SharePoint 2010 Dev Docs Preview

Curious about developing on the SharePoint 2010 platform? Download the technical preview of the SharePoint 2010 developer documentation today.

This is taken from the readme in the download:

"This download contains the following pieces of developer documentation:
Customizing the Ribbon in Windows SharePoint Services “14”: The Ribbon is now included in the user interface for Windows SharePoint Services “14” and Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010. This white paper describes how developers extend the Ribbon by using a combination of XML and ECMAScript (JavaScript, JScript). Customizations to the Ribbon in the included example are created by using the Feature infrastructure, and can be deployed by using a solution package (.wsp file). This white paper is provided in both PDF and XPS format.

SharePoint Products and Technologies 2010 Technical Preview Managed Reference SDK: This compiled help (.chm) file contains reference topics focusing on types and members new to the SharePoint Products and Technologies 2010 managed object model that are called by other Microsoft applications. This reference does not reflect the entirety of the SharePoint Products and Technologies 2010 managed object model."

Paul McCartney in Halifax

So you can file this in the 'right place at the right time' category...

My brother and I leave the Halifax Jazz festival and decide to go check out the Paul McCartney gathering in front of the Lord Nelson hotel. Tipped off by a local radio station about a Sir Paul sound check, the crowd believes they might get a glimpse of the superstar.

Well, after about 15 minutes and a few Beatles songs--led off by the Halifax Police Department, I kid you not--Paul's security comes up the ramp from the underground parking. I figured we'd be lucky to see anything but it turns out that the vehicle slows down, his window is open and he's filming the crowd. I was amazed how close we got.



- Sir Paul films the crowd filming him

SharePoint Stops IP at the Door

My father-in-law has a great understanding of the difference between a traditional bricks and mortar company and a modern software business. For example, he once commented that "the value of a software company walks out the door at 5:00 every day."

Most people half his age don't appreciate this point--we'll set aside the fact that 5:00 doesn't mean much in the software world. Clearly, what he was saying is that the knowledge and experience of the people is the most important intellectual property in any software organization. Of course, there is value in the source code and collateral that employees create, but imagine the impact of your staff leaving without any sort of knowledge sharing.

In the past, I have made my own efforts to help prevent the loss of data as I moved from one company to another. At Microsoft, I used the MCMS FAQ as a way of sharing knowledge about Microsoft Content Management Server. When I left, it was just Stefan Gossner and myself working on it--it wasn't a community project, but it probably should have been.

But times have changed, with systems like Microsoft SharePoint taking hold in organizations, social computing can keep that valuable knowledge inside the company. The SharePoint social computing demo discusses the different ways that people share knowledge with MOSS 2007 and the new new methods seem so obvious now--for the MCMS FAQ, I had to write custom code to package the data in a consumable format. However, before I left Microsoft, SharePoint MySites were starting to be used, and the wave of change was clearly on the horizon. Nowadays, I can create a wiki on the Metalogix SharePoint intranet in just a few clicks.

What's coming in the future? Well, details about SharePoint 2010 are hard to come by right now, but there are certainly going to be some improvements. For example, the new SharePoint 2010 taxonomy features will allow users to categorize their information and further remove any friction from knowledge sharing. Instead of your IP walking out the door, it can be blocked at the firewall.

SharePoint and Social Computing

Yesterday, I was thinking about social computing and how many new apps seem to pop up each week. Today, an article happened to come out that focuses on this same thing: Is SharePoint Set To Become The De Facto Enterprise Social Media Platform--it continues along the vein of previous articles such as Will Microsoft Become Facebook for the Enterprise?

One question raised by the article is whether Microsoft's release schedule precludes SharePoint from being in touch with the current state of social computing. People who argue that this is true will be quick to point out that it has been 2.5 years since the last release and SharePoint 2010 isn't out in Beta yet. Also, while the article contends that "Enterprises don't just jump on the latest social media fade [sic],"... people do. So even if there is no corporate policy about Twitter or Facebook, people will be using them and most likely they'll be using them for business purposes (e.g., product evangelism, business networking, etc.).

However, what the article doesn't seem to ask is: what's the difference between the release dilemma that SharePoint faces and the same considerations for Microsoft Office? If a feature is considered for implementation during a two-year release cycle for Office, that feature had better be compelling enough that it's going to be relevant for longer than the next release cycle. This is no different for social computing functionality that the SharePoint Program Managers have to consider for one of their releases.

In the end, it isn't about how fast SharePoint can add the latest and greatest functionality, it's about how well they'll address the long-term needs of the enterprise. At Metalogix, we migrate customers to SharePoint, so we're well aware of how long it takes some companies to move to the latest platforms--they're not on a 2.5 year release schedule, they go at their own pace.

Slovakian sponge toffee

I'm in Bratislava watching a piece of German speaking sponge toffee.

He’s on the KIKA TV channel and he’s trapped in the KIKA lounge. Apparently, he’s not too happy about it.



OK, he's actually a loaf of bread named Bernd and the show is called Bernd das Brot. The show seems to play after the station has gone off the air--way better than a test pattern.

TechEd 2009

last week I was in LA for the Microsoft TechEd 2009 conference. Metalogix had a booth and we were, as always, making the world safer for SharePoint migration, SharePoint selective restore, SharePoint archiving and now Exchange archiving and file archiving as well.

many people have commented/blogged about the reduced attendance this year. however, with the move back to a one week format, I felt as though I had as many meaningful conversations about our software as I would expect at TechEd, so I wasn't disappointed.

the most disappointing aspect of the show was that Brooks Brothers shirts go for 3/$200 in LA, whereas in Orlando, you can get a deal closer to 3/$100. :)


- LA convention centre. love those palms.




- the expo hall floor


- the Metalogix booth where all things SharePoint are discussed.

Google car in Halifax

I looked out the window today and just happened to see the controversial Google maps "street view" car coming down the road in front of the Metalogix office.

the car records 360 degree images that allow Google map and Google Earth users to virtually drive around and see what things look like from street level instead of from space. the practice has some privacy advocates up in arms because people who happen to be in the camera's lens will be photographed without their permission, and possible without their knowledge.

personally, I don't think taking images like this in public is a problem. but, unfortunately, I was nine stories up, so I had no chance of getting in the shot.