Who Reads The kalmstrom.com Blog?

Last week I looked at the statistics for most read blog posts in February, but it is also interesting to see who those readers are. A study of the figures show some expected result but also some nice surprises.

English speaking countries
Visitors from United States and Great Britain dominate among the blog readers every month. This is to be expected, as the blog is written in English and the kalmstrom.com products are popular in these countries. Of course many users want to keep up with the events of kalmstrom.com Business Solutions.

India and China
To our delight we also see that the kalmstrom.com Blog has many readers in India and China. Both countries are in rapid development, and we are happy to be on the scene in India. We hope to soon have a partner in China also, to take advantage of this huge market and the evident interest in the kalmstrom.com Business Solutions software there.

Europe
After USA, UK, India and China comes a group of countries with approximately the same number of Blog visitors. Here we find for example Sweden and Germany, both with many Members of kalmstrom.com Community. Russia and Ukraine are also included here.

Mac users
The Blog statistics also show the visitors’ operating system, and since kalmstrom.com builds applications for Microsoft Office I was first surprised when I saw that 20 % of the February readers use Macintosh instead. Then I realized that many of them probably use Office for Windows in a virtual machine inside their Mac.

I read an interesting article in Business Insider about this use of Microsoft Office, where Matt Rosoff suggests that Microsoft should build first-class native versions of Office for all popular platforms. We have no objections to that!

Smart phones
The kalmstrom.com Blog looks nice in a smart phone also, but only a few percent read the blog on their mobiles. I assume this figure will rise in the future, but not that much. I still think most will prefer to read the articles on a computer, even if my aim is to make them so interesting that you want to read them as soon as you get a chance ;)

Skype for Windows Phone Beta – Great GUI, But Serious Problems

Yesterday Microsoft finally announced the release of the Beta version of Skype for Windows Phone. The new app will make Skype available on almost all leading operating systems for mobile smart phones. As Skype has around 200 million users this is welcome news.

Chats are important to kalmstrom.com
Skype for Windows Phone Beta supports common Skype features like audio and video calls and the one-to-one and group chats that are so important to kalmstrom.com Business Solutions. As our team members are geographically dispersed, we use Skype chats to communicate quickly and safely via our PCs. It would be convenient if we could do the same on our smart phones.

Skype on Windows Phone 7.5
kalmstrom.com Lead Developer Jayant Rimza uses a Windows Phone 7.5, which is the latest version with the Metro interface. He has been waiting long for a possibility to use Skype with his Phone, so yesterday he was eager to test it. His first impression was good. The graphical user interface is awesome and Skype is very easy to operate on the Phone.

Test chat
I chatted with Jayant yesterday evening, and on my PC it looked fine. I could not see when Jayant was writing, though, and that was a bit annoying as I did not know if there was more to come from his side.

Jayant complained that he could not see my replies while he was typing in horizontal mode. He had to change into vertical again to see them.

He also had hoped that the spell check of the Phone key pad would work well with the Skype chat, as it does with other apps. Unfortunately it does not, and I can understand that. Not even Skype for PC has a spell checker for the chat – which sometimes leads to crazy misunderstandings when team members write too quickly!

Another problem was that Jayant could not see what contacts were online in his Phone. He had to select each person to see the status, which of course is a time consuming task. We want to see that at a glance, as we are used to do on our computers.

Problems list
The issues Jayant experienced are not included in the list of known problems in Skype for Windows Phone that Skype has published. As this is a Beta version we do expect some trouble, and it is a good idea to let users know what problems the developers are aware of. For some of them a workaround is given, but for most we can only hope that they will be solved quickly.

Only foreground capacity
Jayant and I agree that one of the problems mentioned in the list is devastating: the Beta version cannot run in the background. This means that it is impossible to receive chat messages and calls if Skype is not in foreground, so in reality you can only use Skype for calls and chats you initiate yourself. This is a serious drawback that makes the app nearly useless, so we really hope this will be fixed before the release of the gold version in April. As it is now I am not sure Skype for Windows Phone should even be called a Beta when such an important feature is not there. Maybe this release came to soon after all?

Evening Enjoyments For The kalmstrom.com Team

Peter’s and Siret's week with the kalmstrom.com team in Indore has nearly come to an end. I have earlier told you about their excursion to Mandu and their work and studies during the other days. This article will be about the evenings.

Indian cooking
The kalmstrom.com Sales and Relations Officer loves to cook, so she was delighted when she was invited to the home of Lead Developer Jayant and Developer Vijayant, and she was allowed to take part in the dinner preparations. Here is Siret's story:

"Last night I was given a cooking lesson with an Indian Mama in her kitchen. Is there anything more awesome? We started with a curry, and the next step was making wheat bread and corn bread. From a dough of flour, water and just a pinch of salt we rolled little balls which were
flattened and fried on upside turned pans. Then just a quick turn in the open flame to give it color and that’s it!


Mrs. Rimza had already stuffed okra with dried mango and chili paste, so all we had to do was to fry them in oil. Masala Chicken was to be the last recipe. The food was fragrant, colorful and beyond tasty! I have bought with me all the necessary spices, and now I am looking forward to returning to my own kitchen to try things out.
I am so grateful to Jayant's and Vijayant's mother and to Jayant's wife for opening their kitchen to me!"



Going to the movies
One evening the whole group went to see Mission Impossible 4. It was a good movie to see with the team, because half of it was filmed in nearby Mumbai and the bad guy was Swedish! (The company owners, Peter, Sigge and I, are Swedish too.)

Fast food was served in the movie theatre, and Siret had a three year old eating a big hamburger right above her! She got her share of it, but apart from that she said it was all fun.

Farewell dinner
The last evening Peter took Siret and the Indore team members to a dinner. They went to a newly opened restaurant and were very well taken care of by the staff there.

This visit to Indore has been a wonderful experience to Peter and Siret, and they have been fantastically well received by the Indore team members. But it has also been very intense, so now they will take a short vacation to rest before they return to the Swedish winter.

Continuous Studies Crucial To kalmstrom.com Developers

When you work in a business that changes as fast as ours, you have to be eager to learn new things to keep up. The Indian members of the kalmstrom.com team are all highly educated and intelligent, but they need some help from the expert, our CEO Peter, to learn the most advanced parts of new IT technology. Therefore he takes the opportunity to lecture on subjects important to the future development of the kalmstrom.com Office add-ons now that he is visiting the team in Indore.


A joy for both parties
These teaching sessions have not only been useful but also a great joy for everyone. “I am so proud of my team”, said Peter yesterday evening. “I really loved teaching them today!”

That is a very good testimonial coming from Peter. He is a Microsoft certified Trainer, and in addition to his work as CEO and program designer at kalmstrom.com Business Solutions he lectures on Sweden’s most advanced IT courses. Therefore he is used to ‒ and spoiled with! ‒ having clever pupils.

Lead Developer Jayant counters with: “Peter is a great teacher. Today we learned many new things about the endless possibilities of SharePoint. I am looking forward for tomorrow’s class.”  In the image above you can also see the developers Kanak, Sunil and Vijayant. I asked Siret for a photo, so she slipped into the conference room to take some for me. But the team was disturbed an "kicked" her out again after a few shots. They wanted to continue the studies in peace!

SharePoint expansion
Yesterday Peter was talking about general SharePoint-functionality, tips and tricks as well as development opportunities for kalmstrom.com. Today he will go into some detail on how to start expanding our range of SharePoint products.

Here are Peter's own words:
"So far we have mainly done client-side applications, but we intend to provide also server-side features and mobile applications that use the new SharePoint 2010 tools. All of our applications rely on a shared information store. Usually that is a network file share with a database in Access or SQL, but we hope to add SharePoint as an alternate choice for all of our applications shortly.

Thus Members of kalmstrom.com Community will be able to send their time reporting data directly to a SharePoint list from TimeCard and store meeting information in multiple calendar lists from Calendar Browser. We also hope to merge the features of our two issue tracking applications, HelpDesk OSP and PF HelpDesk by adding more server-side functionality to HelpDesk OSP. "

Saturday studies
When Peter is not visiting the team still has common studies. Every other Saturday is working day in India, but the kalmstrom.com team normally use these days for studies. They meet at the office and go through a program Peter has prepared for them, and in the evening they often have dinner together, when also the non-technical staff join in.

These Saturdays are much appreciated by the team, and in the end all users of the kalmstrom.com software will benefit from them. A knowledgeable team that work well together can do much to improve the products, and Peter welcomes all suggestions from his team and listens carefully to their opinions. When everyone pulls in the right direction it will show in the result!

Beautiful Trip To Historical Mandu Brings The kalmstrom.com Team Together

On the second day of Peter’s and Siret’s visit to Indore, the Indian members of the kalmstrom.com team took them to the historical town of Mandu. It was founded in the 10th century and is full of interesting monuments.  The town is beautifully situated among lush hills around 100 kilometers from Indore, and the team had hired their own bus to take them there.

Peter:
"I was impressed by the well-preserved castle from the 15th century. It had indoor plumming, air-conditioning, a theatre and lots of other modern facilities. The only problem seems to have been that there were too many blondes in the harem, but they solved that by adding a lake with henna in the water. I tried to push Siret into it, to see if it still worked, but she was surrounded by admirers who did not allow it."

Above kalmstrom.com CEO Peter with his Indore team, all young and very talented people. From the left Vijayant (Developer), Vipul (Office Manager), Peter, Jitendra (Graphic Designer), Sunil (Developer), Jayant (Lead Developer), Kanak (Developer) and Neha (QA Engineer).

Siret:
"There is India you see as a tourist and then there is India you see when you are traveling with some local friends. Peter Kalmström and I just returned to our hotel in Indore after spending an amazing day in Mandu. Off the beaten track, exquisite architecture, fascinating local life and good food. Thank you Team for taking us there!”

Two Executives. I doubt it is history or architecture Peter and Jayant are discussing here below. Rather some new, fascinating kalmstrom.com product!

The photos from Mandu are taken by Siret, Jayant and Jitendra. Thanks for sharing them!

Merry Christmas With 16 Year Old Kalmstrom Family Photo

Another year has gone by, and I want to write a new article to wish all blog visitors a Merry Christmas. These Christmas blogs usually get many readers, and the Christmas post from 2009 is actually one of the most read ever. There are still some people reading it every day around the globe!

Peter and Oliver
In the image above you see two members of the kalmstrom.com team ‒ but not as you usually see them. The Santa is our CEO Peter, who is also my son, and on his arm he is holding his first born, Oliver. Today Oliver is 17 years old, and he works part time with administration of trials, purchases and subscriptions of the kalmstrom.com Office applications. If you want to have a present-day look at them both together, please see the Christmas card at the bottom of the kalmstrom.com home page.

At home in Tallstugan
The photo is taken in Peter’s first house, which actually was a big log house. The address was Tallstugan, Simonstorp, Åby, which means “Pine cottage, Simon’s cabin, River village”. Cute address, wasn’t it? The next owner of that house had to accept a street address instead, but by then we had already let Tallstugan live on in the name of our company, the family business behind the brand kalmstrom.com Business Solutions.

A snowy cottage in the woods
On Christmas Eve Peter slipped down in the basement, took on the Santa Claus dress and grabbed a lantern and the sack with Christmas presents. Then he went out the back way into the snowy woods that surrounded Tallstugan. There, among pines and firs, he lit his lantern and started to plod through the snow towards the door to the patio. Inside Oliver, and later also his brother Joakim, was keeping watch through the windows. When they saw the lantern and the figure holding it they screamed of a delight that was mixed with a bit of horror. At that time they did not understand that Santa was their father, but as you see Oliver was brave and let Santa hold him ‒ after he had delivered the presents!

Dispersed holiday celebrations
This year Peter is not celebrating Christmas with his children, as he and Siret are on their way to Indore to meet with the Indian members of the kalmstrom.com team. Sigge and I will stay on our island off the Swedish east coast, but Oliver and my mother, the kalmstrom.com Matriarch, will at least celebrate Christmas together.

I wish the users of the kalmstrom.com software and all others who also follow my blog a wonderful Christmas weekend!

New KBase Feature: Export Knowledge Base Articles to Excel

KBase for Outlook is a kalmstrom.com knowledge base that does not require a database. The articles can be saved in any Outlook folder, and they can also be integrated in a SharePoint site and exported to HTML web pages. Now there will soon be another possibility ‒ Export KBase articles to an Excel data sheet.

Sponsorship
Community Member Swiss Post needed to export their KBase articles to Excel, and they were willing to sponsor the addition of this feature to the standard version of KBase. This way they can be sure the feature is updated to support future versions of the Microsoft products that kalmstrom.com builds on. An extra plus is of course that many more Community Members may take advantage of the new KBase feature, and that fact is also part of the upgrade insurance! The more Members who need a feature, the more the kalmstrom.com team will prioritize its development.

Export selected KBase articles, categories, types or articles created by certain user?
In the kalmstrom.com knowledge base for Outlook the articles may be organized in categories and types, and with the new KBase Export to Excel feature you may export all articles of selected the categories or types. Other alternatives are to export one or more articles already selected in the KBase Outlook folder or to export all articles created by a given person.

Export attachments and HTML?
The KBase Export to Excel application also lets you decide if you wish to include article attachments in the export or not. The text version of the article body is always given in the Excel data sheet, but you may also opt to include the body in HTML.

New KBase coming soon
The image of the Export to Excel dialog above is in German, because that is the only version finished so far. As soon as the sponsor has approved of the solution we will add the other languages and release an updated KBase for all. It should not take long!

Work For The Future When kalmstrom.com CEO Goes To India

Now it is decided and the journey is booked!

22 December kalmstrom. com CEO Peter will go to India and meet our employees in Indore. On the way there he will also make a stop in Delhi to see Gundeep Sachdev, head of the kalmstrom.com partner TimeRewards.

Last time Peter went to India it was for a wedding in November 2010. kalmstrom.com Lead Developer Jayant Rimza got married, and the celebrations and festivities were a great experience for Peter. This time will be different ‒ all work and education!

Since last year we have employed several young, talented technicians, and now Peter will take the opportunity do teach them the latest specialties needed for development of the kalmstrom.com Office and SharePoint applications.

Siret Toots will go with Peter to India, and while Peter and the developers are studying she will go around looking at offices. She has already begun preparing this with photos, floor plans and maps, to select the ones that are most interesting to kalmstrom.com. We hope to find a really good new office for our growing team, a place that has room for some more people also!

There will of course be time for getting together in a more relaxed way too, and both Siret and Peter are looking forward to meeting the Indian staff "live" and getting to know them better.

kalmstrom.com On Site For Sweden's Biggest Harvest Festival

Today is the most important day of the year on the island where kalmstrom.com Business Solutions has its head office. It is "Ölands Skördefest", Sweden's biggest harvest festival. People and organizations from the whole island are engaged in the preparations, and we receive visitors not only from the rest of Sweden but also from Denmark, Germany and other countries close by. There is a lot of art, handicraft, food and music, and then best is that everything is high quality. No knick-knacks!

Sigge and I are of course participating, so we will not work much this Friday. The rest of the kalmstrom.com team will be online as usual though, so I don't think work will be suffering. And Monday we will be back again, ready to assist you and answer whatever questions you might have!