Quick Look at Sharepoint

 

Looks like I need to setup SharePoint Servecis 3.0 SP1 and start playing around. See what can be done with just SharePoint Services 3.0, provided with all Server 2003 licenses, before needing to add MOSS into the mix and add to the price & complexity of solutions.

Templates

Templates for SharePoint Products and Technologies offer a variety ready-to-use, pre-built solutions for business applications, role-based portals, site look and feel, and more. These templates also provide a starting point for custom development and are intended to help jumpstart the deployment of SharePoint-based applications and solutions.

http://www.microsoft.com/sharepoint/templates.mspx

TechNet Resources (Install)

Deployment for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 technology

Before installing Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, be sure you have reviewed the information in Planning and architecture for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 technology .

End-to-end deployment scenarios (Windows SharePoint Services)

These topics take you step by step through the process of installing Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 on a stand-alone server, deploying in a simple server farm, deploying in an environment in which database administrators create and manage databases, or installing Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 in Windows Server® 2008.

 

Dogfood Site

Welcome to the Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies Community Portal!

This is an experiment. Yes, we are "eating our own dogfood" by using our product (Office SharePoint Server 2007) to power our new community portal, which shall be your starting point for the worldwide SharePoint community.

We aspire to make "SharePoint" synonymous with "community" as much as it already connotes "sharing" and "collaboration."  So, welcome, give us plenty of feedback and enjoy the ride!

Community Kit

The Community Kit for SharePoint is a set of best practices, templates, Web Parts, tools, and source code that enables practically anyone to create a community website based on SharePoint technology for practically any group of people with a common interest.

http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/sharepoint/cks/default.aspx

Files and source code for the CKS are available for download from CodePlex at http://www.codeplex.com/cks.

Synergy Keyboard/Mouse Sharing

 

Synergy lets you easily share a single mouse and keyboard between multiple computers with different operating systems, each with its own display, without special hardware. It's intended for users with multiple computers on their desk since each system uses its own monitor(s).

Redirecting the mouse and keyboard is as simple as moving the mouse off the edge of your screen. Synergy also merges the clipboards of all the systems into one, allowing cut-and-paste between systems. Furthermore, it synchronizes screen savers so they all start and stop together and, if screen locking is enabled, only one screen requires a password to unlock them all. Learn more about how it works.

Synergy is open source and released under the GNU Public License (GPL).

System Requirements

• Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me (the Windows 95 family)
• Microsoft Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP (the Windows NT family)
• Mac OS X 10.2 or higher
• Unix
  • X Windows version 11 revision 4 or up
  • XTEST extension
    (use "xdpyinfo | grep XTEST" to check for XTEST)

All systems must support TCP/IP networking.

http://synergy2.sourceforge.net/

Conspiracy theorists and free software

 

Interesting blog post by Bruce Byfield :

No one can be involved in the free software community to any extent without stumbling across conspiracy theorists. Like the mad wife in the attic, they’re an embarrassment to the community, clinging to attitudes appropriate to the days when free software was new and vulnerable, and providing an easy means for outsiders to discredit the rest of the community. They can also waste a lot of your time if you let them, so you should learn how to identify them for your own sake.

You remember the scene in Apocalypse Now when Colonel Kurtz mumbles his story? You may remember leaning forward, straining to hear him – only to realize with a cold thrill that what he is saying is insane. Conspiracy theorists are like that. If you’re not careful, you find yourself being slowly drawn into their world, either accepting their ideas or arguing with them. The result is the same, regardless of whether you’re face to face or on IRC or email — either way, you lose.

Recently, I forgot that simple axiom, until I brought myself up with a start. I won’t mention the people in question, because I don’t want to dignify their antics with more attention. But, while the experience is still fresh in my mind, here are some of the signs that should put you on your guard:

...

http://brucebyfield.wordpress.com/2008/01/02/conspiracy-theorists-and-free-software/

Virtualization Strategy (P2V)

 

How best to stat doing virtualization today and be ready for to run images on Windows  2008 Hyper-V  in the future.

One need is a Physical To Virtual (P2V) migration of existing machines.

Current Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 Offering :

Virtual Server 2005 Migration Toolkit

A free, downloadable tool for Virtual Server 2005, Virtual Server Migration Toolkit (VSMT) simplifies the migration of an operating system and installed applications from a physical server to a server running within a virtual machine that is provided and managed by Virtual Server 2005. With Virtual Server 2005, you can set up multiple virtual machines running different operating systems and applications on the same physical computer.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/virtualserver/downloads/vsmt.mspx

Or perhaps go with VMware Server as a bridging solution, expecting a VMware -> Hyper-V tool to be available when needed.

Curent VMware offering :

VMware Converter

Use the intuitive wizard-driven interface of VMware Converter to convert your physical machines to virtual machines. VMware Converter quickly converts Microsoft Windows based physical machines and third party image formats to VMware virtual machines. It also converts virtual machines between VMware platforms. Automate and simplify physical to virtual machine conversions as well as conversions between virtual machine formats with VMware Converter.

http://www.vmware.com/products/converter/

Many things to consider, the new hardware (Dell Dual Quadcore Xeon CPU's/ 16 Gig RAM/ 2 Terabytes of drives) should arrive today.

www.mapsofwar.com

Very good way to get a perspective of change over time!

Who has controlled the Middle East over the course of history? Pretty much everyone. Egyptians, Turks, Jews, Romans, Arabs, Persians, Europeans...the list goes on.

http://www.mapsofwar.com/images/EMPIRE17.swf

How has the geography of religion evolved over the centuries? See 5,000 years of religion in 90 seconds...

http://www.mapsofwar.com/images/Religion.swf

Microtargeting

Perhaps this explains our contemporary politics, we all have different perceptions on what the important issues are, then politicians cater to each subset off us, with different messages. This might enable politicians to win races, but it removes their ability to lead their entire constituency once elected.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Microtargeting is the use by political parties and election campaigns of direct marketing datamining techniques that involve predictive market segmentation (aka cluster analysis). It is used by United States Republican and Democratic political parties and candidates to track individual voters and identify potential supporters.

They then use various means of communication -- direct mail, phone calls, home visits, television, radio, web advertising, email, text messaging, etc -- to communicate with voters, crafting messages to build support for fundraising, campaign events, volunteering, and eventually to turn them out to the polls on election day. Microtargeting's tactics rely on transmitting a tailored message to a subgroup of the electorate on the basis of unique information about that subgroup.

The 2007-2012 Outlook for Wood Stepladders in Japan

 

Product Description
This study covers the latent demand outlook for wood stepladders across the prefectures and cities of Japan. Latent demand (in millions of U.S. dollars), or potential industry earnings (P.I.E.) estimates are given across some 1,000 cities in Japan. For each city in question, the percent share the city is of it’s prefecture and of Japan is reported. These comparative benchmarks allow the reader to quickly gauge a city vis-à-vis others. This statistical approach can prove very useful to distribution and/or sales force strategies. Using econometric models which project fundamental economic dynamics within each prefecture and city, latent demand estimates are created for wood stepladders. This report does not discuss the specific players in the market serving the latent demand, nor specific details at the product level. The study also does not consider short-term cyclicalities that might affect realized sales. The study, therefore, is strategic in nature, taking an aggregate and long-run view, irrespective of the players or products involved.

Product Details

• Paperback: 141 pages
• Publisher: ICON Group International, Inc. (September 28, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 049738745X
• ISBN-13: 978-0497387457
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces

http://www.amazon.com/2007-2012-Outlook-Wood-Stepladders-Japan/dp/049738745X/ref=sr_1_23?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199216569&sr=8-23

You never know what someone will find useful ...