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SharePoint Daily » Microsoft & Apple Team to Fight Google?; Redesigning the Office 2010 Ribbon; Visual Studio 2010 Release Delayed

Microsoft & Apple Team to Fight Google?; Redesigning the Office 2010 Ribbon; Visual Studio 2010 Release Delayed

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Performance Problems Delay Visual Studio 2010 Release (Info World)
Beset by performance issues, Microsoft has decided to extend the beta testing period for its upcoming Visual Studio 2010 software development platform and will postpone the planned March 22, 2010, launch date by a few weeks, a Microsoft executive said in a blog on Thursday. Visual Studio 2010 beta 2 and a beta of the accompanying .Net Framework 4 programming platform both shipped in October.

Redesigning the Office 2010 Ribbon (PC Pro)
There’s a law called Fitts’ Law – to get mathematical it’s T = a+b log2(1+D/W), where T = time to target, a = start time, b = speed, D = distance to target and W = width of target – which states that large objects close to you are easier to hit than small objects that are further away. Now this may seem like a statement of the bleedin’ obvious, but it’s actually rather important when it comes to the interaction of humans with computers via a pointing device such as a mouse.

Office 2010 Takes Aim at Malware Threats (Redmond Mag)
Microsoft described a security feature in Office 2010 designed to block malware associated with older Office binary file formats. The feature, called "Office file validation," checks to see if a binary file used by Office applications such as Word, PowerPoint and Excel (with .DOC, .PPT and .XLS extensions) is a trusted document or stored in a trusted location. If not, the file will get protected in a sandbox, or "protected view," which will limit the file's access to system resources, according to David B. Heise, a member of Microsoft's Office security team, in a Wednesday blog post.

Microsoft Help Desk Less Busy After Windows 7 (CNN)
There are many ways to measure how Windows 7 is doing. There are reports on new PC sales, tallies of boxed copy sales, and surveys of planned enterprise adoption, to name a few. But one of the most encouraging signs for Microsoft is the lack of phone calls it is getting from people with problems. Overall, Microsoft said the volume of calls to its support lines is half of what it expected.

Microsoft's Private Cloud Formation (Visual Studio Magazine)
As Microsoft rolls out its Windows Azure and SQL Azure public cloud services in January 2010, the first implementers will likely include those building greenfield Web 2.0-type apps as well those who develop and test software looking for capacity on demand. But for cloud computing to take hold in the enterprise for business-critical applications, Microsoft knows it must extend Windows Azure to integrate securely and seamlessly with internally hosted systems.

Will Microsoft and Apple Team Up to Fight Google? (PC World)
It looks like Apple might soon have a new best friend: Microsoft, at least if the introduction of an iPhone app for Microsoft's Bing "decision engine" is the first sign of a new trend. You will remember that Apple and Google used to be joined at the iPhone and browser, with Google providing popular apps for the iPhone and a default search engine for the Safari browser. Google Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt even sat on Apple's board of directors.

On the Lighter Side:
Behind the Scenes, SANta Claus Global Cloud Story (Cloud Computing Journal)
There is a ton of discussion, stories, articles, videos, conferences and blogs about the benefits and value proposition of cloud computing. Not to mention, discussion or debates about what is or what is not a cloud or cloud product, service or architecture including some perspectives and polls from me. Now SANta does not really care about these and other similar debates I have learned. However he is concerned with who has been naughty and nice as well watching out for impersonators or members of his crew who misbehave. In the spirit of the holidays, how about a quick look at how SANta leverages cloud technologies to support his global operations.

Around the Blogosphere
SharePoint Deployment Planning Services – 2010 Upgrade Planning Now Available (Owen Allen - The MOSS Garden)
The SharePoint Deployment Planning Services (SDPS) program has been a big hit over the past couple of years. There are now over 1,000 certified partners who can deliver the planning services workshops with customers. These are provided free to qualified customers who have purchased Software Assurance (SA) for their SharePoint software licenses. This week, a new planning service was rolled out, one that focuses on helping customers prepare for the upgrade to SharePoint 2010.

SharePoint Wednesday CodePlex Roundup #3 (Fear and Loathing)
Yee-haw! Here we are again for this week's new SharePoint CodePlex projects. Sit back and relax as I form biased and bitter opinions about the new CodePlex projects from the last week that have some kind of weird but odd connection to that thing we know we love to hate, called SharePoint.

How to set Replication Directory Changes (Microsoft SharePoint Team Blog)
In November, we posted guidance to help setup User Profile Synchronization for those evaluating SharePoint 2010 public beta. In order for the sync to work, the SharePoint WFE farm admin account or UPA admin account must have “Replicated Directory Changes” permissions in Active Directory. To help the SharePoint admins that are not Active Directory admins, here is a step-by-step walk-thru to complete this task on Windows Server 2008 R2. Finally, the User Profile Service administration content on TechNet has been updated based upon feedback from the public beta release.

Adoption Tip 3 of 8: Communicate the Context of SharePoint in the Environment (End User SharePoint)
While a moose crossing sign may make sense when you are traveling across the wide open spaces of Alaska, it certainly doesn’t make sense when you are driving in downtown Atlanta. The context of the sign simply doesn’t resonate in Atlanta as it does in Alaska. In similar fashion, the context of SharePoint must be communicated to your users in order for them to adopt it.

Profile Synchronization in SharePoint Server 2010 Beta 2 (To the SharePoint)
In SharePoint Server 2010, you can use Profile Synchronization to synchronize user and group profile information that is stored in the SharePoint Server 2010 profile store with profile information that is stored in directory services across the enterprise. This profile information includes hierarchy and group information that can be used to drive functionality such as audiences or hierarchy-driven business processes.

BCS Team Channel: External Data in SharePoint Workspace (Microsoft Business Connectivity Services Team Blog)
The third installment of the BCS Team Channel is now live! In this episode you are taken on a tour of how you can surface external data in SharePoint Workspace 2010. The next video will show you how to associate two external content types and how to work with that data in Web parts.

Around Bamboo Nation
Bamboo Online Operations' Year in Review with Steve Gaitten (The Bamboo Team Blog)
Editor's note: Last year we introduced the Bamboo Year in Review feature, kicking off with a note from the desk of the CEO and including in-depth Q&As with each of the Bamboo department heads. In keeping with the Bamboo commitment to transparency, we're going to make the Year in Review feature an annual Bamboo Nation tradition. In this installment, we chat with Steve Gaitten, who heads up the Bamboo Online Operations group. Your responsibilities expanded in 2009 to include overseeing Marketing at Bamboo, with Lily Griffin's team merging with your Online Operations group. Why the change? How's it going?

Bamboo Custom Solutions' Year in Review with Julie Auletta (The Bamboo Team Blog)
Editor's note: Last year we introduced the Bamboo Year in Review feature, kicking off with a note from the desk of the CEO and including in-depth Q&As with each of the Bamboo department heads. In keeping with the Bamboo commitment to transparency, we're going to make the Year in Review feature an annual Bamboo Nation tradition. In this installment, we check in with Julie Auletta, who heads up the Custom Solutions team. How has the Custom Solutions team helped Bamboo achieve growth and success in 2009? What were the achievements you were most proud of?

Bamboo Product Management's Year in Review with Wes Bryan (The Bamboo Team Blog)
Editor's note: Last year we introduced the Bamboo Year in Review feature, kicking off with a note from the desk of the CEO and including in-depth Q&As with each of the Bamboo department heads. In keeping with the Bamboo commitment to transparency, we're going to make the Year in Review feature an annual Bamboo Nation tradition. In this installment, we check in with Wes Bryan, who heads up the Bamboo Product Management team. By design, the Product Management group planned to release fewer products in 2009 than the furious pace of the previous year's releases, focusing instead on a handful of major new initiatives in addition to effecting upgrades to our existing product line, investing in R&D to make sure our products are ready for SharePoint 2010 and, of course, a selection of new Web Parts. How did those plans play out?

Partner Advantage Team Welcomes Pharmica Consulting! (The Bamboo Team Blog)
PHARMICA Consulting is an operational excellence consulting company focused exclusively in the pharmaceutical industry. Our focus in SharePoint provides a platform for PHARMICA to help pharmaceutical companies achieve excellence in R&D. We look at technical solutions from a business perspective and emphasize the importance of:

SharePoint Job Listings**
SharePoint Engineer / Developer - Chantilly, VA
The environment is very old and was developed by another company. The Sharepoint SME needs to be able to get acclimated to the environment with little supervision. The project has 2 testers who will perform 3 or 4 cycles of testing during each upgrade to ensure adequate testing of functionality. At that time, the developer will be expected to resolve issues as they occur. The PM expects new development to occur on the project in the next 6 months. After the upgrades have been completed, the team will prepare for this new development work. The PM anticipates hiring 3 or 4 senior developers at that time.

SharePoint Software Developer - Irving, TX
SharePoint Software Developer sought for a temporary (three to four months) position in the Metro Dallas (Irving/Las Colinas) area. The BOSS Group is looking for an SharePoint Guru capable of performing multiple team roles as both a team member and team leader, in the delivery of technical solutions. Qualified candidates will possess at least four years of experience in the development, design, code, test implementation and support of applications within a production environment. A great team player with a strong collaborative mentality will be the best fit!

Microsoft Updates
Values for some crawled properties are lost when you perform a full user profile import in a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 site (Microsoft Support)
A HighConfidenceDisplayProperty type is mapped to two or more crawled properties that have the People category in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. When you perform a full user profile import, the values for those crawled properties are lost.

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