October 2009 Entries
Yep - it's true, they killed it. As a Partner it would have been nice to have been told in advance. Microsoft have been trying to break into the accountancy market for a while and I really thought Office Accounting Professional was the way they'd do it - looks like I and every other Microsoft Accountancy Network Partner was wrong. I'll be speaking to affected customers about Microsoft Dynamics in the next few months but please note that extended support is available until 2019 so there's no immediate rush. Please don't sign up with the company MS recommend until I have...
Grrr .. I've been running Windows 7 RC for a while now as part of the rollout to Microsoft Partners and I've had no problems with it at all. However, tonight I decided to vape my main machine and install my shiny new Windows 7 Ultimate DVD. But when it booted I had no Aero (this is the effect that gives glass and transparency effects on menus etc). It's one of those features you don't think you will miss but believe me - when it's gone you REALLY miss it! Having tried everything I had a little delve into the...
As part of the relaunch of the Busybird brands we are starting with Busybird Computers. We are authorised technicians for PC Repairs UK but we also operate our own repair and configuration service for home and business users.
All of the work we do (for example removing virus infections, trojans, malware, and repairing registry and permissions errors) is covered by our very simple call out and low hourly rate charges but with a no fix, no labour fee guarantee. Remember that we are a Microsoft System Builder and OEM Partner, an Authorised AVG Reseller, and a Malware Bytes Partner and we...
Confusion has been expressed about my use of pronouns in the blog - to be honest I did wonder how long it would take . To clarify, some of the entries on my blog are personal (see my entry about my new phone), some relate to Ladybird and/or NISCO, and some will be personal from me and/or partners, staff, associates, and resellers. Generally speaking I mix the pronouns up but personal entries are always written with the personal pronoun and corporate entries are a mix of both. If you don't like the grammer and the jump from personal to third...
After installing AVG Free Edition on over 200 machines in 2009 I decided that it was about time we got better support, better margins, and quicker access to their expanding range of server applications. For this reason, I am delighted that Ladybird Internet Ltd has been accepted as an offical AVG Reseller and we are now fully licensed to supply the full retail version of 9 and above which is compatible with all versions of Microsoft Windows from XP to Windows 7. We can also upgrade the Free Edition with additional functionality - please contact me for more information at...
Whilst it would be wrong of me to allow people to download the actual Royal Mail PAF file from my network I can provide a link to WikiLeaks - this is an online organisation with a fierce reputation for leaking political news that is very often subjected to "super injunctions" in the UK. Here's the link -- if you (as a developer or business) choose to make use of it then is, of course, purely a matter for you! Ladybird Internet Ltd will continue to promote www.mapme.biz as an alternative source of postcode data and this link is provided purely...
This site (from the inventor of the postcode) has been closed down by Royal Mail for making public domain postcode records available. I await an injunction about www.mapme.biz with interest! Please check out their site and blog at www.ernestmarples.com and post your support for the cause of freeing the postcode data for UK businesses.
If you use PayPal as a payment method you will know how frustrating it can be to get at the funds. We take payment online via PayPal (and will soon have a virtual terminal in place to do it over the phone) and some transactions are in the hundreds of pounds range - we pay the fees and it's convenient for our customers who prefer this method of payment. However, it can take over a week to transfer the funds into our business account so we were interested in the PayPal Top Up Card. This is a prepaid VISA card...
It is very rare that I get so annoyed about something that I put my hand in my pocket and put our resources behind a political cause. However, I was trying to get an exact latitude and longitude for a business yesterday and needed to do it on a postcode - now in the past I faced this problem with Lanzarote Maps and put it down to their being no postcode system in Lanzarote. Not a problem for the UK surely as the Post Office have a database which maps postcode information to latitudes and longitudes - so all I...
We have just launched Lanzarote Ads as part of the Lanzarote Business Network. The service is free for buyers and sellers and will be rebranded to match the rest of LBN when I get time - for now, we just want people to use it. To find out more please visit www.lanzaroteads.biz.
Most readers will know that we have a "light" e-commerce solutions but we have now introduced a much more powerful solution which is based on an open source solution for maximum flexibility. You can see an example at www.thebiginternetshop.com/bigshop - let me know if you'd like a username and password to play with the administration system.
nopCommerce has hundreds of features and is very customisable - we'll be using it ourselves and linking it our new CRM and accounts systems in the very near future. If you would like an example of your own to play around with please just let...
The rebuild has been completed at www.shincliffekennelsandcattery.co.uk and the two sister sites are also now live at www.durhamcattery.co.uk and www.durhamkennels.co.uk. The two Google Adword campaigns are under way and already delivering results to the main site.
We will be monitoring these three sites very carefully and using them as a case study on search engine optimisation and Google Adwords Campaign Planning.
We have now started work on the web site for the Las Coronas Apartments in Costa Teguise, Lanzarote. This is a very complex development and we are seperating it into different development strands:
Apartment owners intranet. This will store AGM documents, legal documents, accounts, and so on. This will be built on our Sharepoint Server and give the owners a brilliant way of communicating and sharing documents - particularly important as some of the owners don't live in the complex.
Apartment owners forums. We are using YAF for this bit as it is free...