SharePoint Conference 2009

On October 19-22, Las Vegas will host this year’s SharePoint Conference. The highlight of the conference is naturally going to be the new wave of SharePoint products – SharePoint 2010. Since we are simultaneously expecting the brand new Office, there’s no way the Conference could bypass this issue as well. However, it’s not purely about the future, so the agenda also includes getting the most of SharePoint 2007. As usual, the conference is oriented at both businesses and IT professionals. A sizeable number of companies will get an opportunity to showcase their work.
The cost of a conference pass is $ 1,199, but there is also an option for those who are “feeling lucky”. Nintex, a SharePoint innovation company, and two SharePoint education companies, Mindsharp and Combined Knowledge, are sponsoring a Global SharePoint Survey (www.sharepointsurvey.com) designed to get an insight into what SharePoint users have to say (open till July 17, 2009). Those submitting questionnaires are offered the additional stimulus of potentially winning a free general conference pass. The winner will be chosen randomly, so feel free to speak your mind .

SharePoint Team Launches New Site… In SharePoint

SharePoint has proudly announced the launch of a new site http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/Pages/Default.aspx) built (or rather re-built) in collaboration with Advaiya, Inc. on the SharePoint platform. The primary goal in creating the new look’n’feel of the website is naturally showcasing SharePoint as an independent Internet-based entity. The major foci of the now completed project are easy to follow. First of all, the primary aim of the site is to illustrate creating a team site within tight temporal and budgetary frameworks (that is mainly relying on out-of-the-box SharePoint components to cover all the necessary functionality features); moreover, distinctly traceable is Microsoft’s effort in forwarding Silverlight with a special emphasis on productively fusing it with SharePoint (the samples on the site include the hero bar and the main menu navigation control). Another clear message delivered in the announcement reads as follows: with a SharePoint site, content is easy to manage and no coding expertise is required (that includes such aspects as the content appearing on the hero bar, as well as SEO issues).
At the moment, the site can be accessed anonymously, with Passport/LiveID integration yet to follow. Detailed description, as usual, is to be found at the SharePoint Team’s official blog.

Does Google Wave have SharePoint Envy?

The web is abuzz. Although this is supposed to be the normal mode of web activity, what we are seeing right now is not just plain buzz, but something that on closer inspection reveals a pattern – one that is potentially doing to convert the web as we know it into something that we will have to get used to, one consisting in a challenge retour between the big G (for Google) and the big M (for Microsoft). The latest event falling into the pattern referred to is a developer preview of Google Wave at the Google I/O conference.
The app, which wraps e-mail, instant messaging, blogs’n’wikis, document sharing, and more neatly together, is to be released to the public later this year. Google Wave’s being defined as “a new tool for communication and collaboration on the web” has spurred a tide (connotation not intended) of SharePoint parallels, especially with the app being open-source and thus extendable. As seen by some, Wave poses an immediate threat to SharePoint the collaboration platform. This assumption stumbles upon at least two counterarguments: first, Wave is primarily web-, not enterprise-oriented; second, in enterprise environments, Office is not in the least likely to be phased out anytime soon, although Google apps are developing in their due course with a share of smaller businesses try to optimize their work by moving it to the cloud. Other important concerns include security and regulation. Therefore I find it safe to believe for now that speculations on SharePoint being withered by the new Google thing are somewhat premature.
Nevertheless, it is obvious that the innovation retour is going to escalate as time passes and solutions get tested out, with rivals enhancing and complementing each other’s achievements.

SharePoint 2007 development service

iTechArt started offering of a new development service - Windows SharePoint (MOSS) 2007 services software development. Our development team of SharePoint developers helps to configure, customize and develop intranet and internet portals based on Microsoft SharePoint 2007. We use Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS) as an application development

framework for a document collaboration platform, MOSS 2007 can be used for corporate intranet portals, business and reporting applications.

Service Pack 2 Bug Unveiled

Microsoft’s SharePoint team is working on fixing a bug recently discovered in Service Pack 2 for SharePoint Server 2007. The bug converts a licensed version into a trial one, expiring after 180 days upon installation. In case the expiration date gets activated, no data, code or configuration will be affected, but the server will be rendered inaccessible to end users. The bug does not otherwise interfere with the proper functioning of MOSS 2007. In should be noted that no similar glitch was revealed with SP2 for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0.
A hot fix by Microsoft is to be released sometime soon, but the issue can be resolved right now by re-entering the product key, which can be retrieved via the Volume Licensing Service Center.
Let me remind you that the release of Service Pack 2 to Microsoft’s download center was announced on April 28, 2009 and includes a number of fixes and enhancements, including improved interoperability and performance. Additionally, SP2 includes a preupgradecheck operation necessary to ensure that the server farm is ready to be upgraded to SharePoint Products and Technologies 2010.
For detailed information and updates on the bug you can go to Microsoft SharePoint Team Blog.

The Wave of the Future: On the Way to SharePoint Server 2010

Earlier this month, Microsoft’s SharePoint Team confirmed the preliminary system requirements for SharePoint Server 2010, the release dates for which are yet indefinite. As it was revealed at the annual TechEd conference, Microsoft’s effort dedicated to erasing the Office component from the SharePoint connotations is reinforced by the fact that SharePoint 2010 beta is not going to be released with Office 2010 beta, due to be shipped about July this year.
By no means could the notice on the system requirements have been postponed any longer: virtually everyone in the SharePoint community is already shifting uneasily, trying to foresee the pitfalls on the way towards the brand-new Microsoft product line. For some, as it appears, these are likely to be accompanied by significant budgetary repercussions, and everyone will need to do a lot of planning in order to facilitate a smooth transition to the new SharePoint platform level.
To put it in a nutshell, the bits of information leaked as to the system requirements boil down to two basic things. First and foremost, the upcoming SharePoint Server is going to be 64-bit only, i.e. the system required will be 64-bit Windows Server 2008/Windows Server 2008 R2. Additionally, SQL Server 2000 will no longer be supported; the 64-bit SQL Server 2008 or SQL Server 2005 will be required instead. The move towards 64-bit is hardly surprising, given the fact that most of the latest hardware is exclusively 64-bit-capable. Moreover, this is a need prompted by the objective disadvantages faced by both users and developers. Microsoft states that this is going to significantly benefit SharePoint’s performance, although some analytics see more far-reaching implications (i.e., encouraging developers to use Windows Server 2008 as the local development environment). It is here that the upgrading rub is concealed.
Secondly, browser compatibility will be affected. The SharePoint Team are targeting IE 7 and 8, as well as Mozilla 3.x, for Windows OS. For non-Windows, the endorsed browsers are going to include Mozilla 3.x and Safari 3.x. That means Internet Explorer 6 is being jettisoned.
The above hints at a number of measures aimed at ensuring future compatibility, including remaining on guard and keeping an eye on the latest Microsoft SharePoint developments. For more details as to what steps need to be seen to right now, please refer to http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2009/05/07/announcing-sharepoint-server-2010-preliminary-system-requirements.aspx.

Microsoft SharePoint 2010: Full Name and Title, Please

By announcing on April 15 the release of the beta version of Exchange 2010, Microsoft moved one more step forward to the next wave of the Office product line. In a MSDN PressPass interview, Microsoft’s Chris Capossela also outlined the approximate roadmap for the release of other MSOffice and related products. According to this timeline, SharePoint 2010 beta is due in late 2009, with the manufacturing version following in the first half of 2010. As to WSS, it is on its way to the v4 version, no deadlines specified.
With the “14” codename safely gone, there are a number of brand-related issues floating around. Apparently, the SharePoint folks will have hold their breath as a frantic search for a fresh acronym for Microsoft SharePoint 2010 is underway, with the “Office” part dropped in order to avoid misconceptions and undue associations with the Office user package, just as the “Portal” component vanished from the name back in the times of the transition from 2003 to 2007. The question is for what exactly we are supposed to substitute the pleasantly acronymic MOSS. Here’s what Microsoft SharePoint Team Blog warns us about:
“Don’t try to acronym Microsoft SharePoint Server to MSS since MSS is already taken by Microsoft Search Server. Just remember, SharePoint is SharePoint is SharePoint.”
So far, so good. However, there’s still time for a suitable letter combination to be picked – it’s a tradition to be honored, after all.
There’s little divulged as to SharePoint brand-new functionality features yet, but it has to be nothing less significant than the previous upgrade. In the meantime, we will have to make do with the rather vague bits of “using office in more locations with more devices”, “promoting interoperability”, “giving users the same value whether deployed on-premises, as a service from Microsoft and industry partners, or a mix of both” et al. And fiddle with Exchange, of course.

No Kidding When It Comes to SharePoint

On April 1, 2009, Microsoft announced a major step in promoting for SharePoint custom software development effor. As it turned out, they were dead serious, and SharePoint Designer 2007 is really available for free download. This move, welcomed by the SharePoint development community, was in fact a long expected one: SharePoint Designer has always been perceived as part and parcel of the SharePoint platform rather than as a single entity since it is indispensable to the concept underlying SharePoint, which is easily creating extensions. It should be noted that future SharePoint Designer versions will be similarly available as free downloads, and those who have Software Assurance will acquire upgrade rights to Expression Web. We’ll see what fruit it brings, and in the meantime it would be but sensible to get down to the totally undemoctatic activety of preventing crowds SharePoint users craving creative changes from meddling with the normal SharePoint functioning. Those who haven’t yet installed the Designer might want to visit http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepointdesigner/FX100487631033.aspx.

SharePoint advantages

Any developing organization faces the need of continuously creating and updating web content. Previously this process involved coordinating the work of web developers and system administrators. As a result, maintaining a growing number of web pages appeared to be a real challenge since it was hugely time-consuming and consequently costly. Yet with the emergence of colloborative intranet platforms such a routine has become obsolete.
Windows SharePoint Services (WSS 3.0) and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS 2007) provide a comprehensive platform for creating and managing intranet solutions, i.e. establishing a framework for intra-company collaboration processes, workflow, content and document management. SharePoint products allow users to create and modify web content without having to refer to web development as such.
At the outset, it is important to be aware of the underlying distinction between WSS 3.0 and MOSS 2007. Both are Microsoft Office products, yet WSS was created as part of Windows Server 2003 and is consequently not to be licensed separately (which makes using WSS particularly attractive), whereas MOSS 2007 is an independent product which appears to be a superstructure to WSS, so to speak. Another related product is Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer – a specialized tool to customize MOSS capabilities without having to deploy code on the server.
A significant SharePoint advantage is its integration with Microsoft Office 2007 customer products. MOSS 2007 includes a number of pre-set page templates for collaboration, personalization, search, content management, business intelligence and business process management purposes. Using a collobarative intranet portal gives users more control over content and enables them to coordinate their efforts, communicate and search for the necessary people and data most efficiently. SharePoint also offers web 2.0 features – blogs and wikis in particular, which are used to share expertise, get feedback and aggregate knowledge. Additionally, it is possible to expand SharePoint server functionality by means of integrating additional web parts which would best suit the needs of a particular business (e.g. a media player, a customizable calendar, etc.). This is particularly important since out-of-the-box parts are often discarded as being too basic.

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007: Basic Facts

Based on extensive customer feedback Microsoft has integrated the Web content management capabilities of MS CMS 2002 into the new Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and added new functionality for enterprise content management, business intelligence, and search. If you're looking for Web content management functionality from Microsoft, check out Office SharePoint Server 2007 services software development.

SharePoint 2007 helps to create and deploy interactive solutions on the SharePoint platform, without having to write code.

* Automate business processes such as document approval, custom event notification, and other collaboration tasks with the Workflow Designer.

* Create reporting and tracking applications using data views and forms to easily gather and aggregate data from outside your site and from SharePoint lists and document libraries on the Web site.

* Get started fast with pre-built Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services Application Templates, which are fully customizable and extensible using Office SharePoint Designer 2007.

* Extend your solutions by building advanced interactive Microsoft ASP.NET pages. Insert and edit controls with the same powerful activity menus and control property grid previously found only in development tools such as Microsoft Visual Studio 2005. Office SharePoint Designer 2007 custom workflow The Workflow Designer automates business processes like automated task assignment and notification associated with SharePoint lists and document libraries by setting up custom workflow conditions and actions and linking them to the SharePoint data.

Technologies list and OS related to the SharePoint platform:
• MS SharePoint, SharePoint Web Parts Development
• SharePoint Designer 2007, WSS 3.0, MOSS 2007
• Windows Workflow Foundation, InfoPath
• MS SQL Server 2000 and 2005, database design and development
• Internet Information Server
• Active Directory
• File stores
• Indexing
• OOP and software development
• Search engines optimization
• XML / XSL /XSLT
• .NET 2.0 / 3.0
• ASP.Net , Master pages templates development
• Design flaws and document workflow management
• MS Windows 2003