Best Practices for Developing Web Parts; A Fresh Start for Windows; The End of the E-mail Age?

Top News Stories
SharePoint: Implementation Without Insight Is a Dangerous Thing (IT Business Edge)
I've begun to realize my pop culture references date me as the dinosaur that I am. Just the other day, I used a clip of a Saturday Night Live sketch (starring the original cast, with Gilda, Dan and Chevy) to make a point about Microsoft's SharePoint, calling it the Shimmer Floor Wax of the enterprise. You remember Shimmer (if you're fortysomething). It's the faux product that was a floor wax and a dessert topping.

Online Office Market Gets New Access Options (Redmond Mag)
Zoho is making further inroads in the online office market with the introduction of a unified log-in mechanism that allows users to use their Google and Yahoo ID to access Zoho's suite of Office-like apps, according to an announcement on Wednesday.

Microsoft Office's Biggest Competitor? Office (Seattle PI)
Microsoft Office 2003 is still king when it comes to businesses. A recent TechRepublic poll shows that 58 percent of businesses still use Office 2003, even though Office 2007 has been available since the launch of Windows Vista. Twenty-four percent of businesses are using Office 2007, which brought to the productivity suite a new "ribbon" user interface that possibly has hindered more widespread adoption. And 15 percent of businesses are using a version even older than Office 2003, such as Office XP.

Is it Time to go 64-bit with Windows 7? (IT Wire)
So you're planning to upgrade your Windows PC to Microsoft Windows 7? While considering the different versions - Home, Professional, Ultimate - you may not consider one other important decision, namely whether to go 64-bit. I think the time is right to make the leap.

Windows 7: A Fresh Start (Redmond Developer News)
A bad reputation can be hard to live down. Just ask the executives at General Motors, who are trying to convince consumers to buy their cars after decades of turning out duds. Or ask the folks in Redmond, who gained a bad rap when they pushed Windows Vista-unfinished and unwelcome-onto the IT marketplace.

HTML 5 Starts Looking Real (Dr Dobbs Journal)
The World Wide Web Consortium's statement last month that it was retiring the XHTML 2 Web markup language in favor of HTML 5 sent ripples across Web development waters. The declaration solidified HTML 5 as the official future of Web development based on open standards. In the process, HTML 5, with its plethora of new features, was certified as the first legitimate challenger to the proprietary solutions of Adobe Flash, Microsoft Silverlight, and Sun JavaFX. What, you don't find a new version of a Web markup language that exciting? It's true, some of the new elements and tags defined in the core HTML 5 working draft are probably in the boring-but-important category -- such as new semantics in tags including nav, header, section, aside, and footer, among others. But there's a lot to intrigue anyone doing or in charge of Web development:

When is a Cloud not a Cloud? (ZDNet)
The answer to the question I’ve posed in my title is blindingly obvious, yet it seems to be one of those things that never hits you between the eyes until one day, something makes you stop and just think it through. For myself, I’ve been giving this a lot of thought over the past 6-12 months, and recently I delivered a talk on the topic at CloudCamp London in July, called Captive Clouds Can’t Connect (the clue to the answer is in the title). I’ve been thinking about it some more this month because OpSource [important disclosure] is paying me to write a white paper related to the launch today of its enterprise offering. Together with Amazon’s announcement less than 48 hours ago of its Virtual Private Cloud, it has all brought this topic to a head.

Is It Time for the End of the E-mail Age? (IT Business Edge)
I have a love-hate relationship with e-mail. While I don't see how I could live (or at least work) without it, I sure would like to try. I'm not alone. Writing on his Candid CIO blog, Will Weider, CIO of Ministry Health Care and Affinity Health System, offers several examples of egregious e-mail behavior (i.e. sending e-mail to the widest possible audience so each person can decide if they need the information rather than targeting it to the correct recipients). He bemoans the fact that "e-mail has become a crux for all of us" and notes some steps he needs to take, such as ensuring his organization's intranet is accessible and easy to update and investigating tools that can help manage e-mail. He mentions he is looking forward to Google Wave as a possible solution to e-mail ills.

Around the Blogosphere
Aggregating Content with the Content Query Web Part (CQWP) (Shared Points for SharePoint...)
In most web content management projects based on SharePoint the Content Query Web Part is used for aggregating content. Out of the box it have a few styles, but seems a little limited. With a little tweaking you can display the information you want in the way you want it.

Use Integration Services to Import SharePoint List Items to SQL Server (Worker Thread Blog)
A recent project I worked on called for data captured into a SharePoint list using InfoPath Forms Services to be ultimately imported into a SQL Server database for use with a set of performance reports.

Microsoft Productivity Hub Training Site installed on WSSDemo (Ian's SharePoint Blog)
Microsoft has developed the Productivity Hub http://bit.ly/1dYUE1 to help support your ongoing end user training efforts. I have installed this on WSSDemo.com http://templates.wssdemo.com/sites/productivity for your viewing pleasure. The Hub is a SharePoint Server 2007 site collection that serves as a learning community and is fully customizable. It provides a central place for your training efforts, and includes training content from Microsoft's core products. Microsoft also provides ongoing and updated content packs.

Best Practices for Developing SharePoint Web Parts (End User SharePoint)
Todd Bleeker gave an extended presentation at Best Practices Conference this week on “Best Practices for Developing SharePoint Web Parts”. I slapped together a quick down and dirty web cam recording with UStream, embedded below. Todd was kind enough to send me the entire slidedeck along with the resources from his presentation. Crank up the recording to top volume, open the .PDF slidedeck and follow along. This isn’t basic, End User stuff, but there’s a lot to be learned on how web parts work.

Around Bamboo Nation
What is SharePoint? Part 6: In Which We Ponder the Effect of Conferences on SharePoint Community (SharePoint Blank)
As previously noted, the Best Practices Conference (BPC) took place from Monday through Wednesday this week.  Some of us got things off to an early start at the "ShareFood" event hosted by the ever-gracious Dux Raymond Sy at his home not far from the conference site, and a grand time was had by all.  I've written previously about the SharePoint having grown to the point where it now supports a number of worldwide conferences, and I've also discussed the nature of SharePoint community, but I haven't really touched on the concept of those conferences as community-enhancers.  As such, I would contend that the SharePoint conference ecosystem (if you will) not only feeds directly into strengthening the community but, in so doing, that symbiotic relationship between conferences and community becomes a significant part of what makes SharePoint, well, SharePoint.

Bamboo Web License Manager Use Case and FAQs (The Bamboo Team Blog)
As a software company, we're always striving to improve our products at Bamboo. In this article, I will go over improvements that we have made in our License Manager Application. With these improvements, our goal is to both make the License Manager Application easier to use, and to provide a better end user experience.

Introducing Bamboo Web License Manager (The Bamboo Team Blog)
In our ongoing mission to improve our offerings, Bamboo is pleased to announce the latest enhancement to the Bamboo experience:  as of today, we've started rolling out Bamboo Web License Manager (WLM) for use with our products.

SharePoint Job Listings**
SharePoint Administrator - Rockville, Maryland
The Systems Administrator will play an active role in the design and administration of Windows 2003 and 2008 server based application platforms including Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, SQL Server 2005/2000, and .NET development environments.  The administrator will support high availability hardware and software solutions for critical business functions.  This position requires the ability to effectively design, plan, implement, and maintain complex Windows 2000/2003 environments including implementation and support of Windows-based IIS Web servers, database servers, application servers, file servers and Active Directory services.

Software Development Engineer (SharePoint) - Atlanta, Georgia
The position is working as a Perot Systems employee at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. The right candidate will have excellent technical and people skills. We are looking for a team player to serve as a senior SharePoint administrator with a blend of technical and functional skills with respect to MOSS 2007 and WSS 3.0. The mission is to establish and support development, test, and production environments using Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (Moss) 2007, Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, and Workflow Designer application development tools. The right candidate must be able to work with customers, developers, and team members at various levels to ensure the development, test, and deployment of high performance information systems for a large enterprise.

Microsoft Updates
Description of the Office SharePoint Server 2007 Cumulative Update Server Hotfix Package (Coreserver.msp): August 25, 2009 (Microsoft)
This article describes the Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 issues that are fixed in the Office SharePoint Server 2007 hotfix package that is dated August 25, 2009. This article describes the following items about the hotfix package:

Create or change a view (Help and How-to)
You can use views to see the items in a list or library that are most important to you or that best fit a purpose. For example, you can create views of the files that were created most recently, of the list items that apply to a specific department, or of the files created by one person. After you create a view, it is always available when you look at a list or library.

Bamboo Partner Events*
September 16, Online, Advanced Topics in SharePoint - Managing Look and Feel Webinar - DataLan
September 17, New York, New York, SharePoint - A Platform for Business Solutions - DataLan
September 24, Online, SharePoint for Project Management Webinar - DataLan
September 30, Online, InnovaOPN - SharePoint-based Innovation Management Software Webinar - DataLan

October 1, Malvern, Pennsylvania, SharePoint - A Platform for Business Solutions - DataLan
October 2, Sydney, Australia, nSynergy SharePoint Showcase - nSynergy
October 6, Melbourne, Australia, nSynergy SharePoint Showcase - nSynergy
October 8, New York, New York, SharePoint for Enterprise Content Management - DataLan
October 14, Canberra, Australia, nSynergy SharePoint Showcase - nSynergy
October 15, Iselin, New Jersey, SharePoint - A Platform for Business Solutions - DataLan
October 21, Online, Advanced Topics in SharePoint - Basic Business Intelligence and Reporting Webinar - DataLan
October 22, Waltham, Massachusetts, SharePoint - A Platform for Business Solutions - DataLan
October 29, Iselin, New Jersey, SharePoint for Enterprise Content Management - DataLan

SharePoint Events**
September 1, Boston, Massachusetts, Bamboo Solutions SharePoint Project Management Workshop
September 1, Boston, Massachusetts, Bamboo Solutions SharePoint Project Management Workshop
September 2, Victoria, BC, Canada, Victoria SharePoint Users Group
September 12, New York, New York, SharePoint Saturday
September 16, Online, Advanced Topics in SharePoint - Managing Look and Feel Webinar
September 17, New York, New York, SharePoint - A Platform for Business Solutions
September 21-25, Chicago, Illinois, SharePoint Branding Bootcamp
September 21-24, Germany, ShareConnect
September 22, New York City, New York, Bamboo Solutions SharePoint Project Management Workshop
September 22, New York City, New York, Bamboo Solutions SharePoint Project Management Workshop
September 23, New York City, New York, Bamboo Solutions SharePoint Project Management Workshop
September 23, New York City, New York, Bamboo Solutions SharePoint Project Management Workshop
September 24, Online, SharePoint for Project Management Webinar
September 30, Online, InnovaOPN - SharePoint-based Innovation Management Software Webinar

October 1, Malvern, Pennsylvania, SharePoint - A Platform for Business Solutions
October 2, Sydney, Australia, nSynergy SharePoint Showcase
October 6, Melbourne, Australia, nSynergy SharePoint Showcase
October 8, New York, New York, SharePoint for Enterprise Content Management
October 14, Canberra, Australia, nSynergy SharePoint Showcase
October 15, Iselin, New Jersey, SharePoint - A Platform for Business Solutions
October 19-22, Las Vegas, Nevada, SharePoint Conference 2009
October 21, Online, Advanced Topics in SharePoint - Basic Business Intelligence and Reporting Webinar
October 22, Waltham, Massachusetts, SharePoint - A Platform for Business Solutions
October 29, Iselin, New Jersey, SharePoint for Enterprise Content Management

November 7, Raleigh, North Carolina, SharePoint Saturday
November 14, San Antonio, Texas, SharePoint Saturday
November 14, Tampa, Florida, SharePoint Saturday
November 21, Birmingham, Alabama, SharePoint Saturday
November 21, Phoenix, Arizona, SharePoint Saturday

December 12, Kansas City, Kansas, SharePoint Saturday

January 9, Virginia Beach, Virginia, SharePoint Saturday

* If you are a Bamboo Partner please contact Janet Goda (janet.goda@bamboosolutions.com) to have your event included in the Bamboo Partner Events.

** Please contact Chris Dooley (chris.dooley@bamboosolutions.com) to include your event  or job listing in SharePoint Daily.

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