Windows XP SP3 Available for Download

Windows XP SP3 is available for download from Windows Update.

Free BETA of Executive Assistant for Microsoft© Access v3.0

Download the free BETA of the new v3.0 of my Access-based CRM System with Integrated Executive Diary Management:

• Easily manage Clients, Contacts, Client Visits, and Internal Meetings
• Quickly create detailed Visit and Meeting Reports
• Built-in Visit scheduling
• Automated email distribution
• Comprehensive reporting
• Contact Interests tracking
• Event and Marketing Campaign management
• Modern Windows Vista-themed GUI
• Visits Alerts and overdue visit monitoring
• Client address information
• More comprehensive reporting options

Used by senior executives at Munich Re Australia, Samsung Fire & Marine, and UBS.

New in Version 3.0:

• Ad-hoc client calls management
• Advertising tracking for client campaigns

Beginner Error-Handling

TechRepublic.com blogger, Susan Harkins, has posted a great article on how novice Access developers can start adding advanced error-handling to their forms.

Live Mesh: The Collaborative Cloud

Live Mesh has left the building. Is this future of the Desktop? Have a look.

At this point it is a shared space in a web browser, with limited collaboration services. Microsoft says it will evolve into browser development platform, where existing (Office?) applications can occupy a browser window.

Generate Synchronization Scripts in SQL Server with TableDiff

TableDiff is a console executable packaged with SQL Server that allows you to compare data between SQL Server tables. Tim Chapman of TechRepublic.com shows how to use TableDiff.

Latest SQL Server and Data Access KB Articles

FIX: SQL Server 2005 is not installed on a Windows Web Server 2008-based system

An SPN for the SQL Server Browser service is required when you establish a connection to a named instance of SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services or of SQL Server 2005

FIX: No results are returned when you run a stored procedure in Server Explorer in Business Intelligence Development Studio if the stored procedure returns a column of the unique identifier data type in SQL Server 2005

FIX: Error message when you try to delete the rows from the table in SQL Server 2005 Compact Edition or in SQL Server Compact 3.5: "Major Error 0x80004005, Minor Error 0. Attempted to divide by zero"

Release Schedule for Windows XP SP3

Neowin.net says it has procured the release schedule for Windows XP SP3:

• April 14, 2008: Support is available for the release version of Service Pack 3 for Windows XP
  
  
• April 21, 2008: Original Equipment Manufacturers, Volume License, Connect, and MSDN and TechNet subscribers
  
  
• April 29, 2008: Microsoft Update, Windows Update, Download Center
  
  
• June 10, 2008: Automatic Updates

Recent Access 2007 Fixes

From the Access Team Blog today:

• Avoiding security prompts for Access 2007 runtime applications
  
  
• Hotfix to correct “database is in an unrecognized format” error with Access 2007 SP1 compiled databases

Latest SQL Server 2005 Fixes

FIX: Error message when you run queries on a database that has the SNAPSHOT isolation level enabled in SQL Server 2005: "Unable to deallocate a kept page"

Error message when you execute a CLR routine or use an assembly in SQL Server 2005: "Assembly in host store has a different signature than assembly in GAC. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80131050)"

FIX: SQL Server 2005 requests columns that you do not expect when you run a SELECT statement

SQL Server 2008: The Deal

The April 2008 issue of TechNet Magazine places the spotlight on SQL Server 2008:

• What's New
• Security
• New Data Types
• Data Warehouse Query Performance
• Minimize Blocking in SQL Server

Integrating Access Databases with SharePoint

A very timely article from the April 2008 issue of the MS TechNet Magazine, which focuses on:

• The benefits of integrating Access and SharePoint
• Migrating Access data to SharePoint
• Extending Access functionality with SharePoint