SharePoint Daily for November 11, 2008

Top News Stories
Microsoft Slashes Visual Studio Prices for 2010 Sign-ups (The Register)
Microsoft is today expected to unveil deep discounts along with features for Visual Studio 2010 to encourage uptake and ease the headache of rolling out applications for different flavors of Office. The company will reveal tools it said would let you deploy applications to different versions of Office running on 32- and 64-bit platforms using a single package.

Microsoft Continues to Delight Developers (eWeek)
At its Microsoft TechEd EMEA 2008 Developers conference, the software giant introduces a series of new features coming in Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4.0, including support for Windows 7. Microsoft also announced a new price promotion for Visual Studio 2008 to give developers access to Microsoft’s flagship tools solution at a reduced price in the struggling economy. In addition, Microsoft announced the release of its Security Development Lifecycle offerings.

Study: SharePoint, Lotus in for Long Collaboration Fight (PC World)
Microsoft and IBM have been duking it out over e-mail and messaging software for years with their respective Outlook/Exchange and Lotus Notes/Domino products. As their product lines have evolved, however, a new fight is brewing between Lotus and Microsoft's SharePoint Server as the platform of choice for enterprise collaboration strategy.

Security: Are You Comfortable Sharing Your Information With ‘The Cloud’? (IntoMobile)
There is a growing trend, which you might have noticed (would be hard not to!), for companies to offer ‘cloud computing’ services – Google have been there for a while, Apple recently relaunched theirs, and Microsoft have now put their play out there too. And that is just the big three, as opposed to the hundreds and thousands of niche services that exist too…

Cutting The Digital Fat (InformationWeek)
Unnecessary copies and older versions of documents clog up employee hard drives and make discovery exercises longer and more expensive. One vendor's software aims to help companies get smarter -- and more aggressive -- about deleting digital fat.

Live Mesh or Windows Azure? (Sys-Con)
One of the biggest problems about this year's PDC is the sheer volume of new stuff that has been unleashed upon us. Some clickbaiters like Joe Wilcox are in "Bash Microsoft" mode and are calling the Azure platform "vaporware" (yes, despite the fact that we've been able to actually build AND DEPLOY Azure apps since Tuesday), but a lot of people have genuine concerns like "What's the difference between all these new cloud stacks?!?"

Cloud Computing Isn't For Everyone (Forbes)
The idea of handing over the keys to corporate data sounded almost ludicrous when it was first proposed several years ago. Since then, big companies like IBM, Salesforce.com and Amazon have jumped on the bandwagon and all are pitching cloud computing solutions. With giants like that behind it, surely it can't be all bad, right?

Microsoft Opts for Windows 7 for Next Embedded Release (Vnunet)
Microsoft has confirmed that the next version of Windows Embedded will be built on Windows 7. Codenamed Quebec, the platform will include Silverlight 2 and Windows Presentation Foundation, and will be compatible with Visual Studio 2010 to support connected devices requiring rich applications and access to web-based services.

Bamboo Solutions Announces One-Year Anniversary of Partner Advantage(TM) Program With the Signing of Their 100th New Partner (MarketWatch)
Bamboo Solutions, a leading provider of products that enhance Microsoft SharePoint, today announced the one-year anniversary of its Partner Advantage Program with the signing of their 100th partner, Sunnyside Consulting, a SharePoint consulting firm headquartered in the UK. Over the last 12 months Bamboo has expanded its network of domestic and international hosting, solution, training and consulting partners to cost effectively help companies implement and enhance solutions built upon Microsoft SharePoint.

Around the Blogosphere
SharePoint's CCIE - The SharePoint Master Certification Announced (SharePoint Joel's SharePoint Land)
Today in a post under the fold, the SharePoint team announced that the SharePoint certification was going to the next level.  A new Master Certification program which helps prove your *real* skills and depth.  (You may have heard about this for SQL, Exchange, AD, etc...)  For the SharePoint master program the prerequesites include both Configuring exams and both Dev Exams for WSS and SharePoint Server.  Not only that, but prior experience in either SPS 2003 or CMS 2003 with infrastructure and custom development.  That really narrows the field...  Still interested in proving you know your stuff?  How about $18,500USD on the table for a 3 week course and a board certification.  Pretty wild stuff!

OpenSource SharePoint? (Novotronix)
I was wondering the other day if it was possible to run SharePoint on a Linux server. Many clients run Linux based servers just to reduce their initial costs. It would prove beneficial if there was a way to run SharePoint services on Linux. I have always been intrigued with the Mono project which tries to implement the .NET framework for Linux. Originally an open source community initiative it was later taken over by Novell who still continue to support its development.

Many Ways to Make Your SharePoint Implementation More Graphical and Visually Interesting Without Voiding Your Warranty or Writing Any Code (A Matter Of Degree)
In May 2008, I posted "Five ways to make your SharePoint implementation more visually interesting without writing any code." Since then, clients have continued to ask how to "jazz up" their SharePoint implementations, and I have learned additional ways to achieve this. Below are some of the tips from my original post, with a lot of new material. (Note: Some of these suggestions work for MOSS only, not WSS. Also, you will need web server administrator and/or "full control" permissions in your portal to perform some of these customizations).

Introducing the Microsoft Certified Master and Certified Architect for SharePoint (Microsoft SharePoint Team Blog)
Last week at IT Forum in Barcelona, we announced the Microsoft Certified Master (MCM) for Office SharePoint Server 2007 and the Microsoft Certified Architect (MCA) for Office SharePoint Server 2007.

Report Builder 2.0 Available for Download (WorkerThread Blog)
If you are using or trying out SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services, you may have noticed that clicking on the “Report Builder” link on the Report Manager toolbar in Internet Explorer still opens up the old “ClickOnce” report builder tool originally supplied with Reporting Services 2005.

SharePoint 2007 Design Tip: Top Toolbar Display in Firefox (Heather Solomon)
If you are working with SharePoint in Firefox, the top toolbar (Welcome menu, My Site, My Links) may not display correctly. Click here for a screenshot.

Visual Studio 2010 Tools for SharePoint Announced at TechEd EMEA Developers 2008 (Paul Andrew)
I’m here at TechEd EMEA in Barcelona, Spain and Jason Zander (General Manager for Visual Studio) has just finished presenting the keynote. In the keynote he announced and did a demo of the Visual Studio 2010 tools for SharePoint. Here’s a quick summary of the new tooling for SharePoint that he showed:

High Priority, Deal Breaking Issues (EndUser SharePoint)
When working on a project, is everything a ‘deal breaker’ that must be done right now? For the person requesting the scope change or addition to the spec, it probably feels that way, but in reality, for the general well being of the project, it probably isn’t. High Priority issues are real deal breakers: if this doesn’t get done NOW, the project stops. That’s a deal breaker.

SharePoint Features & Solutions Management -- Don't Forget the U in CRUD (or the D for that Matter) (Paul Galvin)
We collectively spend a great deal of time thinking about SharePoint solutions -- how to create them, which tool to use, what happens when they fail to deploy, timer jobs, scopes, etc.  We spend so much time thinking about the up-front bits that it's easy to forget that we need to retract them as well.  Retracting solutions is probably more difficult, from a conceptual design perspective, than deploying them.  Deployment is basically a cookbook affair.  Typically, install a feature, maybe have a feature receiver load some data into a list, that sort of thing.  However, retracting is potentially more complex.

Microsoft User Research Group Looking for SharePoint Users (Microsoft SharePoint Team Blog)
Last week, the Microsoft User Research team reached out to me regarding a set of studies they were planning to execute in the upcoming months.  In a nutshell, the team focuses on how people interact with hardware and software products; and then the information and feedback gathered is translated directly into product improvements.  For their next series of studies, they are looking for individuals who use SharePoint at least once a week.

SharePoint 2007 Design Tip: Gantt View With Custom Master Pages (Heather Solomon)
I recently discovered that your custom master page may affect the Gantt view of a SharePoint list.  I have seen the colored task bars extend past the framed container of the chart when a custom master page and CSS is applied to the site.  If this happens to you, you can try the following:

2008-11-10 Monday Tips for SharePoint End Users (EndUser SharePoint)
It’s Monday, November 10th and here’s your daily dose of SharePoint for End Users…

Around Bamboo Nation
This Week in Bamboo (Nov 2nd - Nov 8th) (The Bamboo Team Blog)
This week Bamboo Solutions launched two major products (MashPoint and SharePoint Navigators) as well as released many additional patches.

Microsoft Updates
The "Check Names" button does not work as expected after you set a "Peoplepicker-searchadcustomfilter" LDAP filter in a Windows Consider the following scenario: SharePoint Services 3.0 site - Microsoft Knowledge Base Article (KBAlertz)
You set a "Peoplepicker-searchadcustomfilter" LDAP filter in a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 site. For example, you set the following LDAP filter.

The index is corrupted when the SharePoint Server 2007 index server experiences power failure or restarts unexpectedly - Microsoft Knowledge Base Article (KBAlertz)
When the Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 index server experiences power failure or restarts unexpectedly, the index is corrupted.

Security trimming is not honored when more than one List View Web Part is displayed on the same page in a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 site - Microsoft Knowledge Base Article (KBAlertz)
If a page in a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 site contains more than one List View Web Part, and if the total number of uniquely secured items from these lists is larger than 1,000, security trimming is not honored in one or more of these Web Parts.

SharePoint Events
November 3-7 and 10-14, Barcelona, Spain, Microsoft TechEd
November 10-13, Las Vegas, Nevada, SharePoint Connections Conference
November 11, Live, Online, EndUser SharePoint's Create a Master Calendar in SharePoint
November 11, Southfield, Michigan, Southeastern Michigan SharePoint User's Group
November 11, St. Louis, Missouri, St. Louis Sharepoint Users Group
November 12, Bloomington, Minnesota, Minnesota SharePoint User Group
November 12, Bryanston, South Africa, Information Worker
November 12, Colorado Springs, Colorado, Colorado Springs SharePoint User Group
November 12, Huntsville, Alabama, MOSSMosis Huntsville
November 12, Online, SharePoint Project Management Webinar
November 12, Online, SharePoint Administration Webinar
November 13, Atlanta, Georgia, MOSSmosis Atlanta
November 13, Online, Bamboo Recent Product Releases
November 13, Puget Sound, Washington, Puget Sound SharePoint Users Group
November 13, Reston, Virginia, SharePoint User Group of the District of Columbia
November 13, San Francisco, California, San Fransico SharePoint Users Group
November 15-16, Sydney, Australia, Office DevCon
November 18, Adelaide, Australia, Adelaide SharePoint Usergroup
November 18, Irving, Texas, DFW SharePoint Server Community
November 18, Sydney, Australia, Sydney SharePoint User Group
November 19, Cleveland, Ohio, Cleveland SharePoint User Group
November 19, Iselin, New Jersey, NJ SharePoint User Group
November 19, Online, SharePoint Project Management Webinar
November 19, Online, SharePoint Administration Webinar
November 19, Roanoke, Virginia, Roanoke Valley SharePoint Users Group
November 20, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, Bay of Plenty User Group
November 20, Columbus, Ohio, Central Ohio SharePoint User Group
November 20, Evansville, Indiana, Evansville Indiana's SharePoint Group
November 20, Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville Office Geeks
November 20, Louisville, Kentucky, Kentucky SharePoint Users Group
November 20, Phoenix, Arizona, Arizona SharePoint Professionals Group
November 20, Raleigh, North Carolina, Raleigh SharePoint Users Group
November 20, Virginia Beach, Virginia, Hampton Roads SQL Server and SharePoint User Group
November 22, Baltimore, Maryland, Baltimore SharePoint User Group Code Camp
November 25, Christchurch, New Zealand, Christchurch SharePoint User Group
November 25, London, England, SharePoint User Group UK
November 26, Melbourne, Australia, Microsoft Office System Special Interest Group

December 2, Chicago, Illinois, The Chicago Microsoft SharePoint Business Strategies Group
December 2, Grand Rapids, Michigan, West Michigan SharePoint User Group
December 2, Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville SharePoint Users Group
December 2, San Diego, California, San Diego .NET Developers Group Meeting
December 3, Online, SharePoint Project Management Webinar
December 3, Online, SharePoint Administration Webinar
December 4, Kansas City, Kansas, Kansas City Office Geeks
December 4, Online, Bamboo Recent Product Releases
December 9, Tampa, Florida, TOGA User Group Meeting
December 10, Online, SharePoint Project Management Webinar
December 10, Online, SharePoint Administration Webinar
December 18, Online, Bamboo Recent Product Releases

January 27-29, San Francisco, California, SPTechCon

February 2-4, San Diego, California, SharePoint Best Practices Conference

* Please contact Chris Dooley (chris.dooley@bamboosolutions.com) to include your event in our listing.

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