Getting started with Companyweb

I have made available a free e-Book I created called “Getting started with Companyweb”. It provides a step by step guide to getting started with Windows SharePoint on Small Business Server 2008 (SBS 2008). It is particularly aimed at those who have no familiarity with Windows SharePoint at all but maybe using SBS 2008 without even realizing the fantastic tool that comes with the software.

It also contains links to other documentation and some of the better online videos so that readers can extend their knowledge beyond what I simply presented in the document. The e-Book is available as a free download in PDF format from http://www.slideshare.net/directorcia/getting-started-with-companyweb.

Subscribers to my Windows SharePoint Operations Guide (www.wssops.com) will receive a copy of the e-Book in format in which they can rebrand for their business and make available for their customers. I plan to makes more of such guides available to resellers for rebranding, which is another great reason to subscribe to my SharePoint Guide.

If you have any feedback on the e-Book please let me know via director@ciaops.com.

SharePoint licensing

I’ve recently been looking in greater depth into the licensing of Windows SharePoint Services (WSS). Given that it is a free download from Microsoft the typical first response is that you can run it wherever you can install it. Unfortunately, that is not true.

So here’s what I have discovered directly from Microsoft:

Windows SharePoint Services on Windows Home Server

“I can confirm for you that installing WSS to Windows Home Server currently is not supported or permitted by the licensing terms that govern the use of the software.”

Windows SharePoint Services on Windows Vista or Windows 7

Windows SharePoint Services is a component of Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2003 R2. Customers’ use of Windows SharePoint Services is governed by the license terms for their licensed copies of Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2003 R2.

Windows SharePoint Services on Windows Foundation Server

Stay tuned – yet to determine.

You may or may not know that it is technically possible to run Windows SharePoint Services on all these platforms but as I was told:

“I can advise that the Microsoft Software License Terms for these operating systems plainly state:

SCOPE OF LICENSE. The software is licensed, not sold. This agreement only gives you some rights to use the software… In doing so, you must comply with any technical limitations in the software that only allow you to use it in certain ways… You may not work around any technical limitations in the software” [Emphasis is my own]

So even though it may be technically possible to install Windows SharePoint on these operating systems it is not licensed or supported. I think many people are starting to see the benefits of Windows SharePoint and are keen to use the product. Personally, I’d love to see it licensed on the above operating systems, especially for small to medium business, in order to keep costs down. I do however understand that it is a licensed product from Microsoft and must be used correctly.

When I have more information about Windows SharePoint Services on Windows Foundation Server I’ll post it here.

OneNote on SharePoint

One of the most overlooked applications available from Microsoft is OneNote. It is a simple electronic notebook that allows you to store just about any digital information you can think of.

You can even use it to clip information directly from web pages. It is just such a handy application that if you haven’t had a look I suggest you download a trial.

I will leave the virtues of OneNote to another post, what I want to demonstrate here is how much more powerful OneNote becomes when it is utilized in conjunction with SharePoint. Basically, if you save your OneNote notebooks into a SharePoint document library then you can share the notebook between people. If the SharePoint site is hosted on the Internet then people connected to the Internet can collaborate easily.

If you need a free hosted SharePoint solution have a look at Microsoft Office Live Workspace. Combine that with OneNote and you have instant team collaboration anywhere you have an Internet connection.

So, how do you create a OneNote notebook that lives on SharePoint? During the process of creating a new notebook you’ll see a windows like this:

Selecting the bottom option then “On a Server” will then ask for the location of the server. In this case you simply enter the full location of a SharePoint document library like the one shown below.

If you now enter a new folder name OneNote will store the new notebook there with all the sections in files below this.

Once the new notebook has been created you can add any information you require. The information is not only saved locally but also automatically synced with the information in SharePoint. This allows anyone to work on the notebook.

Next time you open OneNote you will see the local copy of the notebook appear. You can continue to work on this copy but if you are connected to the Internet you will see a prompt at the top of the page asking you to login to the SharePoint site as shown:

Once you are logged back in the notebook will synchronize again so you will see any changes that other people have made and that information will be copied to your local machine.

If you take a look around your desk at all the information on bits of paper you should ask yourself why these aren’t in digital form. Once they are entered into a digital form they are easily backed up, searchable and shareable. I can guarantee that it will improve your productivity and reduce clutter. If it can do that for one person imagine what it can for a team of people?

If you are looking at tools to improve your productivity look no further than OneNote and SharePoint. You won’t be sorry you did.

Stsadm tech ref

Much of the administration of SharePoint can be done with the command line tool stsadm. Like any command line tool you need to know all the syntax to get the most from it but remembering or looking up all the parameters can be quite painful at times.

Here’s a nice graphic reference you can use when you work with stsadm commands.

It’s interactive so you can click on the command to get more information. I especially like how it is graphically coded so you know which commands are not available in the UI and which commands are new in Service Pack 2. This should make working with stsadm much easier.

You’ll find them site at:

WSS = http://technet.microsoft.com/en-au/windowsserver/sharepoint/dd418924.aspx

MOSS = http://technet.microsoft.com/en-au/office/sharepointserver/cc948709.aspx

Look familiar?

Now where have I seen that face before? I’m proud to say that I’ve been profiled in a recent CRN (Computer Reseller News) article called “CIA man is an agent of change”. The article covers some of the history about my starting off on my own as well as my current thinking on the state of business as a technology reseller. For those who read this blog then there should be no major surprises (always nice to be consistent eh?).

One of the things the article didn’t cover is how I’m generally bullish about moving technology into the cloud via hosted services (especially email). Although detractors can point to many valid problems and challenges these are no different from those facing any previous instance of technology and because of this I am extremely confident that they will be overcome. As such, my advice to resellers is that at the very least you need to be aware of what hosted technology can provide rather than locking yourself into only on-site infrastructure. But then that’s a whole ‘nother article isn’t it?

Have a read of the article and let me know what you think (director@ciaops.com).

June release

The June update for my Windows SharePoint Operations Guide is now ready for subscriber download. This month, amongst other things, I’ve included a few more tutorial section including:

– Taking files offline with Outlook 2007

– Creating a wiki and linking with Outlook 2007

– Mapping a Network Place

The Guide is fast approach 1,500 pages and now includes a full text index allowing you to locate the information you need quicker.

After our May birthday special the price has now returned the normal price of $299, however during June I’ll be offering the Guide for $99.67 a month over three consecutive months. I hope this term payment option makes it a bit easier for people who have been considering the Guide but just couldn’t afford the total purchase price in a single month. This way, for less $100 over 3 months you’ll get access to all the benefits of the Guide as well a full annual subscription.

At this stage the 3 month part payment option for the Guide will only run during June 2009 so hurry. Also, don’t forget that I have a number of other incentives if you recommend the Guide to others. Even if you aren’t a subscriber I’ll reward you if someone takes up a subscription on your recommendation.

For all the information about the Windows SharePoint Operations Guide go to www.wssops.com.

Issues with SharePoint SP2

For anyone who’s applied SP2 to a SharePoint Server site (not Windows SharePoint Services tho’) you should check “Attention: Important Information on Service Pack 2” from Microsoft. Basically if you have an affected installation your license has been reset to a 180 day trial. There are some work around for some versions of SharePoint but there is also a patch on the way.

Windows SharePoint v3 is unaffected but Search Server Express 2008 is affected. Don’t understand why as Search Server Express is also a free download from Microsoft, but given this is the work from Microsoft you need to ensure that you install any forthcoming patch so the product won’t expire.

Hopefully not a major issue but certainly something that would worry some very large SharePoint installations. Luckily as SBS 2008 is powered by Windows SharePoint there is no issue.

Wiki home page

When you create wiki in Windows SharePoint the first thing you normally do is delete the two default items that SharePoint creates for you. You then start populating the wiki with your own items as show below.

This means that when you click on the link for your wiki you will be taken to a list of items like that show above. However, what happens if you want to come to a landing page and from there select different options to perhaps make it less confusing for users?

All you need to do is create a new item in your wiki called ‘Home’, like shown above. Now whenever anyone click on the link for the wiki library they will see the ‘Home’ page displayed.

If you click on the name of the wiki in the breadcrumb navigation at the top of the page (in this case Knowledge Base) you will again see all the items in your wiki.

So to create a default landing page for your wiki simply create an item called ‘Home’.