Top News Stories
Microsoft Releases CTP of VS SharePoint Extensions (Redmond Developer News)
Microsoft has released a community technology preview (CTP) of Visual Studio (VS) Extensions for SharePoint. The new VS 2008 extensions for Windows SharePoint Services (VSeWSS), released as version 1.3, are templates for creating, debugging, packaging and deploying SharePoint projects. This release includes templates for Web Parts, Data Lists, Content Types, Event Receivers and Modules, among others.

Microsoft Searches for Search Answers (Redmond Mag)
Microsoft has more or less conceded Internet search to Google; there’s no force powerful enough — not Yahoo and not MSN Live Search — that can topple the Google. But enterprise search is another matter, and here Microsoft may at least have a shot, if not an edge. That’s exactly why Redmond bought FAST, a Norwegian search company. It seems that Microsoft will tie the FAST search engine to key server apps, such as SharePoint. This is an open system allowing SharePoint developers to include custom search in their apps.

Microsoft Revamps SQL Data Services (SDS) Cloud Database (Redmond Developer News)
After months of criticism that the test build of its cloud-based SQL Data Services (SDS) lacked the horsepower for enterprise-grade applications, Microsoft is scrapping the effort and moving to a pure relational model instead. Microsoft made the surprise move just one week before its annual MIX09 conference in Las Vegas last month. Ironically, The company announced its cloud-based database offering at MIX08, one year before. The test version of SDS that critics panned was based on REST and SOAP Web services interfaces.

Microsoft Reacts to ‘Open Cloud Manifesto’ (ADT Magazine)
A Microsoft official took umbrage on Thursday to an “open standards” initiative proposed by a coalition of cloud computing technology providers. The dispute involves a so-called “Open Cloud Manifesto” that the Cloud Computing Interoperability Forum (CCIF) plans to announce on Monday. The CCIF, which is a new group, currently lists 13 sponsors, with companies such as Cisco Systems, Intel and Sun Microsystems on the roster.

The Open Cloud Manifesto: Publish it Already (ZDNet)
There’s quite a ruckus over a “open cloud computing manifesto.” The gist: The document is scheduled to be published Monday and is designed to lay out principles for cloud interoperability. Microsoft made its thinking on the manifesto quite clear on Thursday. In a blog post, Microsoft’s Steve Martin, senior director of developer platform management, said the drafting of the open cloud manifesto wasn’t all that open. According to Microsoft, the manifesto was a take it or leave it affair.

Microsoft Leak Shows Windows 7 RC Available in May (Geek.com)
Microsoft made a mistake yesterday and posted the Windows 7 Release Candidate TechNet page a little early. It was soon removed, but not before the information had been seen by a few people and a screenshot taken by Neowin visitor ThePhoenix. The page gives details of the RC being available from May this year as that is the publish date stated at the top of the page. The RC won’t expire until June 2010 and will have unlimited product keys meaning you’ll have no trouble getting and using it.

Microsoft Builds Team to Deliver Revival of Consumer Operations (Marketing Week)
Microsoft announced last week that it was beefing up its new Consumer and Online division with the appointment of former XBox marketer Mike Fischer as the division’s new chief marketing officer. Fischer’s appointment comes hot on the heels of Microsoft poaching Project Kangaroo chief Ashley Highfield to head the Consumer and Online business. Highfield’s remit is to promote MSN and Windows Live as dominant forces in the online content world.

Around the Blogosphere
Keep SharePoint Simple (Andy Dale SharePoint Blog)
Today sees the release of the eagerly awaited film ‘The Damned United’. For those outside the UK this is a film about the legendary football manager Brian Clough. ‘Cloughie’ was probably the best manager of all-time. He took two unfashionable Midlands teams (Derby and Forest) and made them the best in the land. He even guided Nottingham Forest to two European Cups after taking charge of them when they were in the Second Division.

SharePoint is a Platform, a Very Big Platform (Ian’s SharePoint Blog)
This platform can help customers with their enterprise content management requirements. Traditionally, these different types of content have been in their own silos managed by products that were designed with the specific characteristics required for that type of content.

Webcast Recording: Performance Management with SharePoint PerformancePoint Services (Michael Gannotti on SharePoint +)
We had a great turnout for what may be the last of my SharePoint Weekly Webcasts as a part of this blog. In case you missed it or want to share what was presented the recordings of the session are now online and can be accessed via the information below. I do want to thank all of you who have been regularly attending these sessions and I hope that you found them beneficial. While I will no longer be doing a regular LiveMeeting series like this as a part of my new blog (it is not going to be MSFT hosted or affiliated so I cannot use my LiveMeeting account to facilitate ongoing sessions) I am open to doing additional webcasts around SharePoint as well as other SocialMedia content if partners, vendors, etc. have their own LiveMeeting, WebEx, etc accounts and want to guest appear.

Get Hip to Mesh… it Rocks! (Andrew Connell)
I’m surprised how many people aren’t familiar or using Mesh yet. I’ve found Mesh to be one of the coolest and most useful things I’ve started using in a while. For me, Mesh does two things, and does them very well. First, it allows you to create a “shared” folder across multiple machines as well as a Web desktop. For instance, I created a folder called “SharePoint Utilities” where i keep the small apps and PowerShell scripts I use on all my SharePoint tools like SharePoint Manager 2007, the Content Deployment Wizard, Reflector, SPDiposeCheck and other stuff. I’ve got Mesh installed on my laptop, my backup workstation VM and all my SharePoint dev machines. When I update one of the utilities or add something to the shared folder that’s in Mesh, within a few seconds all the other machines get updated (or the next time they get connected).

Do (Use Site Definitions) Or Do Not.  There Is No Try. (Binary Wave)
Paul Culmsee has authored a series of posts (the pertinent portions are here, here and here) on the whole Site Definition argument (see Joel’s original post here, and a deeper dive into the issue from me here and here) that I’m still shaking my head trying to follow. The gist of it seems to be an intriguing exercise in trying to map out the various opinions on a particular topic (in this case, the use of custom site definitions in SharePoint 2007). He’s using a technique known as dialogue mapping via IBIS (Issue Based Information System) along with Mindjet’s Mind Manager (which I’m still struggling to adapt to after years of OneNote bliss) Compendium to lay out the premise, arguments, counter-arguments and the rest of the convoluted back-and-forth to try and make sense of the issue in a logical manner.

“Governance Man” Has Fallen Into my Trap! (Clever Workarounds)
This post was supposed to be called “SharePoint Governance is not a deliverable” – hence the pizza above, but my secret evil plan has worked faster than expected! Read on… When I met with Dux Sy for breakfast the other day in a diner that looked remarkably like the set from Happy Days, our conversation covered various areas of topics around US vs Australian culture, SharePoint governance, project management, food, wicked problems, sense-making and my two kilograms of Vietnamese coffee beans that came from a weasel’s digestive tract . Smart guy, is our Mr. Sy indeed; good business acumen – well suited to being a SharePoint sensei.

FERRARI.COM (Owen Allen – The MOSS Garden)
WOW!  Check out the new Ferrari.com web site – powered by SharePoint Server 2007! Lots of great information – plenty of images and videos and a great way to follow your favorite driver and team. I’ve heard that there was a great team that contributed to this site, and I can’t wait to learn more of the stories about how the development, design, and implementation of this site occurred.

(Embarrassing but) True SharePoint Confessions: How to Delete a List Column (SharePoint Blank)
It’s been a little while since I’ve thoroughly embarrassed myself with one of my patented SharePoint Newbie Confessions, so here’s one for you to have a laugh on me.  It’s Friday, after all, so why not?  And, hey, who knows, maybe documenting my own misadventures here will help some other poor soul out there in the same boat … which is, after all, the entire point of my SharePoint Blank endeavors. In case you’re wondering, yes, the length of the above preamble (up to and including having felt the need to provide justification for same) is absolutely an indication of just how embarrassing this particular confession is going to be.

Microsoft Updates
The STSADM MergeContentDB command may cause database corruption in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (KBAlertz – Microsoft Knowledge Base Article)
Under certain circumstances, the STSADM MergeContentDB command may fail in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. These circumstances include combinations of significant site collection size, user traffic, and SQL Server load. When the STSADM MergeContentDB command fails, both the source and destination databases can be corrupted.

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 error message: “There are no items to show in this view of the <name of view> list” (KBAlertz – Microsoft Knowledge Base Article)
When you create a view for a custom list with a TEXT computed column and try to navigate to next page, you see the same first one page for all pages. If you try to navigate back you receive an error message: There are no items to show in this view of the <name of view> list.

Daily/Weekly alerts not sent while the immediate ones are sent successfully (KBAlertz – Microsoft Knowledge Base Article)
Consider a scenario where in a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 farm environment, you have configured immediate, daily and weekly alerts to be triggered when changes are made to the content. You notice that while the immediate alerts are received, the daily and weekly alerts are not received.

Bamboo Partner Events*
March 30, Alexandria, Virginia, Empowering Your Organization with SharePoint: An Executive Seminar – Learning Tree, Innovative-e, Dux Sy
March 31, Online, Introduction to Building & Buying SharePoint Web Parts – IMPACT Management

April 2, Online, Tips & Tricks for Building & Buying SharePoint Web Parts – IMPACT Management
April 6-8, London, England, SharePoint Best Practices Conference - Combined Knowledge
April 6-8, Montreal, Quebec, SharePoint Summit 2009 - Alcero, Innovative-e, Dux Sy
April 9, Online, Project Management 2.0 Using SharePoint 2007 – InterDyn AKA
April 10, Online, How to Build a Project Management Dashboard with SharePoint – Innovative-e, Dux Sy
April 14, Reston, Virginia, Empowering Your Organization with SharePoint: An Executive Seminar – Learning Tree, Innovative-e, Dux Sy
April 18, Atlanta, Georgia, SharePoint Saturday  – B & R Business Solutions, Innovative-e, Dux Sy
April 23, Online, Free Webinar: Web Based Business Analytics in SharePoint: Dash Boarding and Report Writing From GP to SharePoint – InterDyn AKA

May 2, Reston, Virginia, SharePoint Saturday - B & R Business Solutions, Innovative-e, Dux Sy
May 4, New York, New York, PMI New York City – Innovative-e, Dux Sy
May 7, Online, Unleash the Collective Power Within a Media / Advertising / Publishing Company with SharePoint 2007 – InterDyn AKA

SharePoint Events**
March 30, Adelaide, Australia, Adelaide SharePoint User Group Joint Meeting
March 30, Alexandria, Virginia, Empowering Your Organization with SharePoint: An Executive Seminar
March 31, Online, The Fundamentals of Blogs and Wikis in SharePoint 2007

April 1, Online, SharePoint Project Management Webinar – AM
April 1, Online, SharePoint Project Management Webinar – PM
April 1, Asheville, North Carolina, Western North Carolina SharePoint User Group
April 2, Online, Building Bullet-Proof Security for SharePoint Portals
April 2, Leawood, Kansas, Office Developer User Group of Kansas City
April 3, Online, Random Solutions with the Content Editor Web Part
April 6-7, St. Louis, Missouri, Midwest SharePoint Conference
April 6-8, London, England, SharePoint Best Practices Conference
April 6-8, Montreal, Quebec, SharePoint Summit 2009
April 7, Online, Word and SharePoint: I Didn’t Know You Could Do That!
April 7, Chicago, Illinois, The Chicago Microsoft SharePoint Business Strategies Group April Meetup
April 7, Grand Rapids, Michigan, West Michigan SharePoint User Group
April 8, Online, SharePoint Project Management Webinar
April 8, Online, SharePoint Administration Webinar
April 9, Online, ‘What’s New from Bamboo?’ Webinar Series
April 9, Online, Project Management 2.0 Using SharePoint 2007
April 9, Online, Mind Manager Templates for SharePoint Site Planning
April 10, Online, EUSP Solutions: Color Code a SharePoint Calendar
April 10, Online, How to Build a Project Management Dashboard with SharePoint
April 14, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, Bay of Plenty User Group
April 14, Reston, Virginia, Empowering Your Organization with SharePoint: An Executive Seminar
April 15, Online, SharePoint Project Management Webinar – AM
April 15, Online, SharePoint Project Management Webinar – PM
April 15, Online, SharePoint Administrators: The Reluctant DBAs. All You Need To Know About SQL Server But Are Afraid To Ask
April 15, Indiana, SharePoint Users of Indiana
April 18, Atlanta, Georgia, SharePoint Saturday
April 18, St. Louis, Missouri, MOSS Camp
April 22, Online, SharePoint Project Management Webinar
April 22, Online, SharePoint Administration Webinar
April 23, Online, ‘What’s New from Bamboo?’ Webinar Series
April 23, Online, Free Webinar: Web Based Business Analytics in SharePoint: Dash Boarding and Report Writing From GP to SharePoint
April 29, Online, SharePoint Project Management Webinar – AM
April 29, Online, SharePoint Project Management Webinar – PM
April 30, Virginia Beach, Virginia, Hampton Roads SQL Server and SharePoint User Group

May 2, Reston, Virginia, SharePoint Saturday
May 4, New York, New York, PMI New York City
May 6, Dallas, Texas, SharePoint TechFest 2009
May 7, Online, Unleash the Collective Power Within a Media / Advertising / Publishing Company with SharePoint 2007

June 22-24, Boston, Massachusetts, SPTechCon
June 26-27, Dulles, Virginia, Regional SharePoint Users Conference 2009

October 19-22, Las Vegas, Nevada, SharePoint Conference 2009

* 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 in our SharePoint Events listings.

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