SharePoint

Inaugural Richmond SharePoint User Group Meeting

Frank — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 17:07:00 GMT

Congratulations to former co-worker Tim Yagla for starting the newest user group in Richmond: the Richmond SharePoint User Group.

Details below:

This is your invitation to the inaugural meeting of the Richmond SharePoint User Group! Due to the overwhelming demand by customers in the Richmond and Central Virginia areas, we will be holding regular meetings to present and share information about SharePoint products and technologies.
The first meeting is scheduled for Thursday, March 27^th from 6 - 8:30pm at the Markel RE Building in Innsbrook.
Our speaker for this meeting is Tamir Orbach, Enterprise Search Specialist from Microsoft. Tamir will cover topics related to SharePoint and search as well as the many changes that are forthcoming in the products.
We will give away several prizes including books, software, and virtual disk sets that contain MOSS training. There's plenty to go around! Pizza and beverages will be provided as well.
If you can come, please RSVP here so we can get an accurate count of attendees.

The developer community in Richmond just keeps getting stronger. :)

Technorati Tags: Tim Yagla,Richmond,RichmondVA,Developer Community,SharePoint

Silverlight + SharePoint = Business Value

Frank — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 15:23:00 GMT

Silverlight BluePrint will add the power of Rich Internet Applications to the typically dry SharePoint world.

"As enterprises are looking at the consumerization of IT, the things they see outside the enterprise, they want in-house," Rob Curry, a director of SharePoint for Microsoft, said in an interview. "They still want the ability to manage and archive the content, but they want that rich user experience and this allows that to happen."
The sample code Microsoft is releasing later this week, Silverlight Blueprint for SharePoint, includes sample Web parts, which are like widgets for SharePoint sites. Those include a sample active directory look-up app, a picture viewer, and an app that could be used to view e-learning videos, as well as some controls. Microsoft anticipates companies might use Silverlight for other rich media needs such as business intelligence visualizations.
The Silverlight Blueprint will become available on Wednesday, when Microsoft may also announce the first beta version of Silverlight 2.0 at the company's MIX conference. Silverlight 2.0 includes a trimmed down version of the .Net Framework, so Microsoft anticipates developers should be able to create a wide variety of Web applications to run on Silverlight.

Technorati Tags: Silverlight,SharePoint,BluePrint,Silverlight BluePrint

The Front Page Pub

Frank — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 20:56:00 GMT

Ever wonder where designers who aren't cool enough to use Dreamweaver hang out?

The real question is: will the pub change its name to "The SharePoint Designer Bar & Grill"

[found via Lorenzo Barbieri]

Technorati tags: SharePoint, Humor, FrontPage

Upcoming SharePoint 2007 Webcasts

Frank — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 15:28:00 GMT

Here is a thorough list of upcoming SharePoint 2007 Webcasts coming up.

Found via Russ Stalters Blog

Plan and deploy search across the enterprise

14th Feb: Webcast 1: Microsoft Search Solutions for the Enterprise – Technical Overview
21st Feb: Webcast 2: Microsoft Search Solutions for the Enterprise – Security, Performance and Compliance Considerations
Webcast 3: Planning for and Deploying Search in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (28th feb)

Install and configure Microsoft search solutions

7th Mar: Webcast 4: Installing and configuring Desktop Search in the Enterprise
14th Mar: Webcast 5: Installing and configuring basic search with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server for Search 2007 (Search-only SKU)
21st Mar: Webcast 6: Installing and configuring search in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007

Extend the search capabilities of Microsoft search solutions

28th Mar: Extending search in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007: Exposing line-of-business data with the Business Data Catalog
4th Apr: Extending search in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007: Exposing data sources using the SharePoint Protocol Handler architecture

Technorati tags: SharePoint Development, SharePoint 2007, MOSS 2007, Web Casts, Microsoft, Office 2007, Sharepoint 3.0, SharePoint

Free Online SharePoint 2007 Clinic

Frank — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 12:50:00 GMT

Found via MSDN, an online clinic covering how to develop solutions for SharePoint 2007.

Free Clinic: Develop Solutions Using Windows SharePoint Services 3.0
This free clinic covers Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 platform features, how to build and extend SharePoint Sites, and deployment options.

Technorati tags: MSDN, SharePoint 2007, SharePoint Development, Microsoft, SharePoint 3.0

The End of Free Beta Software?

Frank — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 14:31:00 GMT

Starting August 2nd, Microsoft will start charging users $1.50 to download the beta version of Office 2007.

Demand for the Office 2007 has been strong --many times over what Microsoft expected.

Accordingly, their network infrastructure has had to keep up.

Now the plan is to use the fee to recoup some of the costs.

I don't like the idea of paying for beta software -- it just seems wrong to me.

Sure, it's only $1.50 today, but once this door opens, it may never shut again.

And, while I do understand the expense of handling the extra load, Microsoft isn't exactly cash-strapped and the public knows it.

This could be a public relations debacle.

Tags: Office 2007 SharePoint 2007 Beta Microsoft Download Fee

Developer Improvements in SharePoint 2007

Frank — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 11:25:00 GMT

Russ Stalters points out this great article on MSDN titled “Discover Significant Improvements in SharePoint Services” by Ted Pattision.

In my last job, I sat across from an occasionally frustrated SharePoint 2003 developer.

After having seen his trials and tribulations with WSS 2.0, I am quite delighted to see the improvements made in SharePoint 2007.

I think a lot of developers will be pleased with the new version.

Tags: SharePoint Office 2007 SharePoint 2007 Developer

More SharePoint 2007 Training Resources

Frank — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 10:42:00 GMT

Arpan Shah has compiled a task list for development teams that want to get up to speed with SharePoint 2007.

Tags: SharePoint Office 2007 SharePoint 2007 Developer Training

SharePoint and Web Services

Frank — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 16:47:00 GMT

Today, I learned that you can communicate with SharePoint via Web Services, as SharePoint has a series of web service methods exposed.

On an architectural level, that makes SharePoint SOA compliant.

In practical terms, it means that you can leverage the power of SharePoint without actually using SharePoint.

You could conceivably use the Lists and Document Management features of WSS (Windows SharePoint Services) from another web site, Smart Client app, or, even a mobile device.

It may not be news to the SharePoint elite, but I'm excited because I learned something new today.

Tags: SharePoint Office 2007 SharePoint 2007 Web Service SOA Smart Client Mobile WSS

Free SharePoint 2007 Training Materials

Frank — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 16:27:00 GMT

Eli Robillard points out

When SharePoint 2003 was released, the biggest gripe of its champions was the the near-total lack of documentation. With MOSS 2007 we're just on Beta 2 and Microsoft already has a wealth of developer documentation, online training, and Virtual Labs.

It's good to see Microsoft on the ball this time when it comes to SharePoint.

The biggest obstacle to deployment of SharePoint 2003 is the lack of SharePoint savvy talent.

In fact, I've heard that some projects are being put on hold due to the shortage of SharePoint professionals.

Take a look at the following links Eli singled out and become an elite SharePoint 2007 expert.

Tags: SharePoint Office 2007 SharePoint 2007 Developer Free Training Virtual Labs