Customer Satisfaction
Customer Satisfaction
1. Can I drag a Web Part from a Web Part Zone in one Content Page to a Web Part Zone in a second Content Page (both Content Pages hosted in the same Master Page)?
2. Where should the Web Part Manager component be hosted? ...or expected to be hosted in the case of a Content Page developer? If an ASP.NET 2.0 solution uses Master Pages and Web Parts, should the Web Part Manager component be hosted in the outer Master Page?
3. What is the user experience like for customizing/editing/personalizing Web Parts living in a Web Part Zone in a Content Page in a Content Area on a Master Page? Where does/should the customizing/editing/personalizing UI be instantiated? ...e.g. at the Content Area level? ...Master Page level?
1. What is Microsoft's strategic commitment to MS AD for Application Mode (MS ADAM) and Authorization Manager (AzMan)? ASP.NET 2.0 provider support for Membership, Profiles, Roles, etc. only includes SQL Server support and not support for LDAP or AD, in general.
2. Are Master Pages and Web Parts expected to be used together? What are some compelling scenarios where you would use both? Does the Web Part “editting” user experience work properly when a Web Zone is part of a Content Page hosted in a Master Page?
3. Can, for example, the Profile service be used in a Webforms desktop app?
For people who find that their Rogers outboard email doesn't work anymore, Rogers has silently blocked port 25.
You only find this out after trying to contact their technical support and (hopefully) making it through to a second level person who knows anything about port 25.
The settings for their relay server are:
smtp.broadband.rogers.com - port 587 (or port 465)
Turn on authentication and dig out your Rogers account and password (which, if you're like me, you've never userd).
Configure all your email accounts
THEN find out that Rogers is using a Yahoo email relay server whose email IP address has been blacklisted by http://www.spamhaus.org:
Remote host said: 550 5.7.1 206.190.36.83 has been blocked by www.spamhaus.org Giving up on 66.14.130.224.
OpenCanal Corporation Announces Commercial Support, Training and Consulting Services for SharePoint Free Source Tools from Microsoft and Its Partners
OpenCanal Corporation announces the immediate availability of the OpenCanal Distribution™ for free download as well as a CD version for purchase from the OpenCanal Store. The OpenCanal Distribution includes the complete Microsoft .NET source code for a wide range of free source tools and solutions created by Microsoft and its partners for Windows SharePoint Services and Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003. OpenCanal also announces formal support, training and consulting services for the SharePoint free source tools included in the OpenCanal Distribution.
TORONTO, ON and LAS VEGAS, NV - June 13, 2005 – At the SharePoint Advisor Live conference in Las Vegas, OpenCanal Corporation today announced the immediate availability of the OpenCanal Distribution™ Developer Edition as a free download as well as a CD version for purchase from the OpenCanal Store. The OpenCanal Distribution includes the complete Microsoft .NET source code for several categories of free source tools for SharePoint Products and Technologies including content import/export, usage reporting, search enhancements, Web parts, WSRP interoperability, RSS syndication and systems management.
In addition, OpenCanal announced new support, training and consulting services for the OpenCanal Distribution of SharePoint free source tools.
OpenCanal also launched a new corporate web site and a community-based Windows SharePoint site to foster partner and customer discussions with developers of SharePoint free source tools, as well as provide self-service assistance for the OpenCanal Distribution.
"In response to Microsoft partner and customer demand for support for the growing number of free source tools on Microsoft GotDotNet and other web sites, Parallelspace has founded OpenCanal Corporation to provide commercial support, training and consulting services for SharePoint free source tools created by Microsoft and its partners.” said Michael Herman, president and CTO of OpenCanal Corporation and Parallelspace Corporation. “In addition, the OpenCanal team is especially excited about providing Microsoft partners and customers with quarterly value-added updates of the OpenCanal Distribution. The initial OpenCanal Distribution will focus on free source tools for Windows SharePoint Services and SharePoint Portal Server 2003."
“We are pleased to see OpenCanal provide these new support offerings for free source tools to benefit SharePoint Products and Technologies customers and partners.” said Sanjay Manchanda, director, Microsoft Office SharePoint group.
“Prior to OpenCanal, Microsoft partners and customers who wanted to use SharePoint free source tools faced a fundamental problem: Where do I go for support, training or consulting when these free source tools break or don’t do the specific task I need them to do?" said Michael Herman. “OpenCanal is now providing them with the services they require.” For owners of SharePoint free source projects, free development support is available by registering with the OpenCanal Community web site.
What is Free Source Software?
Free source software (sometimes referred to as open source software) is software in which the source code for a software project is freely and easily identifiable, downloadable, buildable, redistributable and reusable. For more details, please refer to “What is Free Source Software” at http://www.opencanal.com/aboutus/whatisfreesource.htm.
About OpenCanal Corporation
OpenCanal Corporation is a leading provider of fee and subscription-based support, training and consulting services for Microsoft .NET free source solutions for Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies. OpenCanal Corporation is a subsidiary of Parallelspace Corporation.
About Parallelspace Corporation
Parallelspace Corporation, founded in 2001, is a leading provider of business collaboration solutions and services for information sharing and business process workflow for Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies, Office Live Communications Server and Groove Virtual Workspace.
More Information
More information on OpenCanal Corporation and the OpenCanal Distribution can be found at http://www.opencanal.com.
The OpenCanal Community web site can be found at http://www.opencanal.com/community. Free downloads of the OpenCanal Distribution can be found at http://www.opencanal.com/downloads. The OpenCanal Distribution on CD can be purchased from the OpenCanal Store at http://www.opencanal.com/store.
-30-
For additional information, please contact:
Michael Herman
President and CTO
OpenCanal Corporation, a subsidiary of Parallelspace Corporation
(866) SOFTPASS (763-8727) toll-free
(905) 884-8285 x111
mwherman@opencanal.com
From: sharepointdiscussions@yahoogroups.com [mailto:sharepointdiscussions@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Michael Herman (Parallelspace)
Sent: Friday, June 10, 2005 10:11 PM
To: sharepointv3@yahoogroups.com; SharePoint@yahoogroups.com; sharepointdiscussions@yahoogroups.com; sharepointkms@yahoogroups.com; sharepointv2@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [sharepointdiscussions] SharePoint Advisor Live conference starts Monday in Las Vegas
Checkout: http://advisorevents.com/cmt0506p.nsf/wSessionsTrack?Open&RestrictToCategory=CMT0506-CMS
MikeFitz, Jeff Teper, Joel Oleson (among others) will be there from the SharePoint product groups as well as MS IT.
Cheers,
Michael
NOTE: My SharePoint security talk has been moved to 6pm on Tuesday. My content migration talk is Monday at 11am.
----------
Michael Herman
Parallelspace Corporation
Enterprise Business Collaboration Solutions for Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft Live Communications Server, Active Directory and Groove Workspace
Portal and Content migration Specialists: http://www.parallelspace.net/sharepoint
SharePoint migration Knowledge Center: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sharepointmigration
Parallelspace KMS (K2.net, Meridio and SharePoint) Knowledge Center: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sharepointkms
Parallelspace PresPart Knowledge Center for Portal Co-existence and migration: http://www.parallelspace.net/portals
Parallelspace Knowledge Center for Microsoft "WinFS": http://www.parallelspace.net/winfs
Weblog: http://dotnetjunkies.com/WebLog/mwherman2000/
I search based on how I remember things.
Knowledge repositories need to have integrated knowledge reasoning engines. They need to be able to infer new relationships and knowledge.
Ability to create secure, easy-to-find places where I can store any and all types of information related to a particular personal, work or shared topic.
Ability to share things as easily as I share a conversation or invite someone to lunch.
Need the correct software to be there when I need it.
Need the software to automatically be running when it needs to be running.
Applications need to be easily composable with one another.
Checkout http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;555309&sd=rss&spid=2528.
The above appears to be an ordinary reliable, trusted MS KB article until you read the fine print at the bottom of the page:
COMMUNITY SOLUTIONS CONTENT DISCLAIMER
MICROSOFT CORPORATION AND/OR ITS RESPECTIVE SUPPLIERS MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS ABOUT THE SUITABILITY, RELIABILITY, OR ACCURACY OF THE INFORMATION AND RELATED GRAPHICS CONTAINED HEREIN. ALL SUCH INFORMATION AND RELATED GRAPHICS ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. MICROSOFT AND/OR ITS RESPECTIVE SUPPLIERS HEREBY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS WITH REGARD TO THIS INFORMATION AND RELATED GRAPHICS, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WORKMANLIKE EFFORT, TITLE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. YOU SPECIFICALLY AGREE THAT IN NO EVENT SHALL MICROSOFT AND/OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, PUNITIVE, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, ARISING OUT OF OR IN ANY WAY CONNECTED WITH THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE INFORMATION AND RELATED GRAPHICS CONTAINED HEREIN, WHETHER BASED ON CONTRACT, TORT, NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF MICROSOFT OR ANY OF ITS SUPPLIERS HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF DAMAGES.
Why has Microsoft chosen to pollute the trusted and reliable Microsoft Knowledge Base with articles it hasn't verified and won't support if it breaks something?
From: http://yahoo.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_16/b3929095_mz063.htm
Gates: "IBM Isn't Doing That Much"
Microsoft's chairman says when it comes to productivity software, his company "has to push the frontiers on our own"
There are few markets Microsoft (MSFT ) is pouring more resources into than collaboration software. In 2003, it spent $202 million buying PlaceWare, the No. 2 Web-conferencing company behind WebEx Communications (WEBX ). In March, it agreed to pay $120 million for Groove Networks, a company that developed a technology to make it easy for workers at different companies to collaborate on projects through corporate firewalls. And it's pouring millions more into research and development to come up with new ways to enable workers to communicate using their PCs. Advertisement
All those efforts put Microsoft on a collision course with longtime foe IBM (IBM ). While Redmond has eroded Big Blue's share of the corporate e-mail market, it had watched as IBM jumped into the markets for secure instant messaging, Web conferencing, and shared document workspaces.
No more. Microsoft has plowed into those markets, and it's working quickly to leverage Office, its monopoly desktop-productivity suite, to gain share. Chairman William H. Gates III recently sat down with BusinessWeek Seattle Bureau Chief Jay Greene to talk about his company's stepped-up collaboration software efforts and its latest battle with archrival IBM. Edited excerpts of their conversation follow:
Q: Microsoft has made some acquisitions in the collaboration software business and built some of its own technology. IBM is developing some interesting technology, too. How do you see the competition between the two companies evolving?
A: Well, frankly, IBM isn't doing that much. You can go track. The only product they have left that relates to information workers is [Lotus] Notes. And you can go and get the data from the analysts of how they've lost market share with Notes.
Q: What about their new Workplace product?
A: Well, when people want to look at business information, as far as I know, people use Excel to navigate business information. When people want to be notified about things and organize their communications, it's the Microsoft e-mail client. Outlook and Outlook Express are the primary tools people are using there.
IBM made a serious try with OfficeVision and the Lotus stuff. And maybe they'll introduce a new word processor. Who knows? But in terms of sitting down and thinking about office workers -- how do they spend time, is it in meetings, how should they deal with their priorities -- that's integrated into Outlook because that's where you want to see these new things happen.
We do major improvements to Office every two-and-a-half years or so, and the most important one we'll do is the one that comes out next year. It's based on this idea of collaboration. And the Groove technology -- which we'll offer right now but we'll do deep integration [into Office] -- is part of that next big wave.
Q: Groove is a tiny company with $20 million in annual sales. Is this acquisition really more about getting Groove founder Ray Ozzie in-house, or is it about the technology?
A: Well, fortunately, we get both and they're not that really separable. Ray has built a team that has a vision of how to make people more effective. We're going to incorporate that in to the overall Office picture.
Ray will make very broad contributions because he can tell us how we should improve the Windows platform to help Office. And so you can kind of think of Ray as almost having three roles: He's going to make sure this Groove technology evolves to fulfill his vision of that. He's going to help Office think about collaboration in a more advanced way. And then he's going to make sure our Windows platform work allows him to fulfill the scenarios that he has in mind.
Q: Revenue in the Information Worker group at Microsoft, of which Office is a part, is growing only in the single digits right now. Do you think collaboration software could eventually get the group back into double-digit revenue growth again?
A: Well, the Office business is one of the most incredible businesses there is, measured by the positive impact it has on worker productivity, measured by how innovative that group is, measured by how profitable that group is, measured by how it helps drive the Microsoft platform. Office is an unbelievable thing.
We have to convince people, to have any revenue at all, that the new version is exciting to them. You don't rent Office, you license it, and then you can just sit on it. We've done a series of ads with these guys with these dinosaur heads on saying, "Hey, we've got Office 97. What's wrong with us? We're so inefficient. Jeez." So that's a fairly helpful message to let people know they should get the latest and greatest.
So I'm not the one to make financial predictions, but Office will innovate in areas like business intelligence, collaboration, connection to telephony. Collaboration is one of the big areas of innovation. And the big numbers come when you make it so Office workers have to go to 5% fewer meetings because they're using the SharePoint (a document-sharing application). Or they're using Live Meeting (a Web-conferencing service), so they don't have to take the trip. Or they're connecting up to a partner in a secure way when they would have had to use paper to do that.
And so only by really surprising people with these new productivity applications do we deliver something where the licensing price is a tiny fraction of the productivity benefit that they get out of it.
Q: What are the big areas of innovations or the next big breakthroughs?
A: Well, the collaboration workflow is certainly number one. The connection to real-time communications -- telephony, videoconferencing, audioconferencing -- that's a huge one. Business intelligence is an absolutely huge one.
Q: And how much are you investing in R&D specific to collaboration technology?
A: It's complicated because you have to be very careful how you define these things. Take security: In SharePoint, there are huge enhancements to security. But is that in security, or is that in collaboration?
There's no doubt that Office, after Windows, is the most amazing software business that there has ever been on the planet. And it has had more to do with worker productivity than any piece of software ever has. You could certainly say that within Office, collaboration broadly defined is the top area of R&D investment.
Q: Earlier, you were somewhat dismissive about IBM's ability in this busine