I Need Coffee - Episode 187 - Weekly BC Review!

Show Notes: Episode 187 - I Need Coffee (oct 31, 2025)

1. Personal / Life Updates
   - Persistent cold, late start, brewing coffee
   - Rotated 18-month-old generator gasoline (10 gallons)
   - Homemade “Zante bowls” (rice-beans-tofu bowls)
   - Replaced/filled tiki torches for Halloween party
   - Visited first ERP client/mentor (1996) who now has early Alzheimer’s

2. Hardware & Power-Saving Obsession
   - LA electricity prices insane (~33–55 ¢/kWh, bill up 63% in 4 yrs)
   - Switched 24/7 servers to Lenovo M910Q Tiny PCs
     - Ubuntu Server idle: 3.6–4.4 W (!)
     - Windows 11 idle: 9–10 W
   - Entire “data center” (3 servers + NAS) now <20 W

3. Linux Desktop vs Windows Reality Check
   - Tried Linux desktop again → quickly remembered why he doesn’t use it
   - Deep Microsoft 365 ecosystem (Excel, Word, OneNote, Outlook, Teams, Snagit, etc.) simply doesn’t work well on Linux
   - “You should use Linux” crowd ignores the “you” part (Lamborghini SVJ vs family minivan analogy)

4. Open-Source Realities
   - Comic about endless unpaid feature requests = open-source life
   - Customer asked detailed security questions about 2012 closed-source GP ISV → ironic because open-source is now seen as higher risk by some auditors
   - Attended Directions webinar on BC open-source apps → cool but maintenance is a thankless job

5. Business & Project Updates
   - Building multiple custom file-import solutions (sales/purchase invoices, bank deposits, AR apply)
   - Customer on 15-year-old Dynamics GP10 waffling between upgrade vs BC
   - Teaching Franklin about proper Statements of Work, scope, exclusions, change management
   - Top practical PM practices he values: (1) crystal-clear scope, (2) budget tracking, (3) change management, (4) risk awareness (still figuring out how to formalize)

6. Microsoft Outages & Azure Front Door
   - Second major Azure Front Door global outage in a few weeks (90+ minutes for many BC tenants)
   - Front Door is marketed as high-availability but itself becomes single point of failure

7. AI & Development
   - Cursor released Composer v1 (very fast frontier coding model)
   - AI agent/MCP security nightmare is beginning (prompt injection, exfiltration, etc.)
   - OnePassword adding “agentic autofill” with human-in-the-loop (scary but at least trying)
   - Terminology chaos: agent vs persona vs MCP vs skill

8. Upcoming Conferences & Travel
   - Directions EMEA (Poland) next week
   - Partner in Vibe Conference – Jan 28-30, 2026, South Padre Island (Steve is going)
   - Directions NA – Apr 27-29, Orlando (call for speakers opens Nov 12)
   - DynamicsCon May 12-15, Las Vegas

9. El Salvador / Berlin Team Updates
   - Helping huge multinational GP customer whose entire IT is in El Salvador
   - Team bringing 500 ft Cat5e + rice cooker on next trip
   - Ronald finished 70-hour “Berlin English Academy – Call Center” program with certificates & Halloween party

10. Fun / Miscellaneous
    - Windows 11 tiny taskbar icons “feature”
    - Ridiculous BC admin job posting in Baton Rouge asking for one person to do 20 different senior roles
    - Mechanical keyboard rabbit hole → hot-swappable custom boards (drooling over retro ThinkPad-style board)
    - Family Halloween costumes & teenager’s party (Steve may be exiled from his own house)