Pete's Blog

Spread 8 COM With XLSX (Excel 2007 support) Released!

2009-05-07T18:47:00Z

This is ready for all Spread 8 customers to download now! Here is the link:

http://www.clubfarpoint.com/FarPointSupportSite/Modules/Download/updates.aspx

For those of you who have been waiting to upgrade to Spread 8 we are open for business so please give us a call: 919-460-4551 or if you would like to download a trial first here is the link:

http://www.clubfarpoint.com/FarPointSupportSite/Modules/Download/trials.aspx?pcode=spread

Thanks,

Pete

New Training Dates for 2009

2009-04-01T15:19:00Z

Hello! I am happy to announce that our training guru, Mr. Microsoft MVP himself Jim Duffy has posted the training dates for 2009!

Feel free to go to his website www.takenote.com and find out when you or your team can take a training class and become an expert in our .Spread for Windows and/or Spread for ASP.NET spreadsheets!

Last year we only had one class but man was it popular and effective! This year we have multiple dates to choose from. Jim will also come to your company if you are interested so feel free to ask him!

If the following quote from Dan Grider at Finsh Line does not get you interested, I do not what will!

"Jim Duffy breaks FarPoint Spread down and shows you how this object's feature set can be implemented to enhance what you're currently doing with

datagrids. Remember, it's not a grid...it's a spread.  I really didn't understand until I saw the many options and flexibility the FarPoint Grid has to offer.

Thoroughly enjoyed this class!"

Customer #1-Dan Mathson

2008-07-10T20:50:00Z

Hello! Following up to my post on June 17th regarding our desire to have happy customers presenting our components at their User Groups, I wanted to take a minute to shout out a BIG thanks to Dan Mathson. Dan is a pleased FarPoint Spread for ASP.NET user who will presenting at his ASP.NET User Group on July 15th. Here is some information:

Meeting Information
When:	3rd Tues. of mo., 6:00pm - 9pm (regular meetings)
Where:	Microsoft SoCal Office 9255 Towne Centre Drive, 4th Floor, San Diego, CA 92121 Map to Microsoft Office Parking Instructions
All meetings are free. Everyone is welcome. Next meeting July 15th, 2008. Click here to view details. Dan will be raffling off a couple of copies of our ASP.NET software as a special bonus to his presentation. Thanks Dan and my only question to all of you is....Who wants to be next?

Interested? Contact me! petew@fpoint.com

Pete Willis

FarPoint, INETA and An Offer to Happy Customers

2008-06-17T17:24:00Z

I am excited to report that we had a great Tech Ed 2008! One of the highlights was co-sponsoring the “INETA Mini-Summit” the day prior to the official start of the show. For those of you not familiar with INETA here is their website: http://www.ineta.org/default.aspx.

Essentially, INETA is responsible for working with .NET user groups all over the world. They spend time and money making sure that the user group members get the most out of their community through innovative speakers and events. I highly recommend that if you are not a member of your local user group you look into attending a meeting. FarPoint has compiled a list of user groups here:

http://www.clubfarpoint.com/FarPointSupportSite/Modules/Resources/usergroups.aspx

The Mini-Summit brought together user group leaders from around the United States (about 50 total) and centered around large and small group discussions regarding how to make the .NET community better. During one of our large group discussions the fearless leader Rob Zelt posed a question to me regarding how a vendor looks to get involved with a user group. Never one to shy away from giving my opinion or the limelight, I shared with the group that our number one priority is NOT to just write a check. We want to be involved in supporting the .NET community through innovative ways. The question I posed back was how do we do that?

Although all the feedback was positive the best idea to come from this discussion was that FarPoint needs to work with our happy customers and see if they would be willing to present one of our products at their local user group meeting. As one user group president put it, “I would much rather have a representative of MY community present your product than have a person from your company come and give me a pitch”. Wow! What an idea!

Ironically within 5 minutes of this discussion, loyal customer Dan Mathson from the San Diego ASP.NET User Group sent an email to me and said he was going to be presenting his application made with our Spread for ASP.NET at his July meeting. Way to go Dan! I also heard from David Hockenberry, President of the Western New York .NET User Group, who said he may have a member willing to present as well. That would rock Dave! The question in this…..Are you so happy with the application you built that you would like to be a presenter at your user group? Would you like to be the next to step up? If so, please email me (petew@fpoint.com) and I will work with you to attempt to make this happen and share with you some of the FarPoint perks you get for doing this! More to come!