July 2007 - Posts
How to change the location of a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 content database
http://www.wssdemo.com/Pages/db.aspx
This is a necessary step where a client has a default OEM installation on the server…
I had one that's been bugging me the last couple of weeks, and the DB was close to 2 GB!!! We needed to move the DB over to the Data drive to free up space on the system partition. At first I could not connect to the SQL DB, finally today, I was able to connect using the sqlcmd utility and away I went.
Finally done, and I think for the most part the server is clean again, for now!
Are you using this in your marketing?
http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness/products/server/business-mobility.mspx
So while waiting for an update on a clients' machine today, I went wandering through the Microsoft Sites, and what should I see??? The above. My first question is why did we not know about this earlier? And then How can I use this for my business? As a partner, I will recommend that prospects check it out, maybe so far as providing the download for them directly, we'll see. This is good stuff, and while it is disappointing we are not 'featured' it is right on target for some of the messaging we want to get across.
Check it out!
Mogul™ by HTC
http://www.sprintpcs.com/flash2/idemo.html?x=PPC6800SP&xType=2
Abbie picked this bad boy up about a week and a half ago. It rocks!!!
It is the first and to date only SprintPCs Mobile6 device out! You can check it out above.
We are really taking a shine to the productivity it has built-in. For example it will allow her to simply say a name to start voice recognition, rather than waiting for it to prompt, as my Motorola Q does.
It automagically flips the screen if you slide the keyboard out.
It does a ton more great stuff too, so check it out, but don't go to a store, it won't be there until September…we ordered this over the phone @ like 4:30 on a Wednesday, and it arrived on Friday, 9:00am…If only Microsoft Rebate Checks were that quick!!!
There's a couple of resources available, and I am planning on using as many as I can get a hold of…
https://partner.microsoft.com/global/40043601
http://members.microsoft.com/partner/digitalwpc/
We had considered going to the SBSC symposium today, however, could not work it out. Interestingly, Logistically we were about 3 hours too late in deciding, because we really wanted to go, and considered taking the Hybrid up to Denver. Figured if we left last night about 6:00 and drive through we oughta pull in somewhere between 6:00 and 9:00 this am, spend the day with the good community, and then hightail it back. Local.live.com put's it at about an 11 hr drive, with stops for food and restrooms, we probably could have done it in about 12-13 hrs. but then it's the drive back that kills ya!!!
We'ld have been fine connectivity wise, both of us with windows Mobile Smart Devices, and a SprintPCS Merlin, we could have caught up on the keynotes on Tuesday while driving. Anyway. We choose against it, because we are working on client issues today…
Later!!!
So Susan is all about googling here there and everywhere…
http://msmvps.com/blogs/bradley/archive/2007/07/07/searchin-for-grandma.aspx
Just to let you know that while live.com does not dig into newsgroups like google groups does, many of the same features are possible. For example, one might want to search for 'grandma' and limit that to msmvps.com, it's pretty simple!!!
On Vista, click on the Pearl, and type this in: (Only stuff inside the brackets, do not include the brackets!!!) {grandma site:msmvps.com} then click on Search the Internet. The results come up here: http://search.live.com/results.aspx?FORM=DNSAS&q=grandma+site%3amsmvps.com. Don't have Vista??? Try it at search.live.com in your browser of choice. Or Windows Desktop Search on XP SP2 should perform similarly…
While it may be fun and hip to google this or that…Microsoft's search facility is better for business. On the desktop and in the enterprise, search is contextual to who you are and what you should be able to see. Google, and most internet based search engines don't have the business intelligence natively to consider your position in the company or your privileges. As consultants to small and medium sized business we prefer the Microsoft search routines because they are built from the ground up to work inside the framework. Certainly google is avant garde, but does your business need avant garde or does it need for you to get the right answers with the right data when you look for it?
I commend google for trying to weasel into the desktop search market and they do a pretty good job for the general public. Their search appliances are not as effective or accurate. Couple that with the improvements Microsoft is making with its search.live.com I can't see why I'd recommend anyone use google anymore. I keep up with it from time to time, and they've pitched us to start slinging their appliances, but it is hard to actually tell a client that google is better for their business.
Live.com provides a facility for creating search macros, for alerting on search terms/macros, etc. The engine is improving daily and providing a better way to Find, Use, and Share Information.
So Mitch put together a google based CRM search engine: http://www.crmaccelerators.net/searchcrm.aspx It occurs to me the same can be done with live.com: http://search.live.com/macros/awpc/001/ I created that in about 5 minutes. (And that was without knowing what to do!!!
So the other day I blogged about the Live SharedView Application that is available from live.com betas. Well I was working on some excel reports, created from Publisher and I see a new item off the Office Pearl…Share->Work with me…
This is very kool!!! Apparently it integrated directly with Office, throughout it!!! I checked in Project, no dice, but excel, word, powerpoint, I checked in Access, InfoPath, Project and a variety of other apps, no dice…but it quite kool that it integrates with Ribbon-ized apps.
Keep your eyes peeled for it after you get it downloaded and installed…
So if you have not had a chance to check out some of the newer features of the latest version of Project, I'ld say head to it.
Off the top, I will announce my distain for the fact that Microsoft Partner Program seems to have left off the Project Server 07 from the Microsoft Action Pack Subscription. This is a bit of a disappointment, as we used Project 03 with Project Server 03 and really enjoyed the integration points with SharePoint Portal Server 2003. Apparently Project 2007 is not designed to work at all with Project Server 2003, and so we are out of luck for now. Having gotten that off my chest, I am very excited about Project 2007. It is the same as it was back in the day, but better.
The first thing that is better is the Visual Reports. To find these, from the toolbar (not a Ribbon) simply click on Reports->Visual Reports… This is refreshing as in the past we have spent long hours trying to reproduce this functionality for various projects. Basically it creates a variety of reports for Visio and Excel Pivot Tables/Charts. Additionally it adds the ability to create additional reporting formats and templates. This is very kool!
Another part is the ability to collaborate on projects. The easiest way to do this is by uploading a project file up to a SharePoint Document Library or workspace. After uploading the Project, and re-openning the project from the document workspace, it offers a variety of Collaboration tools in the Document Workspace toolbar…The 'collaboration' menu is still de-activated because the project is not in Project Server 2007. That's ok for us for now though.
Finally another highlight is in the ability to link between projects and import tasks from outlook. This is a big plus, and it really relates to all the interoperability that makes office such a compelling tool for information workers. It really helps to bring them in on projects and project management. So often important knowledge is not captured whether during a project or around a project because the management of that project was difficult to document. This will help bring additional users into the project management fold, and integrate important company or industry knowledge into the planning and execution of projects.
Check out Project 2007 for some of these and more reasons, and if you have any sway with MAPS, find out why there is no Office Project Server 2007 with the Action Pack…
-bill
Are you on a budget? Can't afford WebX or Live Meeting? Could not get the Vista Meeting Space to work across firewalls?
Here's a quick and simple solution:
Microsoft SharedView Beta
Connect. Show. Share.
Download it here: http://r.office.microsoft.com/r/rlidSV?clid=1033&p1=1&p2=download_msi
It took less than a minute to download the client, install it and set up an ad-hoc meeting. It was really simple and easy. It integrates with Outlook or Live Messenger to invite people to your meeting. Works really well. I had seen this Beta before, but thought, that seems like the same thing as what comes with Vista. This seems to work across firewalls though, so that makes it head and tails better!
So this could be a great way to perform training or remote assistance…