Estimated Time To Read This: 2 – 3 minutes       Yesterday Steve Jobs passed away and left a void in this world. He was a true visionary who had an uncanny ability to see into the future and create products that everyone else copied. In his address to Stanford University in 2005 Steve Jobs talked about his love of calligraphy and typography. He found it fascinating but at the time he did not know of any practical application for what he learned however when he was designing the Macintosh computer 10 years later ... Read More

Estimated Time To Read This: 2 – 3 minutes       Yesterday in Toronto CoreSolutions co-hosted a FileMaker Go briefing with FileMaker, Inc. I would like to say thank you to Keith Robinson, Mia Roop, and in particular Matt O’Dell who had a splendid presentation and gave us a thorough demonstration of many of the features of FileMaker Go. Thank you also to our own Steve Hearn, who developed a FileMaker Go ‘Sales Module’ that we demonstrated at the event. During the session attendees saw how other ... Read More

Estimated Time To Read This: 2 – 3 minutes       This is a joint FileMaker Inc. and CoreSolutions Presentation. Please note that this presentation is intended for END USERS On Tuesday, September 13, join us for a FREE presentation hosted by FileMaker Inc. Attend this information-packed seminar and learn all about the new FileMaker Go from FileMaker, Inc. FileMaker Go for iPhone and FileMaker Go for iPad are the two new apps that allow you to view, edit, and search for FileMaker Pro records on your iPhone or ... Read More

Estimated Time To Read This: 2 – 3 minutes       We recently attended the Desire2Learn Fusion 2011 conference in the ‘Mile High City” of Denver, Colorado. D2L are a very successful company that delivers eLearning solutions to academic and other leading organizations worldwide. Fusion is the D2L Users’ Conference which is held every July. This year D2L had a record attendance with over 850 attendees representing 212 institutions, 8 countries, 30 states and 8 provinces. I’d say that’s quite ... Read More

Estimated Time To Read This: 2 – 4 minutes       I realize this post is a bit late (sorry Mr. Marketing Coordinator Kyle!) but I wanted to take a few moments and let you know about our recent visit to the ECNO conference at the end of May. Our CEO Barney Lawn and I attended and I think he won’t mind me saying that it was very worthwhile. ECNO is the Educational Computing Network of Ontario and they are a fine group of people – even if I do say so myself.  A non-profit co-operative that can boast 66 ... Read More

Estimated Time To Read This: 2 minutes       I’ve had a Twitter account (@barney_lawn) for some time now but in all honestly I’ve hardly used it. I guess I’ve been one of those people sitting on the fence wondering what I’m going to say, why would people want to listen to me, and more importantly, what the value is in participating in this form of social media. It wasn’t until I attended a couple of conferences recently that the answers became very clear and I finally realized how valuable a tool ... Read More

Estimated Time To Read This: 2 – 3 minutes       Having been in business for 21 years, the school of hard knocks has taught me more than a few things. One of the most important lessons I’ve learned is that anybody can beat you on price but not everyone can beat you on value. Changing your price to be cheaper than your competitor is easy to do, but it’s a practice usually followed by large organizations that sell huge volumes of goods. For many types of companies, competing on price alone can be a dangerous ... Read More

Estimated Time To Read This: 2 – 3 minutes       Now I know you summer fans will not like me saying this, but it’s around the corner and we can’t ignore it– fall is coming. While many think spring is the time for renewal and change, I also consider fall to be the start of something new. Kids go back to school, summer holidays are over, and a regular work schedule returns (says the one who enjoyed an extended European holiday in August). With this new season fast approaching, I figured it would ... Read More

Estimated Time To Read This: 1 – 2 minutes       People often interchange price and cost, but it’s important to recognize the significant difference between the two. Remember the old adage, “Beware the cost of the lowest price”? Well, it rings true. Just because a product is less expensive than its competitors’, doesn’t mean you (or your business) save money in the long run. Sometimes, perhaps most times, you end up spending more in part because of time and efficiency lost to a mediocre product. Or, ... Read More

Estimated Time To Read This: 2 – 4 minutes       Since the release of the iPad in the US on April 3, 2010, Apple has sold over 2 million units. That’s pretty impressive. The release of most new Apple products, especially one as sleek and sexy as the iPad, always causes excitement and sensation spurred on by the Apple faithful that’s the envy of most other companies. Lots of content has already been written about the iPad and there is certainly no shortage of expert opinions and forecasts. Some experts ... Read More

Estimated Time To Read This: 3 – 4 minutes       Recently I attended two events that together reaffirmed for me the recipe for success in leading a successful business or any organization for that matter. Assuming you have a great product or service to begin with, what is the alluring recipe for success? It’s simple, “Surround yourself with good people and make sure they are all singing from the same hymn sheet”. In my last blog on April 15 I spoke about the importance of everyone in an organization ... Read More

Estimated Time To Read This: 2 – 4 minutes       Welcome to my first blog and our new and much improved web site. I have to admit this is new ground for me and you need to know right now that writing is not a skill that comes naturally to me. Not everyone is a natural born writer and for me, I have to work hard at it, the words don’t always come easily. Having said that I do enjoy writing and the best part is when I’m finished and reviewing the final piece. Now that I’ve been brutally honest let’s get ... Read More

Estimated Time To Read This: 2 – 4 minutes       There is no doubt in my mind that FileMaker 7 represents the most significant software release in the entire history of the product. FileMaker, Inc. has done an excellent job in retaining the ease of usability while also providing developers with a very rich feature set. However, the change in architecture between prior versions and FileMaker 7 is not without challenges and opportunities. To coincide with the ... Read More