SharePoint Daily for November 19, 2008

Top News Stories
SharePoint in 2008: The Next Steps (PCPro)
Microsoft SharePoint 2007 Products and Technologies are rapidly becoming an important part of the enterprise. Organizations continue to look for ways to extend the system to meet user demand and requirements. How well is SharePoint addressing maturing enterprise needs? What are the options that customers have when extending SharePoint services to customers, partners, and contractors?

Exchange Online, SharePoint Online Boon for Mid-sized Businesses (IT Business)
Budget-conscious mid-sized companies egging to build a data centre on the cheap stand to benefit from Microsoft's release on Monday of two hosted business productivity services.

Enterprises Must Consider The Broader SharePoint Ecosystem (ECM Connection)
SharePoint 2007 customers are increasingly turning to Microsoft partners to provide capabilities where the platform either lacks or underperforms, according to research undertaken by CMS Watch, a vendor-independent analyst firm that evaluates content technologies.

Bamboo OEMs Its MOSS Project Management Offering (CMSWire)
Bamboo Solutions dedicates itself to providing web parts and applications designed specifically to enrich the SharePoint platform. Just recently, we walked you through their Project Management Suite for SharePoint which offers things like a project management dashboard, team calendaring and alerting.

Microsoft Moves Closer to Cloud Computing (PCWorld)
The announcement by Microsoft Monday that it would sell online versions of its Exchange and SharePoint products to all its customers underscores the IT industry's shift towards cloud computing, where technology vendors host data on their own servers while customers access software through a Web-browser.

Vista Barely Capable (RedmondMag)
More developments in the Vista labeling debate. Plus, Microsoft brings Office to the iPhone, and SMBs get new servers.

5 Interesting Comments From Microsoft's Services Launch (ChannelWeb)
Microsoft's decision to move into the hosted business application space was understandably disquieting to some solution providers who, over the years, have grown healthy services revenue from deploying Exchange and SharePoint. That's a big reason why Stephen Elop, president of the Microsoft Business Division, has often emphasized that partners will continue to have revenue opportunities as Microsoft's Software Plus Services vision rolls forward, in areas like migration and customization.

Microsoft Slashes at Google Apps Price Point with Rapier of Granularity (eWeek)
Microsoft officials position the granular pricing in Microsoft Online Services as superior to Google's one-size-fits-all subscription fee for GAPE messaging and collaboration enterprise applications. GAPE is easily less expensive than Microsoft's offerings of Exchange Online and SharePoint Online, yet Microsoft's ability to let customers pick and choose apps with the familiar Exchange and SharePoint user interfaces may be appealing to customers new to cloud computing.

"Cloudworker" Replaces Obsolete "Telecommuter" to Describe People Who Work Beyond the Office (MarketWatch)
Plantronics, Inc. today announced that "cloudworker" won the nationwide Plantronics TeleWho? contest. The contest was created to coin a new, more accurate and relevant term for professionals who work beyond the office.

Computer Mouse an Endangered Species? (NewsDay)
The computer mouse may be an endangered species. Instead of rolling a mouse around to move a cursor around on the screen, more and more users will gesture with their fingers on touch screens and multi-touch trackpads, analysts say.

Windows 7, Undigested Red Meat, and a Delicate Sensibility (ZDNet)
Remember those “compare and contrast” assignments from high school? “Compare and contrast George Washington’s position on privateering with King George’s position on high seas piracy” (35 marks).” Fun, weren’t they? - and especially so if you didn’t really have a clear understanding of either position. In that same spirit of deeply confused inquiry, compare and contrast these two excerpts from other people’s blogs.

Around the Blogosphere
5 Ways SharePoint Changed the Rules of Web Development (meetdux)
“Changing the look and feel of an out of the box SharePoint site is just like customizing a regular website, right?” insisted a self-appointed web development guru that I had the pleasure of interacting with in a recent SharePoint implementation project. “Unfortunately, it’s not the same. You are comparing apples and dragonfruit (if you haven’t tried this fruit you have too!), my friend.” I responded.

Supported Browsers in SharePoint (Shared Points for SharePoint...)
From time to time questions about crossbrowser support comes up. The answers can be found at Technet under "Plan browser support".There is also a blog posting from the SharePoint team on the subject:

Microsoft Online Services/Live, the End of Hosting as We Know it? (zevenseas)
It is always funny to see how Microsoft has different strategies and that these strategies sometimes compete with each other. I’m trying to understand how all fits together and what you need as a company. If we look at the current SharePoint and SharePoint alike offerings there are a few options for you as a company:

Simple Data Access Pattern for SharePoint Lists (Chris O'Brien)
So, you're in the early stages of your project and coding has started. It's already becoming apparent that some abstraction is needed for accessing data in a few key lists, but you're not sure what. Of course there's no 'one-size-fits-all' answer to this question, but let's run through some options:

Part 2 of My Interview with the SharePoint Pod Show is Up (Andrew Connell)
Part 1 was posted back on October 27th... part 2 went up on November 16th. Enjoy!

Report on Which Web2.0 Technologies Work for the Enterprise (Clever Workarounds)
I thought that this article was topical given that I am writing on how organisational culture and behavioural style impacts the sorts of collaborative tools that individuals and organisations gravitate to and find useful.

Around Bamboo Nation
Create a New SharePoint Group, Part 2 of 2 (SharePoint Blank)
When we left off yesterday, we had just arrived at the (create a) New Group page, and were on the very cusp of beginning to make the series of decisions required to create a new SharePoint group.  Join me today as we step through those decisions together, and emerge victorious with the creation of a new SharePoint group.  Please hold your applause until the end.

Joel Oleson Steps Down from the Bamboo Technical Advisory Board (The Bamboo Team Blog)
For most of the past year, Bamboo Solutions has enjoyed a very special relationship with one of SharePoint's brightest stars, Joel Oleson.  As a member of our Technical Advisory Board, Joel reviewed and evaluated Bamboo products, shared his insights from the field, and authored blog posts and articles on Bamboo Nation.

Microsoft Updates
Watch This: Using Search in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS))
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 offers search features that can help users find relevant content and other people across their enterprise. The search features can help locate data stored in a variety of locations on a SharePoint site including lists, document libraries, and user-profile pages.

Work Offline With Tables that are Linked to SharePoint Lists (Microsoft Office Access)
You can use Microsoft Office Access 2007 to work offline with data that is linked to a list on a Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 site. This can be helpful, for example, if you need to be away from the office or need to continue working when a server isn't available.

Move the Tables in an Access Database to a SharePoint Site and Link to Them (Microsoft Office Access)
If you have data in a Microsoft Office Access 2007 database, you can share it as lists on a Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 site, where team members can interact with it. They can share and manage the content by using the features of a SharePoint site while they continue to use forms, reports, and queries from Access.

Introduction to Integrating Data Between Access and a SharePoint Site (Microsoft Office Access)
You can share and manage data in many ways by using Microsoft Office Access 2007 with Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. You can benefit from the collaboration features of a SharePoint site while continuing to use the data entry and analysis features of Access. For example, you can track versions of data, subscribe to alerts so that you know when changes are made, and manage permissions for the data.

SharePoint Events
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 25, Online, The Basics of Content Types in SharePoint 2007
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, Bloomington, Minnesota, Minnesota SharePoint User Group
December 10, Colorado Springs, Colorado, Colorado Springs SharePoint User Group
December 10, Online, SharePoint Project Management Webinar
December 10, Online, SharePoint Administration Webinar
December 11, Puget Sound, Washington, Puget Sound SharePoint Users Group
December 11, San Francisco, California, San Francisco SharePoint Users Group
December 11, Reston, Virginia, SharePoint User Group of the District of Columbia
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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