Randy Walker's thoughts, stories and ideas. President of Harvest Data Corp, Microsoft MVP award winner, ASP Insider and tech enthusiast
The MSDN Flash e-Newsletter has been updated with a reorganization of the way it is laid out. One of the most surprising things was a familiar mug at the top of the page featuring Zain Naboulsi, our MSDN and X-Box Evangelist for our area. Congratz on the feature Zain!
It was terrific seeing the User Group section being second on the list, which will hopefully drive more people to attending our events.
You can register for the newsletter here.
A big thanks goes out to Chris Koenig and the Tulsa DNUG for hosting the Tulsa InstallFest on 12/3/2007. Several of us from Northwest Arkansas .Net User Group traveled over there and participated in the fun. A big shoutout to Jay Smith for volunteering and driving us over there.
Both Jay and I helped Chris register people for the event and I enjoyed getting to see some people I haven’t seen in a while from the Tulsa DNUG.
Whatever Chris Koenig says about his drumming skills in Rock Band, DON’T BELIEVE HIM! He definitely showed me up.
Important Links:
Chris’s blog posting on the event: http://blogs.msdn.com/chkoenig/archive/2007/12/04/tulsa-installfest-was-awesome.aspx
Jay’s blog posting on the event: http://www.jaysmith.us/Home/tabid/101/EntryID/43/Default.aspx
Tulsa DNUG: www.tulsadnug.org
NWA DNUG: www.nwadnug.org
Thanks to Buddy Lindsey for taking Pictures: http://buddylindsey.com/Blog/post/2007/12/Installfest-Tulsa.aspx
Note that the registration site to get your free Visual Studio 2008 Pro license won’t be up until 12/12/07 per Chris’s blog posting.
Of the many things developers must be careful of, you would least expect sales tax to be one of them. One of the first things I researched when starting my company was sales tax. Each state is different. Let me repeat myself, each state is different! However, the following is my interpretation of how the Arkansas Sales Tax applies to developers in the state of Arkansas.
According to the document I just received in the mail it says, “if your business makes a retail sale of property and delivers the tangible property through common carrier, your truck, mail, or by any other shipping or delivery method to your customer”. Later it says, “The terms ‘receive’ and ‘receipt’ mean taking possession of tangible personal property or making first use of services.”
My interpretation (which should not be authoritative in any way) takes the following away: if you write a program and deliver the source code via a CD or other media through the mail, you must charge sales tax. However, if you deliver it through e-mail, or other network method, no sales tax should be charged. So, if you deliver your source code first through the Internet, then send a backup copy via snail mail or carrier, you should be alright.
If you’re selling licensed software, send the key or installable software through the Internet first. Because if you send anything through the mail or carrier first, more than likely you should charge sales tax.
I’d be curious to know how other states deal with sales tax, so please post back your comments.
Microsoft has again offered their Second Shot program. They do it pretty often so keep an eye out.
The details of the program are to register on their website before taking your exam. Once you take the exam, should you fail, you can take the exam again for free.
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/offers/secondshot/default.mspx
I received this in the Microsoft Partner e-Newsletter:
Save 50% on a Partner Telesales Service Campaign
Are you a Gold or Certified ISV partner with an application that runs on Microsoft SQL Server 2005 or with a security, management, or virtualization solution, running on the latest commercially available version of Microsoft products? If so, we have a great opportunity for you save 50 percent off of the regular list price of $8,600 for a Partner Telesales service campaign. This special, limited time offer is only available to the first 120 partners who respond and agree to the campaign terms. Email us today
I was one of the lucky few who received one of these campaigns for free from Microsoft for being one of the first to sign up for a special program. While it has yet to generate any sales, the community talk about it plus the sales lead list was immensely valuable. I had lunch with someone the other day who kept hearing good things about my company that she wanted to follow up with us. Probably the most valuable thing it gave me was implanting potential customers with my company’s name so when they are ready to look for a solution, they’ll remember me. The $4300 is well worth it.