Posts Tagged ‘sharepoint’

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SharePoint 15 Arriving Early 2013 According to Leaked MS Roadmap

Wednesday, April 25th, 2012

The next version of Office and SharePoint seem likely to land on servers in the first quarter of next year, making it SharePoint 2013, with a beta due this summer.

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Enterprises’ love of SharePoint seems to know no bounds, but the product has plenty of areas for improvement, often filled in by third-party apps, solutions, tweaks and various packages. While Microsoft is unlikely to tread on its partner’s toes, improvement was inevitable and it looks like we can expect a beta of SharePoint and 15 in the coming months.

The date matches the typical three-year cycle of Office products, but clears up any confusion with previous date estimates stretching into 2014.

sharepoint_release.jpg

With its track running parallel to Office and Exchange, the Microsoft business wizards are going to have a busy time of it getting everything ready for a group launch next year. For business users we start the inevitable worry about the upgrade cycle, with those on older (2007) editions of SharePoint probably holding off from the 2012 version.

What’s in the Pipe?

We have previously speculated on SharePoint integrating with Silverlight, but there are plenty of more pragmatic features. A new app store is the most likely feature to help tie in all those third-party products to help users create and buy packaged solutions. An educational module has been widely touted to help it access the huge learning sector. Finally, SharePoint Online is likely to happen, creating a cloud version.

With the product currently in a private beta, expect things to get a whole lot clearer when the summer general beta emerges. And let us know about any must-have feature it would take you to upgrade, or are you perfectly happy in your SharePoint 2010 (or earlier) environment?

Read More:

http://www.cmswire.com/cms/web-development/sharepoint-15-arriving-early-2013-according-to-leaked-ms-roadmap-015162.php

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Office 365: Is SharePoint Online a Good Business Move?

Tuesday, April 10th, 2012

You may recall earlier in the month that Microsoft announced that it was making Office 365 cheaper by up to 20%. With low-level entry barriers for its competitors such as Google and Zoho, it’s not unlikely that those prices will drop again, especially as Microsoft says it is cutting internal costs. But even with the reduced pricing, is Office 365 – and, in particular, SharePoint Online — really for you.

In a paper from AvePoint released at the end of September, just as Office 365 was beginning to make traction in the enterprise, it examines whether SharePoint Online through Office 365 is suitable for your company. This is particularly relevant now that pricing is starting to get become attractive for all size companies.

Entitled Office 365 SharePoint Online — what does it mean to my organization as a CIO?, the paper argues that, while there is a lot of competition in the market, the biggest challenge is reluctance of organizations to move data and applications from on-premises servers and clients to the cloud, and, in this case, the Microsoft cloud.

Read More:

http://www.cmswire.com/cms/information-management/office-365-is-sharepoint-online-a-good-business-move-014970.php

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3 Reasons You Could Write Custom Code for SharePoint 2010

Tuesday, March 1st, 2011

 

We’ve talked about why you should not write custom code for SharePoint 2010, now let’s consider the reasons why you should (or could) write custom code.

My recent article: 3 Reasons to Not Write Custom Code for SharePoint 2010 caused some debate both here on CMSWire, and further afield on the web. In it I discussed the key reasons that you shouldn’t be writing custom code for SharePoint. In a nutshell I argued:

   1. 90% of problems can be solved using out of the box functionality
   2. Writing custom code is not for the faint hearted or ill prepared
   3. Custom code imposes an unnecessary shelf life on your solution

RSSbus SharePoint Web Part

I concluded by saying it was wise to think twice before firing up Visual Studio. So what if you think twice and still want to write custom code? When is it appropriate? Well I think there are three clear areas where custom code is OK.

1. Branding and Design

Everyone wants to brand their Intranet. SharePoint systems are no different. I have argued before that branding is a balancing act and too much is a bad thing. But a sufficient level of branding can be perfectly sensible and can actually enhance a portal or Intranet. Making an Intranet on brand will give users a warm fuzzy feeling from that start. It can help tie the tool in with other systems and offer a uniform interface. It can present familiarity, and even corporate authority.

Extranets and such have an even stronger case for branding. Their use is typically by external staff, contractors or freelancers. Exposing these people to your brand can help build awareness, and can give direction over what a system is for and what it does.

Custom code to achieve these aims is fine. As stated, I would advise caution, and not treat your Intranet/Extranet as a website. I wouldn’t overly customise it, nor would I move too far away from the standard look and feel. But a custom master page or two, logos and background images, and maybe a custom navigation, can all work in the system’s favour.

2. Interfacing with Line of Business Systems (LOB)

A common use of SharePoint is as the ‘glue’ between multiple systems, an interface between existing line of business systems and newer SharePoint based functionality. These applications can be interfaced with in a number of ways. Friendly ‘out of the box’ ways include Excel and Access services, but particularly ‘business connectivity services’ (formally the ‘business data catalogue’) and its related web-parts. (Check out: 4 Ways to Integrate External Content with SharePoint 2010)

But sometimes custom code needs to be written to communicate with these systems. Maybe they are difficult to create connections to, or require custom web-parts to display their data and outputs. Maybe SharePoint is to act as a full read/write terminal to an old system. Business connectivity services will get you so far, but more complex requirements like these will require your own code.

Functionality such as this is often key to the success of portal or Intranet projects. If a slew of custom code is required to get the old back office talking to the new back office, then it may well be worth the investment. That is until you retire those systems and move the functionality naively into SharePoint.

3. The Limits of SharePoint

I’ll admit that sometimes you will hit the limits of what SharePoint can do. You need a web-part to read out the time in 13 different countries whilst displaying photos of the CEO’s holiday. Or more likely your client has some very bespoke business requirement that no one has yet solved. I would still strongly advise you consider solving 70% of their problem using out of the box functionality, if possible.

But we live in a far from perfect world. Sometimes clients demand it all, even when we know better, and custom code is the answer. Just promise me you’re not going to spend your time building yet another weather web-part. This problem has been solved, it’s called a ‘window’.

Source: http://www.cmswire.com/cms/information-management/3-reasons-you-could-write-custom-code-for-sharepoint-2010-009818.php

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Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Portal Development

Saturday, January 29th, 2011

 

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS) is a versatile web-based collaboration and document management platform that can be used to build and host enterprise-level Internet and intranet sites and web applications. SharePoint supports many web features out of the box, significantly reducing the time required to get sites up and running. SharePoint web development Improves organizational efficiency, Provides comprehensive content management and enterprise search features, Accelerates shared business processes and Facilitates information sharing across geographical boundaries. As well as supporting enterprise-level Internet applications, SharePoint also provides a secure, scalable environment for team collaboration. Regardless of location, team members can be given password-protected access to SharePoint sites, enabling them to work together on tasks, projects, and documents. Site managers can coordinate site content and user activity. SharePoint makes it easy for Administrators to design, deploy, and administer their sites.

Microsoft Sharepoint services are built for the making the Information management more flexible and secure. Sharepoint products are the best options for the organization which are facing the issues like security of document and communication among the employees. Think of a situation were you are working with a word or an excel file, you and your docs alone, isolated for the rest of the organization. This is the scenario were you are on a client machine and the doc is local to the machine it self with no server. This situation is not good when you and your machine is the part of a big organization. Here you can find Microsoft Sharepoint the best to your help, to enable you be the part of enterprise office Server.

Microsoft Sharepoint has eliminated the Information Management, Access, Security, and Storage challenges and had made all this more flexible and secure for organizations. Sharepoint touches almost all aspect of information in the foam of documents, Communication, and reporting.

[...]

Read More:

http://technology.ezinemark.com/sharepoint-portal-development-31d4e723acf.html

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3 Reasons You Could Write Custom Code for SharePoint 2010

Friday, January 14th, 2011

 

We’ve talked about why you should not write custom code for SharePoint 2010, now let’s consider the reasons why you should (or could) write custom code.

My recent article: 3 Reasons to Not Write Custom Code for SharePoint 2010 caused some debate both here on CMSWire, and further afield on the web. In it I discussed the key reasons that you shouldn’t be writing custom code for SharePoint. In a nutshell I argued:

   1. 90% of problems can be solved using out of the box functionality
   2. Writing custom code is not for the faint hearted or ill prepared
   3. Custom code imposes an unnecessary shelf life on your solution

I concluded by saying it was wise to think twice before firing up Visual Studio. So what if you think twice and still want to write custom code? When is it appropriate? Well I think there are three clear areas where custom code is OK.

1. Branding and Design

Everyone wants to brand their Intranet. SharePoint systems are no different. I have argued before that branding is a balancing act and too much is a bad thing. But a sufficient level of branding can be perfectly sensible and can actually enhance a portal or Intranet. Making an Intranet on brand will give users a warm fuzzy feeling from that start. It can help tie the tool in with other systems and offer a uniform interface. It can present familiarity, and even corporate authority.

Extranets and such have an even stronger case for branding. Their use is typically by external staff, contractors or freelancers. Exposing these people to your brand can help build awareness, and can give direction over what a system is for and what it does.

Custom code to achieve these aims is fine. As stated, I would advise caution, and not treat your Intranet/Extranet as a website. I wouldn’t overly customise it, nor would I move too far away from the standard look and feel. But a custom master page or two, logos and background images, and maybe a custom navigation, can all work in the system’s favour.

2. Interfacing with Line of Business Systems (LOB)

A common use of SharePoint is as the ‘glue’ between multiple systems, an interface between existing line of business systems and newer SharePoint based functionality. These applications can be interfaced with in a number of ways. Friendly ‘out of the box’ ways include Excel and Access services, but particularly ‘business connectivity services’ (formally the ‘business data catalogue’) and its related web-parts. (Check out: 4 Ways to Integrate External Content with SharePoint 2010)

But sometimes custom code needs to be written to communicate with these systems. Maybe they are difficult to create connections to, or require custom web-parts to display their data and outputs. Maybe SharePoint is to act as a full read/write terminal to an old system. Business connectivity services will get you so far, but more complex requirements like these will require your own code.

Functionality such as this is often key to the success of portal or Intranet projects. If a slew of custom code is required to get the old back office talking to the new back office, then it may well be worth the investment. That is until you retire those systems and move the functionality naively into SharePoint.

3. The Limits of SharePoint

I’ll admit that sometimes you will hit the limits of what SharePoint can do. You need a web-part to read out the time in 13 different countries whilst displaying photos of the CEO’s holiday. Or more likely your client has some very bespoke business requirement that no one has yet solved. I would still strongly advise you consider solving 70% of their problem using out of the box functionality, if possible.

But we live in a far from perfect world. Sometimes clients demand it all, even when we know better, and custom code is the answer. Just promise me you’re not going to spend your time building yet another weather web-part. This problem has been solved, it’s called a ‘window’.

Source: http://www.cmswire.com/cms/information-management/3-reasons-you-could-write-custom-code-for-sharepoint-2010-009818.php

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5 Reasons Why SharePoint 2010 Will Revolutionize Your Organization

Wednesday, December 29th, 2010

 

What if you can reduce cost and still provide the necessary tools to meet organizational needs? SharePoint 2010 (news, site) can do exactly that.

Don’t You Love It When …

    * You get a meeting invite with 20 massive attachments. Then after the meeting, action items fly back and forth via email with additional attachments.
    * You triumphantly win the game at work called “Whoever-saves-the-file-last-in-the-network-share-wins?”. This game also tests your memory skills by remembering that the file has to be saved in a location 18 folders deep.
    * You ask IT to build some system yet you get it when it’s too late. IT is so slammed these days that you’re so careful when you make such requests.

It’s Time For A Revolution! The days of email and network share collaboration are over. Down with the draconian IT institution! IT is so swamped these days that they can’t help you in a timely manner. Power to the people! What if you can be in charge of your technical destiny?
Join the SharePoint Revolution

SharePoint 2010 is the collaboration platform for the enterprise and the web, which addresses and enhances organizational collaboration needs around: Document Management, Collaboration, Reporting, Content Management, Records Management and Compliance (Additional reading: SharePoint 2010 Review: The New 6 Pillars of SharePoint).

Here are 5 reasons why SharePoint 2010 will revolutionize your organization:
1. Empower Individuals

It empowers users to build their own solutions, which traditionally they would rely on IT to do. Let’s walk down memory lane back in the early 90’s: How was a project manager able to have a centralized repository for project artifacts? They would have to send in a request to IT to provision a network share for the project or perhaps a website. Would the PM get one in a timely fashion?

With SharePoint 2010, not only can project managers provision their own project sites, they can build related solutions as well like dashboards, workflow automation and integration with existing tools and systems. The technical barrier to entry is relatively low. It builds on users’ existing skill set and familiarity with Microsoft Windows, Office and web-based technologies.
2. Delivers Relevant Information

With SharePoint 2010, corporate information can be better-organized and identified with enhanced metadata management features and powerful search.

In addition, the complete overhaul of My Sites in SharePoint 2010 takes personalization and social computing to a whole new level in the enterprise. It is a personal hub that allows you to interact with relevant content and people. Think Facebook for the enterprise.

Wouldn’t it be great if you found out that a colleague of yours in Asia that you rarely interact with just finished a similar project that you are about to start? How beneficial can it be if relevant information is delivered to you at the right time?

3. Supports Compliance Requirements

SharePoint 2010 has upgraded features for Records Management allowing for better management of organizational records from cradle to grave.

It can provide out-of-the-box solutions for industry-specific compliance such as Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX), 21 CFR Part 11 and the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA).

4. Interoperability

A compelling benefit of SharePoint 2010 is its’ cross platform capability:

    * It has adopted the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0) for cross browser compatibility. Read Maximizing SharePoint 2010 on a Mac + iPhone or iPod + iPad
    * Apart from Windows-based authentication, it can interface with various industry standard authentication mechanisms such as Open ID and OAuth.
    * It supports industry standard data interchange via Web Services, XML, ODBC, Connection Strings, etc. Interaction with varying data sources can be accomplished with SharePoint 2010 tools like Business Connectivity Services (BCS).

5. It’s All About The Benjamins

Taking a strategic assessment of your organization, step back and consider how much are you spending on licensing, support, training and maintenance of various tools like Content Management Systems, Document Management Systems, Reporting tools, Collaboration tools.

More importantly, what’s the cost of:

    * Users’ frustration over multiple tools?
    * Management not being able to aggregate and extract organizational information?
    * Relevant information is not available when needed?

What if you can reduce cost and still provide the necessary tools to meet organizational needs? SharePoint 2010 can do exactly that. As Ted Schadler of Forrester points out, “ … Microsoft has bundled in tools that you previously paid another vendor to provide. Storage, social tools, basic archiving, email filtering, etc. Add it all up, and the economics just make sense."

How real is the SharePoint revolution? It’s as real as 1000 people showing up wanting to learn about Sharepoint at a community-driven event last May 15 in Washington, DC on a nice Saturday.

Source: http://www.cmswire.com/cms/document-management/5-reasons-why-sharepoint-2010-will-revolutionize-your-organization-007629.php

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56 Open Source Replacements for Popular Web Development and Design Tools – Part 1

Monday, December 20th, 2010

 

Open source Web development tools have come a long way. The open source community offers a huge array of applications that are useful to Web developers and designers. In many cases, these open source tools are even more widely used than their closed source counterparts. And some open source Web tools don’t even have any real closed source competitors.

As these tools mature, it’s becoming more and more difficult to sort them into categories. Some blogging platforms are robust enough to build an entire site. Content management systems often have some features you usually find in Web app development frameworks, and text editors begin to look more and more like full integrated development environments (IDEs).

While that makes it tougher to organize our lists, it’s good news for designers and developers. As Web tools offer more features, it makes Web professionals’ jobs easier, and it opens up new opportunities for hobbyist and home users whose coding skills might not be as well developed.

Here are 56 of the best open source Web development and design tools that provide good alternatives to popular commercial, closed source software.

Blogging Platforms
1. WordPress Replaces: TypePad One of the most popular blogging platforms, WordPress is currently the home of more than 25 million blogs. It also offers enough template options and special features that some people use it to host their entire sites. Operating System: OS Independent

2. MovableType Replaces: TypePad MovableType bills itself as an "all-in-one social publishing platform" with Web site creation, content management and social networking features, in addition to its blog publishing features. It shares some code with TypePad. Operating System: OS Independent

3. LifeType Replaces: TypePad While it doesn’t offer free hosting like WordPress and MoveableType, LifeType does offer an excellent platform for creating your own blog or even an entire Web site. Key features include an easy-to-use WYSIWYG interface, integrated media management, a good template library, built-in anti-spam, and support for multiple authors. Operating System: OS Independent

Browsers
4. Firefox Replaces: Internet Explorer According to the latest figures from NetApplications, about 23 percent of all people on the Web use the Firefox browser. Its key benefits over Internet Explorer are its speed, security and huge library of add-ons and themes. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X

5. Chromium Replaces: Internet Explorer Chromium is the open source project behind Google’s Chrome browser, and it’s also the base for several other, less popular open source browsers. It’s best known for being lightweight and fast. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X, ChromeOS

6. K-Meleon Replaces: Internet Explorer Very similar to Firefox, K-Meleon aims to let the user have absolute control over how the browser looks and feels. It also lets you choose whether to use a Favorites, Hotlist, and/or Bookmarks list, and it supports mouse gestures. Operating System: Windows

Collaboration/Wikis
7. DokuWiki Replaces: Confluence, SamePage This Wiki-only app is designed to help small groups create documentation for their projects. It’s simple but effective. The DokuWiki Web site also offers a Wizard to help users compare Wiki software. Operating System: OS Independent

8. MediaWiki Replaces: Confluence, SamePage The software that runs Wikipedia, MediaWiki offers a very familiar interface, but can also be customized with a number of skins. It scales to handle a lot of traffic and is designed to run on a large server farm. Operating System: Windows, Linux/Unix, OS X

9. MindTouch Replaces: Sharepoint, IBM Lotus MindTouch Core (the open-source version of the company’s flagship product) includes a Wiki, development platform and Web services framework. It’s designed to improve enterprise collaboration. Operating System: Windows, Linux

10. TikiWiki Replaces: Confluence, SamePage In addition to Wiki functionality, this Groupware app also includes modules for forums, blogs, articles, image galleries, map servers, bug tracking, rss feeds and more. Users have downloaded it more than 800,000 times, and it runs tens of thousands of sites, including the Firefox support site. Operating System: OS Independent

Content Management Systems
11. Drupal Sitecore CMS, Kentico Used by the White House, AOL, Yahoo, MTV, Popular Science, the World Wildlife Fund, and many other well-known Web sites, Drupal is one of the most popular content management systems available. More than 7,000 modules let you extend its capabilities and nearly 900 themes make it easy to create a site that reflects your organization’s unique character. Operating System: OS Independent

12. Joomla Replaces: Sitecore CMS, Kentico Joomla calls itself "the most popular Web site software available." Organizations like Harvard University, Citibank, IHOP and the Guggenheim Museum use it to organize their online content. Operating System: OS Independent

13. XOOPS Replaces: Sitecore CMS, Kentico XOOPS considers itself both a dynamic content management system and a Web app development tool. It uses a modular design, so you can use it for something as simple as a personal blog or as complicated as a multi-function enterprise portal. Operating System: OS Independent

14. Alfresco Replaces: SharePoint, Documentum, Open Text In addition to managing your Web content, this enterprise-class content management system offers document management, records management and collaboration features. The company claims it can reduce company costs up to 96 percent versus SharePoint, Documentum and Open Text. Operating System: Windows, Linux

Source: www.itmanagement.earthweb.com/osrc/article.php/3917001/56-Open-Source-Replacements-for-Popular-Web-Development-and-Design-Tools.htm

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How to Save Money by Replacing Microsoft SharePoint with WordPress

Tuesday, November 16th, 2010

By Joseff Betancourt

According to the Small Business Administration, small businesses account for 99.7 percent of all U.S. businesses and employ about half of all private sector employees. This makes sense, since the definition of a “small” business is pretty big: “an independent business having fewer than 500 employees.” Have you ever been in a crowd of 500 people? Living in NYC all my life, I have, and I can tell you it’s pretty nerve wracking at times (think crammed train during rush hour).

So how do you get your “big” small business working effectively together? Well, with enterprise technology, of course. But although small businesses may have strength in numbers, their IT budgets usually fall short on the financial spectrum. The technologists in these companies, usually a one to two man crew, look for bargain-basement-priced technologies that have the punch of their larger-priced cousins.

I’ve recently played around with some sure-fire open source technologies that should help the over-taxed tech manager breathe a sigh of relief when it comes to bringing next-generation collaboration, access control, and e-commerce systems to their organizations.

The first offering is a great replacement for Microsoft SharePoint that can be used to facilitate team sites, interoffice communication via workgroups, document revision tracking and general communication. Like SharePoint, you can even use it as a website.

I’m talking about WordPress, of course! At the time of this writing, WordPress 3.x series is out and it packs a wallop in terms of usability and functionality. Now there are tons of other open source content management systems (CMS). But in light of trying to keep these solutions in the realm of ease and performance, WordPress is hard to beat.

In addition to Joomla and Drupal, I’ve worked with WordPress for a long time now and can safely say that it’s become my favorite CMS system. The theme system is easier to use and the plug-ins are a snap to create and maintain compared to the rest. Even modifying the core system attributes is simple, with all the hooks built right into the libraries. WordPress isn’t a side-project blog system anymore; it’s a full-fledged CMS touting among its users some of the finest brands in the print and online industry.

In order for WordPress to become that functional SharePoint replacement sytem, a few tweaks need to be made. You’ll need to create a social networking system that interacts with the core file. Also, you need to hack the user interface on the core admin files in order to make the back end easier to use. Because you’ll need access control, conditional lookups in the theme will need to allow for different membership types. Extra functionality like an e-commerce bridge to a banking system will need to be added to your list of things to do as well.

This could require a lot of work and money. Fortunately, there are already plug-ins available to do all the aforementioned things, plus more. So before you program your own systems by downloading and installing plug-ins, make sure you enable the Multi-Site feature. This gives you the SharePoint-like feature of multiple workgroups/websites.

After you know that your WordPress Multi-Site functionality is up, the first plug-in that you absolutely, positively need is BuddyPress (it’s free). This will transform your WordPress installation into a social network with groups, forums and friendships (ala Facebook) that your users can use to interact with one another. Most themes will need to be modified to make use of the unique hooks in BuddyPress, but some themes come BuddyPress-ready. The fine folks over at WPMUDEV have some of the most useful BuddyPress themes around. They are ready out of the box, or to be used as a skeleton kit. You’ll need to purchase an inexpensive subscription, but you’ll soon find that it’s worth it for the amount of nifty plug-ins and themes they have ready to go.

Now that you are BuddyPress-enabled, you need to add a membership system. Luckily, WPMUDEV has a good one available to members, called WordPress Membership. Place it in your “mu-plugin” folder and you’re ready to go. This enables you to create different groups for different members.

Now that you have your membership, also known as access control, you can extend your site with an e-commerce platform. Maybe an employee store where employees can buy branded material for wholesale? Maybe you can sell your employees sick days? Better yet, sell your employees their computers for work – then let them maintain and keep them. Whatever the case, the WPMUDEV guys have this covered with WordPress Ecommerce. Now simply download, install and set up the e-commerce plug-in and you are ready to go within an hour.

The last part is installing a really easy user interface that looks as close to Microsoft Word as possible. At this point, your collaboration system is ready. This could be a shameless plug for the WPMUDEV guys, but you know what? Their “EZ” plug-in series is so darn easy that I need to mention it! What they do is literally replace the entire WordPress back end with a really easy-to-use editor. This hides areas of the back end that could theoretically be tempting targets for curious insiders. In my book, better safe than sorry.

After this, you have a pretty cool internal or external shared workspace at pennies on the dollars to a SharePoint solution.

Are there other software platforms that do this? Sure, but they’re not as inexpensive or as integrated. There are other WordPress theme kits and plug-ins out there as well, but once you start to mix and match them, your QA period and cost run up. I like to stick with WPMUDEV because they ensure all their plug-ins are cross-tested and are compatible – and those times that they are found to be incompatible, their support is on it ASAP, which I’ve always found to be delightful.

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SharePoint Online: Leaving a smaller carbon footprint

Wednesday, November 10th, 2010

By Caroline Marwitz

There’s a reason why Iceland, Russia, Latvia, and Canada are ranked as favorable countries for locating data centers—it’s cheaper to keep servers cool in a cool climate. Duh.  

Still, many small, midsized, and large companies run do-it-yourself data centers of various sizes, paying a chunk of money to cool their servers in regions with 100-degree heat and 90 percent humidity. Whether you think this is a) immoral, b) stupid, or c) the best we can do given our circumstances, the reality is, you’re not about to build a data center in Iceland, so you’re stuck.

Not so, says Microsoft, which, as you might have heard, has recently discovered and embraced The Cloud as its own long-lost offspring. Microsoft commissioned a study that compared the energy use and carbon emissions per user for Exchange Server 2007, SharePoint Server 2007, and Microsoft Dynamics CRM with their cloud-based equivalents: Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and Dynamics CRM Online.  

The cloud, of course, won. Here are the findings, according to Microsoft: “When small organizations (100 users) move to the cloud, the effective carbon footprint reduction could be up to a 90 percent savings by using a shared cloud environment instead of their own local servers. For large corporations, the savings are typically 30 percent or more in energy consumption and carbon emissions using cloud applications.”

Why? Basically, economies of scale rule—larger is cheaper and more efficient. The study offers four reasons:

1. Large operations enable better matching of server capacity to demand on an ongoing basis.

2. Large public cloud environments are able to serve millions of users at thousands of companies simultaneously on one massive shared infrastructure.

3. Cloud providers can make server capacity more efficient, thereby performing higher workloads with a smaller infrastructure footprint.

4. Cloud providers have the incentive and the means to design, build, and operate datacenters that use energy efficiently.

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Microsoft’s legal team finds solution to use emails with SharePoint 2010

Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010

Microsoft is continuing to strive for perfection with its SharePoint programs after the company’s legal team found it useful to be able to integrate their emails with the application.

The group will use Colligo’s Contributor V4.2 software after finding it easier to create emails in Microsoft SharePoint 2010 instead of saving them to the desktop and uploading them.

Microsoft SharePoint 2010 is the ideal collaborative platform for businesses and organisations, allowing them to share ideas through documents, blogs and wikis.

Firms can also add software, such as Contributor V4.2, to SharePoint to tailor it towards their business needs.

Nishan DeSilva, director of information management and compliance at Microsoft, told computing.co.uk as how the group came to the solution.

"The legal department began looking for an information management programme because it needed a simple way to bring emails into SharePoint, it came up with Colligo Contributor," he told the news provider.

SharePoint Foundation 2010 also provides an affordable collaborative platform as businesses only need to pay a monthly fee.

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