'Open Internet' Not so Open; George Moore on Windows Azure; Can Microsoft Compete in the Cloud?

SharePoint Daily — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 11:35:00 GMT

Top News Stories
Google Apps vs. Office Web Apps: Can Microsoft Compete in the Cloud? (ZDNet)
Readers of ZDNet Education will know that I’ve been using Google Apps for some time and recently migrated my school district to Google Apps for Education (affectionately known as GAPE or Edu Apps, essentially their Premium Apps offering provided to educational institutions for free). The technology, particularly Gmail, has been remarkably well-received by staff and students, but acceptance of Google’s cloud-based word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software has been hampered among a sizable chunk of users by the perception that they need Microsoft Office on their desktops (no matter how small a fraction of its functionality they use).

Microsoft Sets for Final Cloud Confrontation with Google (IT Business Edge)
When you take a step back from all things related to Microsoft software, the lasting impression one can’t help but take away is the complexity of it all. Between caring for the Windows operating systems and trying to manage the feeding of Microsoft Office and Exchange applications, IT organizations are drowning in support costs.

George Moore: Windows Azure Business Model for Developers - An Introduction (MSDN)
21 year Microsoft veteran and Software Architect George Moore is involved in defining and implementing an effective strategy for taking Windows Azure from technology preview to enterprise business ready. Specifically, George is responsible for all integration of all Azure services (Windows Azure, SQL Azure, .NET Services) to other systems at Microsoft. This includes the billing system integration across all Azure services, the business owner portal, and the developer portal for all Azure services.

Details on Windows 7, Azure, Server 2008 Emerge from PDC (CIO)
After setting Windows Azure off into the sky on day one, Microsoft used day two of its Professional Developers Conference to reveal demos of Windows 7 pre-beta, new nuggets about Office, and a pre-beta developer release of Windows Server 2008 R2.

Five Lessons from Microsoft on Cloud Security (CIO)
While Google, Amazon and Salesforce have gotten the most attention as cloud service providers, Microsoft-with its 300 products and services delivered from its data centers-has a large cloud bank all its own.

Microsoft Still Seeking Mobile Device Home Run (Channel Web)
Microsoft has been steadily falling behind in mobile computing, but solution providers are encouraged by recent scuttlebutt that Microsoft is preparing to make a splash with new mobile devices. Over the weekend, Microsoft posted a job listing that invites engineers with interest in Surface, Xbox 360 and Zune HD to apply for a position in Microsoft's Manufacturing Test Engineering team. This rekindled earlier speculation that Microsoft may be planning to release a touch-screen tablet device modeled on Surface, in part to counteract the impact of Apple's rumored tablet.

'Open Internet' Rules Criticised (BBC News)
Mobile providers have argued that US proposals to ensure that all traffic on the internet is treated equally should not be applied to wireless traffic. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) wants rules to prevent providers blocking or slowing down bandwidth-heavy usage such as streaming video.

What Microsoft Could do with its No. 3 Brand (CNET)
Given the beating Microsoft has taken lately, it's impressive that Microsoft still ranks third in Interbrand's "Best Global Brands 2009" report. Given Microsoft's still-robust brand, what should the company be doing to rejuvenate key areas of its business?

Around the Blogosphere
Undocumented STSADM Command “stsadm –o uninstall” (Shared Points for SharePoint...)
Unfortunately I discovered an undocumented stsadm command today; having gotten into the habit of typing in “stsadm –o commandname” to get the list of parameters needed, I got stung by entering the wrong command name. I was looking for the parameters to “UninstallFeature”, but I typed only in “uninstall”:

itgroove - Server Best Practice - If it ain't an Application Terminal Server, Turn Off All the Damned Noise! (Brain Litter)
One of the things I often do, to avoid a whole bunch of noise (and extra 'busy-ness' on my servers) is turn off the automatic connection of printers, etc. in RDP. I mean, if I'm just managing the Server via an RDP connection, do I really need COM ports, printers, default printers and other crapola trying to connect (and in the case of printers, filling my logs full of noise as drivers can't be found, etc.).

SharePoint Event Receivers ListTemplateId Values (Cornelius J. van Dyk's SharePoint Brain Dump)
If, like me, you write custom event receivers against SharePoint lists on a regular basis, then you no doubt have had a run in with trying to locate the proper ListTemplateId value to use in your Elements.xml in order to properly register your new event receiver.

The Practice of Dialogue Mapping – Part 3 (Clever Workarounds)
Hi there and welcome to part 3 of my series on the practice of Dialogue Mapping in the real-world. To recap, in part 1, I provided a brief overview of Dialogue Mapping and in part 2, I described a common real world usage scenario that we perform fairly often as SharePoint consultants. The rest of this series will change tack a little. In this article I am going to describe a very different Dialogue Mapping scenario to you. This was a huge challenge and a large leap from what I described in part 2. There were some wonderful lessons learned from this work which I will cover off here.

Around Bamboo Nation
Charting with YUI and MashPoint REST API (MashPoint - A Breakthrough in SharePoint Data Integration)
In this post I will show you how you can use the YUI Charts control with MashPoint REST API to render a chart from list data. In the previous posts we have used the default XHTML representation but when you write AJAX application you most likely don't want this representation. As we said in the initial post MashPoint REST API supports multiple representations JSON being one of them. JSON is a natural format when working with Javascript so in this example we will request that the resources are returned as JSON streams.

SharePoint Job Listings**
Business Analyst (SharePoint, Project Management, ETL) - Nashville, TN
Our client is the leading provider of integrated workplace health and productivity management solutions. They have an immediate contract opening for a Business Analyst. You will participate in an data eligibility mapping project.In order to be considered you must have demonstrated skills in the following areas:

SharePoint Developer - Chicago, IL
Under direct supervision, assists in the analysis, design, programming, and modification of computer programs for software products and/or customer applications. Writes code and completes programming, testing, and debugging of applications. Finalizes forms, procedures, and documentation needed for installation and maintenance of application programs. May interface with marketing and users to add new or custom features to company products. Typically requires a technical degree in Computer Science or related discipline. 4 - 6 years of experience.

Microsoft Updates
Information about the Office Server Search topology in Pre-Upgrade Checker in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Service Pack 2 (Microsoft)
This article describes the Office Server Search topology in the Pre-Upgrade Checker in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Service Pack 2 (SP2).

Bamboo Partner Events*
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 1, Online, Using SharePoint for Product Management Within the Distribution and Consumer Goods Vertical - InterDyn
October 2, Sydney, Australia, nSynergy SharePoint Conference 2009: Empower – Improve – Perform - nSynergy
October 6, New York, New York, Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) and Document Management for the AEC with SharePoint - Gig Werks, Organice
October 6, Melbourne, Australia, nSynergy SharePoint Conference 2009: Empower – Improve – Perform - nSynergy
October 7, Online, SharePoint for Business Process Automation - DataLan
October 8, New York, New York, SharePoint for Enterprise Content Management - DataLan
October 14, Online, The SharePoint / RMS: SEC Protects Your Investors but who Protects and Controls Your Company Information? - InterDyn
October 14, Canberra, Australia, nSynergy SharePoint Conference 2009: Empower – Improve – Perform - 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

November 4, Online, Breakthroughs in SharePoint for Pharmaceutical, Life Sciences, and Biotech - DataLan
November 10, New York, New York, SharePoint – A Platform for Business Solutions - DataLan
November 12, New York, New York, SharePoint for Intranets, Extranets, and Public Websites - DataLan
November 18, Online, Advanced Topics in SharePoint - Business Process Automation and Workflow Design - DataLan
November 19, Online, Breakthroughs in SharePoint for Financial Services Firms - DataLan

December 3, New York, New York, SharePoint Winter Expo 2009 - DataLan
December 9, Online, SharePoint for Enterprise Content Management - DataLan
December 10, Iselin, New Jersey, SharePoint for Intranets, Extranets, and Public Websites - DataLan

October 1, Online, Bamboo 101 - List Roll Up Webinar
October 1, Online, Project Management Using SharePoint Webinar
October 1, Victoria, BC, Canada, Victoria SharePoint Users Group
October 1, Malvern, Pennsylvania, SharePoint - A Platform for Business Solutions
October 1, Online, Using SharePoint for Product Management Within the Distribution and Consumer Goods Vertical
October 2, Sydney, Australia, nSynergy SharePoint Conference 2009: Empower – Improve – Perform
October 6, New York, New York, Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) and Document Management for the AEC with SharePoint
October 6, Melbourne, Australia, nSynergy SharePoint Conference 2009: Empower – Improve – Perform
October 7, Online, SharePoint for Business Process Automation
October 8, Online, Bamboo 101 - Chart Plus Webinar
October 8, New York, New York, SharePoint for Enterprise Content Management
October 10, Matthews, North Carolina, Carolina Code Camp
October 14, Online, The SharePoint / RMS: SEC Protects Your Investors but who Protects and Controls Your Company Information?
October 14, Canberra, Australia, nSynergy SharePoint Conference 2009: Empower – Improve – Perform
October 15, Online, Bamboo 101 - Calendar Plus Webinar
October 15, Online, SharePoint: From Chaos to Success
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 4, Online, Breakthroughs in SharePoint for Pharmaceutical, Life Sciences, and Biotech
November 7, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, SharePoint Saturday
November 7, Raleigh, North Carolina, SharePoint Saturday
November 10, New York, New York, SharePoint – A Platform for Business Solutions
November 12, New York, New York, SharePoint for Intranets, Extranets, and Public Websites
November 14, San Antonio, Texas, SharePoint Saturday
November 14, Tampa, Florida, SharePoint Saturday
November 16-17, Stockholm, Sweden, SharePoint & Exchange Forum 2009
November 18, Online, Advanced Topics in SharePoint - Business Process Automation and Workflow Design
November 19, Online, Breakthroughs in SharePoint for Financial Services Firms
November 21, Birmingham, Alabama, SharePoint Saturday
November 21, Phoenix, Arizona, SharePoint Saturday

December 3, New York, New York, SharePoint Winter Expo 2009
December 9, Online, SharePoint for Enterprise Content Management
December 10, Iselin, New Jersey, SharePoint for Intranets, Extranets, and Public Websites
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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SharePoint Daily : Windows Azure, MashPoint REST API

'Open Internet' Not so Open; George Moore on Windows Azure; Can Microsoft Compete in the Cloud?