At 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.
Peter Kalmstrom
CEO
kalmstrom.com Outlook Solutions
Sent:
Tuesday, December 02, 2008 Subject: November: new features, new stars, new webpages - and a new employee
Dear customers and evaluators,
In Sweden the month of November is dark
and rainy with not much sunshine. Still,
the month has been kind to kalmstrom.com
Outlook Solutions, and a new employee
has brightened our work days – and
hopefully also some of yours, since she
is responsible for our support and
customer care. Her name is Jyoti Goyal,
and she has been with the kalmstrom.com
team for a month now. Jyoti has very
good skills, both when it comes to
language and technical understanding. Of
course there is much to learn on a new
job, but Jyoti has done it quickly and
with high spirits.
Do you use, or want to use, one of our
products but need a feature that still
is not there? Maybe we can help? If we
find “your” feature suitable for many
users, this will be a win-win solution:
You pay for part of the development cost
and get the feature you want, with a
standard product that always will be
possible to upgrade. And we get a better
product to sell. Always feel welcome to
us with your suggestions! For more
information, please refer to
our website.
Office Marketplace Many new users find us through
Microsoft’s Office Marketplace.
Therefore, it is very good news to us
that our latest product, HelpDesk for
Outlook and SharePoint, now is
presented there, like the rest of our
products. It has not been rated by many
users yet, but it already has received
five stars. Thank you, voters! Welcome
to
rate our products too!
Web pages in German We are happy to announce that the
kalmstrom.com website now has a German
part. Our partner Tom Janocha at
Mailhilfe.de has translated the
text, and Kate has put it together. Good
work, both of you! I am sure our German
speaking visitors will appreciate it.
Welcome to
http://www.kalmstrom.com/German/!
Do you want to read more about the new
features, or about our new employee?
Visit
the kalmstrom.com Blog!
The best to you all from
Peter Kalmstrom and the kalmstrom.com
team
Sent:
Wednesday, October 5, 2008 Subject: October - going steadily forward
Dear customers and evaluators,
October has been a turbulent month for business
all over the world. So far kalmstrom.com has not
been affected at all. In this crisis,
our concept - adding functionality to products
that companies and organizations already use and
thereby being able to offer solutions that are
relatively inexpensive - is probably an
advantage. At the same time as we feel lucky to
be able to continue as before and even expand,
we feel sorry for all business that are now in
trouble.
I started October in New Delhi where I met with
our Indian staff. We had productive discussions
about the future for kalmstrom.com and made
detailed plans for the upcoming version 6 of
Calendar Browser. I brought my
son Joakim, and he found his first visit to
India very interesting. He especially liked the
weekend when we made an excursion to the
northern part of the Ganges.
After the big and successful releases in
September, this month has been quieter with only
some smaller updates, most of them made because
costumers asked for them:
TimeCard for Outlook, we
have added an animation that shows when
reporting takes place.
In the Workgroup version we have also added
another new feature: if the management wants
the costs to be based on user rates, it is
now possible for the administrator to set
those rates in the Common Settings dialog.
In this case the rates are never shown in
the Personal Settings dialog at all.
Finally
OLAP Reporting Tool for Excel
has been improved so that it is faster than
ever. If you want to explore huge amounts of
data speed is of course imperative.
If you want to read more about any of this, you are very welcome
to our
blog. Subscribing to it, or visiting it at
least once a week, is the best way of keeping
track on what is going on at kalmstrom.com
Outlook Solutions.
Finally I want to brag a bit about our new
homepage. The nice new image is created by
our Lead Developer Bahrur Ipham, who as you see
is a talented artist. He is the man behind the
other graphics at our site too. The new layout
is applied also on the
German,
Spanish
and Swedish
homepages.
The best to you all from
Peter Kalmstrom and the kalmstrom.com team
Sent: Monday, September
29, 2008 Subject: September - a busy month for kalmstrom.com
Dear customers and evaluators,
Meeting with Indian staff This newsletter comes a bit early, since
I will go to India on Wednesday to visit
our partners and employees in New Delhi.
Among other things we will discuss the
upcoming version 6 of
Calendar Browser for Outlook,
our add-on for resource booking and
management. We will add many new
features, some of them already in use by
sponsors, some of them not even decided
on yet. Therefore, now is a good time to
tell us if there is a feature you would
like us to add to Calendar Browser. As
always, you are very welcome to contact
us.
I try to go to India at least once a
year, and I often bring someone from the
family. This year it will be my son
Joakim, 12 years old. In the weekend our
lead developer Bahrur Ipham will show us
and our test engineer Saurabh Verma some
beautiful spots in the lower Himalayas.
It will be very interesting, and I am
convinced that we will have fun too!
HelpDesk for Outlook and SharePoint finished
This past month has seen two major
releases from kalmstrom.com. First came
the finished version of
HelpDesk OSP. It felt like a
victory when this seemingly simple
application could go from Beta to a full
product, because the programming has
required a lot. Thank you, all who
helped us by reporting errors during the
Beta period. When the final version was
released we also published updated
versions of the slideshow and manual and
a set of new video demonstrations. We
already have plans that will make
HelpDesk OSP even better, and apart
from that the website will eventually
have more information about the product
and “tips and tricks” for the use of
SharePoint.
Public Folder HelpDesk for Outlook,
version 10 released
In September we could finally publish
version 10 of our flagship product
PF HelpDesk. We are not
satisfied with the delay, but I am
certain that the long list of new
features makes up for it. All customers
and recent evaluators of PF HelpDesk
have received a special e-mail with
information about the new version, so
here I will only refer to the website.
Welcome to
visit it for more information about
this issue tracking application that has
now been even more useful than before.
New projects
Having launched two important helpdesk
projects, we will now concentrate more
on our other products. Apart from
version 6 of Calendar Browser for
Outlook, which will take some time
to get finished, we have also a sponsor
for an interesting new feature in
TimeCard for Outlook. I will
tell you more about that feature next
month, when we will hopefully have
something to show you.
The best to you all from
Peter Kalmstrom and the kalmstrom.com
team
Sent: Monday, September 01, 2008 5:28 PM Subject: Newsletter September - updates
and recommendations
Dear customers and evaluators,
The summer vacations are over here in
Europe, and the kalmstrom.com look forward
to an interesting and busy autumn. We have
already noticed a stimulating increase in
sales and contacts during the second half of
August.
Updates
We often update our
software, both to add
new features and adapt
to and take advantage of
changes in the Microsoft
software we build on.
Such changes can
sometimes cause bugs
where there were no bugs
before. We recommend
that users always have
the latest
versions of our
products, and we allow
all
kalmstrom.com Support
Customers to upgrade
without any extra costs
and with all the
assistance needed.
Welcome to follow
the updates of the
products you use on the
Revisions page for each
product.
Microsoft updates have
given us certain
problems with Windows
Script Runtime.
Therefore, all our
products have now been
updated with a new
registration encoding,
without the script
runtime requirement. We
have also extended the
trial periods to 30 days
for TimeCard
for Outlook and
SharePoint
Attachments for Outlook.
HelpDesk for
Outlook and SharePoint
Our new web based issue
tracking application has
been updated with better
statistics. SharePoint
fields having
alternative or choice
data types are now also
supported to be included
in the statistics.
Furthermore
HelpDesk OSPnow supports the
authentication protocol
NTLM. This means that if
HelpDesk OSP is
used within a company
network via a domain
user account, it will
make use of the windows
authentication mode to
connect to the
SharePoint site and no
login dialog will be
displayed. If the
application is used to
connect to a SharePoint
site outside the company
network (through the
internet), it will
however prompt for a
valid user credential.
This was the last Beta
version since the final
version will come any
day now. All downloaders
will receive a separate
e-mail with information
about that release, and
it will of course also
be a new
blog post about it.
Public
Folder HelpDesk for
Outlook V10
As I wrote in the latest
newsletter we all hoped
to release the new
version of our flagship
product in August, but
there is still some fine
tuning left to do.
Please have patience, it
will come soon. Then all
PF HelpDesk
Support Customers may
upgrade to a PF
HelpDesk with many
new, useful features.
Welcome to
get a glimpse of the
news at our website.
Slipstick.com
Finally
I want to recommend a useful
site for all who work
with Outlook and/or Exchange
on a daily basis. At http://www.slipstick.com/ you
will find a lot of
information, and you may
also subscribe to their
weekly newsletter. Good job,
Diane Poremsky and the rest
of the Slipstick team!
The best to you all from
Peter Kalmstrom and the
kalmstrom.com team
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sent: Monday, August 04, 2008 12:17 PM Subject: July, quiet vacation month -
full of activity!
Dear customers and evaluators,
Knowledge – our best resource
I am writing this from a Sweden that is
warmer than usual – around 25 degrees
Celsius or 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Many
people have their vacation, but I have taken
only a few days to go riding with my family,
and the rest of the team has been working as
usual. Our dedicated Indian staff, lead
developer Bahrur Ipham and test engineer
Saurabh Verma, has taken the opportunity to
study, when the flow of e-mails and chat
calls has been easier. For two months they
are using every weekend to improve their
already good knowledge of SharePoint, an
investment that will benefit us all. Our
service on Saturdays has suffered a bit from
their absence, but we are certain that it is
worth it in the long run.
HelpDesk OSP and SSL
During July we have released two new
versions of the
HelpDesk for Outlook and SharePoint
application. It is still in Beta,
but not for so long now. Bugs have
been fixed, and HelpDesk OSP
now also works with Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). The security
of data in transit over the Internet
becomes increasingly necessary
because of steadily growing data
volume and importance, so this is a
crucial step for our web based
helpdesk solution.
TimeCard ASP option The possibility of transferring data
via the Internet makes it easier for
people to work away from the office,
and for users of our time reporting
product,
TimeCard for Outlook, it
becomes more interesting to use the
option to report via an ASP page.
Therefore, we have released an
update to the new version, 4.2, that
facilitates the installation of the
ASP alternative. The configuration
is described in the updated
workgroup manual.
Manuals are easy to update
Our manuals are continuously
updated, when we update the products
but also when we discover that
something is not fully explained in
a manual. Please report to us if you
miss something in the manual of the
product you use! We value your
opinions and always do our best to
improve our documentation.
New languages, new markets
For many years we have had a
reliable and diligent reseller in
Germany, Tom Janocha at
Mailhilfe.de. Tom has his own
websites for several of our
products, and he has also translated
some of our manuals into German. We
have now decided to increase our
cooperation. Tom are currently
helping us translate web pages, and
soon our website will have a German
part, like the Swedish and Spanish.
Our pages in Spanish have given us
access to the Mexican Office
Marketplace, and we soon hope to be
represented at the Spanish one too.
PF HelpDesk V10 In August we hope to finally publish
the much awaited version 10 of
Public Folder HelpDesk for Outlook.
It will have many interesting new
features, like more notification
possibilities, better organization
of the templates, conversion choice
for e-mails – create a new ticket or
add to existing ticket,
Sent/Received e-mails integrated in
the ticket body, predefined
messages, print possibilities and
much more. All users and evaluators
will receive a separate e-mail when
the new version is published, and as
usual the upgrade is free for all
Support Customers.
The best to you all from
Peter Kalmstrom and the
kalmstrom.com team
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2008 Subject: June- unfavorable in the start
but well behaved at the end
Dear customers and evaluators,
Thanks for patience during server
breakdown
I went on vacation the first day of June,
confident that the rest of the kalmstrom.com
team would manage the business and keep our
high level of support. The first week my
dedicated staff was on their own was not
very successful, though, but it was hardly
their fault. The problem was a fire in the
data center where our server is hosted. Our
website and intranet were out Sunday to
Wednesday, and during that time our e-mail
worked haltingly too. Thank you so much for
your patience, all who did not receive the
help you needed, and for your persistence,
all who kept trying when you could not reach
us. We pride ourselves for our good support
service, but that week we failed to give you
the assistance you have come to expect from
us.
TimeCard for Outlook V4.2
Of course the kalmstrom.com
team went on working anyway.
When they were not
“disturbed” by questions
they had more time to
complete the new version of TimeCard for Outlook
,
which was planned for
release by the end of the
month. Now the workgroup version came as early as the
14th and the
single version only a few
days later. With version 4.2
of TimeCard it is
possible to get even more
information from the time
reports without the users
having to do more. You can
also plan ahead, since also
the unreported appointments
now can be studied in the
integrated statistics- and
reporting tool. We thank
In2Scope and Office
IT-Partner, who sponsored
the new features. Read all
about it at our website, in
the blog and the press
release and at the Revisions
page. The slideshow and
manuals are also updated.
New E-mail notification
feature in updated PF
HelpDesk
By the end of the month we
also finished an update of PF HelpDesk. This
issue tracking application
now has a possibility to
send automatic e-mail
notifications when a new
ticket is created. In the settings form, we have
added a box where the PF
HelpDesk admin can
enter any e-mail address to
a person or distribution
list that should be
notified. We are grateful to
Frimo, who sponsored this
feature, and we will update
the documentation for PF
HelpDesk with the new
information as soon as
possible.
Support for all
Another improvement at
kalmstrom.com is that all
our products now come with
support and free upgrades
for the first period. For
users of the Single version
of TimeCard and SP Attach, we have created a
new and more favorable
support alternative. The
kalmstrom.com Single Support
give the single users the
same benefits as the
kalmstrom.com Support
Services, but at a lower
price since it is only for
one user.
New HelpDesks in
July This month we hope
to first publish a new
version of HelpDesk OSP
and later on release version
10 of PF HelpDesk
with many new, valuable
features. Welcome to follow
the progress i our blog!
In Europe we have summer
now, and many people will go
on vacation for July or
August. But kalmstrom.com
Outlook Solutions will not
close down, so if there are
no more server breakdowns,
you can count on us being
there for you.
The best to you all from Peter Kalmstrom and the
kalmstrom.com team
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sent: 28 May 2008 21:20 Subject: Newsletter June - new employee and
new product
Dear customers and downloaders,
Welcome to read my second
general newsletter, which is
coming a few days too early
since I am having a vacation
during the first two weeks
of June. I am going to travel along
the US east coast with the
whole family (I have three
children), and I really look
forward to it.
While I am away
kalmstrom.com Outlook
Solutions will be efficiently
run by the rest of the team,
which has a new, valuable
member - Software Test
Engineer Saurabh Verma.
He comes from IBM in
Bangalore, "India's Silicon
Valley", but he moved north
to Delhi six weeks ago to
work with us. His main
responsibility is of course
testing, but like the rest
of us he is willing to help
where ever it is needed to
get the work done in the
best possible way.
Saurabh has been deeply
involved in the development
of
HelpDesk for Outlook and
SharePoint,
the new product for issue
tracking and user support
that was released in a beta
version in May. It is
totally web based, but it is
not an ordinary web based
helpdesk since it builds on
SharePoint. Microsoft is
favoring the SharePoint
environment strongly, and
that makes HelpDesk for Outlook and
SharePoint an
application for the future.
SharePoint gives a lot of
possibilities, and our new
product connects SharePoint
to Outlook, so that e-mails
can be converted into
tickets. If you already have
a working SharePoint site or
intend to begin using one,
this is the application for
you. We are grateful for the
cooperation from the Swedish
company
Svenska Bil AB, who has
sponsored the development of
HelpDesk for Outlook and
SharePoint.
Sponsorships has also made
it possible for us to add
several new features to
TimeCard
for Outlook,
our application for time
planning and reporting, and
we hope to release an
updated version by the end
of June. As usual all
kalmstrom.com Support
Customers may upgrade their
installations without any
extra costs. Now we have
added the possibility to
subscribe to the
Support Services through
eSellerate and ShareIt and
not only through PayPal.
As we build our products on
Microsoft's, we are happy
that Microsoft has promised
to expand the range of
document formats supported
in Office and to participate
actively in the development
of international standards.
This is of course something
that eventually will make
the add-ons
from kalmstrom.com Outlook
Solutions work more
seamlessly with non-Microsoft
software. More
info.
The first newsletter
was very well received, so
we will continue sending out
newsletters at the beginning
of each month. The next
one will come
on
one of the first days of
July, and until then we wish
you all the best!
Peter Kalmstrom and the
kalmstrom.com team
kalmstrom.com Outlook
Solutions
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sent: Tuesday, May 06, 2008 4:14 PM Subject: Newsletter, May
Dear customers and downloaders,
Many of you have asked for a general
newsletter, as a complement to the blog and
the e-mails we send to selected groups now
and then. Therefore we will now try to send
you all a newsletter at the beginning of
each month. If you don't wish to receive it,
please send us a message by answering to
this e-mail, and we will promptly delete you
from the list.
We went into the month April with a
lot of confidence after an
independent evaluator had written a
very flattering review about OLAP
Reporting Tool for Excel.
He had tested the application as a
stand alone application, but all of
you who use PF HelpDesk,
Calendar Browser,and TimeCard
also know
OLAP Reporting well since it is
integrated in these products. For
more info about this review, refer
to the
blog of March 25.
The month continued in the same
hopeful way. We sold well and during
the past few months we have also had
a lot of requests for sponsorships
and customizations. This means that
we now have a queue for two months
for such jobs, but we are looking
for another developer and hope to
be able to shorten the time soon.
Many of the new features we have
added to our products thanks to
generous sponsorship will eventually
benefit you all, since they will
become part of the standard product.
As usual all kalmstrom.com Support
Subscription Customers may upgrade
without any extra costs.
Another good thing was the message
from Microsoft that they will
continue to support public folders
longer than said before. Read more
about it in the
Exchange team blog. That does
not
make us rest on our laurels, though.
We look to the future and our new
helpdesk application for SharePoint
and Outlook is developing well.
The other day we also published
updates of PF
HelpDesk, KBase and
OLAP Reporting,
to solve a registration issue that
some customers had experienced.
Refer to the latest
blog for more information about
this update.
To reach new markets and give better
service, we have created new web
pages in Spanish and Swedish. Since
the kalmstrom family is Swedish and
Kate and Sigge now live in Spain,
these two languages feel very close
to us. Even if all products are not
presented in Spanish yet, it is now
possible to read the presentation,
download and buy a product in three
languages. Welcome to visit the new
pages in
Spanish or
Swedish!
The next newsletter will be sent out
in the beginning of June, and then
we will tell you more about HelpDesk
for Outlook and SharePoint and about
updates for our other products.
The best to you all from
The kalmstrom.com team
kalmstrom.com Outlook Solutions
