In the beginning of each
month I send out a newsletter to customers,
evaluators and other interested parties. In the
newsletter I summarize what has happened at
kalmstrom.com during the past month, and I also tell
some about our plans for the coming month. If
something interesting has happened that may affect
our products or company I comment on that too.
Welcome to
subscribe to my newsletters. You may unsubscribe
any time by just sending me an e-mail.
Below are newsletters from one year back.
Peter Kalmstrom
CEO, kalmstrom.com Business Solutions
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Sent:
Monday, January 30, 2012 Subject: January ‒ a lot to tell
Dear Members and Evaluators,
I hope the new year has begun successfully and that 2012 will be a prosperous year for you all. Due to my journey eastward I made a slight change in the newsletters schedule, so here is an update of kalmstrom.com news since the middle of December.
I celebrated New Year’s Eve with Siret far from home, in Kuala Lumpur, after an intense and very rewarding week with the kalmstrom.com team members in Indore. We had time for both work and fun, and I was impressed with the Indian staff. Siret and I reported home to Kate, who
blogged diligently about our adventures. After this trip I feel a reinforced optimism, and we all look forward to the coming year with great expectations.
Calendar Browser update
In the beginning of January we could release version 7.1 of our add-on for resource booking in Outook,
Calendar Browser. Now you may use Calendar Browser with Office 365 and make several installations of Calendar Browser in the same Outlook. With multiple installations you can group the resource calendars, and the users can select only the groups they need to book in. This makes the handling easier and the loading time shorter, so if your organization has many bookable resources you should really
try the new Calendar Browser – or
upgrade your current installation. As usual we have free upgrades and use for
Community Members and a 30 days trial for everyone else.
We have also made it easier to use Calendar Browser with personal calendars, by introducing a third choice when adding calendars. Now you can show the calendars of all staff in the Calendar Browser Overview and know what everyone is doing or will do.
TimeCard update
A few days ago we also updated TimeCard, and with the Workgroup version it is now possible for one person to report time from within Outlook on behalf of another person and still get the correct name to the database. We are grateful to South African Community Member
Hollard who sponsored the “Report on behalf of” feature. The new version of TimeCard also has support for the not yet published iOS app iCalendarTimeCard.
I know many of you are waiting for iCalendarTimeCard, the app that helps you tag your iPhone appointments with TimeCard data. We are sorry for the long delay, but now we are finally seeing the end of the development period, and we hope to release iCalendarTimecCard very soon.
Tips on CSS and Java Script in SharePoint
I have published two more tutorials in the kalmstrom.com Tips section. In two demos I show how to start using CSS and JavaScript in a SharePoint site. There is a lot of info out there for more advanced users, but this is a push in the right direction for those who want to enhance their SharePoint site by using CSS and/or Java Script but have not come around to try it yet.
Google+ page
We now give another opportunity to keep track of kalmstrom.com Business Solutions as we have created a page on Google+. This means that you can follow kalmstrom.com on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter or Google+. For LinkedIn there are even two possibilities, since I have some of you in my business
network also. Everything important is mentioned in the
blog, but sometimes we also post short comments that are not covered by the blog in these social media. Choose what suits you best!
Kanban add-in for Outlook
You have probably heard about the Kanban system for organizing and sharing tasks. In a few months you will get a chance to use it in Outlook, because kalmstrom.com have just started developing a
Kanban board for Outlook Tasks. This is possible thanks to one of our
German Community Members,
SABIK Informationssysteme, who will sponsor the development. The new add-in will be a good addition to the kalmstrom.com portfolio, and it will of course be free for Community Members.
New support contact
If you have contacted the kalmstrom.com support lately, you might have received an answer from Vipul Dindulkar. This is our Office Manager who now when the team is installed in the new office has some time to help in first line support. Sigge is happy to get assistance, and he is teaching Vipul in giving support in the true kalmstrom.com spirit.
kalmstrom.com Community
This month we have a new country in our Member register – Italy. That was one of the very few European countries where we did not have any Community Members, so we are happy that Italian
Value Team chose to join us. We also say a warm welcome to the following new Members from farther away. Call Design, Australia City of Boroondara, Australia Crown Packaging, USA
I will come back with the next newsletter in the beginning of March, and then we will be back on the right track with
the monthly newsletters again.
All the best from
Peter Kalmstrom and the
kalmstrom.com team
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Sent:
Monday, December 19, 2011 Subject: December ‒ a month of celebrations
Dear Members and Evaluators,
I send this newsletter now as I will not be able to send one in the beginning of January
because Siret and I are going to India. We are looking forward to meeting the Indian team members, and
we have several activities planned, both work and fun. I will also open our new office
in Indore. Follow the kalmstrom.com Blog, and I will tell you more about the trip!
Microsoft Recognitions for kalmstrom.com
This first part of December brought happy events in our relation to Microsoft. First we earned our second Silver Competency, this time for Business Intelligence.
To get this certification we had to pass several tests on both team members' knowledge and the kalmstrom.com products, but we
would still not have managed without the Community Members who gave us references. A warm thank you, we appreciate it a lot!
Only a small part of the Microsoft Partners achieve a Silver Competency, and
now kalmstrom.com Business Solutions has gained two of them!
The whole team should have the credit for our Silver Competencies, but the
second certification was for me alone: I am now a Microsoft Certified Trainer.
This is of course an honoring proof of the expertise I hope comes through
in the kalmstrom.com applications also.
New Office Manager
During the last month we have had a great help in our new Office Manager, Vipul Dindulkar. Vipul
managed to find us a good office and made sure it was renovated and properly
furnished, that the security and internet connections were sufficient and much
more. At the same time he made preparations and arrangements for my visit and
took care of applications for new positions in the company. Now that we have a
bigger office we are eager to employ more technical staff for development. In
January Vipul will have time to take over more
of the administrative task for both the Indian office and the company in
general. He has already demonstrated his energy and skill, so we are happy
to have him in the team!
Tips demos on Excel, SharePoint and YouTube
I have recorded two new demos, that are published in the Tips section of the kalmstrom.com website: "How to Export Excel Lists to SharePoint and connect them on a SharePoint page" and "How to embed a YouTube video in a SharePoint site".
These demos have been popular, and we hope our Community Members will find them
useful. If they also attract new visitors to the website it is only an
advantage!
Windows Store
In the beginning of the month Microsoft presented their plans on a Windows Store in the upcoming Windows 8. This is fascinating news, as it will give us a possibility to sell our applications for Win 8 based PCs and tablets directly from within the new operating system.
Microsoft invites us to use the Store and reach 231 markets and more than 100 languages
on seemingly reasonable conditions, and what developer and CEO would say no to that? Windows Store will give us a chance to grow in a new sales channel, and at the same time we can keep the system we like, with trial periods and sales through our website.
Happy Holidays!
This year we have placed a Christmas card on the kalmstrom.com homepage, and I hope you all feel included in our well wishes
‒ either you celebrate Christmas or not.
We are looking forward to 2012, which promises to be an interesting year
with many news from both kalmstrom.com and in our branch.
Now I will not come back with a newsletter until the end of January or the
beginning of February, but Kate will of course continue to give you all news in
the kalmstrom.com Blog. You are also very welcome to contact us if you have
questions.
TimeCard and Calendar Browser updates coming soon
I had hoped to tell you about the releases of a new TimeCard as well as a new Calendar Browser in this newsletter, as both are nearly finished.
The move to a new office took some time, though, so some final testing and bug fixing is still left. We will release as soon as we feel it is safe to do so. Thanks for your patience!
Thank you for your confidence in me and my team. We will do our best to make your Community Memberships very valuable to you.
All the best from
Peter Kalmstrom and the
kalmstrom.com team
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Sent:
Thursday, December 1, 2011 Subject: November - development, demos and travel preparations
Dear Members and Evaluators,
November has been a good month for me and my team, with two new
Premium Members in kalmstrom.com Community and a lot of work getting done.
Here are some of the news, and I will start with a recent update.
KBase update
Many kalmstrom.com Community Members use our knowledge base KBase as an addition to another product, most of them
together with PF HelpDesk as you can create KBase articles from tickets with just a click of a button.
KBase has a market outside the Community, as it is also sold as a separate product.
We have now been able to add a new feature to KBase: Export to Excel.
This is actually a feature that enhances Outlook as a whole and not only KBase, since it is possible to use the new Export application for any Outlook folder.
Please see the kalmstrom.com Blog for a description on how the Export feature makes it possible to export KBase articles, e-mails and more to an Excel spreadsheet.
kalmstrom.com Community Members and
Single Support customers are welcome to upgrade their KBase installations without cost.
Speaking of KBase ‒ two of the kalmstrom.com developers are working full time with version 3 of KBase, which will have a totally new, web-based part in addition to the Outlook interface.
We are using new technologies here, and what we learn developing KBase
will be used in the other products as well.
New Tips demos
As I am a Microsoft certified expert on both Excel and SharePoint I am regularly teaching both the rest of my team and other IT professionals about the finer details of those platforms. I have now decided to also share my knowledge with a wider group by publishing a series of video demonstrations. In November I have released one demo on cost calculations in Excel and one on how to integrate Excel in SharePoint with the help of Excel Web Services.
Welcome to the Tips section of the kalmstrom.com website to learn more!
New Indian Office
By the end of December I will go for my yearly visit to our employees in India, and this time I hope to open our new office.
We have outgrown the old one, and just the other day we found a good place to move to. Since I will be very busy when it is time for the next newsletter, I will send you an extra e-mail in the middle of December and then another one by the end of January.
TimeCard and Calendar Browser updates coming soon
In December we hope to make two releases. The new TimeCard, with a new Report on Behalf of feature is finished and we are only waiting for the
iPhone app for managing appointments on the run.
Lead Developer Jayant Rimza is busy at work with making it possible to group resource calendars in Calendar Browser, and as usual he is doing well.
kalmstrom.com Community two years old
In November 2009 we launched a new way to pay for the kalmstrom.com products: the subscription model. It has been a success, and both Community Members and my team are happy about the closer contact we get when everyone has free support and upgrades. The well known analyst Gartner Inc. has recommended companies to consider a transfer to subscriptions, and we are
glad we have already jumped on that train towards the future.
All the best from
Peter Kalmstrom and the
kalmstrom.com team
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Sent:
Wednesday, November 2, 2011 Subject: September - looking to the future
Dear Members and Evaluators,
Welcome to this newsletter where I shortly describe kalmstrom.com releases and other news in October and our plans for November. You will find more
detailed info in the kalmstrom.com blog, and you are always welcome to
contact us with any questions or
suggestions.
Calendar Browser
A new version of our resource booking application for Outlook has been released. Now it is possible to use CalendarBrowser on PCs with multiple profiles, and we have made the loading of calendars to the Overview quicker.
For users with many resource calendars and recurring appointments the loading was slow
earlier, but now Calendar Browser
loads the appointments for only a certain time, which makes it quicker. By default the period is one
month ahead, but each user can set the date range needed. Another enhancement is
that the Finnish version now is fully updated with a new translation. Please
refer to the Calendar Browser
Revisions page for a full description of the changes.
We have more plans for Calendar Browser: to make multiple installations
possible. The development work has already started, but it will take some time before we can release an update.
In that version we will also add translations of all phrases into Estonian.
NameDays and iNameDays for 2012
In October we also released new versions of our free name days .ics files and of the nearly free app iNameDays. NameDays gives you name days in the Outlook, Mac OS X, Google or Yahoo calendar, while
iNameDaysis intended for the calendar in iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.
This year we have added the French name days, so now we offer 14 different name days files + the Swedish week numbers.
If you already have a NameDays or iNameDays subscription, I hope you have noticed that your calendar has been updated.
ShareTask and Office 365
As you know kalmstrom.com always strives to make the software compatible with the latest technologies, and therefore we want both our ShareTask apps to be compatible with the Office 365 SharePoint sites.
ShareTask for Android is coming together nicely, and we hope to release it in November. It will then be compatible with Office 365 from the beginning.
When we released ShareTask for iOS in May Office 365 was not yet available, but now we are working on an update that will support the new Microsoft cloud platform also.
iOS5
I am happy to tell you that both iNameDays and our other released app, ShareTask
for SharePoint work well with the new operating system for Apple's smart phones
and tablet computers.
There has been a problem with our new app, iCalendarTimeCard, though, and therefore it has not been released according to plan.
Now the issue is solved, and we hope to soon be able to give TimeCard users their free app.
Sponsorships
Last month I told you about a new, sponsored feature for TimeCard ,"Report on behalf of", which will soon be released.
Now we have
made an agreement with another Community Member about a bigger sponsorship. We are grateful to SwissPost who
will not only sponsor an "Export to Excel" feature in KBase but also several new features in version 12 of PFHelpDesk. This version will not come until 2012, but it will mean a great step forward for this issue tracking application.
Sponsorships is a win-win situation for us all: the sponsor gets the feature he needs
added to a standard product he likes, all other Community Members can enjoy
the enhancement and kalmstrom.com Business Solutions can offer an even better product.
Visit to India
I am preparing a trip to India in December. This time I willl bring Siret
Toots, our new sales manager who is also responsible for relations to
Community Members, Partners and Personnel. We have an intense schedule, with
both work and pleasure. I am really looking forward to meeting my Lead Developer
Jayant Rimza again and also all the new people we have hired since I was in
India last year.
My team and I will do our best to make the Community Membership your most useful tool!
All the best from
Peter Kalmstrom and the
kalmstrom.com team
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Sent:
Tuesday, October 4, 2011 Subject: September - looking to the future
Dear Members and Evaluators,
Welcome to this newsletter where I shortly describe kalmstrom.com news for September and plans for October. You will find more info in the kalmstrom.com blog, and you are always welcome to
contact us with any questions or
suggestions.
Windows 8
In September Microsoft released a developer preview version of their next
operating system, Windows 8. This is of course exciting news, and together with the rest of the team I have tested
the pre-Beta. Kate has summed up our comments so far in two
blog posts, and I am
certain I will have reason to come back to Windows 8 later. The new Metro interface
is fascinating, and we will do our utmost to take advantage of it when we
update the kalmstrom.com applications. The first step, however, is to test all
products
on Windows 8 and see if there are any problems. So far everything is looking good
and our
products seem to run smoothly with Windows 8. However, the testing is not finished
yet. Should we find anything that prevents support of Win8 we will of course make sure it is
taken care of.
New Sales contact
The demand for products and services from kalmstrom.com Business Solutions has increased, and for some time we have felt a need for another sales manager. Therefore I am happy to announce that Siret Toots has started to take over responsibilities for sales and marketing.
After nearly a year with more limited tasks, Siret has now fully engaged with kalmstrom.com,
and some of you have already received e-mail answers from her after contacting our
sales department. Kate will still be at Siret's side, but now Kate will have
more time for her important work with documenting our products. She will need it,
as I am planning major changes of the kalmstrom.com products.
Cloud connection
To meet a future where teams are getting more mobile and geographically dispersed, I want to make it possible to use all
the kalmstrom.com applications with cloud-based platforms. They will still work as Outlook add-ons, but we will also give the option of a more web-based usage.
To manage this we need to profoundly re-build our products, and we have already started with our comparatively simple knowledge base application. KBase V3 will have both an Outlook interface and a fully featured web interface that is
completely mobile and touch-friendly. Our experience from this project will be valuable when giving the rest of our products a new architecture.
HelpDesk OSP update
Last month I wrote about the new version of HelpDesk OSP, the application that connects Outlook to SharePoint. Many users upgraded, and that led to the discovery of a problem with the Outlook buttons for default list in Outlook 2003 and 2007. We gave it highest
priority,
and it was quickly solved. After two days the update was released, and then we
had also added support for sub sites to Office 365 SharePoint.
TimeCard enhancements TimeCard is the
kalmstrom.com Outlook add-on that converts calendar appointments to time
sheets, and by the end of October we hope to release a new version with a couple
of good additions. One is the new feature "Report on behalf of". The development is sponsored by Community Member
Hollard, South Africa, and this feature will make it possible for an assistant to log in and report time for several people. In the current version of TimeCard each report will have the name of the person who
was logged into Outlook and made the report.
The other new feature is actually a new iPhone app that is useful when you
want to edit or tag appointments with time reporting data while mobile. iCalendarTimeCard
is just finished, but before release we will do a final testing.
We also need to make some changes to TimeCard, to make it work with iCalendarTimeCard.
My team and I will do our best to make the Community Membership your most useful tool!
All the best from
Peter Kalmstrom and the
kalmstrom.com team
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Sent:
Thursday, September 1, 2011 Subject: August - important steps have been taken
Dear Members and Evaluators,
kalmstrom.com Business Solutions has taken two important steps in August ‒ we have achieved a Microsoft Silver
Partnership and released version 3 of HelpDesk OSP. Welcome to read more about these and other news below.
If you want more details, please refer to the kalmstrom.com
Blog.
Microsoft ISV Silver Competency
In my latest newsletter I told you that kalmstrom.com had qualified to be a
Microsoft Silver Partner, and now we have received the proof of our Silver
Competency as "Independent Software Vendor". According to Microsoft's definition
this is because we have shown excellence in developing licensed software that we
maintain the codes for. We display the Silver Competency logotype on our home
page, to show new visitors that kalmstrom.com Business Solutions is reliable and
experienced at working with Microsoft technologies. Users of the kalmstrom.com
products of course already know that!
To gain the Silver Partnership we had to show Microsoft that our products could pass
their tests and that we had the required Microsoft certifications within the
team. We also needed customer references, and I am very grateful to the
Community Members who helped us with that part.
HelpDesk OSP V3
The kalmstrom.com add-on that connects Outlook to SharePoint has been updated with a totally new design for the settings. Not only the surface is redesigned but also the architecture behind
it, so that the settings have become quicker to load. The login to the SharePoint site has been
made easier in several ways, and to fully support Office 365 we have added a third authentication method: Claims-based Authentication.
Another improvement has led to renaming the "New ticket" button into "Blank
ticket". With this button you can now create a totally blank list item in
SharePoint directly from Outlook and fill out the information you want there.
But we have of course kept the earlier ‒ much appreciated ‒ feature to select caller details from Outlook Contacts or the Global Address List.
For a full list of the enhancements of version 3, please refer to the HelpDesk OSPRevisions page.
Community Members are welcome to
upgrade their installations of HelpDesk OSP, but note that you need a new registration key for version 3.
Please
contact Kate, and she will send you the key promptly. If you don't use HelpDesk OSP yet but need a software for issue tracking, I recommend you to
try it. HelpDesk OSP can be used with any SharePoint site, in-house or hosted.
PamFax update PamFax is not a kalmstrom.com product, but since Peter was engaged in the first development of this tool for online faxing and we use and recommend it, I still want to mention
the new feature of scheduled faxing in the new version. This is very useful if you want to delay the
sending of a fax to a time when it is not convenient for you to send it ‒ for example, if you have many international contacts but don't want
faxes to arrive in the middle of the night for the receiver. New countries for local fax numbers are South Africa and Portugal, so now users in 31 countries can have a fax number with their own area code
when they use PamFax.
Unacceptable wrapping
I have felt forced to remove all our products from the well known download site
Download.com, even though it will mean less exposure for our products. In the
long run that is the only honorable decision, since Download.com has begun
wrapping other products in the downloads they host. This means that you cannot be sure that you
will only get what you want if you download a software from Download.com. You might also get other programs that you don't wish to use or are even aware of,
programs that can make unwanted changes to your system and also might be difficult to get rid of.
I can never accept that the kalmstrom.com installation files give users anything else than a clean, genuine version of the kalmstrom.com software,
so now we no longer show or host any products on Download.com.
Android development
In August Google announced the purchase of Motorola Mobility, a dedicated Android partner. This means that Android will get a stronger position on the market, and I have already made an agreement with our partner softage.ru to develop an Android version of
our popular ShareTask for iOS devices. ShareTask for Android will be compatible with Office 365 from the very beginning.
HelpDesk OSP was released even earlier than we had planned, and the development work continues with several products. I will tell you more about coming updates in my next newsletter, and you are always welcome to visit the Plans page for the product(s) you are interested in.
All the best from
Peter Kalmstrom and the
kalmstrom.com team
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Sent:
Tuesday, August 9, 2011 Subject: July - closer to Microsoft
Dear Members and Evaluators,
July is often a slow month for kalmstrom.com, since it is the European vacation time. I spent some wonderful days in a cottage near to Kate and Sigge on the island they recently moved to, but I was working there
as well. The rest of the team was also working, and quite a lot was achieved.
PF HelpDesk V11.3
As I wrote in the latest newsletter Microsoft launched Office 365 by the end of June. In July we upgraded
PF HelpDesk to support this new cloud platform. To succeed we had to remove the folder homepage, which has held some of the PF HelpDesk functionality ever since the first version was released over ten year ago. I must say it turned out very well. Now all the controls and buttons are gathered at the same place in the ribbon, or in the right hand panel for Outlook 2003, and the user interface looks clean and simple. Some problems connected with the use of a folder homepage disappeared
‒ and we did not get any new ones instead. We
thank Steven Bloeyaert and his team at Community Member Lantmannen Unibake Benelux, who tested the Beta version of PF HelpDesk V11.3 and gave us valuable feedback.
The evaluation of PF HelpDesk has become easier with version 11.3, since the Example data no longer depend on Office Web Components. Our aim is to not make use of them at all, but today they are still needed for settings and statistics. Please refer to the
blog posts about version 11.3 of PF HelpDesk if you want to learn more about it. We recommend all Community Members to
upgrade.
Microsoft Online reseller
kalmstrom.com Business Solutions has been authorized to sell Microsoft Online Services, and we have already sold our first Office 365 contract. This will be a good complement to our regular
development of Outlook add-ons. We can now give better advice and service to Community Members who wish to transfer to MS Online services like Office 365 or Windows Azure, so you are very welcome to contact us about that matter also. In the future, when our products become more cloud based, we also plan to offer a hosting service.
Microsoft Silver Partner
The tests our products have gone through and the exams and assessments taken by team members have together with references from satisfied Community Members qualified kalmstrom.com Business Solutions for the Microsoft Silver competency for independent software vendors. We are near Silver Business Intelligence competency also, so we will be very grateful for more references. You just have to give us a few details and then confirm them when you get an e-mail from Microsoft, so it is not difficult. Please contact Kate if you can help us with this. Only 5 % of all Microsoft Partners have reached a Silver Competency, so it will make us stand out on the market and hopefully give us more Community Members. This will increase our possibilities to develop the products and thereby benefit you all.
TeamViewer
Sometimes a customer reports a problem that we cannot reproduce, and then a remote session is an efficient way to solve it.
In those cases there is often an issue with the user's configuration, and by directly looking at a setup the kalmstrom.com technicians can find the error and correct
it quickly. Remote sessions are also a must when we assist with the installation and first configuration of a product. After testing several third party products we have
now decided to use
TeamViewer as our primary tool for remote sessions. It is secure, works well
even behind firewalls and requires no installation. We are also able to give away a code for a purchase discount, so contact Kate if you wish to use TeamViewer for your clients or within your own organization.
Trainees at kalmstrom.com
We today feel strong enough to take on more trainees and give them the guidance they need to become good developers. At our Indian office we now have Kanak Joshi and Sunil Patel, and they both add new value to the kalmstrom.com products.
Kanak has created an Excel application that gives reports and graphs for all the information in PF HelpDesk. It may be used as a replacement for our more complicated
OLAP Reporting Tool and will be the basis for similar tools for our other applications.
Sunil has transferred the PF HelpDesk web form code into ASP.NET. His work is part of our long-time plan to make more extensive use of the .NET Framework environment to get better possibilities for future development of our products.
Coming updates
We have not forgotten our other products, even if I mostly talk about our Outlook helpdesk in this newsletter. Work with the two new versions of the SharePoint based HelpDesk OSP continues, and we plan to release version 3 in September while HelpDesk OSP Azure will come later. Welcome to the HelpDesk OSPPlans page to learn more! TimeCard users will soon have a chance to work with their appointments and tag them with TimeCard data in iPhone also. The app iCalendarTimeCard is almost finished, but we need to also update TimeCard so that it can read from iCalendarTimeCard.
We have recently begun developing a new version of our knowledge base KBase. It
may be used both in Outlook and on the web, and a new architecture will make it possible to add a preview window for the articles. This is something many
users have asked for, so we are happy to now have found a way to realize the feature.
I will tell you more about these coming updates in the next newsletter ‒ or read Kate's blog if you want the news sooner.
All the best from
Peter Kalmstrom and the
kalmstrom.com team
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Sent:
Tuesday, July 5, 2011 Subject: June - a "cloudy" month
Dear Members and
Evaluators,
In June the
kalmstrom.com
team spent much time
working with cloud-based
platforms like Office
365 and Windows Azure.
We both adapted our
current products to them
and built new ones. I
will tell you some about
it below, and more will
come in later
newsletters.
Office 365
By the end of June
Microsoft launched its
newest cloud service,
Office 365.
TimeCard
already works with
Office 365, and I think
the combination of
TimeCard and
Office 365 would be very
interesting for users
who today report via an
ASP page.
Also
HelpDesk
OSP
supports Office 365, but
for the rest of the
products some changes
have to be made. We will
soon release a new
version of
PF HelpDesk which will
support Office 365, and
after that we will
update
Calendar Browser.
HelpDesk OSP Azure
My team is currently
developing a new version
of HelpDesk
OSP. We call
it HelpDesk
OSP Azure,
andit will be
accessed directly via
the web. HelpDesk
OSP Azure
will run on Windows
Azure and convert
e-mails received in
Exchange 2010 into list
items on a SharePoint
site. The Exchange
server may be in-house
or online - which again
means Office 365. The
conversion will be
automatic and happen
24/7 with a minimum of
configuration.
Just like with
HelpDesk OSP
it will be possible to
decide in what way the
e-mails should be
converted into
tickets, and custom
SharePoint list fields
may of course also be
used. We hope to soon
start using HelpDesk
OSP Azure
for our own support
e-mails, and when we
have it running smoothly
we will offer it to
Community Members.
A bit down on the
HelpDesk OSP
Plans page you can
find an animation about
HelpDesk OSP
Azure. We wanted to
give a sketch that is
easy to understand, and
I hope it helps us explain the idea behind
this new product.
Eventually we will add
such simple animations
on the homepages for all
our products.
iCalendarTimeCard
Work with the iPhone
app for TimeCard
users is coming along
fine. The design is
finished, and there is
only some final testing
left. With
iCalendarTimeCard
it will be easy to edit
appointments and tag
them with TimeCard
data only using a
finger, and you can add
new appointments in the
same smooth way. Dates
and times are taken from
the iOS gear
wheel, and we generally
use Apple recommended
controls.
iCalendarTimeCard
will of course be free
for TimeCard
users.
Microsoft
PinPoint
Microsoft has given
kalmstrom.com a
new possibility to
present our products and
explain how they extend
and enrich Microsoft
products and platforms:
Microsoft Pinpoint. All
kalmstrom.com
products are now listed
in the 51 English
speaking countries
supported by Pinpoint -
and also in the only
Swedish speaking one. We
have the kalmstrom.com
profile and a few
products up on the pages
for Spanish and German
speaking countries, and
we hope to add the rest
as soon as possible.
As
accepted at Microsoft
Pinpoint we may also be
presented at special
platform marketplaces,
after some testing and
verification. So far
PF
HelpDesk
has passed the test for
the Windows Azure
Marketplace, and
HelpDesk OSP
is already listed on the
Microsoft Office 365
Marketplace.
If you use HelpDesk
OSP we would
be grateful for your
rating and/or review.
Just click the link, and
you will reach the
HelpDesk OSP
presentation at the
Office 365 Marketplace!
Testimonials
and other encouragements
It feels very
encouraging when Members
take their time to write
a few lines about the
products they use, and
it is of great value to
evaluators.
kalmstrom.com
does not spend much on
marketing, so we are
happy about all
contributions from
Community Members. This
month we had a good
testimonial on
HelpDesk OSP,
and part of it is placed
on our homepage.
Another form of support
is when companies
recommend products from
kalmstrom.com to
business contacts, and
we get many examples on
that in e-mails from
evaluators. Thank you!
All the best from
Peter Kalmstrom and the
kalmstrom.com team
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Sent:
Tuesday, June 7, 2011 Subject: News from April and May
Dear Members and Evaluators,
A lot of interesting things happened to kalmstrom.com in the beginning of May, but they meant that I never came around to write a newsletter for April. I prioritize development and user support, but normally I have time to write the monthly e-mails also. Not this time, though, so here are the news for two months. As Kate wrote her blog as usual, you have still been able to get the latest news about kalmstrom.com.
PF HelpDesk V11.2
We have released a new version of
Public Folder HelpDesk. It has several enhancements, but I think the most important one is the addition of a third database alternative, Microsoft's SQL Azure. Now you can use PF HelpDesk with a cloud database and get the benefits of SQL without having to manage an SQL server. We have of course updated the documentation and also added a new demonstration on how to set up PF HelpDesk with the new database. All improvements are listed on the Revisions page, and as usual Community Members are welcome to upgrade to version 11.2 without extra cost.
ShareTask released If you prefer a helpdesk based on Outlook and SharePoint, I have good news for you too: our app that puts SharePoint Task list items in iPhone and iPad is now released. It is of course perfect for users of HelpDeskOSP, but ShareTask may be used by anyone who needs to work smoothly with tasks while on the run. Community Members may have it for free. Just contact Kate and tell her how many apps you need, and she will send you instructions. Are you not a Member yet? Then you are welcome to buy ShareTask at App Store.
Partnership with PamFax When I was Product Manager at Skype I was engaged in the development of what later became PamFax, the popular online and on-demand fax service. I know it is an excellent product, and kalmstrom.com has used it for several years. Therefore I am happy about the new partnership agreement between kalmstrom.com and PamConsult GmbH, the company behind PamFax. We will market PamFax in Sweden and Estonia and handle translation and localization.
If you not already use PamFax, I hope you want to try it. Registration is free, and PamFax always gives 3 free pages, so that you can test the service. But readers of this newsletter can get even more free pages. To celebrate the partnership with kalmstrom.com, PamConsult gives a special offer: the first 500 who register after clicking a PamFax link in this newsletter will get no less than 10 free pages! Use this code at the Redeem voucher link: 7AS-43S-BH4.
The code can be redeemed only once per PamFax account. Redeeming is easy. Just open the PamFax application and click on “Buy PamFax Credit”. (Alternatively login to the PamFax Portal and click on “Send a Fax” and "Buy PamFax Credit".) On this page you will find the link "Redeem voucher". Enter the code (7AS-43S-BH4) and the free credit is added to your account.
Expert knowledge I have now taken 15 Microsoft certifications, among them all four exams for Microsoft SharePoint 2010, and I have also good knowledge about Skype after my five years in that organization. Therefore Microsoft's purchase of Skype was fascinating news for me and my team. It will be very interesting to see what the joined forces of these two giants will give us in the future. Whatever it will be, I feel confident that I have the knowledge needed to make the most of it for kalmstrom.com Community Members.
Cloud service development Cloud-based services are becoming increasingly interesting, so we will add the SQL Azure database choice to Calendar Browser and TimeCard as well. We will of course also support Office 365, that is now available in Beta. HelpDesk OSP and TimeCard already supports Office 365, and we will very soon update PF HelpDesk and Calendar Browser to support it too.
kalmstrom.com also creates custom solutions, and for a Swedish building company we have just finished a synchronization-engine between Office 365 and the cloud-based ERP-system Fortnox. We look forward to creating more of the same kind.
Website updates and additions I hope many of you have already seen that we have a totally new homepages for English and Swedish. Also the German and Spanish ones are updated. Furthermore all products have new graphics, and we have added two new sections to the website. Under iOS you can find our apps for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, and under Services I describe how we can be of help beyond the kalmstrom.com standard products. Finally I have added a new Tip on how you can get much more out of a standard SMS package. All comments are welcome!
TimeCard After an intense usability analyze the team has agreed on a new design for TimeCard, and work has started on the next version of this time reporting tool for Outlook. With our partner RampUp we are also developing an app for managing appointments with TimeCard data in iPhone. iCalendarTimeCard will soon be released, but the work with redesigning TimeCard will take longer.
All the best from
Peter Kalmstrom and the kalmstrom.com team
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Sent:
Tuesday, April 5, 2011 Subject: March - much about SharePoint
Dear Members and Evaluators,
SharePoint is a
product that Microsoft promotes strongly, and
with full right in my opinion. It is a versatile
business tool, and the kalmstrom.com
team uses it heavily. I don't understand how we
managed without it some years ago! We obviously
did, but we were not at all as efficient as we
hopefully are now.
New
developer
In March we were
happy to include a junior developer in our
team. Vijayant Rimza had been with
us as a trainee for some time after taking his
Master of Computer Application exam. We liked
what we saw and decided to offer him a
position. Vijayant has mostly been
working with the implementation of our new HelpDesk
OSP design, and when that task is finished he
will go over to TimeCard. Our time reporting
application will get a thorough facelift that
will make it easier to use and navigate.
SharePoint
certifications
While working
with the
development of HelpDesk OSP
and with our own
SharePoint site
I have of course
learned a lot
about
SharePoint. Now
I feel it is
time to get my
knowledge
documented, so I
will strive for
the Microsoft
SharePoint
Master title.
This past month
I have passed
two of the four
exams needed,
Microsoft
SharePoint 2010
Configuring and
Microsoft
SharePoint 2010
Administration. I
hope you will
all benefit from
what I have
learned and will
learn studying
for those exams.
SharePoint
documentation When we
get questions
about things we
have not
documented but
think would be
useful to many,
we try to
document it even
if it is not
directly connected
to our
products. In
these cases we
often publish
the info on the
website
Tips
section. This
month we have
two such
new articles: "Synchronize
Outlook
calendars,
contacts and
tasks with
SharePoint" and
"Archive
SharePoint list
items". The
archiving tip is
described more
in detail in
the HelpDesk OSP Workflow Manual,
and we will soon
release a demo
on how this is
done for a
helpdesk list.
Website update
I March, after many discussions in the team, our
website got a new look. The navigation system is
the same, so you will find your way, but we all
think it looks much nicer with the blue
background. The work continues, because we want
to update the homepage also. Our designer is
doing a great job!
PF HelpDesk
We did not manage to release the update of PF HelpDesk
in March, but this month it will come. The biggest obstacle has
been some security issues with the new SQL Azure database, but
now they are solved and we are in the final testing phase. The
SQL Azure database is cloud based, and if we have this
alternative the step to make it possible to work with
PF HelpDesk from smart phones is not long. We want
to go that way with all our applications.
kalmstrom. com Community and
Testimonials
We have our first Member in Barbados,
Corporate Computing Inc., and we give them a
warm welcome together with our other new
Members: Aedas
from Hong Kong, KeyCentrix
LCCfrom USA and KRÜSS
GmbH from Germany.
I am sure you will find your Community
Membership very useful! Many others do, and some
of them write
Testimonials about it. We are very grateful
for all contributions! You don't have to write
in English - Testimonials in other languages are
also welcome.
Best regards,
Peter Kalmstrom and the kalmstrom.com
team
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Sent:
Thursday, March 3, 2011 Subject: February - a month of celebrations
Dear Members and Evaluators,
This month the kalmstrom.com team has celebrated
several happy events that I would like
to share with you. As usual you can find
more details in the
blog, and never hesitate to contact
us if you have questions.
Stronger Team This month our Lead Developer Jayant Rimza
has been with us for two years, and I
feel very safe to know that he now has a
deep understanding of our products. His
ingenious ideas and suggestions have
made a lot to enhance them.
Our new graphic designer, Jitendra
Joshi, has quickly proved his value to
the team, and you will soon see the
result of his update of our product
design. He works in close cooperation
with the rest of the team, so that the
design is not only nice to look at but
also gives a more user friendly
experience. HelpDesk
OSPis the first
application to be redesigned, and we
have had many interesting and fruitful
discussions on how to improve it.
The kalmstrom.com team has another new
member too, a former trainee who
just started working with us as junior
developer. I will tell you more about
him in the next newsletter.
iNameDays We are also happy about the release of our
name days application for iPhone, iPad
and iPod Touch. It was published at App
Store 9 February and has already
been bought by people in 22 countries
all over the world. The Swedish users
surely appreciate the Swedish week
numbers! Community Members may receive iNameDays
for free. Just
contact Kate and tell her how many
apps you need for your company, and she
will arrange it for you.
Calendar Browser updated In the latest version of
Calendar Browser the client
before, since the user does not have to
select Outlook folder, and the slow
opening of Outlook that some users
experienced is also taken care of. A few
bugs were fixed too, so I recommend all
Calendar Browser Members to
upgrade their installations.
kalmstrom.com Community The Community continues to grow, even if
the pace is a bit slower now when most
old customers have already transferred
to the subscription system. This month
we welcome Bravo
Tours A/S, Denmark
CSS-Stocker
AG, Switzerland Fojab AB,
Sweden
kalmstrom.com products chosen to represent Windows 7
Finally the kalmstrom.com team celebrates
that HelpDesk
OSPand
both versions of TimeCard have
been selected by CNET to be
included among 100 applications that
especially well take advantage of new
features in Windows 7. This means that
in the list of only 17 Business Related
Software no less than 3 entries were for
products from kalmstrom.com! Considering
that there are nearly 3 million
developers building on Windows out
there, we feel we have the right to be
proud.
In March we hope to release the new
version of
PF HelpDesk, with the
SQL Azure database and some other new
features. The development has been an
extensive and difficult task, but
now there is not much left of it. We
also work intensely on our second iOS
app, the
SharePoint Task Manager. It will be a
great help for all who wish to manage
their SharePoint items while on the run.
Best regards,
Peter Kalmstrom and the kalmstrom.com
team
kalmstrom.com Business Solutions
----------------------------------------------------------------------------Sent:
Thursday, February 3, 2011 Subject: January - wonder what 2011 will bring?
Dear Members and Evaluators,
The new
year
started
with a
trip to
The
International CES
in Las
Vegas.
It was
an
interesting
experience,
even if
I was a
bit
disappointed
that I
did not
see more
of
really
new
things.
I also
had
several
meetings
that
might
lead to
new
business
ventures
in the
future.
Calendar
Browser
V7
While I
was away
the team
finished
the new
version
of our
resource
booking
application
for the
Outlook
calendar,
so that
it could
be
released
when I
was
back.
Kate has
blogged
about
this new
version
several
times,
and I
have
sent out
e-mails
to both
Calendar
Browser
Members
and
earlier
evaluators,
so I
will not
talk
more
about it
here.
Let me
just say
that
users
have
liked
the new
interface
and to
book
directly
from the
Outlook
calendar
view.
PF
HelpDesk
In
January
we also
released
an
update
of PF
HelpDesk,
but it
was only
to fix a
couple
of
irritating
bugs.
The
new
features
under
development
are not
sufficiently
tested
yet, but
we hope
to
present
them to
you now
in
February.
Then
issue
tracking
inside
Outlook
will be
even smoother
than
before!
iNameDays and
more for
iOS
At CES
it was
very
clear
that iOS
rules
the
handheld
market,
so it
feels
just
right
that kalmstrom.com
creates
some
really
good
apps -
to sell
at App
Store
and to
give to
Members
as an
extra
benefit.
The app
that
adds
name
days and
Swedish
week
numbers
to the
default iOS
calendar
is now
nearly
finished,
and
we have
started
the
development
of a
SharePoint
List
Editor
for iPhone
and iPad. On
both
these
projects
we
cooperate
with our
partner
Softage.
Website
update
Our
website
is
extensive,
so any
changes
in
design
must be
easy to
implement.
That a
site is
easy to
navigate
and has
a good
content
is of
course
the most
important
quality,
and we
have
received
much
praise
for that
aspect
of the kalmstrom.com site. However,
we have been fully
aware
that it
could
look
better!
Now we
have
given the
site a
face
lift
that
hopefully
will
make it
nicer to
the eye.
The
navigation
system
is the
same, so
you will
find
your way
as
before!
Future
To link
up with
the
question
in the
title of
this
newsletter:
what
will
happen
in 2011?
In this
line of
business it
is
difficult
to look a
whole
year
into the
future,
but we
are
employing
more
people
and will
of
course
continue
improving
our
products.
Next to
get an
update
with some
new
features are
TimeCard,
the tool
that
helps
you
report
time and
expenses
from
inside
the
Outlook
calendar,
and HelpDesk OSP,
that
connects
Outlook
to
SharePoint/Office
Live. We
also
hope to
give the
coming
new
versions
of those
applications
a new
design.
I will
tell you
more
about
this in
coming
newsletters.
The best to you all from
Peter Kalmstrom and the kalmstrom.com team
kalmstrom.com Business Solutions
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------Sent:
Thursday, December 30, 2010 Subject: December ‒ extensive rebuild of important products
Dear Members and Evaluators,
The last newsletter for
2010 comes early,
because I will be
travelling during the
first week of the new
year. I will go to
USA for The
International CES
- the world's largest
consumer technology
tradeshow - in Las
Vegas, and I will also
take the opportunity
to meet with our
partners at EPM
Live. Furthermore I will
research some other
promising prospects in
both New York and
California, so it will
be an interesting
journey indeed!
Calendar Browser V7
One of the big rebuilds I referred to in the subject is the new version of our resource booking tool Calendar Browser. Outlook 2010 made it impossible to continue using the folder homepage, which has been the main user interface in all versions since the first release ten years ago, so we had to find another solution.
I could of course not accept something that only managed Outlook 2010.
Instead we looked for a sustainable solution that would make it possible to develop Calendar Browser for many years to come. It took time to find it, and we had to stop supporting Outlook 2003, but now we feel satisfied. We have a working product, but it has still too many bugs for a general release. It will come in January, though.
The developer, Jayant Rimza, has done a great job. Calendar Browser V7 is even easier to work with than the earlier versions, since the booking is now done in the Calendar view and therefore very similar to normal calendar use.
PF HelpDesk with SQL Azure The other extensive rebuild is the one of PF HelpDesk. As I mentioned in an earlier newsletter we want to add Microsoft's cloud database as an alternative to Access and SQL Server databases for several of our products. Security issues made this a more difficult task than we expected from the beginning, but we can never compromise with security. Therefore our other developer, Abhishek Sharma, has rebuilt the PF HelpDesk code to handle the issues. Now the codes are being merged, and then we need a period of intense testing before release.
NameDays update
In the beginning of the month we released the name days for 2011. We also kept the 2010 days, and in the future we will always give two years. By the end of 2011 we will thus remove 2010 and instead add 2012. Welcome to add NameDays to your calendar if you use the Outlook iCal or Google calendar.
iOS products
When we first released the new NameDays with ics files we could also support the iOS calendars, but NameDays does not work with the latest version of that operating system for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. We have decided to instead market a special version for iOS, called iNameDays. We already have a working solution, but we are not yet satisfied with the graphic design. iNameDays will be sold at a low price at App Store, and the development is made in cooperation with our partner
Softage. This is the first step in what we hope to be a series of applications for iOS.
Community
Some of the applications we plan for iOS will be connected to our current products, like an application that makes it possible to work withHelpDesk OSP SharePoint tickets from the iOS machines and of course the new app that will replace TimeCard Mobile. We will be happy to offer them for free to Members of kalmstrom.com Community. As free use of our products is included in the Membership, you will of course also have access to these applications.
I look forward to the coming year with great expectations, and I hope you do the same. The whole team joins me when I wish Members and evaluators a peaceful and prosperous 2011. We will do our outmost to make the best of the small part we are responsible for.
The best to you all,
Peter Kalmstrom and the kalmstrom.com team
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Sent:
Thursday, December 2, 2010 Subject: November ‒ meeting with developers
Dear Members and Evaluators,
November was my first
month as a more active
CEO of kalmstrom.com
Business Solutions, and
I have initiated
several interesting
projects that you will
hear more about further
on. At the end of the
month I took a trip to
India to meet with our
developers Jayant Rimza
and Abhishek
Sharma and to attend Jayant's
wedding. I also
interviewed applicants
for new positions
with kalmstrom.com
and met with our Indian
partner during a
very intense week. I
hope you have read about
my experiences in the kalmstrom.com
blog
and seen the photos on
Facebook .
Calendar Browser V7 and PF HelpDesk with SQL Azure option
We had no new releases from kalmstrom.com in November, but work has continued on two major projects which we hope to finish soon. The new version of Calendar Browser is on its way, and so is the new database option for PF HelpDesk. We will add the alternative SQL Azure to Calendar Browser also, eventually, but not in this first release. I feel certain it is the right way to go when we give Members a chance to choose the Microsoft cloud database as a third alternative.
Partnership with EPM Live
I feel proud to tell you that kalmstrom.com has developed a special version of HelpDesk OSP for the EPM Live WorkEngine. It is called Outlook Publisher and was launched during the last days of November.
EPM Live has received much recognition for their WorkEngine, which builds on SharePoint but gives added functionality, and Microsoft has given the company its "Partner of the Year" award several times. So kalmstrom.com can leverage not only Microsoft but also its best partners!
NameDays NameDays for 2011 will come any day now. There has been some problems with iPhone compatibility, but they are solved and we will soon give you new files. You will then get two years instead of one. This time you will get both 2010 and 2011, and at the end of 2011 we will give you 2011 and 2012, and so on.
kalmstrom.com Community one year old
In the beginning of November 2009 we launched kalmstrom.com Community, and after the first year I can only say: why did we not do this earlier? To the team it feels so good to have a group of Members who show us their confidence, and it is much easier to plan for the future when we know our approximate revenues. To Members the subscription system is a secure way of using software. We see it in the mail and calls to support, that are less about error reports now, and more of enhancement suggestions and about planning ahead with the use of our products. I feel that we all pull in the same direction.
Community Member Survey
Now I can tell you the result of the Member survey we sent out to ask about Office versions. We learned that we can remove support for Office 2000 and 2002, so from now on no new versions will be tested with those. This will of course save time that we can use better, so we feel happy about it. Or goal is to only support Office versions with the Ribbon, but Office 2003 has to be supported for a year or so. We will come back to the Members who still use that version after next summer and see how the situation has developed.
