.NET News Desk

TreeHouse Announces Partner Relationship Management for MS Dynamics CRM

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 07:44:00 EST

TreeHouse Interactive, a provider of on-demand partner relationship management (PRM) and marketing automation solutions, has announced the release of its Reseller View PRM system for Microsoft Dynamics CRM. The new integrated offering puts enterprise-class partner management capabilities in the hands of Microsoft Dynamics CRM users for the first time. Reseller View is the most complete PRM solution available, offering a password protected enterprise-class web portal that can be customized to include any navigation desired and match any corporate branding guidelines including a company-branded URL. Its unmatched feature set automates partner on-boarding and enables partner information to flow seamlessly between Dynamics CRM and Reseller View. Once in the system, partners can register opportunities or receive leads directly from Microsoft Dynamics CRM while logged into the Reseller View portal. Some of the available features include: deal registration, lead distribution, automated training and certification, partner marketing enablement, automated contract management, MDF/co-op management, automated partner on-boarding, partner locator, advanced document management, and partner marketing automation.

GSX Announces Enhanced Microsoft Exchange Support

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:01:24 EST

GSX Solutions, a provider of proactive, consolidated monitoring, reporting of enterprise collaboration environments, including Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SharePoint, Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES) and Lotus Notes has announced a new GSX Monitor & Analyzer release, with plug and play ease of use and the delivery of a full range of monitoring enhancements for Microsoft environments. The latest GSX Monitor & Analyzer release provides a new set of features that meet the management challenges of enterprises using Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint, BES or Lotus Notes for critical business services.

Microsoft’s New Cloudware Could Cast a Shadow over VMware

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 07:00:00 EST

Microsoft staged a Private Cloud Day Tuesday to herald the coming of System Center 2012 sometime between now and the end of June. System Center 2012 will put Microsoft squarely in the private cloud business and put VMware’s teeth on edge because it’s cheaper and reportedly has the same bells and whistles as VMware’s widgetry. According to IDC VMware will have to start competing on price. Once Microsoft’s private cloudware is out there it’ll have the makings of a hybrid model – which is what most people say they want – governed by the same management tools and offering a consistent view of application performance and data in both environments. Microsoft, by the way, says it recognizes that users want to consume cloud capacity from a number of partners.

LG Signs Android Patent Deal with Microsoft

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 06:00:00 EST

LG Electronics Thursday became the latest Android and Chrome OS peddler to bow to Microsoft’s patent claims and sign a “patent agreement” that Microsoft said “provides broad coverage under Microsoft’s patent portfolio for LG’s tablets, mobile phones and other consumer devices running the Android or Chrome OS Platform.” Usually Microsoft brags that it’s getting paid for privilege. This time it didn’t a word about royalties, merely noting that the “contents of the agreement have not been disclosed,” describing the deal as expanding on a pre-existing agreement. That license covered Linux and, as FOSS Patents points out, Android is a Linux fork. So, the new arrangement is assumed to be royalty-bearing.

DataWindow Sorting with Column Headers

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 10:30:00 EST

This article describes how to create a grid presentation window that allows sorting by clicking on the column header. To begin we need to create a grid DataWindow. I’m selecting just few columns from the employee table. Here is my sql for the DataWindow in Figure 1. Once we have created it I get the DataWindow painter shown in Figure 2. There are several changes that we need to make. Let’s change the status column so it’s no longer a set of radio buttons. This is a read-only screen so let’s remove the status and add a computed field. To do this let’s remove the Status column altogether. Then add a computed field in its place.

Microsoft Warns of Flood-Related Drop in PC Sales

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 08:30:00 EST

Microsoft says the Thai floods did more damage to the hard disk drive and component supply chain than people thought and that industry-wide PC sales in Q4 will probably drop more than the ~1% loss analysts have projected.

How Quickly the Mighty Have Fallen

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 09:30:00 EST

On November 9, Adobe announced in a blog post[1] that it had decided to cease efforts to develop browser plugins for mobile devices to play Flash, indicating that HTML5 was “the best solution for creating and deploying content in the browser across mobile platforms.” In case that sounds like Adobe abandoned Flash entirely, it should be noted that Adobe indicated their intentions to continue to develop the AIR player for mobile devices, so that the role for Flash on mobile devices would be restricted to native apps, just not browser-based apps. A few days later in another blog post[2], Adobe also noted that it was releasing the entire Flex SDK (used by the Flash Builder IDE to generate Flash RIA applications) to open source, indicating that “In the long-term, we believe HTML5 will be the best technology for enterprise application development.”

Ray Ozzie's on His Way Back

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 08:00:00 EST

Lotus Notes creator and Bill Gates replacement Ray Ozzie is working on a mystery start-up called Cocomo that’s recruiting in Boston and Seattle – well, at least it’s looking for a best-in-class lead UX/UI designer – for something mobile & social for consumers and that’s about all anybody knows about the operation. Ozzie e-mailed the Boston Globe last week to claim paternity – evidently his non-compete with Microsoft has expired – but indicated Cocomo won’t be prepared to explain itself for some time, perhaps not before it gets itself an office. The want ad on the Cocomo site, which makes Google’s home page look cluttered, says, “A new day has dawned as it relates to how we might interact with one another, and a handful of us are just starting work on a new communications product for this new world. We’ve got huge goals, pragmatic plans, and a sense of urgency. We aspire to deliver compelling tools for social interaction that people will use, value and love.” It also say that the designer it’s looking for should “already understand and embrace the conceptual models, constraints and affordances of the mobile/social design environment – which today means interest in the likes of iOS & Android, in both phone & pad form factors; HTML/CSS, JS, WebGL as applied to the mobile environment; Email & SMS, Facebook, Google+, Twitter; our multi-faceted identities, and issues of privacy & openness; and the social anthropology of our ever-growing use of mobile.” According to their LinkedIn entries, former Microsoft manager Matt Pope and former Microsoft software engineer Ransom Richardson, both of whom also worked with Ozzie at Groove Networks, his peer-to-peer collaboration start-up between Lotus and Microsoft, are also involved in Cocomo. Pope is apparently a co-founder. According to All Things D another ex-Microsoft software engineer Ari Goldberg is developing for Cocomo now too.

Book Review: Dependency Injection in .NET

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 09:00:00 EST

This book is not only about DI, it is about proper object oriented programming. Every .NET architect and developer should read this book. Sometimes my ability to be a complete ignoramus really annoys me. When I first saw this book on the upcoming list of books to be published I thought, "That sucks, I just got done reading Dependency Injection by Dhanji R. Prasanna last year. I don't need to read the .NET version", and so I ignored this book. As time went on I saw all the great reviews coming out about the book and it made me curious. A buddy of mine had purchased it and I know that Manning gives ebooks with there book purchases, so I asked to borrow it. I ordered the book the next day. I have nothing bad to say about Dependency Injection by Dhanji R. Prasanna, it was a great book. The difference is this one spoke my language of choice, .NET. It made the read so much better for me. Plus all the coverage of the popular DI Containers for .NET rocks. This book is broken down into 4 parts the first part introduces DI. Part two is a catalog of patterns, anti-patterns, and refactorings. Part three covers Object Composition, Lifetime Management, and Interception. Part four covers all the popular DI .NET Containers which include Castle Windsor, StructureMap, Spring.NET, Autofac, Unity, and MEF.

.NET Architecture and Development Book Recommendations for 2012

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 08:50:47 EST

Another year has gone by. Happy New Year everyone. It is time to update my book recommendation blog. There have been a ton of books come out this year both good and bad. Be sure to check out the Shiny Turds book section which lists books that do not Cut the Mustard *-Do not Buy-* section. It is the last in the list. I have added books to most sections and deleted some of the older ones that do not have much value in today's market.

The Book of CSS3: A Developer's Guide to the Future of Web Design

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 14:15:00 EST

It’s quite clear from reading this book that Peter Gasston is very knowledgeable about CSS 3 and, as he points out in the preface, this book is a culmination of five years of work that he has spent writing about CSS3. There is a clear order to the chapters. The earlier chapters are well implemented and the items discussed there are used on a regular basis. The final chapters are more speculative in nature. The author takes a very methodical approach in the book. He covers numerous topics in a clear and well-thought-out manner. He provides several examples for each topic that is covered. There are 17 chapters and an appendix. After each topic is introduced, the author informs you as to which of the major browsers implements the feature. The last chapter discusses the future of CSS3. The appendix collects all of the browser support tables that are found in each chapter.

Book Review: SharePoint 2010 Development with Silverlight

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 09:00:00 EST

This book will take you to the next level of using SharePoint and Silverlight together. I can say that it did that for me. I have done a lot of SharePoint custom development and I see Silverlight as the answer to the horrible web part programming model Microsoft has made available in SharePoint. I have yet to see anyone write SharePoint web parts that aren't spaghetti code. Every major web part implementation I have seen has been a big ball of mud, and I have seen a lot. I moved to Silverlight for web parts as soon as I could. It is a great programming model. Microsoft continues to play the top secret game with regards to Silverlight so rumors of lack of browser support in the next year or two are being allowed to flourish. I am not willing to tell customers they should spend a year or two investing in Silverlight just so they can start over when they finally start reaching maturity. So for now, because of Silverlight, SharePoint custom development is off my future list of recommendations as well.

Microsoft Tries Hadoop on Azure

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 07:30:00 EST

Microsoft added a trial version of Apache’s open source Hadoop to its Windows Azure PaaS Monday as it said it would in October when it teamed up with Hortonworks, the Yahoo spin-off. It gives Azure Big Data capabilities and advanced data analytics and a better shot at competing with rival clouds like Amazon’s EC2 and Google’s App Engine. Users can build MapReduce jobs. Microsoft said a Hive ODBC Driver and Hive Add-in for Excel would enable data analysis of unstructured data through Excel and PowerPivot. Would-be users have to submit a form and Microsoft will pick the testers it wants based on use cases. Microsoft gave no indication when the widgetry would be more than a preview. It’s part of an upgrade that includes SQL Azure Database tickles and simplified Azure billing and management.

Book Review: Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Power User Cookbook

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 08:15:00 EST

This book is great for the SharePoint end user. I kind of think of it like the top 70 FAQs about SharePoint found all in one place. Although this book is a little out of context for the books I usually read about SharePoint, I was looking for a book to recommend to the user's of the SharePoint 2010 environments I working. I am currently upgrading a 2007 environment to 2010, so the users are going to need a good reference for common tasks. This book fits the bill. Each topic begins with a Getting Ready section that tells you which SharePoint version the task can be done on. It then has a How to do it section that explains how to accomplish the task at hand. This section not only contains written instructions but also usually includes detailed screenshots.

Microsoft & HP Turn Cloud Buddies

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 08:15:00 EST

Microsoft and HP’s enterprise services arm have buddied up on the cloud for the next four years. HP’s Enterprise Cloud Services, the company’s IaaS widgetry, will host Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, SharePoint Server 2010 and Lync Server 2010. HP will also host Office 365 for its private cloud customers and resell the stuff on Microsoft’s cloud. There will be a hybrid solution that lets companies access Microsoft’s public cloud through Office 365 and access a private cloud through HP Enterprise Cloud Services.

Microsoft and Nissan Establish Strategic Relationship

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 02:00:00 EST

Microsoft Corp. and Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. on Monday announced a strategic relationship to collaborate and create a next-generation dealer management system based on Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Using the powerful foundation of Microsoft Dynamics CRM and the automotive industry expertise of Nissan, the two companies will blend dealer and customer relationship management and social collaboration tools into a solution that will help Nissan develop a stronger relationship with its customers, drive dealer sales and increase market share on a global scale. The solution will then utilize the Windows Azure platform, taking advantage of the economies of scale and flexibility offered by Microsoft's public cloud offerings. "Customer loyalty and retention are essential to the success of any business. Microsoft Dynamics CRM helps businesses better understand and build deeper relationships with their customers and partners," said Kirill Tatarinov, president, Microsoft Business Solutions. "We look forward to working with Nissan to deliver a solution that effectively connects with their customers and to win in today's business environment while also helping organizations such as Nissan meet the specific needs of the automotive industry."

System Center 2012 Virtual Labs

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 13:33:33 EST

Microsoft released four new Virtual Labs on System Center 2012. Today Microsoft has made four new free virtual labs available. This provides a great opportunity to try out some of the basic operations of some of the new suite of System Center tools. 1. TechNet Virtual Lab: System Center Operations Manager 2012: Infrastructure and Application Performance Monitoring 2. TechNet Virtual Lab: System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012: Building Your Cloud Infrastructure 3. TechNet Virtual Lab: System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012: Building a Service Template 4. TechNet Virtual Lab: Introduction to System Center Configuration Manager 2012

Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit 6.5

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 08:00:00 EST

Microsoft Just released version 6.5 of the Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit 6.5. The journey to the cloud is now smoother than ever with the Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit 6.5. The MAP Toolkit's new capabilities help users to securely assess heterogeneous IT environments while enabling the evaluation of workloads for migration to Microsoft's private and public cloud platforms. Consolidate existing server workloads using the updated Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track capacity planning feature. The Database Consolidation Appliance Assessment allows you to simplify SQL Server migration planning for the private cloud. The revamped Azure Migration feature in MAP 6.5 provides more in-depth analysis of the suitability of migrating on-premises applications to the Windows Azure platform. Additional new features in MAP 6.5 include the discovery of active Windows devices, Software Usage Tracking for Forefront Endpoint Protection (FEP), and the discovery of Oracle instances on Itanium-based servers with HP-UX to assist in the planning of migration to SQL Server.

Book Review: Software Architecture

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 08:15:00 EST

This book is truly a holistic view of software architecture. This book structures the book around an Architecture Orientation Framework. The framework is based on open question words. A chapter has been dedicate to each. The framework provides a nice common vocabulary that makes team communication easier. The chapters of the book include Architectures and Architecture Disciplines (WHAT), Architecture Perspectives (WHERE)' Architecture Requirements (WHY), Architecture Means (WITH WHAT), Organizations and Individuals (WHO), and Architecture Method (HOW). Each chapter is laid out in the same logical format. They start with a nice concept map that puts the elements of the chapter into a nice contextual overview. They continue with the body of the chapter and end with a summary and a nice further reading section. Chapter 8 is unique in that it has a ton of really nice checklists to help you assess the various requirements of an architecture. There are a ton of topics covered in this book. Some of them are Zachman Framework, Reference Model for Open Distributed Processing, 4+1 View Model, Open Group Architecture Framework, Requirements Characteristics and Types, Organizational Requirements, System Requirements, Qualities and Constraints, Requirements in the Context of Architecture, Loose Coupling, High Cohesion, Separation of Concerns, Abstraction, Modularity, Traceability, Procedural Approaches, Object Orientation, Component Orientation, Model-Driven Software Development, Aspect Orientation, Tactics, Styles, Patterns, Layered Architectures, Dataflow Architectures, Repositories, n-Tier Architecture, Rich Client versus Thin Client, Peer-To-Peer, XML and Other X Standards, Databases and Persistence of Business Objects, Architecture and Development Processes, Architecture Method, and Maintaining the Architecture.

Microsoft Updates Office 365

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 05:00:00 EST

Microsoft has released its first major update of its cloud-based Office 365, the online combination of Office, SharePoint, Exchange and Lync. It’s also expanding the service to 22 additional markets including Argentina, Iceland, Indonesia, South Africa and Taiwan. Office Division president Kurt DelBene said in a statement that “Customers are adopting Office 365 eight times faster than our previous service, and the solution is on track to become one of our fastest-growing offers in Microsoft history. We are also seeing great traction with small businesses, with more than 90% of our early Office 365 customers coming from small businesses.”

Boies Swings Both Ways on Android

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 03:00:00 EST

David Boies, the lawyer who got Microsoft convicted of antitrust for the US government, persuaded a jury to award Oracle $1.3 billion in damages against SAP last year and is currently prosecuting Oracle’s suit against Google and Android, has joined the Barnes & Noble defense team against the patent infringement complaint Microsoft filed with the International Trade Commission. FOSS Patents found his notice of appearance. The bookstore-turned-Android tablet maker is also represented by Cravath, Swaine (IBM’s usual mouthpiece) and Kenyon & Kenyon, an IP specialist that does a lot of ITC work.

Microsoft Reportedly Moving Office to the iPad

Sun, 04 Dec 2011 13:00:00 EST

The Daily, a made-for-the-iPad start-up national news service that kicked off in February, claims it’s heard from anonymous sources that Microsoft is adapting Office to the iPad. The blog puts the price at around $10, because that’s what Apple charges for its own iWork Pages, Numbers and Keynote programs. ZDnet’s Mary Jo Foley, who usually has the inside track on things going on at Microsoft, says she wouldn’t be surprised but wonders exactly how much functionality such a thing would have since Microsoft has to be wary of cannibalizing its second-biggest cash cow.

Microsoft Signs Yahoo NDA: NYT

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 08:45:00 EST

Microsoft has signed an NDA with Yahoo so it can look at its books, the New York Times reported Wednesday citing a person briefed on the matter. The move could translate into Redmond making a bid for the dysfunctional portal. Microsoft apparently got around Yahoo’s “no crosstalk” stipulation preventing potential buyers from forming a consortium by doing its talking beforehand. Private equity houses Silver Lake, KKR and TPG Capital have also reportedly signed NDAs. Reuters reported last month that Microsoft could help finance a consortium led by Silver Lake and the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board. Blackstone, Softbank and Alibaba are also interested but frustrated by the strings on Yahoo’s NDA.

Microsoft Moved My Cheese Again and I Don't Really Care to Find It

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 09:17:47 EST

I am not the only one missing cheese. Right now I feel Microsoft is still desperately searching for the cheese that Steve Jobs has been eating up for the past several years. Over the years Microsoft has not only moved my cheese, they have also quite often eaten it. I used to stay tuned into what Microsoft was saying about its direction, but over the last year or so their attitude of keeping things hush hush until the last second has disconnected me from them. Now I find I am rather enjoying not being tuned in. I have been finding life much easier not pushing Microsoft down people's throats and a lot less disappointing. If I never experience the level of anguish Silverlight, Workflow, UML, MSF, DSL, and DNA caused me again, I will probably have 5 to 10 years added to my life.

After PowerBuilder 12.5 Classic – Sneak Preview

Sun, 27 Nov 2011 13:00:00 EST

By the time you are reading this, PB12.5 will have been released and work on PB15 well under way. A lot of exciting things have gone into the .NET version of PB but we still get requests for features to go into the Classic version of the product. Even though there was a lull in activity in PB12 Classic, we are back again in 12.5 – and we are not stopping. You will probably have seen Dave Fish’s webcasts on plans for PB15 (his disclaimers apply here as well) and are hungry for details – I hope to address that in this article. PB has been around a long time and has accumulated many quirks and inconsistencies. We also have feature requests that are almost as old as the product itself. Our recent releases have done a lot to address these issues, but there are still many features that either need to be updated or simply completed. It would be amazing if you can still get away with a new application today that used “traditional” MDI. I’ll let you in on a secret – the toolbar in the IDE has the same implementation as the one in your application at runtime – the difference is that the one in the IDE has comboboxes. And there is no reason why only WPF should have the grid layout.

Silverlight Is Dead, Long Live Silverlight

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 15:00:00 EST

There’s been a lot of discussion since Microsoft’s BUILD conference on the fate of Silverlight. (Something that is an issue for us because Sybase was originally looking at supporting it for web app development in PowerBuilder 15.) Contrary to what a number of the pundits and would-be pundits have said, I don’t think it’s quite accurate to say that Silverlight is dead in Windows 8. I think it’s more accurate to say it’s evolved. As background for those who haven’t been following this closely, Microsoft announced that the Windows 8 operating system would support two kinds of applications: traditional “desktop apps” and the newer “metro style apps.” What would not be available in the Internet Explorer provided with Windows 8 would be support for any plugins, either Silverlight or Flash (see Figure 1).

Apprenda Upgrades Its .NET Private PaaS

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 06:00:00 EST

Remember .NET, the other application software platform besides J2EE, which always seems to dominate cloud conversations? Well, Apprenda, which has got a rare if not unique “deploy anywhere” private Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) stack for .NET, has just released Apprenda Platform 3.0, hoping to set the standard for enterprise-ready PaaS offerings. For one thing, it’ll work with any .NET or SQL Server application now, making it appealing to service providers as well as enterprises interested in a private Azure-like set-up. Shucks, even Microsoft doesn’t have a pure software solution for creating a private PaaS cloud out-of-the-box – although otherwise Apprenda kinda works like Azure – and Apprenda figures other people haven’t waded in because there’s no open source code to fall back on.

Metalogix Archive Manager Allows Kahuna Ventures to Eliminate PST Files

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 10:06:00 EST

Metalogix Software,a provider of content lifecycle management solutions for Microsoft® SharePoint®, Exchange®, and Cloud platforms, has announced that KAHUNA VENTURES LLC has purchased its Metalogix Archive Manager – Exchange Edition solution to manage its Outlook mailboxes and PST files. The company chose Metalogix Archive Manager – Exchange Edition because it needed an email archiving solution that would offer sound data protection and disaster recovery for email data by backing up email to an offsite location. In just 12 years, Kahuna Ventures has grown from a one-employee company to an organization supporting a variety of clients ranging from midstream limited partnerships to major gas producers. As a longstanding leader in natural gas engineering and consulting, Kahuna Ventures employees often rely on previous email communications to support current or past project details and often need to access email information that might be years old. With some mailboxes topping 10GB and risking corruption, Kahuna Ventures needed to act fast in order to protect their data.

Lenovo Earnings Up 88%

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 10:30:00 EDT

Lenovo, which passed Dell to become the second-largest PC vendor in the world by shipments and has designs on HP’s first place, saw its earnings soar 88% in the September quarter on the back of acquisitions and sales to emerging markets like its native China. It realized a better-than-expected $143.9 million on revenues up 35% to $7.79 billion from $5.76 billion. It means to expand via acquisitions if it can find them and said “Uncertainties over global economic recovery, the renewed debt crisis in Europe, and tablet PC cannibalization of entry-level consumer PCs remain.” It’s currently scrounging for disk drives in the wake of the Thai floods. It recently bought the German PC maker Medion for cash and stock worth about $640 million and set up a joint venture with NEC to sell laptops in Japan.

Half of All Android Licensees Now Paying Off Microsoft

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 06:00:00 EDT

Microsoft has persuaded yet another Android shifter to pay it patent royalties. This time it’s ODM Compal Electronics, which has agreed to pay Microsoft’s patent tax on its tablets, mobile phones, e- readers and other consumer devices running Android or Chrome. Microsoft said Sunday that it’s now got more than half of the world’s ODM industry making Android and Chrome devices under license. Compal is the tenth company to cut an Android license with Microsoft for its mystery patents. Others include Samsung, HTC, Acer and most recently Quanta, which is making the Android-based Kindle Fires for Amazon and the poorly selling PlayBooks for RIM.

Programming Reactive Extensions and LINQ

Sat, 29 Oct 2011 10:00:00 EDT

This book ended up being half the size it was advertised at when I pre-ordered it back in September. Amazon was kind enough to make up for it. I thank them. The author and the publisher also apologized for the miscalculation. Although it is small this book gets 5 out of 5 stars. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn Reactive Extensions. The book does a great job of introducing a potentially confusing topic. I have already spent a lot of time digging through Rx. If I had not already delved heavily into Rx, this book would have been perfect for me. I actually wish I had been introduced through this book instead of having to hunt down fragments of information all over the web. As I started reading the book I liked it so much I revisited all the topics I already knew and was happy the book provided me with some new information I had not seen before.

SharePoint 2010 Development with Visual Studio 2010 Expert Cookbook

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 11:00:00 EDT

"Expert Cookbook" are the last two words in the title for a good reason. This book is for the advanced SharePoint developer. The book is a collection of small recipes that dig into some of the more advanced SharePoint 2010 programming topics. It does not mess around with introductions to topics, it just jumps right into the details of the solution. The book includes chapters on List and Event Receivers, Workflows, Advanced Workflows, List Definitions and Content Types, Web Parts, Web Services and REST, and Working with the Client Object Model. The author has made the code available for download. It is well organized and very usable, except for to old folders of code left in the upload. I just ignored them. You do need SharePoint 2010 on your Visual Studio 2010 development box.

HP and Microsoft Take On Oracle

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 08:15:00 EDT

After getting bounced out of Exadata when Oracle bought Sun, HP has teamed up with Microsoft to bring out a co-engineered pre-configured Exadata-like appliance fitted with SQL Server. HP paired up with Microsoft earlier this year on the HP Enterprise Data Warehouse Appliance, which runs Microsoft’s SQL Server 2008 R2 Parallel Data Warehouse. This new HP Enterprise Database Consolidation Appliance for SQL Server is its transactional counterpart. Microsoft describes it as the first out-of-box data consolidation widget good for rapid virtualized private cloud deployment with no software changes. It should be out next month and is supposed to deploy new database instances in minutes, reduce operating costs by maybe 75%, simplify management, save floor space, energy and infrastructure, and ultimately handle thousands of database instances in a scalable virtualized private cloud environment.

Microsoft Reportedly Teaming for Another Run at Yahoo

Sun, 23 Oct 2011 16:00:00 EDT

Microsoft might take another whack at buying Yahoo. Having been saved by happenstance from overpaying for the joint in 2008, the Wall Street Journal reported late Wednesday that Microsoft, private equity house Silver Lake Partners and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, one of Silver Lake’s investors, are putting together a bid. The Journal said it got it from people “familiar with the matter.” Apparently the idea is for Microsoft, now a partner of Yahoo, to put up several billion dollars, banks some more and Silver Lake and the national pension fund the rest, but less than Microsoft’s contribution. There’s no telling if they’ll go ahead.

Metalogix Software Named by Microsoft as a Managed Partner

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 10:20:00 EDT

Metalogix Software, the trusted provider of content lifecycle management solutions for Microsoft® SharePoint®, Exchange® and Cloud platforms, today announced that it has been selected by Microsoft as a Managed Partner in the High Potential ISV (Independent Software Vendor) Group. Metalogix is a Microsoft Gold ISV Partner and this latest distinction will serve to strengthen the growing partnership between Metalogix and Microsoft. “On behalf of our 6,000 customers and valued partners, we are grateful to be named a Managed Partner in Microsoft’s High Potential ISV Group. This is further recognition of the trusted, high-quality SharePoint management solutions we provide,” said Steven Murphy, CEO, Metalogix. “Becoming part of the High Potential ISV Group will be a tremendous boost to our recent growth and focus on expanding our partner program. This is acknowledgement of our ten-year commitment to the SharePoint platform and support of its published standards, as evidenced by being a Microsoft approved vendor for migrating content to Office 365 Dedicated. With our high-speed and cost-effective content lifecycle management solutions, Metalogix allows organizations to easily and quickly migrate, move, store, archive and protect business-critical Microsoft content on-premises or in the cloud.”

Gates to Be Called in Novell Antitrust Suit Against Microsoft

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EDT

Novell’s cut-down private antitrust suit against Microsoft over Word Perfect and Quattro Pro finally went to trial in Utah Monday. It was filed in 2004. Since then Novell has lost five of its original six claims. At the end of the seven- or eight-week trial a jury is supposed to decide whether Microsoft left features out of Windows 95 to retard the market penetration of the Novell word processor and spreadsheet. Novell, now owned by Attachmate with a little help from Microsoft, wants $500 million-$1.2 billion. Microsoft, which is expected to call Bill Gates, claims Novell’s loss of market share was Novell’s own fault. Its associate general counsel Steve Aeschbacher told the Deseret News that “The law basically doesn’t require people to design their products to the whim or demand of other companies. You get to design your own products. There isn’t any legal obligation for us to do what they wanted us to do.”

Metalogix Takes Gold for Midrange Software in the Tech Awards Circle

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 11:09:00 EDT

Metalogix Software, the trusted provider of content lifecycle management solutions for Microsoft® SharePoint®, Exchange® and Cloud platforms, today announced that the company has received the Gold Award for Midrange Software in the Tech Awards Circle for Metalogix Migration Manager for SharePoint. Winners were selected by an independent circle of publication reviewers and journalists from nominations based on a wide range of achievements – from product and technology innovations to talented executive leadership and engineering innovators. Tech Awards Circle celebrates the products, services, vendors and individuals making a difference in the industry today. The winners represent a broad range, from hardware to software to services in consumer/SOHO, SMB, midrange, and enterprise markets. Gold, silver and bronze awards were given out in each category.

Quanta to Pay Microsoft’s Android Tax

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 06:00:00 EDT

Quanta has agreed to pay Microsoft royalties on its Android- and Chrome-based tablets, smartphones and other consumer devices. What it’s for exactly remains unclear but raises suspicions Google’s biggest OEMs don’t believe Google’s buying Motorola Mobility and its patents is going to save their bacon. Samsung, HTC and Acer, among other, lesser lights, have also agreed to pay Microsoft Android royalties.

Project Management Software Project Insight Imports Users from Excel

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 14:20:00 EDT

Project Insight, online project management software provider, has added the ability to import a list of users from a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. This feature was part of the Project Insight's latest release version 9.2. It can be tedious and time consuming to enter long lists of team members one at time. Now by importing an entire list of users from an Excel file, adding resources to Project Insight is quick and simple. To shorten the time it takes to get new project team members in Project Insight, now you may import a list of users from Excel. When exporting an Excel template from Project Insight, there is a 'default user import' option. However, administrators may utilize the 'display options' to add or remove columns creating a customized Excel template for use with the import. In order to ensure an accurate import, once a list has been imported into the project management system, the administrator validates the list before officially saving it to the system. "Listening to our customers' requests and feedback is a huge focus when we develop our software. This added feature is just another example of how we focus on making Project Insight the most usable project solution in the mid-market," said Jeff Berkel, COO, Project Insight.

Metalogix Breaks SharePoint Migration Speed Barrier

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 12:26:23 EDT

Metalogix Software, a provider of content lifecycle management solutions for Microsoft SharePoint, Exchange and Cloud platforms, has announced major new product releases to address the ever-increasing size of SharePoint farms since the launch of SharePoint 2010. Metalogix Migration Manager for SharePoint 5.0 includes performance enhancements to address the operational need for speed when moving, upgrading or migrating SharePoint, including multithreading technology. These performance enhancements provide radical gains in migration speeds, while simultaneously ensuring high fidelity movement and integrity of SharePoint environments. Additionally, the Company announced enhancements to Metalogix StoragePoint, with performance enhanced job timing automation that reduces Binary Large Objects (BLOB) externalization processing time up to 50%. Together, these innovative solutions empower a faster SharePoint migration, simplified SharePoint management as well as optimizing SharePoint storage both on-premises and in the cloud.