Here is a screencast showing the process for importing the Sample Data into CRM 4.0. I deliberately introduced some errors into the process so you can see how errors are surfaced.

Screencast: Importing Sample data using the Data Migration Tool

I use Virtual PC a lot and I typically do a new CRM build every 2-3 days. Frequently people ask me about what network setup I use for my VPCs. I prefer the Loopback Adapter - which is a software network adapter inside windows. The Loopback Adapter allows my VPC to talk to the host operating system but prevents it from escaping to other networks.

Here is a quick screencast which shows how to configure the Loopback Adapter. The video is with Vista - but it's pretty much the same steps on XP and 2K3.

Silverlight 1.1 has been rebranded (or is that renumbered) as Silverlight 2.0.

Microsoft Blog coverage here from Tim Sneath and Mary Jo Foley's blogo-journalistic take is here.

Here is a screencast which shows the install path for CRM 4.0. In this example I've used a config file (hence the /config ifd.xml) in the command path. As you can see installing CRM is really easy and it was complete in less than <30 minutes.

Screencast: Installing CRM 4.0 (Codename Titan).

BTW: The build shown here was 7332 which is newer than RC0 (Build 7309).

As mentioned a few days ago I did a new laptop rebuild. I thought I'd share my 'toolkit' of apps which I use.

• Office 2007: Office Suite
• Visio 2007: Charting
• CRM 4.0 Offline Client: Line of Business Tool and CRM System
• Communicator 2007: Chat and Phone
• Windows Live Messenger: Chat
• Paint .NET: Image Manipulation
• Product Studio (an internal Microsoft tool): Bug Tracking
• Visual Studio 2008: Developing
• Windows Live Writer: Blogging
• Mind Manager 7 Pro: Mind Mapping
• Camtasia: Screencaptures
• Virtual PC: Virtual Machines (usually CRM Servers etc)

I rebuilt my Lenovo T60P with Windows Vista SP1 today. I also opted for the x64 version with Bitlocker encryption. I'll skip any commentary on SP1 since I don't know what's publicly being said about it. When I first got my Lenovo I tried out the x64 version and the drivers were a little 'sub-optimal' for pretty much every feature. This time I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the drivers and the overall performance of the system when running an x64 OS. I also knew the performance boost wasn't only from SP1 since I'd run a 32-bit SP1 install on it already.

For CRM users out there it is really worthwhile considering Bitlocker or other comparable whole disk encryption solutions. I'm relatively heavy user of the CRM Offline Client and I have no intention of that data 'going missing' if my laptop is lost/stolen. If you aren't convinced that disk encryption is for you imagine this scenario: your laptop is stolen and you walk into your boss' office the next day and they ask "anything important on it". You confidently reply "yeah - but it was encrypted".

Praveen Upadhyay from our team has a video up on Channel 9. It covers the new Workflow functionality in CRM 4.0 (codename 'Titan').

Stephen Fry has a long but awesome post which is worth the read. American's probably haven't heard of Stephen Fry\ but you probably know of one his collaborators: Hugh Laurie (of 'House' fame).

...that Americans are not raised in a tradition of debate and that the adversarial ferocity common around a dinner table in Britain is more or less unheard of in America. When Jonathan first went to live in LA he couldn’t understand the terrible silences that would fall when he trashed an statement he disagreed with and said something like “yes, but that’s just arrant nonsense, isn’t it? It doesn’t make sense. It’s self-contradictory.” To a Briton pointing out that something is nonsense, rubbish, tosh or logically impossible in its own terms is not an attack on the person saying it – it’s often no more than a salvo in what one hopes might become an enjoyable intellectual tussle. Jonathan soon found that most Americans responded with offence, hurt or anger to this order of cut and thrust. Yes, one hesitates ever to make generalizations, but let’s be honest the cultures are different, if they weren’t how much poorer the world would be and Americans really don’t seem to be very good at or very used to the idea of a good no-holds barred verbal scrap. I’m not talking about inter-family ‘discussions’ here, I don’t doubt that within American families and amongst close friends, all kinds of liveliness and hoo-hah is possible, I’m talking about what for good or ill one might as well call dinner-party conversation. Disagreement and energetic debate appears to leave a loud smell in the air.

I can certainly relate to that (it's also probably why most of my friends are expats or married to expats). With any luck we'll get him at Microsoft as a guest speaker.

This is an interesting Australian Election site: How I Should Vote? If you want to try it out you can use my old postcode: 2103. The site asks you a bunch of topical election questions and then based on the candidates in your electorate it figures your how your preferential vote should look. Preferential voting is relatively unique to Australia. Antony Green (Australia's pre-eminent election analyst) has a great explanation as to how it works. Remember to vote on Saturday: it's the law!

A new VPC is available for Microsoft Partners of CRM 4.0 Codename: Titan. It's available on our partner site (login required).

My second Channel 9 video is up. Once again - can someone please watch this and let me know if I need to pro-actively talk to my boss :)

It hit the ARP* and took great pleasure in uninstalling iTunes. I had been forced, through a lack of any other credible alternative (trust me: I tried dozens), to use it for downloading Podcasts.

Why the sudden dumping of iTunes? Zune Update my friends. Zune Update.

Check it out: www.zune.net. It's really worth it. No really. It is...

*Microserf speak for 'Add/Remove Programs'. People at work have been saying it all week and I've picked up the somewhat dubious term.

I'm always on the look out for interesting customer experiences. Larry Osterman (a famous Microsoft blogger) recently posted about an experience his wife had with a well known online retailer (ThinkGeek). This is a great example of an automated business process which causes customer dissatisfaction.

I saw this functionality implemented the other day. The customization script was built by the guys at CWR Mobility (makers of some very cool mobile software for Microsoft CRM).

I'm on Channel 9! I don't have the stomach to watch myself on video (probably because of some deep seated issue). Watch it and let me know if I need to go and tell my boss something (before he hears from someone else).

The video is old - so the build of CRM shown here is still a little rough.