Mike Walker's Blog

Microsoft Office 2010 Suite RTM

 

Earlier today Microsoft announced the release-to-manufacturing (RTM) milestone for Office 2010, SharePoint 2010, Visio 2010 and Project 2010. This is a big milestone for Microsoft and much anticipated. 

The key dates for folks are:

• April 27th - Release for SA/Volume Licenses Customers
• May 1st - General Availability
• May 12th - Launch Party (to participate in the launch go to: http://www.the2010event.com)

So what do you do if you have already installed the beta and kicked the tires a bit. Well in traditional fashion the folks at Microsoft have made it impossible to have an upgrade path from the Beta bits to the RTM bits. See the following post form a third party source: 

http://blog.fpweb.net/sharepoint-2010-pre-rtm-to-rtm-is-not-supported/ 

In Microsoft's defense, this should be expected as this is the normal mode of operation for pre-RTM bits. For those that have done more than the OOB, chuck it up to experience with the new platform.

The reason behind this decision is, during 2007 Beta->RTM upgrade process, some customers got garbage left (orphaned objects, for example) inside their installations. This caused a lot of support issues in the past and even today they are still coming. When support engineers got a call and dug into the customer's envoriment, after spending a few hours they finally found it was caused by those garbage left.  It is a general understanding that Beta software is not supported by CSS for general public as there're not enough bandwidth and resources, so to avoid the problems that would hurt you someday in the future, we decided to make clear that this upgrade should be avoided, unless you have the go live license and are supported by CSS for this process.

Like I said, migrate the data from a public beta farm could be possible for some content. For example, you can write a program that reads the list items in Beta farm to a database table or XML and then put them to a list in RTM farm, keep metadata and permissions. However I cannot answer you if you use a specific API to export data is a correct way or not, that depends on how you use it. There could be 3rd party solutions from microsoft partners.
Jie Li  - http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en/sharepoint2010general/thread/b9817862-fd35-413a-b018-ce5c500b6760 

SharePoint and Office 2010 Keynotes

 

SAVE THE DATE

Watch Stephen Elop, President of the Microsoft Business Division, announce the launch of Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 on May 12, 2010 at 11 a.m. EST. The live keynote focuses on the next wave of productivity that delivers:

• End user productivity across the PC, phone and browser
• IT choice and flexibility
• A platform for developers to build innovative solutions

Join the virtual launch event with Microsoft executives, product developers, partners and customers to:

• Find out how peers and partners are already seeing benefits to their business by leveraging the next wave of productivity.
• Submit your questions through live Q&A.
• Participate via blogs, tweets, social media networks, commenting, and more.

View on-demand breakout sessions showing how Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 meet the unique challenges people and businesses are faced with today, and provide the solutions they need for tomorrow.

Get a head start, experience Microsoft Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 now.

Microsoft Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010—Business Productivity at its Best >

Connect and empower your people with SharePoint 2010 >

SharePoint 2010 Upgrade Resources

A big thanks to Dennis Bottjer for post this compile of SharePoint 2010 Upgrade Resources:

• Upgrade Approach Testing (Visio Diagram) –  It illustrates how to prepare and test the upgrade.
• SharePoint 2010 Upgrade Planning (PDF) - This is a plan for upgrading from WSS 3.0 or MOSS 2007 to SharePoint 2010.
• SharePoint 2010 Topologies (Visio Diagram) – Illustrates different Farm Configurations, SharePoint Services, and Server Roles.
• SharePoint 2010: Software Development Kit – Provides code examples for SharePoint 2010.

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New SharePoint 2010 Architecture Models

Microsoft just posted recently some updated architecture models on MSDN.

Models

Models are 34-by-44-inch posters that detail a specific technical area. These models are intended to be used with corresponding articles on TechNet. These models are created by using Office Visio 2007. You can modify the Visio files to illustrate how you plan to incorporate Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products in your own environment.

Title	Description
Services in SharePoint 2010 Products Visio (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167090) PDF (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167092) XPS (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167091)	Describes and illustrates the services architecture, including and common ways to deploy services in your overall solution design.
Cross-farm Services in SharePoint 2010 Products Visio (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167093) PDF (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167095) XPS (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167094)	Illustrates how to deploy services across farms to provide centralized administration of services.
Topologies for SharePoint Server 2010 Visio (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167087) PDF (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167089) XPS (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167088)	Describes common ways to build and scale farm topologies, including planning which servers to start services on.
Hosting Environments in SharePoint 2010 Products Visio (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167084) PDF (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167086) XPS (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167085)	Summarizes the support for hosting environments and illustrates common hosting architectures.
Search Technologies for SharePoint 2010 Products Visio (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167731) PDF (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167733) XPS (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167732)	Compares and contrasts the search technologies that work with SharePoint Products 2010: SharePoint Foundation 2010 Search Server 2010 Express Search Server 2010 SharePoint Server 2010 FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint
Search Environment Planning for Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 Visio (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167734) PDF (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167736) XPS (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167735)	Walks through primary architecture design decisions for search environments.
Search Architectures for Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 Visio (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167737) PDF (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167739) XPS (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167738)	Details the physical and logical architecture components that make up a search system and illustrates common search architectures.
Design Search Architectures for Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 Visio (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167740) PDF (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167742) XPS (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=167741)	Walks through the initial design steps to determine a basic design for a SharePoint Server 2010 search architecture.
Business Connectivity Services Model Visio (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=165565) PDF (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=165566) XPS (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=165571)	Microsoft Business Connectivity Services are a set of services and features in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 and Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 that support integrating data from external systems into solutions based on Microsoft SharePoint Server and Microsoft SharePoint Foundation. This model poster describes the architecture of Microsoft Business Connectivity Services in SharePoint Server 2010 and provides information about how to create solutions that are based on the service. Use this model with the following article: Business Connectivity Services overview (SharePoint Server 2010)
Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 Upgrade Planning Visio (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=167098) PDF (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=167099) XPS (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=167100)	This model covers planning for an upgrade from Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 to SharePoint Server 2010. It includes information about the following: Upgrade requirements: Hardware, operating system, and database Upgrade process: specific steps to follow before, during, and after the upgrade Use this model with the following article: Upgrading to SharePoint Server 2010
Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 Upgrade Approaches Visio (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=167101) PDF (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=167102) XPS (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=167103)	This model helps you understand the in-place, database attach, and hybrid approaches to upgrading from Office SharePoint Server 2007 to SharePoint Server 2010. See the farm topologies before, during, and after upgrade Compare the advantages of each type of upgrade approach Use this model with the following articles: Determine upgrade approach (SharePoint Server 2010) Upgrade process overview (SharePoint Server 2010)
Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 — Test Your Upgrade Process Visio (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=167104) PDF (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=167105) XPS (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=167106)	This model explains the methodology for testing the upgrade process before upgrading from Office SharePoint Server 2007 to SharePoint Server 2010. Understand the goals for testing your upgrade process: customizations, hardware, timing, planning See specific steps to follow for testing your upgrade process Use this model with the following article: Use a trial upgrade to find potential issues (SharePoint Server 2010)
Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 — Services Upgrade Visio (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=167107) PDF (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=167108) XPS (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=167109)	This model covers upgrading services from Office SharePoint Server 2007 to SharePoint Server 2010. Considerations for specific services: Personalization, Search, InfoPath Forms, Excel, Business Data Catalog, Single Sign-on In-place upgrade with services Database attach upgrade with services
Getting started with business intelligence in SharePoint Server 2010 Visio (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=167082) PDF (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=167170) XPS (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=167171)	This model covers an overview of business intelligence in SharePoint Server and provides you with the following information. An overview of each business intelligence service and when you might use the service. Architecture for application of the business intelligence services and how they work together in a topology. A list of possible data sources for each business intelligence service.

SharePoint 2010 Development Resources

Paul Andrew posted a number of small but interesting “code snippet” articles around SharePoint 2010 development that can help you getting started once Beta 2 is public:

• Module 1: Building Web Parts in SharePoint 2010
• Module 2: What Developers need to know about SharePoint 2010
• Module 3: Building Blocks for Web Part Development in SharePoint 2010
• Module 4: Accessing SharePoint 2010 Data using the Server side API
• Module 5: Accessing SharePoint 2010 Data using the Client side API
• Module 7: Developing Business Processes with SharePoint 2010 Workflows
• Module 8: Creating Silverlight User Interfaces for SharePoint 2010 Solutions
• Module 9: Sandboxed Solutions for Web Parts in SharePoint 2010
• Module 10:  Creating Dialogs and Ribbon Controls in SharePoint 2010

Thanks SPC09 and all of the Exhibitors!

Kudos for Microsoft and all the Exhibitors that contributed to the success of this years SharePoint Conference. A lot of really great sessions and surprisingly close to 8,000 people this year. Close to double the size of last year and very close to the size of TechEd (9,000). Will the SharePoint conference surpass TechEd, I think it just might. SharePoint is application platform more than ever.

Not only did my team and I find a wealth of great content at the conference but had a blast at all the after events. There was something going on every night. The one big social was the 80’s party which had Huey Lewis and the News and 80’s stuff to play with(goofy 80’s sun glasses, classic arcades & XBox arcade games)

The networking socials were a hit as well, a few I went to was at the Mandalay poolside (PointBridge), Eye Candy x2 (Intelligent Effects and SharePint), Ghost Bar (CreativeMaven) and House of Blues (Catapult).

 

 

 

Thanks to dinnouti for all the great pictures.

RBA Consulting went all out with a suite at the Hardwood Suite in the Palms Casino! This suite that is famous for having stars from Hollywood stay has a half court basketball court, a pool table, professional locker rooms, built in bar, extra large jacuzzi tub, two master bedrooms, three extra large beds on the court that you can pull down, and two large lounge areas.  Its about 10,000 square feet and two stories. If you want to stay there it will only set you back 25k…

  

On top of all this a good friend of mine got married in Vegas, Congrats Rob!

Forrester: Mapping out Your Organizations Road to SharePoint Success Session

This was a great session that talked more about setting the expectation of what SharePoint really is, a Application Services Platform.

Great quote:

There isn’t one role but it takes a “village” of people to make it happen.

 

Making SharePoint Implementations Successful

In the presentation he went through the many roles it takes to successfully deploy a SharePoint platform. Thus, you must organize to capitalize. Below are the key roles needed:

1. Operations Manager
2. Solutions Architect (This is more of an EA role)
3. Network Analyst
4. Security Analyst
5. Librarian and records manager (I think of this more as an Information Architect)
6. Human Factors / UI Designer (I would call this UX Engineer or User Experience Designer)
7. Community Leader
8. Application Architect (Deep architect resource that know the bolts of SharePoint very well)
9. Collaboration Manager
10. Other IT Roles

 

Technorati Tags: SharePoint,Goverance

Twitter on SharePoint

'MyPeeps' - What's on your mind? eGov 2.0 Kit 'My Peeps' templates enable social sharing of information within government entities and allows optional promotion of this information to public facing social networking sites. This solution’s major advantage is that it is hosted on-premise for “government-only” social networking and all information is kept internal unless otherwise tagged to be posted to Internet sites like Twitter or Facebook.

You can get it here:

http://egov.codeplex.com/

 

Technorati Tags: SharePoint,Social Computing

Using SharePoint as a Project Management Portal

Dux and the folks over at Bamboo Solutions gave a presentation on using SharePoint as a Project Management portal. You can see not only from this presentation but from the Microsoft side the significant investments they are making to enrich the Microsoft Project management solution set.

Here are a list of examples:

• Visual Studio Team System native integration with SharePoint
• Project and Portfolio Service Merging in 2010
• Project Server now riding on the SharePoint 2010 platform natively
• Office Integration in general

In the presentation which is also summarized on Dux’s blog here:

http://www.cmswire.com/cms/enterprise-cms/spc09-the-future-of-sharepoint-project-management-005854.php?utm_source=MainRSSFeed&utm_medium=Web&utm_campaign=RSS-News

SharePoint can deliver to an organization is the ability to address project management challenges, such as inefficient communication among stakeholders, poor information management practices and undefined project collaboration standards that compromises project success.

Benefits of using SharePoint for Project Management

• Centralize project information and communication in a SharePoint site
• Automate project processes like change control process by utilizing built in SharePoint workflows
• Efficiently interact with project information on a SharePoint site by integrating it with common Microsoft Office tools such as Word, Excel, and Outlook
• Enable alerts to send automated reminders to project stakeholders
• Define and monitor project tasks in the enhanced project task list which now shows task dependencies and a “Microsoft Project-like” Gantt view interface

 

To read the full article go to the full blog entry here.

Technorati Tags: SharePoint,Project Management