Watched a group of out-of-town high school students in Manhattan. I concluded that, especially the girls with their wildly or partially shaved and colored hair, the tourists now look more bizarre than the street people. ... I am happy to see New  Yorkers are proud of their heritage. I saw plaque stating “On this day in 1663, in what was the New Amsterdam, the first known pan handler asked someone for change to get back to New Jersey.” Unfortunately, the panhandler spoke in English and the other person Dutch.… When somebody told me the state was having a sales tax holiday.

Showing that co-opetition is alive and well in the software market, Acumatica has introduced a content pack for Microsoft's Power BI. Acumatica more than debuted the content pack; the company was on stage at Build, Microsoft's annual developer conference. Microsoft describes Power BI, introduced this year, this way: "Power BI is a cloud service that lets you share, collaborate and access your Excel reports anywhere on any device." Acumatica said it would release the Acumatica Content Pack for Power BI "soon".

Gravity Software, headed by veteran reseller John Silvani, has launched its web-based accounting software. The application is targeted at a treacherous part of the market, the gap between QuickBooks and Dynamics GP. Silvani was formerly the owner of First Tech Direct, which he sold to Danish reseller Columbus in 2012. Written on Dynamics CRM, Gravity's cloud product is out the door with GL, AR, and AP. Inventory is expected to be released in the fall. The company is creating a channel in which it intends to enlist accountants, but as agents, not as resellers.

Blackbaud CEO Mike Gianoni earned $4.8 million in 2014 as the executive completed his first full year with the Charleston-S.C.-based nonprofit software vendor. The biggest portion of Gianoni's compensation came via a stock award valued at $2.6 million. Gianoni, hired in November 2013, also received a bonus of $864,277 to offset a lost bonus and equity at his prior job and to assist with relocation. CFO Tony Boor was paid $1.33 million last year, down from $1.35 million in 2013.