INFOR acquires MAPICS completely

There's no MAPICS again in this world of software.
INFOR has replaced MAPICS, therefore the software have been renamed to

• Infor XA ERP 7.4
• Infor SyteLine ERP 7.04

Infor is pleased to announce that the acquisition of MAPICS was completed on April 18, 2005. Infor is now the largest enterprise software provider exclusively focused on solving the essential challenges of select verticals in the manufacturing and distribution industries.

With the completion of the acquisition, MAPICS is 100% owned by Infor which has been and remains a private company. The MAPICS acquisition was financed through a combination of additional equity from Golden Gate Capital and Summit Partners, cash from the Infor Balance Sheet and additional debt underwritten by Lehman Brothers.
“The acquisition of MAPICS deepens our focus on manufacturing and distribution, and strengthens our ability to provide the world-class solutions and experienced professionals our customers need to remain competitive in a global economy,” said Jim Schaper, Infor’s chairman and chief executive officer. “With the addition of MAPICS we now provide solutions to more than 17,500 customers with implementations in 70 countries. Infor’s revenue approaches $600 million with 2,400 employees in 47 global offices focused on solving the essential challenges our customers face everyday.”
MAPICS has been providing the manufacturing industry with ERP, CRM, PLM and supply chain management solutions and professional services for more than 25 years. MAPICS’ operations have been integrated into Infor’s Discrete Group, where the products and services of both companies will continue to be supported. Infor’s Discrete Group now delivers a broad set of solutions covering a range of manufacturing methodologies such as batch processing, make-to-order, make-to-stock, assemble-to-order, engineer-to-order and repetitive.
“Infor will leverage the synergies between our products and MAPICS’ to develop innovative solutions that meet the evolving business requirements of our combined customer base,” said Robin Pederson, general manager and senior vice president of Infor’s Discrete Group. “By building solutions through assembly and innovation, we’re offering our customers a more diversified line of products while also protecting their investment in both Infor and MAPICS solutions .”
With the acquisition, Infor also extends its global reach through MAPICS’ strong affiliate and partner network. The MAPICS network complements Infor’s existing direct and indirect sales channels, enabling Infor to present a broader, deeper product offering, additional global distribution, increased implementation capability and expansion opportunities to organizations throughout the world.

Project Green in Waves

5'th March 2005, at Convergence in San Diego, Doug Burgum, senior vice president of Microsoft Business Solutions Business announced how they will be sending Project Green to the market. Their strategy now says that it is more important to do the conversion to Project Green stepvise, instead of introducing it as a BIG BANG. This way we will see that the applications will move towards the common goal of ONE PRODUCT. The first wave is going on right now and until 2007. You've seen that i.e. both Navision (Rel.4)and Great Plains (Rel.8) has the "same" role based menu-suite. This will spread to the other MBS products. The whole concept of thinking in roles instead than in functions/procedures is a very important part of Green.
The road map of Microsoft Business Solutions:

• Microsoft Business Solutions--Axapta. Microsoft will release the Microsoft Axapta® 3.0 Service Pack 4 in the second quarter of 2005. Availability of a beta version of Microsoft Axapta 4.0 is expected in the fourth quarter of 2005 with a release to manufacturing expected in the first half of 2006.
• Microsoft Business Solutions--Great Plains. Microsoft will launch Microsoft Great Plains® 8.0 Extensions in the first quarter of 2005. In the fourth quarter of 2005, Microsoft Great Plains 8.5 and Microsoft Business Solutions Business Portal 3.0 will be made available.
• Microsoft Business Solutions--Navision. Microsoft will launch Microsoft Navision® 4.01 in the third quarter of 2005.
• Microsoft Business Solutions--Solomon. Microsoft Business Solutions--Solomon 6.5 is expected in the fourth quarter of 2005.
• Microsoft Business Solutions CRM. The next version of Microsoft CRM will be released to manufacturing in the fourth quarter of 2005.
• Microsoft Business Solutions for Analytics--Forecaster. Microsoft Forecaster 7.0 will be released in the third quarter of 2005. In the first quarter of 2006, integration of Microsoft Business Solutions for Analytics--FRx® 6.7 with Microsoft Navision 3.0 and Microsoft Navision 4.0 will be introduced. In the first half of 2006, Microsoft FRx 7.0 will be introduced, with Microsoft Forecaster 8.0 scheduled for launch in the second half of 2006.
• Microsoft Business Solutions Retail Management System. Microsoft will launch a next-generation point-of-sale solution in the second quarter of 2005.

ADO.NET using Visual Basic .NET

Still researching ADO.NET...

Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (32 bit)

I found it this windows 2003 update at Tuesday morning 1 April 2003.

Quick Info
File Name:	WindowsServer2003-KB889101-SP1-x86-ENU.exe
Download Size:	337230 KB
Date Published:	3/30/2005
Version:	SP1

Overview

Install Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1) to help secure your server and to better defend against hackers. Windows Server 2003 SP1 enhances security infrastructure by providing new security tools such as Security Configuration Wizard, which helps secure your server for role-based operations, improves defense-in-depth with Data Execution Protection, and provides a safe and secure first-boot scenario with Post-setup Security Update Wizard. Windows Server 2003 SP1 assists IT professionals in securing their server infrastructure and provides enhanced manageability and control for Windows Server 2003 users.

Click here to download:
Windows 2003 Server SP1 (32 Bits)

Development Resources

Developer's ammos

As a developer, I definitely suggest you to use these resources:

1. MDAC 2.8
2. DirectX 9.0c Redistributable for Software Developers
3. Windows Script 5.6 for Windows 2000 and XP
4. Platform Software Development Kit Redistributable: Microsoft Layer for Unicode on Windows 95, 98, and Me Systems, 1.1.3790.0
5. Windows Installer 2.0 Redistributable for Windows 95, 98, and Me
6. .NET Framework Software Development Kit Version 1.1
7. .NET Framework 1.1 Service Pack 1
8. Microsoft XML Parser (MSXML) 3.0 Service Pack 4 (SP4)
9. Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit 4.0
10. DirectX 9.0 SDK Update - (February 2005)

SQL and Visual Studio 2005

Why SQL Server 2005?
Whether you recently decided to incorporate Microsoft SQL Server into your solution, or you have been developing on SQL Server for many years, you'll find that SQL Server 2005 provides new and enhanced features that can make your product development easier, faster, and more profitable.
SQL Server 2005 has enhanced integration with Visual Studio and the .NET Framework. Developers can now leverage their existing programming skills by using their favorite .NET language, such as Visual Basic .NET or C#, directly in SQL Server. In addition, native support for XML and Web services enhances interoperability with other platforms and applications.

Why Visual Studio 2005?
The software industry is moving towards service-oriented architectures, resulting in application development increasing in complexity. At the same time, software development organizations are becoming increasingly specialized and geographically distributed.
Visual Studio 2005 enables developers to focus on the more complex aspects of a solution by reducing the amount of code they need to write by about 35%. This enables ISVs to get solutions to market more quickly. Visual Studio 2005 also provides a more efficient team development and testing environment, enabling ISVs to ship products that require less customer support.