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.