line(s) have been successfully posted", numOfLinesPosted));
                Console.WriteLine("JournalId is " + header.get_Field("JournalId"));
                Console.WriteLine("Press any key to continue ...");

                ax.Logoff();
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                ax.TTSAbort();
                ax.Logoff();

                Console.WriteLine(ex.Message);
            }

            Console.ReadKey();
        }
    }
}

P.S. Of course, it would probably be a better idea to use classed InventJournalTableData, InventJournalTransData, etc.
But for the simplisity of the example, everything is done directly with tables.

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 - some of the new development features

Alexei Eremenko from Microsoft Russia has posted a number of articles about the new features that will be available in DAX 2009.
The original link, which is in Russian (but the main thing to look at is the code, which is universal): http://blogs.msdn.com/aeremenk/archive/2008/01/15/7118429.aspx

I would like to make a brief review of the features he talked about for the English-speaking population and another feature I liked that Alexei did not mention.

Let's start with the support for union in SQL statements (but only when using Query* classes).

    query = new Query();  
    query.queryType(QueryType::Union); // The other value of QueryType is "Join"

Another Exception type has been introduced, which now actually allows to catch the DuplicateKey exception:

   Table t;

    try   
   {      
        while select forupdate t
       {
            test.Field1 = ‘xyz’;
            t.update();
        }
   }
   catch ( Exception::DuplicateKeyException, t )
   {
       infolog(‘Record already exists - ‘ + t.Field1 );  
   }

The bulk DML statements now allow using inner/outer joins, and you can access the result of the update_recordset operation to get the number of rows that were updated:

update_recordset batchJob setting
      Status = BatchStatus::Canceled,
      EndDateTime = thisDate,
      Finishing = 1
  where batchJob.Status == BatchStatus::Cancelling
  notexists join batch
  where (
          (batch.Status == BatchStatus::Ready ||
               batch.Status == BatchStatus::Executing ||
               batch.Status == BatchStatus::Hold ||
               batch.Status == BatchStatus::Cancelling)
          && batch.BatchJobId == batchJob.RecId
          );

  rowsUpdated = (batchJob.RowCount() > 0); // get the number of updated rows with rowCount()

And, the feature I enjoyed, is that we now have crossCompany support in X++. Meaning you can access data from tables from a number of companies in one query.
Here are code snippets to explain what I mean:

static void DataBaseAccess_CrossCompany(Args _args)
{   
    InventTable inventTable;   
    container   companyContainer = ['IN1', 'QMS'];   
    ;   
    while select crossCompany : companyContainer inventTable       
        where inventTable.ItemId == "B-R14"   
    {       
        print inventTable.ItemId, " -- ", inventTable.dataAreaId;   
    }   
    pause;
}

This code will print ItemId from 2 companies, even though InventTable has the property SaveDataPerCompany set to Yes.

The same functionality is available with the Query classes:

static void DataBaseAccess_CrossCompany_Query(Args _args)
{   
    Query                   query = new Query();   
    QueryBuildDataSource    qbds  = query.addDataSource(tableNum(InventTable));
    QueryRun                queryRun;
    InventTable             inventTable;
    ;
    qbds.addRange(fieldNum(InventTable, ItemId)).value(queryValue("B-R14"));

    query.allowCrossCompany(true);
    query.addCompanyRange("IN1");
    query.addCompanyRange("QMS");

    queryRun = new QueryRun(query);
    while (queryRun.next())
    {
        inventTable = queryRun.get(tableNum(InventTable));
        print inventTable.ItemId, " -- ", inventTable.dataAreaId;
    }
    pause;
}

If you don't add any specific company ranges, the data will be retrieved from all companies you have access to.

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 has a lot more to offer, of course. But enough for today.

Raikes and Other Exits

Well, I should be sweating to the 80's soundtrack at the ProClub with about half of Microsoft that's trying to squeeze in there for January to burn off Christmas cookies, but here everyday that passes yet another exit hits us, and today we have a biggie...

Jaffe: Exits Microsoft dealmaker Bruce Jaffe going startup - shoot, why swing billion dollar acquisitions when you can be a billion dollar acquisition?!?!

Fitzgerald: Another of the Microsoft old guard moves on All about Microsoft ZDNet.com.

Raikes! Microsoft Announces Retirement and Transition Plan for Jeff Raikes, President of the Microsoft Business Division Company announces it has hired Stephen Elop from Juniper Networks; Raikes will continue at Microsoft through September 2008.

Wow, I'm surprised. I can understand that Mr. Raikes has had a long, long career at Microsoft, but as we wonder about the leadership in the upcoming (and no doubt somewhat dysfunctional) post-Gates era, my money was riding on Mr. Raikes to step up and perhaps be on the shortlist for running more of Microsoft. At least Jeff gets to go out on a high-note.

And of all of our leadership at Raikes level, I respect him the most. There's something more to him (there is something there there) that I admired when around him.

And Stephen "Who?" Elop? I found it ironic that while Mr. Ballmer in the announcement email was praising Mr. Raikes ability to recruit, mentor and nurture Microsoft leadership, Raikes was not being replaced by someone he groomed. I tell you, if I was a Raikes direct I would seriously be considering whether I was ready for a new challenge, at Microsoft or elsewhere.

The Market's reaction on Friday? MSFT Extreme Makeover has an interesting comment on this:

The [external] choice for replacement seems to have the right pedigree, but Raikes did a solid job with Office and was widely seen as the leading candidate for eventual Ballmer replacement as CEO. So I don't think the market is going to react positively to the news tomorrow.

Two more quick things:

CES: MSFT Extreme Makeover has a compilation of BillG and CES and a take on the $1,200,000,000USD acquisition of Fast Search.

Xbox departures: a commenter makes the following observation:

It's weird that Mini and all the commenters here have failed to notice the mass exodus from the Xbox team in 2007. By my count, more than 15% of the product team (dev/PM/test) have left Microsoft for Apple, Sony, Google, Yahoo, MySpace, Amazon, and various other companies (including several startups, local and in the Valley).

This is great progress towards a Mini-MSFT!!

(Though, it's mostly bad attrition and has some other negative implications you can work out on your own.)

The main complaint I hear about the games / Xbox area is things are drying up given the "show me the money" religion that's been adopted. Some pet projects (or just random projects) that had nothing to do with future profit have been disbanded. Man, I can't even squeeze out some crocodile tears for that...

Administrivia: expect more CRF'ing after that last post. Boy, did that suck given all the high hopes I had for positive, aspirational comments. I'm bearing a grudge. I'm human. I'm upping the moderation a bit more to be on-topic and less open to general gripes by anti-Microsofters.

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Mini-Microsoft Microsoft