FREE Intro to SharePoint Development Training

FREE is GOOD Right?
I just noticed that my last several posts have all been about FREE offers.  First it was the announcement that SharePoint Designer could be downloaded for free starting April 2. Then it was an offer to try out a free online seminar to see if you wanted to attend an online conference.  In these tough economic times free is always good right?
 
This time its a FREE online training class to provide you with an Intro to SharePoint development.  The class also gives you a chance to try out Mindsharp’s virtual lab environment. Our online classes provide each student with an online VMware session running SharePoint where they can do configuration and development just like we do in our live classes. Why not give it a try?  After all, what have you got to lose, its FREE?
 
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SP2 is coming

In all the excitement about the establishment of a name and broad dates for release of the next version of SharePoint it would be easy to overlook the upcoming release of a mere service pack.  But don’t miss out on the release of this one.  Each time Microsoft has released a service pack or update for SharePoint there has been a marked improvement in functionality and stability.  SP2 will be no exception and the Office Service Pack team just announced that the it will be available on April 28th.  A short list of anticipated improvements for your SharePoint server is quoted from the release announcement below.  You’ll want to read the release announcement to look at all the changes in store for the whole office platform.  You can read the whole announcement here.  In two weeks I’ll add a link pointing to where you can download the Service Packs for WSS and MOSS.

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 SP2 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server SP2 include fixes and enhancements designed to improve performance, availability, and stability in your server farms. SP2 provides the groundwork for future major releases of SharePoint Products and Technologies.

  • An STSADM command line that scans your server farm to establish whether it is ready for upgrade to the next version of SharePoint and provides feedback and best practice recommendations on your current environment.
  • SP2 offers support for a broader range of Web browsers.
  • Substantial improvements to Forms-based authentication.

Windows Server 2008 SP2 and Windows Server R2 will be supported on their release.

Enterprise Content Management (ECM)

  • The performance and stability of content deployment and variations feature has been improved.
  • A new tool has been added to the STSADM command-line utility that enables a SharePoint administrator to scan sites that use the variations feature for errors.

WSS SP2 Download Get It Here!

MOSS SP2 Download Get It Here!

It’s OFFICIAL, SharePoint Server 2010!

SharePoint Server 2010!
The first official comment on a prospective ship date for the next version of SharePoint was released by Microsoft today.  In an interview with Chris Capossela, senior vice president of Microsoft’s Information Worker Product Management Group, it was announced that the next wave of Office products currently known as Office 14 by most people will be released starting in the second half of 2009.  The first product to be released will be Exchange 2010 which enters public beta today. You can get the Exchange 2010 beta here.  According to Chris the SharePoint Server 2010 beta will be available for tech review in the third quarter of 2009 and will release to manufacturing during the first half of 2010.  you can read the article in its entirety here.

FREE SSWUG.ORG Community Event!

Recently I Bloged about the upcoming SSWUG SharePoint Virtual Conference where I will be presenting 3 talks.  I even provided a VIP discount code that will save you $10 off the cost of the conference.  VIP code: SPVPSTSP09
 
But maybe you’re not sold on the idea of attending a virtual conference.  Maybe you don’t want to pay even a discounted price just to find out you don’t like the virtual format.  Well here’s your chance.  The SSWUG is sponsoring a Free, yes I said FREE, virtual community event using the same conferencing features that they will use for the spring SharePoint conference.  The event will be held on Friday, April 17, 2009 from 9AM to noon Eastern time. So here’s your chance to try out Online Virtual Conferencing and see if it fits your needs.  Register for the Spring Community event at this address: https://www.vconferenceonline.com/shows/spring09/sql/s09event.asp
 

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SharePoint Designer is now FREE!

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No, this is not an April Fool’s Joke that is just a day late.  The image above comes from the SharePoint Designer Online Office Site and as the download link shows SharePoint Designer is now a FREE download.  You can find an open letter from Microsoft here that explains the change.  The key points as explained by the letter are these:

  • Starting on April 1, 2009, Microsoft is making SharePoint Designer 2007 available as a free download.
  • Customers with SharePoint Designer 2007 Software Assurance (SA) current as of April 1, 2009 will receive upgrade rights to Expression Web for the lifetime of their SA agreement.