Blogs

This is shameless ripped from Beginner Developer Learning Center: Beginner Developer Learning Center Home as it looks just what some of us need. Overview Welcome to the Beginner Developer Learning Center - a centralized learning environment specifically targeted to beginning programmers. Here you'll find a rich array of learning content that starts with the very basics, and guides you through step-by-step to becoming a fully-fledged developer! No experience or programming knowledge required - so dive right in! For an overview of all the lessons available on this site, see My Learning Path . All lessons in the Beginner Developer Learning Center are organized into two development tracks: Windows Development and Web Development. Web Development Are you interested in creating dynamic web sites, or building online applications and services? Then this is the Development Track for you! Windows Development Would you like to customize your desktop with cool utilities or build fun Windows applications and PC games? Then...

Yesterday I spent a couple of hours with the Bristol Partner Group (a Partner Group is a User Group, expect all it's members are partners). It was a great time listening to peoples needs and offering information from Microsoft. I have posted a note to the forum http://uksbsguy.com/forums/thread/102.aspx with all the details. It has also raised some great questions along the way that have been posted to the SBS and training areas. I have created a training forum found at http://uksbsguy.com/forums/21/ShowForum.aspx where you can choose to get e-mails when anything changes and I will post training information as I find it for you. ttfn David P.S. Why freezing in Bristol... well the reception was very warming, but once i left I found myself spending 90 minutes on a freezing cold platform waiting for a train heading Reading way.

I saw this and thought people might be interested to see that we have various items of training available. The item on the webpage that caught my eye was: Introduction to Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Virtual Lab Implementing and Administering Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Virtual Lab If you are considering running extra WSS sites for your customers, then this is something to consider for the future. While SBS wizards may not support Office 2007, you might choose to upgrade the Companyweb site anyway, so this is important information. ttfn David

Again, something you will have to get to grips with in Longhorn and Exchange 2007. To find out about powershell go to http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/technologies/management/powershell/default.mspx . It is described as: Microsoft Windows PowerShell command line shell and scripting language helps IT Professionals achieve greater productivity. Using a new admin-focused scripting language, more than 130 standard command line tools, and consistent syntax and utilities, Windows PowerShell allows IT Professionals to more easily control system administration and accelerate automation. Windows PowerShell is easy to adopt, learn, and use, because it works with your existing IT infrastructure and existing script investments, and because it runs on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server “Longhorn”. Exchange Server 2007, System Center Operations Manager 2007, System Center Data Protection Manager V2, and System Center Virtual Machine Manager leverage Windows PowerShell to improve efficiency...

So, what we are not doing is throwing away the excellent Office Document XML standards as these make accessing information inside a document a dream compared to other standards, however we are ensuring interchange can happen. Darren has more info on his blog . One thing, if you don't believe me about the two XML formats, create a document in both and see which is easier to extract the info from :-) ttfn David

Howdy folks, I have added a number of RSS feeds into the roller if you want to see what I think is interesting. This covers SBS sites, technology sites and the Partner (User) Group sites. Pop along to http://uksbsguy.com/roller/default.aspx to see them in action ttfn David

Small Business+ has been seen as something that might be scary for a few partners - is Microsoft trying to take away the very business that most partners are searching for? This is interesting as I was talking to one partner last week who said that the types of questions that SB+ sought to answer were the ones that when they charged the customer for the support, customer got upset. The reason for this was that when a customer phones up and asks a question that takes just 5 minutes to resolve, how do you bill them - per the 5 minutes, by the quarter of an hour. If you try to track all of these, you end up in a admin mess and often a costly one at that. Since the original concern, not much in the way of bad press has aired, so I can only assume this was not the killer many had assumed. Also add to the fact that we are working on how to give a pre-selected partner contact details to the customer means that this can become a support service for both the partner and customer rather than a burden to the partner. Now...

I've just been out and bought myself a Tablet PC. I decided to go for an HP TC4200, but that's another blog post at some point or another. One thing that I have now started using is Microsoft OneNote 2003 so I can scribble notes when on client's sites. I've also found that if you are talking to clients they are less intimidated by it than if you opened your laptop up and started typing away. One thing I wanted to be able to do was upload these OneNote scribblings to my Sharepoint site in a Document Library and at upload time add some metadata to the document entry such as Client, Product or whatever. However I couldn't get it to work I could save the OneNote document to the Sharepoint site (no problem with that) but I couldn't get it to ask me to update the metadata. It works beautifully in Word and Excel, but not in OneNote <sigh> It would appear that it doesn't work in OneNote by design. Yet another one of Microsoft's bizarre design decisions. This document was very helpful in sorting this out: http:/...

I saw this and just decided I had to write about it. In the UK we are used to buying a phone at a cost, or for a lower to zero value with a contract. As I understand it, the iPhone will cost $499 in the states when tied to a contract. Wow, so I obviously just don’t get it as that is not up my street at all. Then I saw this and almost balked “realize that free mobile phones are worthless”. They are not free though – they are tied to a contract, so cost money each month. I found this offensive – obviously just getting sensitive in my old age. I still love my Windows Mobile phone J : Apple Expects Huge Demand for iPhones Apple's COO predicts that 10 million customers will pay at least $499 to buy an iPhone next year because they will realize most free mobile phones are worthless. I then saw this and it made me smile a little: Eight Reasons to Think Twice about Buying an iPhone With its hefty price tag, restriction to a single carrier, and departure from many traditional smartphone features, buying the iPhone requires...

Hello, it is that time of year for me where I need to take some time off to do family things, namely build and paint a nursery – I have a wonderful daughter and baby number 2 is due to arrive mid-June, so I am shortening the distance I will travel to Partner Groups and trying to make sure I remember what 6 hours unbroken sleep feels like as I know this will change. So, this week will be light on reports as I take my leave, although I am sure one of two items will pop into my head before Friday :-) ttfn David

We are always being asked to help our partners more and one area is on sales and marketing assistance. If you know how to do sales and marketing, this is not for you. If you don't think you need to know about sales and marketing 'cos it doesn't apply to you, then you probably need to attend the course. Don't believe me, go read Susanne's blog Getting the message out there and then tell me this is not the type of thing you need. OK, so the sales pitch is over, what is on offer? Click this link to get the booking details for a 1 day course on sales and marketing on 8th November. The course is called "Accelerating Sales and Profitability in the Small Business Channel" ttfn David

SQL Server 2000: Performance Tuning and Optimization Datasheet This 4-day workshop provides information on SQL 2000 index and page structures, performance troubleshooting tools, memory architecture, programming efficiency, and optimization techniques. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0556317d-66c3-4a6d-a128-4d6f873a28b3&DisplayLang=en ttfn David Technorati Tags: SQL 2000 Performance Tuning