Joel Explains It All

It's been a while

noreply@blogger.com (Joelsef) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 13:33:00 +0000

It is about time to get this blog going again.

Now that I've been at my new job for six months I feel settled in. Lots of ideas have been swirling around in my head, including but not limited to: Agile, Agile for SharePoint, SharePoint deployments, getting back into development, and of course Old School Tech.

The Agile/Scrum stuff is probably what I will start with. We began my current project back in September and the whole team got ramped up on Agile right away. It took a few months and a few sprints--we're on sprint 4 now--but I finally am comfortable with the progress we are making and am satisfied that Agile can be used successfully with a SharePoint configuration and custom development project.

2012 promises to be a big year!

Cloudy with a Chance of SharePoint

noreply@blogger.com (Joelsef) — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 02:10:00 +0000

Thank you to everyone who came out to SharePoint Saturday The Conference today to watch Dave Shimko and me present "Cloudy with a Chance of SharePoint." We had a great interactive audience and I hope everyone got to learn a little bit about the options for hosting SharePoint "cloud"-side.

If you would like our slide-deck, you can view it online or download it here on Windows Live SkyDrive:
Cloudy with a Chance of SharePoint - SPSTCDC - August 12, 2011

Speaking at SharePoint Saturday The Conference DC

noreply@blogger.com (Joelsef) — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 19:45:00 +0000

Update 8/3/2011:
The SPSTCDC schedule has been posted! See: http://www.spstc.org/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=38

Dave and I will be speaking at 3pm on Friday, August 12th.

In just a couple of weeks will be the next iteration of the SharePoint Saturday franchise, this time with a little twist. SharePoint Saturday The Conference DC will be held from August 11th to 13th this year in the Washington, DC area (Annandale, Virginia to be exact). No, it's not just on Saturday anymore. This is not your father's SharePoint Saturday. They have expanded the conference to three days. It's still [almost] free--just a nominal $39 registration fee this time around. You can't get a better value anywhere else.

I will be presenting at SPSTCDC with my former colleague Dave Shimko on a topic very near and dear to my heart: "The Cloud." Yep, "The Cloud." Notice the quotes. The Cloud is not always what it seems. Our talk is entitled Cloudy with a Chance of SharePoint.

More specifically we'll be talking about moving SharePoint from your local area network to a remotely hosted environment and the considerations you'll need to address before you make any decisions. This could be in an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) environment, a Software as a Service (SaaS) environment, just moving your servers from on site to co-located data center, or something in between. Here's the session description:

"Moving to “The Cloud” is a popular topic these days. Many companies and even the government are looking to consolidate IT resources, work within more limited budgets, and the desire to simplify the management of their infrastructure. Naturally, “The Cloud” seems like a great idea.

But is it? And what does this mean for SharePoint?

First off, we will describe the different aspects of “The Cloud,” mainly that The Cloud is really not just one type of technology and often isn’t The Cloud at all. In fact, cloud computing is just a fraction of the services available for hosting servers and websites and SharePoint. You can have a locally “private cloud” or a remotely hosted dedicated Saas (Software as a Service). You might consider a public cloud IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) or a dedicated virtual infrastructure. Or just a plain old rack server in a co-located facility. Which do you choose?

Unfortunately, there is no simple answer to that question. However, we will dive into the questions that you should ask in order to ensure you make an educated decision about where to go. Some examples:

What does it mean for SharePoint?

Do you really need the elasticity of something like Amazon EC2, or are your computing needs more stable and predictable?

Do you want IaaS, where you are in charge of the SharePoint application?

Or do you want SaaS, where the hosting provider manages the SharePoint application level for you?

What about security?

How do you budget for unforeseen costs?

So when your boss, CIO, or the President of the United States says, “We’re going to The Cloud,” you will have a better idea which “cloud” you should hop on to."

Find #SPSTCDC on Twitter and visit the SPSTCDC website for more information about the speakers, sessions, and lodging information.

Ready for What's Next

noreply@blogger.com (Joelsef) — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 13:18:00 +0000

Sometimes you pause, take a step back, and realize that it's time to try something new. For me, that time has come yet again.

I am forging a new adventure with my career. I'm leaving a place I've been for almost eleven years, which is most of my professional life. I started web development at a small company, came to a medium sized company for those eleven years, and now am going to an enormous company.

Some people might call me crazy. I surely do.

The thing I am going to miss the most is working with all of the wonderful people at the old place. Maybe some day our paths will cross again. In the meantime, we have Facebook, Twitter, and the interwebs.

Keep on truckin'.

Old School Tech: CueCat

noreply@blogger.com (Joelsef) — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 16:13:00 +0000

A few weeks ago I tweeted this Old School Tech question: What is this?

What am I?

I got some interesting guesses on Facebook and Twitter, but @jwmiller5 was the first one with the correct answer: the CueCat.

At its core, the CueCat is a barcode scanner, similar to the light-based scanners found in grocery stores and most other retail outlet cash registers, as well as many other applications like inventory control and libraries. This specific barcode scanner, the CueCat, was a free handout that came with my Wired magazine subscription around 2000. They were delivered with other magazines and were also mailed out to certain people and handed out in some stores. This was right before the dot com bubble burst, so companies were still spending money like crazy without necessarily having a viable business plan. Why would you want such a thing? What was the business plan for the CueCat?

I can't speak to the business plan, but the intended use was the following: You connected your CueCat to your computer via PS/2 port--USB versions came later--then you would scan barcodes in magazines and newspapers which would bring you to product websites or articles. You could also use the CueCat to scan your groceries and other standard product barcodes (Universal Product Codes, or UPC symbols) in order to find out more about the product's manufacturer. There was also a way to hook it to the audio out jack of your TV and when broadcasters sent out a particular tone, the CueCat software would load a webpage. I don't ever remember using the audio part, but I still have the audio cable.

So it wasn't a bad idea, per se. It was an attempt at linking the physical world to the digital world. See something interesting in a magazine that you want to find more about? Scan the page and *voilà* instant access on the web! In fact, today's QR codes and barcode scanners that use the camera on mobile phones are direct descendants of the CueCat. Scan a QR code on the window at your favorite restaurant with your iPhone and immediately get access to the menu online (assuming it doesn't use Flash).

The CueCat, however, was both ahead of its time and just not useful enough because of its awkwardness. I will admit that the CueCat did work as intended, albeit with some controversy. The barcode scanner was fairly standard, except that it encodes the barcode in a proprietary way and adds on one little bit of information: The CueCat's serial number. This raised a few eyebrows as it was considered by many to be a privacy breach. Sure you can scan those magazines and products, but each time you do your serial number is sent to the CueCat company (Digital Convergence Corporation) so they can track your every move. There was no easy way to remove the serial number from the scan and officially you were not allowed to because of the End User License Agreement (EULA).

Obviously, Digital Convergence Corporation has disappeared and CueCats and the CueCat service is no longer in existence. Nowadays there are hacks to decode the string to enable reuse of the CueCats as standard barcode scanners. You can even buy PS/2 CueCats on Amazon and find USB versions online.

Interestingly, around the same time in 2000 when the CueCat came out there was another similar service that gave away free Intel webcams, also in magazines like Wired. My wife and I got free Intel webcams similar to this one out of the deal. The idea behind this other service, which name escapes me, was to hold up a magazine page to your webcam so that the camera could scan the proprietary barcode. Then, like the CueCat, the computer software would whisk you to a website. In fact, this was closer to today's QR codes than the CueCat was, since it used a camera instead of a barcode scanner. The problem: in almost any lighting it was near impossible to get the camera to properly focus on the printed code. It was faster to just type in a website address or AOL keyword. Big failure there, even bigger than the CueCat. Like I said before, I cannot even remember was the service was called.

While the CueCat and its camera-based cousin were failures of the dot com bust, the ideas behind them have evolved to today's QR code scanners and product photo lookup services like Amazon has for smartphones. So they were not complete failures in the eyes of technology, just massive failures in the eyes of business.

WardworksTech: Why I love the Sony Dash

noreply@blogger.com (Joelsef) — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 18:28:00 +0000

The other day I was listening to my favorite podcast, Buzz Out Loud, and Molly Wood mentioned that she finally bought herself a Sony Dash when it was a Gold Box special on Amazon for $99. I was excited that she finally came around to check it out! Then, sadly, a few days later she mentioned she is already having second thoughts about the Dash and may send it back.

I obviously respect Molly's opinion--I will admit the Dash is not for everyone--but I wanted to make a case for why the Dash, and its cousins the Chumby and (Best Buy) Insignia Infocast series, are worthwhile Internet-connected devices. Here is why I love the Sony Dash.

I think the Dash, Chumby, Insignia Infocast are misunderstood. They are not tablet alternatives or smartphone replacements. They are gadgets that act as clock radio replacements that include widgets, local and Internet music and video, and photos. They are meant to be passive internet viewers with only basic input ability. Yes, they have so-so capacitive touchscreens. Yes, they have virtual keyboards. Yes, you can check your email and post to Twitter. These use cases are not the strengths of these devices.

The strengths of these devices is in their relative (I must emphasize relative) simplicity. They have alarm clocks, access to Internet radio like Pandora and/or Slacker, ability to play local or streaming audio and video (including Netflix and Hulu Plus on the Dash), and can act as digital photo frames with content from Flickr and Facebook. They can all use the Chumby application store to add additional widgets like stylish clocks, world photo viewers, news feeds, Twitter, Facebook, Google Calendar, and weather apps. They do these tasks well, with (mostly) simple controls, and usually just work as advertised. Nothing more, nothing less.

You could use a smartphone or iPad in a similar way, but then you lose use of the other functions on the device while it is docked. Those devices are also much more expensive. The Dash is a dedicated device, hands off for the most part, just sitting there and doing its job. It's like having a Roku to watch Netflix vs. hooking your laptop to your TV every time you want to watch a movie. The latter will work, but it's a pain and you lose access to your other programs when it's being tethered.

I got my Dash a little after it came out last year and have loved it ever since. Now my 4-year old son loves it too. He's figured out the basic touchscreen controls and knows how to set it to show his favorite clock, the RoboClock, full screen. I got my brother--someone who's not a gadget freak like me--one for Christmas and he loves it. I recently picked up the Insignia Infocast 3.5" for $40 over Christmas and I love that too. I even got myself the Chumby app for Android, and happily play my Chumby Clocks channel on my HTC Evo when it's not in use.

Now to the reality of the business world. The Chumby and Dash are probably not being marketed very well, and their pricing is also not ideal. I've always said these devices should be in the sub-$100 range for them to take off and really be worth the money. The Dash is finally hovering around that price point right now, and the Infocast 3.5" is well under that (I picked one up on sale for $40 during Christmas and now they're back to around $70).

They are devices that no one needs and do not compare to much of anything else available at the moment, but once you get one and learn it's sweet spot of usage (clock, picture viewer, radio, passive widgets), they are quite fun devices.

Finally, others have written about the Dash with similar thoughts, particularly Dave Zatz of Zatz Not Funny. Dave has even covered the upcoming refresh of the Dash platform, something I have been looking forward to. I think Chumby and Sony have created a good platform for a passive Internet device and I am looking forward to updates and improvements that may expand this to a wider audience. We shall see if it works, or if it becomes the 3Com Audrey of the 2010s.

Old School Tech: Rio PMP300

noreply@blogger.com (Joelsef) — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 17:13:00 +0000

A few weeks ago I posted an Old School Tech photo, and no one (except my wife) ventured a guess. Maybe it was too easy? Maybe no one knew? Maybe no one bothered. :-)

In any case, here it is again for your viewing pleasure:

As you probably noticed in the title, this is a Diamond Rio PMP300. So, you might be asking, "What was the Rio PMP300?" Well, it was one of the first (or arguably the first successful) commercially available MP3 player in the United States. It came out in late 1998 at a price of about $200. That's about $263 in today's dollars, the price of a 32GB (not MB) iPod Touch or 64GB Zune.

I think I purchased mine for around $75 in early 1999 from a site like va.com (an early competitor to Amazon.com) during a promotion. (Aside: Said promotion may have been part of the downfall of this particular shopping website, as it no longer exists today. I believe the site burst its own bubble before the tech bubble burst in 2000.)

The Rio has 32MB of on-board memory and can be expanded using a SmartMedia card. I have an extra 32MB card. It connects to your computer via a parallel port adapter, as most PCs did not have USB ports back in 1998-1999. It runs on one AA battery. The battery door on mine is broken, which apparently was one of the Rio's design flaws.

The Rio is significant because it was the reason the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) filed suit against Diamond (maker of the Rio) claiming it violated a 1992 law. The RIAA did not like MP3 players in the early years, claiming they made people steal music and become pirates. The suit was eventually lost and Diamond was able to sell its Rio PMP300 again. This lead to the eventual rise of Digital Rights Management (DRM) for music for many years, thanks to the RIAA's paranoia. DRM was eventually dropped around 2009 on most every online music service.

My Rio still has music on it and still works, though I don't have a Windows 98 machine from which I can load software so it's stuck with the Josie and the Pussycats album for now.

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Old School Tech: Compaq Presario 5900Z

noreply@blogger.com (Joelsef) — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 21:16:00 +0000

We gave this to my brother a few years back. It still runs, albeit very slowly.
AMD Athlon 600MHz, 256mb of RAM.

It's going to be recycled now.

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Really great class by @shanescows this week. I learned and re-learned a lot about SharePoint 2010.

noreply@blogger.com (Joelsef) — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 23:09:00 +0000

I found myself with some time, and a class on SharePoint 2010 administration just happened to pop up in my email. Having already dabbled in SharePoint 2010, I wasn't sure if the class would be worth my time. Aftering being in class for five days, I can say it was definitely worth my time.
We went over the basics, like installing and configuring SharePoint. We dove in to the deeper topics like Managed Metadata, Search, and the UPS. While I already knew about all of these topics and have dabbled with them myself, the fact that we were going over them as as a group and learning real world, actual experiences from our instructor Shane Young (aka @shanescows) was invaluable. You can't get that from a book. The mix of admins, developers, and even a DBA made the class very lively. I don't think Shane was expecting so many questions.
That said, books are still great resources. If you need a SharePoint 2010 planning and administration book, check this one out:
http://www.amazon.com/Professional-SharePoint-2010-Administration-Klindt/dp/0470533331/

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Clear QAM Channels remapping in Windows Media Center.

noreply@blogger.com (Joelsef) — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 23:58:00 +0000

We have Verizon FiOS internet and TV service. We've had it for years now and love the speed of the internet and the relative slickness of the TV and DVR guide service.

However, I love to push the envelope so I've set up a few Windows 7 PCs with Media Center to use TV tuner cards and a Silicon Dust HDHomeRun network tuner. These tuners can either get over-the-air ATSC content or Clear QAM digital cable channels. They can't get encrypted digital cable channels (that will be solved by the upcoming HDHomeRun Prime network tuner or the existing Ceton card). Most cable providers only allow the local channels and maybe a few extra channels, like the Weather Channel, via unencrypted Clear QAM.

In any case, this was a supplement to our regular FiOS DVR and cable boxes so it has never been a priority. That said, I always like things to work properly.

Alas, when using the PC tuners to get ATSC OTA content, I could never get a consistent signal via antenna because of the location of our house. We get horrible cell phone reception and even radio reception is so-so. Digital TV reception has been less than desirable.

So, since we already had FiOS TV service, I had tried using the Clear QAM feed over the coax cable to get the local channels in Windows Media Center. Almost immediately after setting this up, weird things would happen. After a few days, channel 5.1 and 20.1 would switch, as would 4.2 and 50.3. Other channels would switch seemingly at random intervals. Different PCs in the house would have different channel mappings. It all seemed so random.

After searching the Internet for a solution I finally gave up for a while and went back to the antenna. But a few months ago I had enough and decided to figure it out once and for all.

I did some digging and the issue was NOT Verizon. The back-end Clear QAM channel numbers never changed. You can find the Clear QAM channel mapping on sites like SiliconDust. If you manually enter the channels in the settings, the channels never change.

After some trial and error, I found out that it was the Windows Media Center guide update and scanning process that was screwing them up for some reason.

I found the solution. Here is a recent post about it:
http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/mediacenter/thread/f650a689-b7f1-4382-ac3a-4d9ddcbe75d3

Also see: http://www.technixupdate.com/disable-stop-or-block-mcglidhost-exe-from-running/

Basically, you need to disable the BackgroundScanner. For the most part this works fine, except if you need to rescan for channels. In which case you can re-enable it.

In the Registry Editor, go to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Service\BackgroundScanner.

Set the PeriodicScanEnabled DWORD value to 0

The SiliconDust HDHomeRun software for Windows has a checkbox in the settings to do this for you. If you have another tuner card you can edit the registry as mentioned in the link above.

Old School Tech Series

noreply@blogger.com (Joelsef) — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 03:35:00 +0000

I love technology and I especially love gadgets.

A few weeks ago we began cleaning up our basement. We had a bit of extra stuff down there, some of it useful, some of it excessive. As we were perusing through old stuff I came across a few gems from the past that I wanted to give the respect they deserved. So I posted some photos to Twitter and solicited guesses about each item.

It all started with this old school tech:

I got some guesses on Twitter and Facebook but it was a tough one. Only my wife--who I had to disqualify--got it right away. It's a Gemstar VCR Plus+ scheduler. Outside of the United States it was known as the G-Code, VideoPlus+ and ShowView.

VCR Plus+ came out to make Video Cassette Recorder (remember those?) scheduling easier. This was before On Screen Programming became easy (though it was around) and well before the Digital Video Recorder (DVR) came to fruition. Codes for each show would be published in the local TV guide in the paper or TV Guide magazine. Then you'd enter the code in to the VCR Plus+ and it would automatically send infrared codes to start recording at the right time. It was rather neat, but as a professional VCR programmer I never really needed it. I could work magic with the LCD console.

Interestingly, it appears that www.vcrplus.com still exists and you can still get codes for modern day TV schedules. Who knew?

There's more of this good stuff stashed in our house, my parents' house, and elsewhere. I'll post more gems as I find them. I hope you find them interested too.

SharePoint 2010 Requires 4GB of RAM at a minimum

noreply@blogger.com (Joelsef) — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 20:43:00 +0000

SharePoint 2010 (Foundation and Server) requires at least 4GB of RAM per server (front end, application server, index server, etc. etc). This is for test/demo/evaluation purposes. 8GB of RAM is required for a minimum production scenario.

That is what Microsoft says here and here and has been validated by experts in the SharePoint community like Spencer Harbar:

@joelsefJoel Ward

Internal host being conservative w/RAM for our SP2010 test virtual machines. Changed app svr specs from 4GB to 2GB. How can I convince them?

@harbarsSpencer Harbar

@joelsef it just won't hack it - that's not conservative, it's suicidal!!!!

A server can be installed and run on less, but unintended consequences will follow. E.g. services not provisioned properly (I'm looking at you, UPS), poor performance, general mayhem.

4GB is the bare minimum. From what I have read and have been told, anything less will be taking your life into your own hands.

Does anyone have any validation or invalidation of this particular requirement? Has anyone be able to get certain server roles running on less than 4GB of RAM (WFE, APP, Office, Index)?

Why do I collaborate?

noreply@blogger.com (Joelsef) — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 02:45:00 +0000

Over the years, I've wondered why I get involved in projects with technologies like SharePoint. Is it just because of the technology? Do I like a challenge? Do I actually feel that collaboration is worthwhile?

Rob Preston from InformationWeek recently posted an article titled Why Some People 'Dread' Collaboration, which got me thinking: Are the SharePoint projects I've helped implement used effectively, or are they forced upon their audiences?

The answer is, of course, a little of Column A and a little of Column B.

Often we get so worked up in working with the technology that we forget why we're doing it in the first place. Often it's management forcing "collaboration" down their organization's throats because they read about it in a trade magazine. Or it's a business interest insisting that their extra services will solve all of the organizations problems. Or it's just a techie guy like myself wanting to do something way cool, well, just because.

Remember the "why." Why are we doing this?

Also, remember that these sorts of things don't get adopted overnight. It takes time. People need to learn the new systems. They need to realize why they are important. They need to have a real reason to use them, not a mandate to meet a quota. They need to share their enthusiasm with their peers. This is not something fabricated in a jiffy.

To end this thought for the night, here's a quote from Rob's article:

There are two kinds of collaboration: the kind that stimulates new ideas, solves problems, enhances teamwork, and distributes expertise; and the kind people use to cover their butts and show off in front of their peers and bosses. The first kind tends to propagate naturally, feeding off the culture of an organization; the second kind happens when the methods and tools are force fit, rendering collaboration an exercise unto itself.

SharePoint Saturday DC May 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Joelsef) — Sun, 16 May 2010 14:40:00 +0000

Just yesterday was the stupendous SharePoint Saturday DC 2010, held at the Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale, Virginia. This time there were almost 1000 attendees (929 officially) and over 80 presentations. Kudos to the team of coordinators: Dux Raymond Sy, Dan Usher, Gino Degregori, Jenn Davis, and all of the helpers throughout the day.

This time around I did a presentation titled Bringing Zest to SharePoint Sites Using Out-of-the-Box Technology alongside Ed Wells and Bethany Kaplan. We had a classroom of about 40+ chairs and ended up with about 50+ people packed in for the 9am session. Thank you to everyone who came out for our talk!

View slides on docs.com

View Slides on Slideshare

Presentation description

We're presenting at SharePoint Saturday DC - May 15, 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Joelsef) — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 18:37:00 +0000

SharePoint Saturday DC is right around the corner. The next one will be held on Saturday, May 15th at the Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale, Virginia. The venue can hold upwards of 1000 attendees. This will be the biggest SharePoint Saturday ever! And it's all free!

I will be presenting a session along with my esteemed colleagues Edward Wells and Bethany Kaplan. Our session is titled Bringing Zest to SharePoint Sites Using Out of the box Technology. Here's a description of what we'll be covering:

This session will discuss ways to create enhanced solutions for SharePoint 2007 sites without always needing to create complex programming code or deploy solutions to the server. The audience for this session is SharePoint Power Users and Developers in scenarios where they do not have access or control to fully customize the instance of SharePoint they are using. We see this often while working for various government and commercial clients.

All too often, you are thrown into a situation where you have access to a SharePoint site collection or even just a single site and the only way to edit and enhance the site is through the browser interface. SharePoint Designer access is disabled or otherwise unavailable. Access to a programmer or the IT folks is limited or non-existent, so a compiled solution is out of the question or would take a very, very long time. But your users need functionality now. Your client wants the site to be useful now.

So what do you do?

There are quite a few ways to tackle the problem. We will discuss solutions in tiers:

First and foremost, SharePoint can do quite a bit out-of-the-box. Why not start there and see if you can accomplish what you need?
If it’s just not possible, the second tier includes solutions using JavaScript, jQuery, and other client site-code that can be deployed in places like the Content Editor Web Part.
The next tier up may be a mix of client site (jQuery) and/or server side (Solutions/Features) code.
The top tier, for the really complex scenarios, may include an extensively designed application that runs on top of or next to the SharePoint site.
We will cover a handful of specific scenarios we have encountered that can be tackled from tier 1 to tier 3 or 4, depending on the level of access and expertise that you have at your disposal. The focus of the demonstrations will be the first two tiers, with shout outs to tier 3 and 4 solutions where applicable.

We hope to see you there!

So...what about this newfangled iPad?

noreply@blogger.com (Joelsef) — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 00:43:00 +0000

So, what about this new iPad? Is it going to revolutionize the mid-size handheld computing market? Will it kill the eInk-based eBooks? Or will it peacefully co-exist?

Unfortunately, I cannot see into the future. I would love to compare an iPad with the Kindle/Nook when the iPad finally becomes available next month. If I can get my hands on one, that is.

As a side note, we've tapered off the use of our Nook since January. My wife still likes reading books on it, but I've given up reading periodicals. The formatting and navigation is just that bad.

Maybe Mr. Malik will be right afterall. :-)

Is the eBook worth reading?

noreply@blogger.com (Joelsef) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 11:45:00 +0000

Recently (e.g. an hour ago :-) I was having a discussion on Twitter with Sahil Malik about the virtues of a eBook reader vs. reading an electronic book on something like a laptop. It got me thinking, is the eBook worth reading?

My wife and I recently obtained a new Barnes & Noble Nook eBook reader, so we have some first hand experience with the form factor. Much like the Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader, it uses eInk technology to display text instead of a standard backlit LCD screen typically found in a laptop or tablet. The eInk is much easier to read for longer periods than LCD screens, the resolution is close to print, and the power consumption is very low so a reader can last for days on a single charge.

So is this relatively new form factor worth considering? Short answer: yes. Long answer: it depends.

Pros:

More portable than a laptop
Longer batter life than a phone or laptop (days vs. hours)
Form factor more like a book; easy to hold
Larger screen than a phone, smaller form factor than a laptop
Lower glare than an LCD screen
No backlight to fatigue the eyes and consume power
Simplicity – it is for reading, not for much else. It’s not a replacement for a laptop, it’s a replacement for a book
Ability to hold hundreds of books and periodicals instead of having to lug around printed material

Cons:

Hardware cost – readers are still upwards of $300 or more
Content cost – books aren’t necessarily cheaper than paperbacks, newspapers aren’t necessarily cheaper than home delivery
Content selection – limited vs. print, limited newspaper and magazine options and even within them less content per publication
Standardization – Content spread out amongst different readers, not available on all, different formats. Though there are some standards like ePub and PDF, but they still can contain…
DRM – limits display and sharing of eBooks, even with yourself
Immature – the technology, while not brand new, is still in its infancy

In the next year, I hope to see a big leap forward in eBook readers. Features that would make it a much better platform:

Touch screens (already appearing on some Sony Reader models)
Color (not necessary but might be nice)
Better navigation of books, newspapers, and magazines (may come with the touch screen interface)
Better formatting for newspapers and magazines
More selection
Less DRM
More wireless
More sharing, less restrictions (one can dream)
Lower entry cost

Much like the early days of MP3 players, eBook readers are in the phase where they’re still not for everyone. However, in a few years more people will have them and understand why they might be beneficial over other form factors.

This is a good review in PC World that summarizes the state of eBook readers pretty well. They don’t have a Nook review on there (yet) so you should add that to the mix.

I like the Nook because it’s more open than the Kindle, at least at the moment. I see the Kindle right now as similar to the iPod/iTunes experience a few years back when DRM ruled.

The Nook is still full of DRM, but may help open up things to less DRM or at least more open DRM, where you can buy eBooks from multiple stores on the reader itself and then read them on whatever device you have (other readers, phone, computer). You can sort of do this with the Nook/B&N eBooks—there are readers for PC/Mac, Blackberry, and iPhone, but not for Android (strangely), Palm, or Windows Mobile.

The Nook is based on Android, and I’m hoping that Barnes and Noble opens the platform to 3rd party development to help enhance the reading and browsing experience.

eBook readers could be a boon for the office one day, as well. Instead of printing that 100 page proposal or 1000 page manual, you could wirelessly sync it from your document management system to your eBook. Then you can read and annotate it using a touch screen/stylus and then sync back the comments to your document management system. All comments could be consolidated back as notes in Word or PDF format, and the author can then easily make the necessary changes. Voila! Finally, the paperless office! (Again, one can dream :-)

SharePoint 2010 Single Server Install Roadblock

noreply@blogger.com (Joelsef) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 01:55:00 +0000

So I finally have some time to sit down and create a virtual machine for SharePoint 2010. In classic Joel fashion, I can't just run the "standalone install." I have to run standalone with SQL Server, because I might just need full SQL Server for something in the future, right?

So in SharePoint 2010, you can't run a farm installation using local accounts by default. So there is a fix (see link), but when I run the new-SPConfigurationDatabase PowerShell command I get the following error:

New-SPConfigurationDatabase : The passphrase supplied does not meet the minimum complexity requirements. Please select another passphrase that meets all of th e following criteria: is at least 8 characters; contains at least three of the following four character groups: English uppercase characters (A through Z); E nglish lowercase characters (a through z); Numerals (0 through 9); Non-alphabet ic characters (such as !, $, #, %). Type a passphrase which meets these require ments. At line:1 char:28 + New-SPConfigurationDatabase <<<< + CategoryInfo : InvalidArgument: (System.Security.SecureString:S ecureString) [New-SPConfigurationDatabase], SPException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell.SPCmdletNewSPCon figurationDatabase

Screen shot:

My farm credentials account has a passphrase that meets the requirements. Thing is, I am never asked for my Farm passphrase, like shown in the other blog post screen shot. So I am wondering what's going on?

[9:21pm] I'm trying the full command line route, e.g.

PS C:\Users\MyUser> New-SPConfigurationDatabase -DatabaseName "SharePoint2010_Co
nfigDB" -DatabaseServer "SP2010Demo1" -Passphrase (ConvertTo-SecureString "Password1$$$" -AsPlainText -force) -FarmCredentials (Get-Credential)

However I've now realized that my SQL Server 2008 SP1 needs the CU2. Downloading now. The saga continues.

[10:12pm] Finally got CU2 installed for SQL Server. Alas, now getting " The user does not exist or is not unique" error mentioned in the From the Field blog. More troubleshooting...

[12:45am] Gave up with SQL Server 2008 and went with standalone SP2010 install (using SQL Express). Still got the user profile manager error during SP config wizard, but SharePoint 2010 is installed for the most part. Time for bed.

Compelling SharePoint 2010 Features and Enhancements

noreply@blogger.com (Joelsef) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 03:15:00 +0000

After parsing the information from last week's SharePoint Conference 2009, I've come up with a list of SharePoint 2010 features and enhancements that might make it worth considering an upgrade. Some of these features are in SharePoint 2007 but have been improved in 2010, like the concept of content types. Some of these features are new, like tagging and rating.

Administration

Services a la carte via Service Applications; Can build your own
Performance enhancements
Throttling
Tens of millions of documents per library
Multi-tenacy - Keep content separated via application level security
Claims (SAML) based communication - sort of like Kerberos for external authentication

User Experience and Content Management

Managed Metadata Service
Enterprise Content Types
Tagging and Rating (Taxonomy & Folksonomy)
Content Organizer (routes content based on pre-set policies)
Records Management (in place or upload to record center)
Delete, Hold in-place, Archive with Link options
Social features, social search, social bookmarking, search for user content
My Sites: Customizable My Site templates, org chart, user's activity feed
User Profile Service; Sync data from multiple sources into SharePoint profile
Unique document IDs
Visual Upgrade from 2007 sites - gradual or immediate
Cross-browser support (IE 7+, Firefox, Safari)
Improved mobile support
SharePoint Workspace for offline collaboration
...and Office online applications

Development

SharePoint Designer as a respectable development platform
Visual Studio templates for SharePoint development
InfoPath and Visio development of web forms and workflow (along with SharePoint Designer)

I plan to post more detailed blog posts on certain topics as time permits. For now this should give you a taste of what's coming in the new SharePoint.

SharePoint Conference 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Joelsef) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:25:00 +0000

I arrived in Las Vegas on Sunday to attend the SharePoint Conference 2009. I came exited to learn about all of the new enhancements and features of SharePoint 2010. Two days into it I can say that this is definitely one of the most useful conferences I've ever been to.

I'm here with about two dozen of my colleagues and another 7000 or so of our closest SharePoint friends. Sessions have ranged from the overview keynote by Steve Ballmer and Jeff Teper, user experience improvements, social media, topology, administration, upgrade from 2007 to 2010, development with InfoPath, SharePoint Designer, and Visual Studio.

Two more days of sessions that are getting more and more advanced. Day 1 and 2 had many 100-300 level sessions. Tomorrow and Thursday have more 300-400 level sessions.

When I get some time I'll post some notes from the sessions I attended. What I can say now is: SharePoint 2010 is a big step up from 2007. I want to be working in 2010 sooner rather than later.

Oh, BTW, SharePoint/Office 2010 public beta will be released sometime in November 2009 with the final product release sometime in the first half of 2010.

Still here

noreply@blogger.com (Joelsef) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 21:37:00 +0000

Yep, I'm still here.

Been in and out of SharePoint for the past five months. Mostly in.

Looking forward to the SharePoint Conference 2009 in Las Vegas from October 18-22 and the release of more information about SharePoint 2010.

More to come.

Results Show: SharePoint Saturday DC

noreply@blogger.com (Joelsef) — Sun, 03 May 2009 18:38:00 +0000

The most recent iteration of the SharePoint Saturday franchise, SharePoint Saturday DC, was held yesterday at the Microsoft Technology Center in Reston, Virginia. The day went very well, thanks to Dux Raymond Sy and his team of event coordinators, volunteers, and sponsors! Over 200 people were there and most of the sessions were packed and a few were standing room only!

There were a variety of session topics, including Dan Lewis's Social Computing talk, Tom Resing's Business Data Catalog presentation, and Jonathan Distler's overview of Arlington County, Virginia's SharePoint pilot. All-in-all, there were twenty-eight sessions plus an open "Ask the Expert" discussion in the lobby.

Dan Usher and I presented our talk SmartCard Authentication: Considerations, Options, and Pitfalls with SharePoint during the last session of the day, 4:45-5:45. Surprisingly, we still had the energy in us to have a lively discussion about security, SmartCards, and how they fit into a SharePoint implementation.

View the slides on SlideShare or download the PowerPoint file (PPT or PPTX) which includes the slides plus notes and resource links.

View Online (slides only)
SlideShare

View PowerPoint (slides + notes/resources)
PowerPoint 2003 (PPT)
PowerPoint 2007 (PPTX)

A video of our talk may be made available at some point, and I'll post it here if it does.

Speaking at SharePoint Saturday DC

noreply@blogger.com (Joelsef) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 17:46:00 +0000

In recent months there has been a series of interesting free weekend events called SharePoint Saturdays centered around the topic of--what else--SharePoint! Well, SharePoint Saturday is coming to the Washington, DC, area!

Dan Usher and I are scheduled to present together on the topic of smart card authentication with SharePoint 2007. The talk is entitled SmartCard authentication: Considerations, options and pitfalls. Oh my!

With the ever present risks of data integrity and non-repudiation, several organizations have begun to utilize smartcards for authentication to systems. With the greater number of SharePoint instances being stood up within organizations, ensuring the smartcards can be used to access data is key. In this session, we'll discuss smartcard authentication, considerations when determining the appropriate architecture, options for integration with different authentication providers and implementation pitfalls.

There are a few different ways you can integrate smart cards (or other two factor authentication) into a SharePoint instance. We'll talk about the various methods, including the option of using a custom membership provider.

There is a special food drive going along with the event. Check out Dux Raymond Sy's explanation on the SharePoint Saturday DC website.

Search Settings in SSP gives error "Authentication failed because the remote party has closed the transport stream"

noreply@blogger.com (Joelsef) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 17:39:00 +0000

There was an odd error that we have been seeing in one of our SharePoint 2007 server farms. When trying to access the Search settings page in Central Administration's Shared Services Provider, the SSP gives this error:

"Authentication failed because the remote party has closed the transport stream."

It ends up that it's an issue with the SSL certificate that is installed on the "Office Server Web Services" IIS instance. Somehow it gets corrupted when .NET 3.5 Service Pack 1 is installed.

Microsoft knows about the issue and has a fix right here:

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=962928

Custom Smart Card Authentication and SharePoint

noreply@blogger.com (Joelsef) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 23:47:00 +0000

One of the great new features of SharePoint 2007 was the ability to utilize multiple means of user authentication: Active Directory, LDAP, SQL, and more. This is nothing new, and since the advent of MOSS 2007/WSS 3.0 the use of non-AD authentication via Membership Providers has been well documented.

What if you need to use PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) certificates and/or Smart Cards (like Common Access Cards, aka CAC)? There are a few ways to do this, depending on how the user certificates need to map to your account store. If you use Active Directory, there are built in ways to map certificates to users and have IIS handle the handshake. Or you can use a third-party system or SSO. This assumes you have a defined user directory and pre-defined certificate mappings.

But what if you need to accept PKI/Smart Cards, but do not have a master user directory (AD, LDAP) of everyone who will attempt to access the site?

The Concept:

Use a custom ASP.NET Membership provider to accept and read PKI certificates (using IIS)
Create and login to a NEW account (AD, LDAP, SQL)
Forward the user to the SharePoint site.

Very similar to this idea from Adam Buenz.

Easy? We shall see.