One of the hidden gems at the Developers conference was this presentation on how the combination of Word services in Sharepoint2010 and Open XML can automate the document creation and assembly process. This can be escpecially applicable in Legal, Banking, and Insurance.
Hers the link to the video: http://microsoftpdc.com/Sessions/PR09
Heres a video detailing the setup and client interface of OCS R2 Group chat in Technet. While its listed as 200 level, my caution is that it is for the technically inclined, as it walks thru the administration setup process, so Caffeine is a prerequisite :).
http://www.microsoft.com/belux/technet/nl/chopsticks/default.aspx?id=1127
Heres a great article and video about the sprint to create Social search in Bing:
Sean Suchter works on the white board at the Microsoft Research lab... (Gary Reyes, Mercury News)
http://tinyurl.com/yed7l6w
Build and customize Dashboards in minutes using the new flexible and interactive interface.
Here is a view how the new Beta dashboard for Configuration Manager operates:
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To Join the beta, heres the link: https://connect.microsoft.com/InvitationUse.aspx?ProgramID=4505&InvitationID=%20SCD-BGMB-FK9M&SiteID=14
For more information here is the System Center Technet site for the Dashboard: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff369719.aspx?SA_CE=CMD-Bloggers-2010-02
I spend a good deal of time discussing the power of scripting using Powershell at the overview level, but certainly the proof is in the pudding. Here is a specific blog for Scripting, giving tips and specific scripts to use: http://blogs.technet.com/heyscriptingguy/default.aspx.
IMHO, the greatest value is not necessarily the scripts themselves, but the capability to take scripts such as these and paste them into System center to automate scripts based on timing or events. Even better, to use System Center Virtual Machine manager to automate the virtual environment, regardless of the virtualization platform.
In this reference, scripting for mass deployment in Virtual Machine Manager is discussed: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm/archive/2009/06/06/scvmm-2008-r2-rc-public-release-available-now.aspx
Here is a post on viewing Powershell scripts in Virtual Machine Manager as well: http://blogs.technet.com/insidescvmm/archive/2007/05/09/viewing-powershell-scripts-in-the-virtual-machine-manager-ui.aspx
The 2010 Microsoft BI Conference will be in New Orleans June 7-10, topic areas include:
· Empowering End Users
· Improving Organizational Effectiveness
· Increasing IT and Developer Efficiency
· Partner Services and Solutions Delivery
· Customer Business Value
Save $300 by registering before February 28, details here:here
Bill Zack spoke regarding Microsofts Technology Vision at a penel in NYC.
This vision is he convergence of content and protocols across all devices -
see Bill's post here: http://blogs.msdn.com/billzack/archive/2010/01/18/3-screen-the-cloud-in-new-york.aspx
Now that Exchange 2010 has released, many are looking for guidance on migration, includng some who are evaluating moving from Exchange 2003. Here is a technical article on the subject in Technet:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/exdeploy2010/default.aspx
The Branch Infrastructure Deployment Guide has been updated with new guidance for the Server R2, including Branch Cache.
IThe new guide can be found here:http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/branchoffice/default.aspx
Now that Virtualization and Live Migration are commodity capabilities across the virtualization landscape, its time to make life easier for the operations of these environments, and a little less manual, by monitoring and making systemic changes in an automated fashion. Microsoft has released a solution accelerator - Offline Virtual Machine Servicing Toolkit 2.1 to update virtualized environments using the Windows Workflow programming models and Windows Powershell by bringing them up, updating them and then returning them to the offline state.
Here is a list of Webcasts to address many of the persistent questions I receive related to Sharepoint implementation for Public sites -
SharePoint Internet Business
Live Webcasts
On-Demand Webcasts
Many clients have asked about Web analytics wit SharePoint sites, Here is a whitepaper on the topic:
whitepaper.
Channel 9 is featuring a training course with hands on labs to take advantage of the servces in Windows Server 2008 R2 featuring:
-Many Core scaling
-Trigger started services
-Windows Powershell features
-Web Platform Extensions
-Automation of Dev-test environments using Hyper-V API-s
Heres the link:training course
SharePoint is widely used for intranets, now an increasing number of companies are using it for their Public-facing site, leveraging the heavy lifting SharePoint can do in the background to add more time to the creative. There is a technet webcast which describes alternatives to the typical start from scratch CSS methods to leverage SharePoint in the design of the site. Register here:
click here
Bing has a number of web services offered in addition to search. One example is the Bing translator. There is a great description of how to integrate the Bing translator engine (Ajax service via API) with enterprise search.
Find it here:
http://blogs.msdn.com/enterprisesearch/archive/2009/09/22/enterprise-search-and-bing-services-part-1-the-bing-translator.aspx
