What Are Office Web Apps
The concept of Office Web Apps is essentially your Microsoft Office in the cloud. Enterprise customer can deploy Office Web Apps in a private cloud, while for Windows Live users Microsoft makes Office Web Apps available free in the Internet.The following is a screen capture of editing a presentation with PowerPoint Web App.
Office Web Apps are online companions to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote giving you the freedom to work on Microsoft Office documents with browsers including Internet Explorer 7 or later for Windows, Safari 4 or later for Mac, and Firefox 3.5 or later for Windows, Mac, or Linux.Office Web Apps are entirely Web-based, and there's no additional software to download or install. Office documents can be created and stored in a server supporting Office Web Apps right from the browser session without the need of a locally installed Microsoft Office client.
Using Office Web Apps a user will be able to view Office documents seamlessly in the browser with great fidelity, create new Office documents and do basic editing using the Ribbon. There are however some differences between the features of Office Web Apps and the Office 2010 programs. When making changes requiring functions beyond what are available in an Office Web App, or as preferred, one can easily open and edit the document in Office locally installed on your computer, and later save it back to the server. The ability to open Office documents directly from Office Web Apps into the desktop application is available on computers running a supported browser and with Microsoft Office 2003 or a later version of Office (for Windows PCs). This functionality will also be available on computers running a supported browser along with the forthcoming Office for Mac 2011.
What Is SkyDrive
A free, password-protected online storage available with a Windows Live ID by Microsoft, SkyDrive is. With a Windows Live ID, a user can store up to 25 gigabytes (GB) of files as of July, 2010. The upload operation accepts a file up to 50 megabytes (MB) in size. A user can arrange files with folder and subfolders, and keep private files in the personal folder while placing those to be public in a shared folder. To share a folder or individual file, a user can set permissions accordingly followed by inviting others with email. Shown below is one way to create Office documents in SkyDrive.
Although SkyDrive provides a location for storing files online, it is nevertheless not an FTP site, nor does it function with an FTP client. Further Microsoft may limit the number of files that each user can upload to SkyDrive each month. Individual seeking support on SkyDrive can participate the conversations and look for answers in SkyDrive Forum.
Office Web Apps , SharePoint, and SkyDrive
For enterprise customers with on-premise SharePoint installation, Office Web Apps require SharePoint Foundation 2010 which is free from Microsoft. On the other hand, Office Web Apps does require volume licensing. Office Web Apps can present Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files on many devices. Supported mobile viewers for Office Web Apps on SharePoint include Internet Explorer on Windows Mobile 5/6/6.1/6.5; Safari 4 on iPhone 3G and 3GS; BlackBerry 4.x and later; Nokia S60; NetFront 3.4, 3.5, and later; Opera Mobile 8.65 and later; and Openwave 6.2, 7.0 and later. To roll out the services in an enterprise environment, TechNet has documented specifics including planning and deploying Office Web Apps.
For consumers, Office Web Apps are part of the Windows Live offerings. A user with a Windows Live ID can user Office Web Apps to create, upload Office documents which are stored in SkyDrive. Supported mobile viewers for Office Web Apps on Windows Live include Safari 4 on iPhone 3G and 3GS, and Internet Explorer 7 on the upcoming Windows Phone 7. Viewing Excel files via a mobile browser is currently only available with Office Web Apps on SharePoint 2010.
Start Using Office Web Apps with SkyDrive Today
A supported browser and a Windows Live ID are all you need to create, view, edit, and share your Office documents in the cloud. Your teammates can now work with you on projects regardless if they have a locally installed copy of Microsoft Office.
(A cross-posting from http://blogs.technet.com/yungchou/)
This past year, really starting back in October, has been an amazing one. In October we had the annual SharePoint conference in Los Vegas and this time the conference welcomed the addition of Microsoft Office. The energy and excitement by product users, partners and vendors was amazing and readily evident everywhere you went. That was just the beginning. During the interim time the amazing folks back in Redmond who had been working on SharePoint and Office continued to keep their eyes on the mark as they worked to finish off a product stack unlike any other in terms of productivity enablement. Even as the product teams raced to complete their offerings excitement continued to snowball amongst customers and demand for presentations on SharePoint/Office 2010 increased. Along the way folks clamored for access to Excel Services with PowerPivot, Access Services, Visio Services, Digital Asset Management and video streaming, and so on. For quite some time I have been saying that in terms of being a game changer this is the most significant product release by Microsoft since Windows 95 and the energy and demand around it are truly evidence of the impact potential this release has. Still though, demand has been around a beta offering, not quite ready for production systems (although several organizations readily implemented that same beta offering in production) until now.
Today marks the official launch of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 and Microsoft Office 2010!! To kick off the launch there are a number of events and resources to help customers, partners, and vendors get the information they need to get ramped up. First and foremost Microsoft has set up a website to host a worldwide virtual launch. Yes the site is running on SharePoint 2010! You can find the launch site here. There will be a series of live webcasts delivered from the site starting with the big kickoff at 11am EDT. In all there will be a total of 20 live webcast at different times that you can tune in to depending on your area of interest and focus so be sure to take some time and tune in!
Today is a day so many of us have been waiting for and I am so glad it is finally here. I can't wait to see the innovative ways in which customers will be using SharePoint Server 2010 and Office 2010 to solve real world business problems with this new powerful set of tools at their disposal. Productivity with these products truly will be a grand adventure. Below are several resources to help get you started. :-)
Michael Gannotti is a Technology Specialist for the Microsoft Corporation and the author of the blog SocialMedia Talk. You can also find him on Facebook and Twitter.
This blog post is the first of several that will give you more insight into the enhanced Web Analytics features that we have built into SharePoint 2010. This first post will provide an overview of the new Web Analytics features and we’ll take a deep dive in to specific scenarios in future posts.
In SharePoint 2010, we have improved the set of Web Analytics reports that are available out-of-the-box, which will provide insights into the behavior of users of your SharePoint sites. There are three categories of reports that you will find:
We aggregate these reports aggregated at the following levels:
Out-of-the-box, these reports are visible to Administrators at each level. For example, site-level reports are available to Site Administrators of those sites. We have also added a new permission level, “View Web Analytics Data,” that will allow users to access these reports without having to give them Administrator privileges.
You can access Web Analytics reports by going to Site Actions -> Site Settings. Under the Site Actions heading you will see two links, Site Web Analytics Reports and Site Collection Web Analytics Reports.
When you click on either link, you are taken to an overview page that shows you key metrics for your site. You can then drill down to other reports by clicking on them on the left navigation. You can also change the date range for the reports by clicking on the Analyze tab on the Ribbon.
The out-of-the-box reports are useful to get a general understanding of what is happening on your sites. However, we have made it easy for you to get a deeper level of analysis, or to simply create your own reports. To get started, click on the Customize Report button under the Analyze tab in the Ribbon. Clicking this button will export the data contained in this report to Excel. Excel is a power analytics tools and makes it easy for non technical users to add your own charts, set specific filters, and combine data from multiple reports. In addition, the data within Excel is refreshable, which means that, once you customize the report, it will always be up-to-date with the latest data. To get more details on the great new features in Excel 2010 for building charts, reports and pivot tables, take a look at the Excel Team blog.
Web Analytics Workflows is a powerful new feature set that enables you to get reports sent out either on a schedule or when specific conditions are met. For example, you can set them up to receive an email every time the total number of pages views drop by 80% week over week.
To setup a Web Analytics Workflow, go to the Web Analytics report that you are interested in and click on Schedule Alerts or Reports on the Analyze tab in the Ribbon.
Clicking this button will guide you through a series of steps to create your Workflow.
Best Bets allow Search Administrators to determine what the most relevant search result is for a given keyword. Up until now, Search Administrators had to look at different reports and data to determine which best bets needed to be added. That process is no longer necessary as SharePoint 2010 periodically sends out suggestions for new Best Bets using all the search metrics it has collected. Now, Search Administrators can simply look through each of the Best Bet suggestions and easily accept or reject them.
To access the Best Bet Suggestions, go to Site Actions, click on Site Collection Web Analytics Reports, and the click on Best Bets Suggestions on the left navigation.
We have created a new web part, the Web Analytics Web Part, targeted at Site Managers. This new Web Part is an end-user facing Web Part that can be easily inserted into any page on your site. It can be configured to display the ‘most viewed content’ or the ‘most frequent search queries’ in the site. The data in the Web Part is continuously refreshed as new content or new search queries become more popular.
To use this Web Part, go into the Edit mode of one of your Site Pages and click on any place you can add a Web Part. Then, from the Insert tab on the Ribbon, click on Web Part. Finally, click on the Content Rollup category and select the Web Analytics Web Part.
After you have inserted the Web Analytics Web Part, you can then configure it to display the data you are interested in.
Using the new Web Analytics features in SharePoint 2010, you will be able to get a deeper understanding of what users are doing, what they want from your site and how you can tailor the SharePoint experience to bets meet their needs. Keep an eye out for future posts where we will delve deeper into each of the features mentioned above.
Hi, my name is Kevin Reynolds and I’m a Program Manager on the SharePoint team. Today I will walk you through the process for creating the page above, from creating the page to having it go live on the internet. I will show you the enhanced Web Authoring experience in SharePoint 2010, including editing content, applying styles, using the new UI, changing the layout of the page, and even applying themes to your site. I would highly encourage you to create your own Publishing site and follow along to get a personal feel for the SharePoint 2010 Authoring Experience.
Let’s begin with creating a new page. To create a new page click on the Site Actions menu and choose the New Page option, now in the dialog that comes up type in a name for the page – for this example we will use SharePoint 2010 Communities - feel free to insert your own name. Here is what you should currently see:
Now click Create on the dialog. A new page is created and you can see the Ribbon ()at the top of the page that exposes the most common options that you will use while editing the page. The page should look a lot like this:
Now let’s add some content into the Page and then we’ll get back to exploring more options available in the Ribbon. For this example I’ll add in the following text:
SharePoint 2010 Communities: Work Together Effectively As part of the 2010 release, SharePoint Communities provides a comprehensive, flexible platform that empowers people to work together in ways that are most effective for them. Allow your people to collaborate in groups, share knowledge and ideas, connect with colleagues, and find information and experts naturally. Work Together the Way You Want The global workforce of the twenty-first century is more diverse than ever. Connect and engage all of your employees with a flexible collaboration platform and a diverse set of tools that range from Wikis to Workflows to Workspaces—allowing people to work together the way they want. Rely on a Secure Collaboration Platform Let your IT staff rely on an enterprise-ready collaboration platform that is secure and easy to manage and will support your organization’s growing needs. SharePoint 2010 makes social safe with granular security and privacy controls, centralized management and policy setting, and robust reporting and analysis. Extend the Value of Your Community Solutions The SharePoint platform seamlessly integrates with the rest of the Microsoft Business Productivity infrastructure, including the Office applications, Exchange Server, Office Communications Server, SQL Server, and Dynamics. In addition, SharePoint provides Business Connectivity Services and adheres to open standards and protocols, making it easy to integrate third-party applications.
Feel free to copy and paste that text into your page as you follow along. We will use the text above to demonstrate the functionality of the editor on the page. Select the first line of text SharePoint 2010 Communities: Work Together Effectively, click on the font color drop down (), put your mouse over the red color, notice how the selected text turns red, now select the orange color, and notice how the text turns orange. We will change the font size now, choose the font size drop down (), choose 18 from the list and notice that the selected text now becomes larger. Choose the text work together the Way You Want, click the Markup Styles menu (), select Heading 1, and now do that for Rely on a Secure Collaboration Platform and Extend the value of Your Community Solutions. Now for those users savvy in HTML if you look at the markup of the page you will notice that the text is wrapped in a <H1> header tags, so you’ve applied a style and have well formed markup. If that last sentence doesn’t mean much to you, no worries, you can just use the menu as a set of styles on your text and leave the HTML markup thoughts to the experts. Now take a moment to play around with the text yourself, apply some fonts, apply some colors, highlights, font size, or adjust your paragraph alignment. No rush, I’ll wait…Really, it’s ok you can come back and continue the blog in a couple of minutes…Welcome back, here is roughly what the current page will look like depending on the formatting you’ve tried out:
We will change the layout of the page, this will allow us to use a standard template that helps us to layout content in a consistent way across the site. Now to change the layout go to the Page () tab, select Page Layout (), and now you can choose a new layout for your page. For this demo I’ll be using a custom page layout – In a later blog I will show you how to create your own page layouts. Click on the Image on right layout and noticed all the new fields that show up and how the page is laid out differently now.
The new layout that we have chosen has a Page Image control that allows us to insert a picture onto the page in a specific location. To insert a picture click on the Click here to insert a picture from SharePointtext, then on the dialog that comes up click the first Browse… button, this launches the new Asset Picker, that allows you to choose an image that is already stored on SharePoint, if you haven’t uploaded any pictures don’t worry there are a few that come in the box, you can go to Site Collection Images, choose the Home picture, click OK, and click OK on the next dialog. You’ve inserted your first picture into a page in SharePoint 2010. The page should look like the following:
In SharePoint 2010 we have enhanced the richness of the media that is natively integrated into pages and now everyone can easily add video and audio files to their page. To add a video put your selection below the text on the page, click the Insert Ribbon tab (), click the Video and Audio button (), now click on the Media Web Part () that is inserted into the page, and you will see a new contextual tab come up that contains commands specific to the Media Web Part:
Click the bottom part of the Change Media button to drop down a menu and choose from computer, this will bring up a new dialog where you can upload a video, click the Browse… button, choose a video on your computer, click OK, change the Upload to: box to be Images, and click OK, and Save on the dialog that comes up after the video is uploaded. You have now inserted your first video in SharePoint 2010, take a moment to use the player, watch the video, and play with the features. The video player will be covered in-depth in an upcoming blog post.
We have also enhanced the theming capabilities in SharePoint 2010 to make it easy to apply a new set of colors to your site. This will give your site an updated look and feel which can easily be created and updated as your needs change. To update the theme of the site go to Site Actions and choose Site Settings, this will bring up a new page with a bunch of links, click on the Site Theme link, and now you will be in the new theming UI for SharePoint 2010.
We will cover theming of the site and this entire UI in a later blog post, for now let’s update the theme that goes with our content, in the large box with a list of theme choose the Ricasso theme, and click OK at the bottom of the page. Now navigate back to your page and you’ll see that the colors of your page have been updated, according to the new theme that you had chosen:
The page is really coming together, now we will see how easy it is to change our Master Page. The Master Page is the main component with theming that gives a site it’s look and feel. A master page defines where the company logo goes (or if there is one), where the Ribbon shows up, where the search box is, and all the common elements that should apply to every page. To update the master page go to Site Actions, choose Site Settings, and then on the Site Settings page click on the Master page link.
In the section labeled Site Master Page, click on the drop down box that currently says nightandday.master and change it to v4.master. This tells SharePoint that for this site you want all pages that you author to us the v4.master master page. Now navigate back to the page that you’ve been creating:
Now that you have all the right content and the page looks good, it’s time to get it live.
To make the page available to others you will submit it for approval using the Ribbon. This will send the page off to the appropriate approvers for these pages and they will review it and then publish it to customers. To submit this page for approval go to the Publish tab and click the Submit button (), this will bring up a new dialog that will check the spelling and allow you to add comments for the reviewer of the page , add in a comment and click Continue, this will start the approval workflow for the page, a new form will come up, click Start, and now you will be taken back to the page. Now the approver will review the page and Publish it to go live.
You have now created your first page in SharePoint 2010 and you already know how to add pictures, insert videos, change the layout of the page, update the site theme, change the master page, and publish the page to go live. We will go deeper into each of these topics in future blog posts.
Thank you for reading and for following along,
Kevin Reynolds
Program Manager
Enterprise Content Management
Technorati Tags: Microsoft,Google,SharePoint,Gannotti,Technology
The other night Joel Oleson and his family were in town at the conclusion of a family vacation so he, his family, and some of us local SharePointers as well as some of our family members got together for some southern barbeque for dinner. It was a low key, informal hangout kind of night but it really got me thinking about one of the most unique aspects of SharePoint that truly sets it, and SharePoint enthusiasts apart, and that is the incredibly strong, people oriented community.
Way back when I first got involved with SharePoint (when they were coming up with the first beta code named of Tahoe) the whole premise of the product was to create a central location for people to share ideas and information. Over the years as the technology has advanced, its usage skyrocketed, the products ability to connect, to facilitate socialization, has also increased. Along the way though that concept of socialization, of connecting people and not simply interchanging data has crossed over from the virtual world of corporate work in to the very fabric countless folks lives.
Following the 2003 release I remember thinking how it would be nice to start a local SharePoint group to provide some networking and regular updates. With the generosity of Arpan Shah from the SharePoint team I got some money so that we could provide some give-away prizes at our monthly meetings as well as provide pizza and soda. I remember thinking it would be nice to get 20-30 folks together monthly. I was overwhelmed, and humbled when we started to have to reserve the two connecting presentation rooms in the Malvern PA office, open the dividers as we were packing both rooms with folks standing around the edges as well. The best thing I remember was that while we all ostensibly showed up initially for the technology, it soon became apparent that folks mainly started coming to see each other. Friendships were being formed, talk after presentations quickly shifted to hobbies, families, folks planning to get together. Real community was being formed and not just a user group.
In the years since those early days I relocated to the south, and have seen the technology continue to advance and increase it's impact at customers. As great as those advances have been they real pale in comparison to what I truly feel is the primary reason for SharePoint's phenomenal success, the people. User groups are everywhere. Organizations like the ISPA, SharePoint Saturday, and more are everywhere. The reason for their success is so very evident whenever you attend any of the SharePoint organization or user group events, it's the people. You have folks like Muhanad Omar who, along with a number of other super folks, tirelessly give of themselves to help other in the Middle East set up and build community. Folks like Bob Fox and Michael Lotter who have built what have become worldwide organizations that exist to help folks connect and improve themselves. Tireless volunteers who give of themselves traveling, presenting, simply to help the larger community. Folks like Susan Lennon, Josh Carlisle, Laura Rogers, Becky Isserman, Dan Usher, Rick Taylor, Dux Raymond, Heather Waterman and so many more I could fill pages. Then to top of off all the folks worldwide who bring the type of events that many of their local community cannot attend. Folks like Jose Antonio Morales, Agnes Molner, and again countless others worldwide. Best of all, just like I saw in those early days when you attend these type of events sure you get the networking, information exchanges that are so beneficial professionally, but more importantly the post presentation conversations once again turn to family, hobbies and such. Friendships are forged and the real sharing of these "Share"Point events takes place.
As a former school teacher and social worker one of the driving factors in me climbing aboard the SharePoint bandwagon more than 10 years ago was the promise of inclusiveness, of a place where everyone could participate and exchange ideas on even footing. Prior to that technology was in many ways a secret mojo bag held by IT folks and doled out as was thought necessary. The ability to participate through technology in idea interchanges was limited to those with the technical wherewithal. Growing up in a Connecticut community where they held town hall meetings that allowed access and decision making rights with full transparency to everything (you should have seen yearly meetings pouring over every last expenditure down to pencils) that type of exclusivity always rubbed me the wrong way. In many ways SharePoint represented to me the ideal of democratizing information exchange and the bringing together of people in community irrespective of their title or their technical skills. We didn't have buzz words like social computing and social media yet but we were setting out on a journey of technology helping to facilitate the basic needs of people to socialize and be heard, and have the opportunity to impact their environment.
All that brings me back to this week. Just a few folks and family members getting together for some good food, and good company. In the normal course of life it is doubtful any of us would have met but through the incredible worldwide community built around SharePoint we have. Sure we discussed SharePoint a bit, mostly around. how to better support and develop the community further ;-), but for the most part we talked about our kids and families, shared stories about growing up. One of Joel's sons shared with me his passion for stop motion video making (the kids has some serious talent!) We all got a kick out of the babies there. All in all it was more like the "social networking" I did as a kid where every Sunday we all gathered at Grandpa Gannotti's house for spaghetti and meatballs. Wednesday night we met, we broke read, and relaxed. Its that kind of connecting that makes SharePoint so special to me.
If you are not plugged in to a local SharePoint Community/User Group you should be! If you haven't attended a SharePoint Saturday, you NEED to. Get plugged in and you will find it a ride worth taking. As for me it was suggested at the conclusion of our dinner that we should do this once a month. Just have an informal get together for dinner, families welcome, where we just eat and hang out. I couldn't agree more. I think I am really starting to get the Point of SharePoint (at least the most important one ;-)
Check out:
This is the fourth article of a series to review the following five BI vehicles in SharePoint 2010: Overview Excel 2010 and PowerPivot Excel Services Visio Services PerformancePoint Services Reporting Services and Report Builder
This is the fourth article of a series to review the following five BI vehicles in SharePoint 2010:
A picture is worth a thousand words. This cannot be more applicable to what Visio Services can deliver. A feature of SharePoint 2010, Visio Services enables data-bound Visio drawings to be viewed in a web browser. This feature is for sharing Visio drawings and letting authorized users view Visio diagrams in a SharePoint library without having Visio or the Visio Viewer installed on their local computers. Visio Services can also refresh data and recalculate the visuals of a data-connected Visio drawing hosted on a SharePoint 2010 site. So a user will always see the latest and up to date information in a visual form. For instance, a complex manufacturing supply chain can be presented with clarity and simplicity, and up to date status with Visio Services as shown below. A Visio Services overview is a good starting point to better understand this feature. And the installation and administration of Visio Services are very easy to follow.
Visio Services can display Visio drawings using a Web Part without having a locally installed Microsoft Visio 2010 on the client computer. However Visio Services is not for creating or editing Visio diagrams. To create, edit, and publish diagrams to Visio Services, an author must have a locally installed Microsoft Visio Professional 2010 or Microsoft Visio Premium 2010.
Licensing<:o:p>
Available only with SharePoint Server 2010 Enterprise Client Access License (ECAL), Visio Services must be deployed, provisioned, and enabled before first use. In addition, one must have Microsoft Visio Professional 2010 or Microsoft Visio Premium 2010 in order to save diagrams to SharePoint as Web drawings.
Access Control<:o:p>
To view a Visio drawing based on a SharePoint list or an Excel workbook connected to an Excel Services, a user must be authenticated and authorized by the SharePoint 2010 hosting the content. And three authentication methods are supported:
External Data<:o:p>
While developing enterprise service architecture, planning for services that access external data sources is something not to overlook. For a service application as one the following using a delegated Windows identity to access an external source, the external data source must reside within the same domain with the SharePoint 2010 farm where the service application is located or the service application must be configured to use the Secure Store Service.
Namely Delegation of a Windows identity, Windows domain, and Secure Store Service are a few things to keep in mind if a service application to access a data store beyond the SharePoint farm where the service application is running. In other words, do the right thing to plan your Visio Services deployment.
As we approach the end of the year it is customary for people to take stock of the year and reflect back on what has transpired. Certainly in the realm of SharePoint and the Office System there is much to reflect upon. This past year we have seen the explosion of a vibrant SharePoint community worldwide built upon the enthusiasm for the SharePoint 2007 product set. We have seen SharePoint 2007 launch an incredible wealth of solutions as ISVs continue to find new, innovative, uses for the functionality of SharePoint. Perhaps the crowning moment this past year occurred when 7,500 SharePoint faithful converged on Las Vegas for the SharePoint Conference for the unveiling of SharePoint 2010. What an incredible event and what an incredible response to the richest offering of capabilities yet. I could spend a lot of time reflecting on all of these areas. They all deserve attention and reflection. However, with approaching 2101 and a new decade I thought instead I might reach back a little further.
Though it launched in 2001 as a Corporate Systems Architect at a large financial services organization I became involved with a Microsoft program in 1999/2000 called Tahoe (which became SharePoint. Today when we look at the capabilities of SharePoint in 2010 we discuss its broad Platform/Infrastructure capabilities around delivering Sites, Communities, Content, Search, Insights, and Composites. Within each of these areas are an array of capabilities that we could literally spend hours discussing. The breadth and depth of SharePoint 2010 is staggering which helps explain why it has become, and here is where I get to roll out my favorite tongue twister, the most prolific portal product on the planet today. ;-) In 2001 though the first release of SharePoint was much more modest in its offering. Focusing on web based document centric collaboration, search, and portal capabilities, SharePoint sought to bring the emerging power of web based productivity to the masses for the first time. Before that I can remember my own frustration with web products. The darlings of of many of us geeky types, they forced end users to come to IT for almost everything. It was as if IT held some special bag of mojo that was doled out according to the judgment of folks who did not own the content or the processes involved. As a result we saw rogue file shares, PCs serving as pseudo Intranets under someone's desk, and more popping up. Tahoe/SharePoint sought to change all that. Based on the simple premise that users knew how to use a browser and Microsoft Office, SharePoint sought to put the productivity and creative force in the hands of end users. It got me so excited in its focus that I applied to work at Microsoft and well, have been working with it ever since.
To help put a little perspective on where SharePoint has been this past decade and to contrast it with where it is going I thought I would share a little blast from the past. Back in 2002, while I worked out of the Microsoft Malvern office, our district Marketing folks and I worked to create a lead in informational CD to help drive awareness and promote some ongoing events around SharePoint we were putting on. I made the CD using Microsoft Producer for PowerPoint, a free add-on for creating Web based and CD based content (I miss that application!) While cleaning out my office I ran across a copy of it and have used Microsoft Expression Encoder to grab a screen cast of it for your viewing below. Watching it I was amazed at some of the capabilities we were able to accomplish easily with no coding even back then. Watch "Empowering Employees with Microsoft Office XP and SharePoint 2001" then head on over to the the SharePoint 2010 site where you can get a taste of the upcoming version to see just how far we have come.
*This video is best viewed in full screen mode. You can enlarge it by mousing over the video and selecting the expand symbol in the lower right corner of the video.
To learn more about SharePoint 2010 and to see how far SharePoint has come check out:
This morning, live from NBC Studios in New York City, we announced the availability of Microsoft Office 2010 and Microsoft SharePoint 2010 for business customers worldwide.
Microsoft SharePoint 2010 delivers a complete business collaboration platform for the enterprise and the web, enabling people to interact with each other, information and content helping drive productivity. We're excited about some of the positive press coverage we're already seeing for the product including this eWeek.com story on the benefits delivered to both IT and end users.
Stephen Elop, president of the Microsoft Business Division, started the event with a keynote that showcased how customers like General Electric, Del Monte Foods, KPN Getronics and the New South Wales Department of Education are benefiting from using the new versions. The event was broadcast across 60 countries and in 26 languages through the virtual launch experience website at www.the2010event.com, built entirely on SharePoint 2010.
The productivity solutions delivered in the 2010 set of products released today will help businesses save, innovate and grow by:
Businesses that deploy the 2010 set of products can expect to see significant productivity gains and greater return on their software investments. Today, Forrester also published a series of commissioned studies detailing how companies can expect:
o increased productivity
o IT administration savings and a reduction in storage and training costs
o improved collaboration and new voice conferencing capabilities
o new business intelligence solutions
o reduced travel expenses
These reports can be found here:
The Total Economic Impact of Microsoft Office 2010
The Total Economic Impact of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010
The Total Economic Impact of Implementing Microsoft's Productivity Platform
I encourage you to go to the virtual launch experience at www.the2010event.com , where you'll find:
I also invite you to check out the video with Eric Swift, general manager of the SharePoint product team, talking about his favorite product features of SharePoint 2010, and thanking the customers and partners who played a role in our newest release.
Thanks for your time and I hope that as you explore our launch you find value in seeing the ways that other customers are already benefiting from their use of SharePoint 2010 and Office 2010.
Jen Davidson, Senior Product Manager
<Back to Part 1>
Recognizing “workspace” is a key concept for a user to become productive with SPW 2010, I want to focus on the three types of workspaces available in SPW 2010. They are:
Regarding software requirements, a SharePoint workspace in SPW 2010 can synchronize only with a site running on Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, SharePoint Foundation 2010, or SharePoint Online servers. While a SharePoint Files Tool in Groove 2007 can synchronize with a SharePoint document library running on Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, Windows SharePoint Services, and later.
SharePoint Workspace
SharePoint workspace in SPW 2010 is a new construct allowing a user who is also a SharePoint content owner to acquire a “local and personal” copy of selected libraries and lists of a SharePoint site. The user can work on the content locally and SPW 2010 will synchronize the changes automatically and on demand with those libraries and lists in the SharePoint site.
When there is connectivity, the changes made to the local copy of libraries and lists are automatically synchronized with the corresponding items in an associate SharePoint site. SPW 210 treats all local changes as high priority and initiates an immediate synchronization with SharePoint. When there is no connectivity, changes made in SharePoint workspaces are stored locally. The changes made offline are synchronized automatically the next time the user connects to the server.
The synchronization between a SharePoint workspace and the associated libraries and lists of a SharePoint site is bi-directional. Consequently SPW 2010 introduces changes made in a SharePoint workspace to SharePoint; SPW 2010 also brings in changes made directly in SharePoint by other authorized users to the SharePoint workspace. The bi-directional synchronization is implied whenever data synchronization happens between a SharePoint workspace and an associated libraries and lists of a SharePoint site. This two-way synchronization between a SharePoint workspace and SharePoint is the vehicle to extend SharePoint content creation and some content management form SharePoint to desktop.
SPW 2010 is a response to the business needs of taking the content of a SharePoint site offline due to the increasing mobility in the work environment. Ultimately, a SharePoint workspace is a “personal” copy of libraries and lists of a SharePoint site that a content owner chooses to take offline. The term, personal, here indicates a noticeable departure of work pattern in SPW 2010 from that in Groove 2007. The following explains.
The SharePoint Files Tool in Groove 2007 is a “tool” in a workspace and not a workspace by itself. A SharePoint Files Tool synchronizes with a target SharePoint document library. And the members of a Groove 2007 workspace where a SharePoint Files tool is added can by default access the content of this tool, i.e. a local copy of an intended SharePoint document library, unless the permissions of the tool are altered within the workspace. On the other hand, a SharePoint workspace in SPW 2010 is not a tool in a workspace, but a workspace by itself, and has one and only one member, the user who creates the SharePoint workspace. A user share the changes made in a SharePoint workspace with other authorized SharePoint users by content synchronization with the corresponding items in a related SharePoint site.
In other words, a SharePoint workspace is intended for the content owner to have anytime access and can (check out as needed and) work on the content without the need to maintain connectivity with SharePoint. A SharePoint workspace is nevertheless NOT intended for sharing content; the sharing should still go through synchronization with SharePoint, i.e. via SharePoint infrastructure and security model. While in Groove 2007, it is a different concept: the workspace construct and its tools including SharePoint Files Tool are solely for sharing with workspace members. There are also other implications, like data encryption, that SPW 2010 users and those who are used to Groove should be aware of. The following is a table depicting the encryption in SPW 2010 as published in SPW team blog.
Another important distinction of SPW 2010 from Groove 2007 is that a SharePoint workspace in one computer DOES NOT synchronize across multiple computers where the same SPW 2010 account is restored. A user will need to create a SharePoint workspace on each computer, although the user’s SPW account is restored in each computer and the SharePoint workspace in each computer synchronizes with the same libraries and lists of a SharePoint site. While in Groove 2007, a workspace is automatically synchronized to all computers in which the same user account is restored.
One obvious reason to create a SharePoint workspace is to have offline access to SharePoint content. Additionally, many may prefer working in a SharePoint workspace, instead of accessing and administering SharePoint content via a browser, because the tools in a SharePoint workspace provides a quick and easy navigation among libraries and lists, as compared with working directly on SharePoint sites using a Web browser. For example, changing the folder structure in a SharePoint workspace is simple and very similar to the operations in Windows Explorer, while the same changes made directly in a SharePoint site using a browser interface will require some operational knowledge in SharePoint administration. Also one can switch among lists and libraries in a SharePoint workspace by clicking with the mouse, which is essentially instantaneous. While the same context switching using a browser may result in reloading web pages, which is relatively slow and tedious. For a system administrator managing libraries and lists in multiple SharePoint sites, one can create local copies of those libraries and lists with corresponding SharePoint workspaces, and organize them in the Launchbar as shown (and followed by right-clicking or simply dragging an intended SharePoint workspaces to desktop to create shortcuts) for quick access and easy navigation. And as changes are made, synchronize the content with SharePoint. This also gives a consistent user experience in managing SharePoint site content, regardless if a user is online or offline.
In simple terms, a SharePoint workspace gives a content owner and only this content owner access to a local copy of SharePoint libraries and lists at any time, whether there is connectivity with the associated SharePoint site or not. The simplicity and familiarity of performing many standard tasks, like folder arrangements, adding new items to lists and libraries, etc. also allow a user to focus more on the quality, and less on the specific operational requirements of managing and producing SharePoint contents.
Creating SharePoint Workspace
Two ways there are. Directly from SharePoint Site Actions, a user can click Sync to SharePoint Workspace as shown below to create a local copy of the site content for synchronization. Or a user can create a SharePoint workspace form the Launchbar and in the process the user must specify the web address of and be authenticated by an intended SharePoint site.
Here it shows the content in a SharePoint workspace can optionally be checked out to avoid editing conflicts with other people who have access to the same content on the SharePoint site.
Unsupported Content Types
SPW 2010 does not support all SharePoint sites. And not all content types of SharePoint lists and libraries as shown below are supported in SPW 2010 either. Calendar, survey, and Wiki are, for example, non-supported types. A SharePoint site with a content type not supported by SPW 2010 will not have the option to “Sync to SharePoint Workspace” in SharePoint Site Actions.
Deleting SharePoint Workspace
This operation removes the local copy of SharePoint content; this deletion has no effect and does not delete the corresponding content stored on a SharePoint site. After deleting a SharePoint workspace, one can create a new SharePoint workspace referencing the same SharePoint content. This is sometimes a quick fix for a SharePoint workspace in an unknown state.
Coauthoring SharePoint Content
Office 2010 introduces “coauthoring,” a long-waited collaboration feature. Although coauthoring is and should be a topic by itself, a brief discussion is here to highlight some exciting scenarios using SPW 2010 as described below:
So the settings are: SharePoint 2010, SPW 2010, and Word 2010; and the document is stored in SharePoint. All authors use a SharePoint workspace to acquire a local copy of the document. All authors can make changes to the document regardless if there is connectivity between SPW 2010 and SharePoint 2010. All authors synchronize the changes made locally via the SharePoint workspace.
Here, a SharePoint workspace is the synchronization vehicle, the platform for co-authoring SharePoint document without the concern of network connectivity. The operational model is to have multiple clients synchronize with a centralized copy in SharePoint and not a direct peer-to-peer synchronization.
This coauthoring scenario gets even more exciting when the OS platform is Windows 7 and the machine is configured as a DirectAccess client. DirectAccess allows a DirectAccess client to connect to a private network securely without VPN. Basically whenever there is internet connectivity, a user can connect to corporate domain network. And with internet access, the coauthoring with synchronization can then happen anytime, anywhere, and on any network with a DirectAccess client
Virus Scanning
SPW 2010 has a security option to scan all incoming and outgoing files to protect against viruses. This virus scanning feature is supported if you are running Norton AntiVirus Personal Edition 2002 or higher. However the virus scanning feature is not supported, if you are running Norton AV Corporate Edition or Sophos Anti-Virus.
Groove Workspace
This is the original workspace type in Groove 2007, before the product name changed to SPW 2010. When creating a new Groove workspace in SPW 2010, a user can choose between 2010 (the default) and 2007 versions. Each workspace version has a different set of productivity tools like Documents, Discussion, and Calendar. A member of a 2010 workspace must be running SPW 2010. All members of a 2007 workspace must be running Groove 2007 or later.
With Groove workspaces, one can collaborate beyond organization boundaries with external partners and offsite team members. Groove workspaces in SPW 2010 continue to leverage the peer-to-peer features as those functioning in Groove 2007. Those having used Groove 2007 before can expect much similar, if not identical, Groove functionality in SPW 2010.
Within a Groove workspace, the content is by default synchronized automatically to all workspace members. When a member is online, all inbound and outbound messages (i.e. application and user data) are immediately received and sent, respectively. When a member is offline, all inbound messages are queued in the Groove Server Relay designated for the user and all outbound messages are stored locally. A discussion of Groove infrastructure and deployment models is available elsewhere and far beyond the scope of this article.
In a workspace created in Groove 2007, the SharePoint Files Tool which can synchronize with and only with a target SharePoint document library is available. However, in a Groove workspace with the 2010 version created in SPW 2010, there is no such tool.
The above shows tools added by default to a 2010 version of Groove workspace include Documents, Discussions, and Calendar. There is no SharePoint Files Tool in the workspace tool set.
The above shows tools added by default to a 2007 version of Groove workspace are Files and Discussion. The SharePoint Files Tool is included in the workspace tool set.
A frequently asked question about a Groove workspace is the size limitation. One can check the workspace properties to find out the current workspace size. For optimal performance, limit the size of a Groove workspace to 2 GB or less. In fact, SPW 2010 by design cannot send/replicate a Groove workspace exceeding 2 GB to new invitees.
The automatic content synchronization of a Groove workspace among members and user routines in SPW 2010 are very much the same with those in Groove 2007. For peer-to-peer collaboration using Groove, a Groove infrastructure based on Groove PKI needs to be in place. For those who are not familiar with how Groove 2007 works and would like to know more, the following information may be helpful.
Workspace Invitation
There are ways: using instant messaging within SPW 2010, via Outlook, and as a file to deliver a workspace invitation. One operational detail a user should be aware of is: if to invite others with a workspace invitation file, the workspace can be sent, i.e. replicated, to an invitee only from the SPW 2010 device on which the invitation file was created. Needless to say, the workspace will not be sent to invitees other than when that SPW 2010 device is online.
Shared Folder
As an alternative to a Groove workspace, one can create a Shared Folder which is visible to Windows file system across all computers on which the same user account is restored. Because the content is exposed to local Windows file system, a Shared Folder is searchable. Previously in Groove 2007, Shared Folder did not supported in 64-bit OS. It is now in SPW 2010.