Bamboo’s coverage of the Best Practices Conference in London kicks into full swing today. We have the scoop on appearances by Queen Elizabeth, Marilyn Monroe (um, what?) and a great cast of SharePoint experts from around the world. Personally I want details from SharePint and ShareRave, but I doubt there will be much written about that. I think I overheard someone muttering ”What happens in London, stays in London.”   –Chris

Top News Stories
LinkedIn’s New Platform Is All About Identity (GigaOM)
Last week, LinkedIn unveiled an upgraded version of its platform to developers. The professional social network has tried since 2009 to establish itself as a platform with open APIs and services for third parties, not to simply copy Facebook, but to confirm itself as the source for professional profiles. With 100 million users and an upcoming IPO, what are the chances of LinkedIn sealing up this role?

IE9: Microsoft is Back in the Browser Game (CNET)
After a three-week IE9 immersion, I’ve concluded that Microsoft once again has a competitive Web browser. And even though Internet Explorer remains the most-used browser on the Net today, convincing me that Internet Explorer 9 is a real browser was quite an accomplishment. Here’s why.

Is This the Windows 8 App Store? (Time)
Rumors of a Windows 8 app store have resurfaced, with a website posting what it claims are leaked screenshots. The screenshots, posted by Chinese-language website CNBeta, show a store that looks awfully similar to the Mac App Store, which launched in January. There’s a big pane for a featured app on top, followed by a grid of rectangular slots, each with an app icon and other information.

Microsoft Planning to Announce New Flexible Hardware Specs for Windows Phone 7? (WinRumors)
Microsoft may be planning to announce a new flexible hardware specification for Windows Phone 7, WinRumors has learned. According to sources familiar with the company’s plans, the new hardware specifications will allow device manufacturers such as Nokia to create cheaper Windows Phone devices. The announcement may be made as early as the company’s MIX11 conference this week. The new flexibility will offer device makers the option to use cheaper components to bring the overall cost of a Windows Phone down. Microsoft is understood to be open to flexible specifications in order to gain smartphone market share and eat into Google’s Android efforts.

Microsoft to Move Its CRM and ERP Wares to the Windows Azure Cloud (ZDNet)
Microsoft provided near- and longer-term updates about its ERP and CRM wares at its Convergence conference for its ERP and CRM customers and partners on April 11. On the near-term front, the Softies said to expect the next version of its Dynamics AX ERP product (codenamed AX 6, and now known officially as Dynamics AX 2012) to be released to manufacturing in August 2011. A beta of AX 2012 is out as of today (April 4), officials said.

Microsoft, Google Spar Over Security Certification (CNET)
Microsoft today continued its cat fight with Google, calling out the company for apparently misleading customers about the security of its applications. The software giant alleges that Google Apps for Government doesn’t meet the level of security that Google claims. In a blog post, Microsoft’s corporate vice president and deputy general counsel, David Howard, said that Google’s Web-based productivity suite for government clients is not certified under the Federal Information Security Management Act.

 

Around the Blogosphere
Searching the Enterprise with Matthew McDermott (The MOSS Show SharePoint Podcast)
Last year we had a great two-part show with well-known SharePoint expert Matthew McDermott to talk about Enterprise Social with SP 2010. In that show, we touched on the importance of Search in the enterprise, so Matthew has returned to the show to discuss what search means in the enterprise, how best to deploy, manage and make use of it, and a bunch of other related tips and tricks for unlocking more value from it.

Dissecting the SharePoint PowerShell Assignment Collections (ITPro)
With SP2010, Microsoft introduced PowerShell cmdlets as a replacement for / alternative to stsadm. Along with this, they brought SPAssignmentCollection, to minimize the impact of forgetting to dispose many of the SharePoint objects. It’s usage is simple enough: Start-SPAssignment and Stop-SPAssignment. They can both be scoped Global, SemiGlobal and Local. Locally scoped assignment collections would pan out such as:

10 Signs of SharePoint Project Chaos (21apps)
SharePoint is great isn’t it? As a technology it’s evolved to be an awesome platform, with a breadth of features that is hard to match anywhere else… So why is it that we all seem to be coming across an increasing number of unhappy “SharePoint Customers”? Do you recognise some of these signs?

Adding a Touch of Glamour – Part One (EndUserSharePoint)
When people think of SharePoint, the general impression is boring to look at, but they have to use it, because that’s where all the information is. This post is about how to add a touch of glamour to your site, without needing a full designer on your team. Your users will appreciate it, and the user experience is brought up a few notches. A lot of what I will write is common knowledge to most people, but to build a castle, you always need the simple and basic foundation.

ESPBPC: ‘Best Practices for Organizing Documents in SharePoint 2010′ with Agnes Molnar (SharePoint 2010)
Agnes Molnar explained at the start of her session this afternoon at the European SharePoint Best Practices Conference that, “The goal of my presentation is to provide as many best practices as I can in one hour, based on my experiences with SharePoint in the past few years.”  Agnes went on to pack the hour as promised, even to the point of running a couple of minutes long since she had so much information to share.

Day 1 from Best Practices London: SharePoint and Celebrity Sightings! (The Bamboo Team Blog)
Ok so that may have been an exaggeration, but we do have some pretty good impersonators of Queen Elizabeth and Marilyn Monroe along with pretty girls handing out ice-cream cones!  The Queen we get (there is construction right outside for the upcoming royal wedding) and of course everyone loves ice-cream, but no one really understands why Marilyn is here.  But enough about the entertainment – there are over 600 attendees at this event making it one of the largest SharePoint shows that I’ve been to in a while.

ESPBPC: ‘SharePoint 2010 Developer’s Mythbusters’ with Mirjam van Olst (SharePoint 2010)
SharePoint MCM and MVP Mirjam van Olst presented the first session of the day that I attended at the European SharePoint Best Practices Conference (ESPBPC).  As it was a session in the Developer track, and as a non-technical sort, what this means for me is that I was throwing myself into the deep end of the pool early in the conference.  What this means for you is that I need to be clear that I’m purely reporting here, and while I always strive to accurately capture the information being presented, any mistakes herein are of course errors on my part, and not Mirjam’s.

 

SharePoint Job Listings*
SharePoint Trainer – Baytown, TX
Candidate will be responsible for customer interactions, understanding the client’s business, and in designing and moving information into the new SharePoint environment.  This position works very closely with the technology divisions – it is not an IT focused job.  If you have a passion for helping users solve business issues with the SharePoint Platform, we want to hear from you.

SharePoint Developer – Renton, WA
The SharePoint Developer plays a critical role in the implementation and functional support of complex enterprise web systems solutions on Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 MOSS 2007 at an Enterprise level across all Regions and the System Office. The incumbent will be responsible for development of web parts, workflows and content types, to add new functionality that is not available out of the box and will assist in training developers in SharePoint developer tools and practices. This position will develop and enhance intranet and Internet features following the roll-out of the One Intranet system initiative and Redesign project. This position is also integral to maintaining overall solution architecture and application design including templates, visual design and core application functionality such as News Information and Policy Management.

 

Microsoft Updates
Deploy a Client Tool for Taking SharePoint Content Offline (Video) (Microsoft TechNet)
This video shows how to deploy Microsoft SharePoint Workspace 2010 to SharePoint client machines so that end users can efficiently synchronize offline work with SharePoint sites. In order to benefit from this video, you should have expertise in the following areas: Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 administration; SharePoint site administration; Microsoft Office 2010 policy deployment.

 

SharePoint Events*

• April 11-13, London, England - Best Practices Conference
• April 12, Online - Bamboo SharePoint Essentials Webinar
• April 12, Online – Bamboo SharePoint Calendar & Scheduling Workshop
• April 13, Online - Bamboo SharePoint Project Management Central Webinar
• April 14, Online – Bamboo SharePoint Data Visualization & Dashboarding Workshop
• April 14, Online – Bamboo SharePoint Lists Workshop
• April 17, Las Vegas, Nevada - The Experts Conference 2011
• April 20, Online - Bamboo SharePoint Project Management Central Webinar
• April 20, Online - Bamboo SharePoint Workflow Conductor Webinar
• April 20, Online – SharePoint Administration Webinar
• April 20, Online - Leveraging External Content Types in SharePoint 2010 Webinar
• April 21, Online - Bamboo SharePoint Project Management Central Webinar
• April 21, Online – Bamboo SharePoint Framework Solutions Webinar
• April 26, Online - Bamboo SharePoint Essentials Webinar
• April 26, Online – Bamboo SharePoint Data Visualization & Dashboarding Workshop
• April 26, Online – Bamboo SharePoint Lists Workshop
• April 27, Online - Bamboo SharePoint Essentials Webinar
• April 28, Online – Bamboo SharePoint Calendar & Scheduling Workshop
• April 28, Online – Going Social without Going Crazy, or Broke Webinar
• April 28, Washington, DC – Networking Event: Women in Technology
• April 30, Copenhagen, Denmark - SharePoint Saturday
• April 30, St. Louis, Missouri – SharePoint Saturday
• May 7, Houston, Texas - SharePoint Saturday
• May 7, Atlanta, Georgia – SharePoint Saturday
• May 11, Online – The Shape of Collaboration to Come
• May 14, Troy, Michigan – SharePoint Saturday
• May 17, Las Vegas, Nevada - Leverage Microsoft Project 2010 with SharePoint 2010 for Project Management Success @ NACSTech
• May 18, Online - Success is Spelled with U: You should get Users Involved Webinar
• May 19-20, Denver, Colorado – SharePoint Fest
• June 1-3, Boston, Massachusetts – SPTechCon
• June 8-9, Vienna, Austria – SharePoint Konferenz 2011
• June 11, Sri Lanka – SharePoint Saturday
• June 11, Tampa, Florida – SharePoint Saturday
• June 15, Online - Secure and Accessible: Records Management Done Right Webinar
• June 18, Sacramento, California - SharePoint Saturday
• June 20-21, Ullesthorpe, Leicestershire, UK - Delivering SharePoint Success Exclusive Mentoring Workshop
• July 27, Chicago, Illinois – SharePoint Fest
• July 30, New York, New York - SharePoint Saturday
• September 24, Manchester, New Hampshire – SharePoint Saturday
• October 3-6, Anaheim, California - Microsoft SharePoint Conference 2011

 

SharePoint Training*

• April 12, Nashville, Tennessee – Mission: Automation – SharePoint Workflow and InfoPath – SharePoint Solutions
• April 18-20, Chicago, Illinois – SharePoint 2010 for Power Users – SusQtech
• April 18-21, Washington, DC – SharePoint 2010 Power End User – Mindsharp
• April 19, Chicago, Illinois - Introduction to SharePoint 2010 – Using SharePoint Foundation 2010 – SharePoint Solutions
• April 19, Dallas, Texas – Applying SharePoint 2007 – MOSS Advanced Features – SharePoint Solutions
• April 20-21, Online - InfoPath 2010 Power End User – Mindsharp
• April 25-29, San Francisco, California – SharePoint 2010 Core Technologies – Mindsharp
• April 25-29, Minneapolis, Minnesota – SharePoint Designer 2010 (Beta) – Mindsharp
• April 25-29, Minneapolis, Minnesota – Create Branded Solutions with SharePoint 2010 Web Content Management Beta – Mindsharp
• April 26, Dallas, Texas – Exploring SharePoint 2010 – New Features – SharePoint Solutions
• April 26, Dallas, Texas – SharePoint 2010 Upgrade and Planning – SharePoint Solutions
• April 26, Online – SharePoint 2010 End User Training – SusQtech
• April 26, Online – SharePoint 2010 Site Administrator Training – SusQtech
• May 2-13, Winchester, Virginia – SharePoint 2010 Immersion – SusQtech
• May 10, Online – SharePoint PM Central Application Administrative Training – Bamboo
• May 17, Online – SharePoint 2010 End User Training – SusQtech
• May 17, Online – SharePoint 2010 Site Administrator Training – SusQtech
• May 17, Dallas, Texas – Introduction to SharePoint 2010 – Using SharePoint Foundation 2010 – SharePoint Solutions
• May 17, Dallas, Texas – Introduction to SharePoint 2010 – Using SharePoint Server 2010 – SharePoint Solutions
• May 23-25, Winchester, Virginia – SharePoint Designer 2010 – SusQtech
• May 24, Online – SharePoint PM Central End User Training – Bamboo
• May 24, Nashville, Tennessee – Exploring SharePoint 2010 – New Features – SharePoint Solutions
• May 24, Nashville, Tennessee – SharePoint 2010 Upgrade and Planning – SharePoint Solutions
• May 26-27, Winchester, Virginia – Styling & Branding in SharePoint 2010 – SusQtech
• June 7, Online – SharePoint PM Central Application Administrative Training – Bamboo
• June 21, Online – SharePoint PM Central End User Training – Bamboo
• June 22, Online – SharePoint 2010 End User Training – SusQtech
• June 22, Online – SharePoint 2010 Site Administrator Training – SusQtech

* Please contact Chris Dooley (chris.dooley@bamboosolutions.com) to be included in SharePoint Daily™.

 

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