MVPs get a certain access to MS products to enable them to do the testing necessary to help other people with their problems, so one of the problems people face when they are no longer renewed as MVPs (which happens to us all sooner or later) is the sudden withdrawal of that access.

For those who have access to Volume Licensing agreements or even MSDN and TechNet Plus via their companies this isn't a major problem, but some MVPs are students and at the other end of the age scale some are retired so those people face the question of what to do next. (Some, in fact quite many, are trainers and consultants and they presumably can make their own MSDN or TechNet agreements and claim them back off tax).

MSDN costs too much for a student's or retired person's budget and TechNet (which was cheaper) while it used to be useful as a source of information didn't use to include more than a few pieces of time-bombed evaluation software.

Nowadays TechNet Plus *does* include software which they describe as "the full version of all that software is available for evaluation purposes - the software is not time bombed". So - while I don't know how the amount of software available compares to the full range of software offered by a MSDN contract - that is certainly one option at a not-that-expensive $499.

But this message is to advise you that there's a cheaper alternative which in this day and age is equally valuable and yet costs less - or $349. That's the TechNet Plus Direct version which covers the same things as the "full" TechNet Plus but doesn't supply you with DVDs through the post - instead you just have to download the software from their site.

As in effect the only reason I bother with the MSDN DVDs at the moment is that they come anyway and therefore for some things that aren't urgent, I might as well wait for the DVD rather than doing the download to get the .iso file, this "Direct" subscription seems like a great deal and something that I'll be seriously considering when my MVP days are over.

I have a WSS 2.0 server where the only important site has already been moved across to another server (and works there) so - as this is a non-supported server that isn't any longer on a support contract - I can now try an in-site upgrade from WSS 2.0 to WSS 3.0 without a safety net.

As a result I've been playing tag with Microsoft's upgrade mechanisms and doing more re-boots than is comfortable in a Remote Desktop session.

I printed out the entire "Upgrading to Windows SharePoint Services 3.0" MS paper (link at www.wssfaq.com) and then naturally ignored everything up to the "Perform pre-upgrade steps" section.

There I notice that I need first to check on my Service Pack level for WSS 2.0 and find out (via my usual search at the WSS FAQ site's WSS FAQ section for "WSS migration") that what I have is SP1 and I need SP2.

So the first download is WSS SP2. By habit I grab the URL to this from the link in the (where else!) WSS FAQ site (MS Articles / Downloads / at the end) and this runs OK.

Step 1 complete.

I decide not to bother with backing up the SQL Server 2K SP3a (this is a throw away install in any case) and move on to "Install all pre-requisites".

Here I assume I have Windows Server 2003 SP1 and move on to the bits in bold text.

The first of this is install .NET Framework 2.0. So I find that via www.microsoft.com/downloads and set it going only for it to complain that it needs Windows Installer 3.0 to be able to install.

So I click on the link it provides for that and I install Windows Installer 3.0 (concentrate now - 3.0!) and it installs and requires a re-boot.

The re-boot naturally cuts the remote desktop connection.

I have a few attempts to re-connect before the re-connect takes and I can once again go to www.microsoft.com/downloads and install (for the second time) .Net Framework 2.0 which insists on me closing the browser pointing at www.microsoft.com/downloads and then works.

The next thing to install is WWF 2.2 so it's back to www.microsoft.com/downloads yet again to look for that. The installation starts and after a while says it needs Windows Server 2003 *SP1* (remember that assumption?!).

So it's back yet again to www.microsoft.com/downloads and there it says for the only Windows Server 2003 SP1 it seems to have that it's not the version to use for a single server and to use windowsupdate.

So windowsupdate, which churns its way through the recognizing software bit and only after doing all that tells me I need Windows Installer 3.1. Having already specially installed Windows Installer 3.0 a while earlier I'm a bit pis*ed off at that and even more pis*ed off when after the installation of Windows Installer 3.1 it wants another re-boot.

After that I can install Windows Server 2003 SP1. Which naturally means that I once again have to go to windowsupdate and see it once again churn through the software recognition before finally - this time - offering me Windows Server 2003 SP1. Install that and wait for the re-boot demand ..... which naturally came.

Now finally I can install WWF 2.2 hopefully without needing to first download anything else.

Maybe not, but I have to go to www.microsoft.com/downloads yet again to look for it ...

OK. That went OK but now *I'm* going to re-boot the server because I don't think I'm in a sufficient state of rest (after playing Tag with MS) to go on to "Deploy upgrade definition files and new site definitions to installation directory" as that sound as if I'll need my wits about me.

So, hoping that I'm wittier tomorrow, I'll leave that phase until then.

Note: All of the addresses of the KB / Articles - 2007 Products / MS / Non-MS Articles below were valid at the time I added them to the WSS FAQ site and to this file. I can't guarantee that they still are.

(This is also posted to the WSS newsgroup at microsoft.public.sharepoint.windowsservices - web access via http://www.microsoft.com/technet/community/newsgroups/server/sharepoint.mspx)

(Items are added to the WSS FAQ throughout the week so you will find new items more quickly by checking at wss.collutions.com or www.wssfaq.com daily.)

From 20th - 26th November 2006 

*** The order of these items has been changed to reflect the numbers of items on the v3 SharePoint products in KB and other articles; and FAQ items***
*** First there is all the (WSS and MOSS etc.) v3 Information and then all the (WSS) v2 information

I 2007 KB Articles    (*now only one section for WSS and MOSS*)

*http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/products/FX101865111033.aspx

How to buy Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007

24th November 2006 (date added)

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;925173

A PowerPoint 2007 presentation does not appear in a Slide Library that is hosted on a SharePoint Server 2007 server

22nd November 2006

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kB;en-us;926524

The data of the primary key column is not in the Data View of a SharePoint list when you export a table in Access 2007

22nd November 2006

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;917033

A Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 list that you added to Outlook 2007 is not synchronized with the server after you close the SharePoint Lists.pst file in Folder List view (ver 1.1)

22nd November 2006

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;926803

Error messages when you try to use Access 2007 to open a runtime mode database file in a Windows SharePoint Sservices 3.0 document library: "Microsoft Office Access cannot open this file" (ver 1.1)

22nd November 2006

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;926320

You cannot add users and groups to the Farm Administrators group after you remove the BUILTIN\Administrators group from the Farm Administrators group in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (ver 1.1)

22nd November 2006

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;925083

Error message when you try to upload a large file to a document library on a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 site: "Request timed out" (ver 1.1)

22nd November 2006

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;925714

You cannot open an Excel 2007 file from a Web page that uses EWA when there are many connections to the computer that is running SharePoint Server 2007

22nd November 2006

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;926816

The lines of text are double spaced when you use Outlook 2007 to create an appointment, a discussion board item, a contact, or a task in a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 site

21st November 2006

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;926960

Error when you try to do an in-place upgrade of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Beta 2 TR to the release version of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 running on a Windows Small Business Server 2003-based computer or a domain controller: "Job Failed"

21st November 2006

http://www.sharepointblogs.com/bmw528eta/archive/2006/11/21/Searching_Sharepoint_with_IE7.aspx

Searching Sharepoint with IE7 (Blog - Eben)

21st November 2006

http://www.sharepointblogs.com/vandest/archive/2006/11/20/16262.aspx

SharePoint 2007: Programmatically save file as [Content_Type] (Blog - Steven Van de Craen)

20th November 2006

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;926959

Error when you try to edit the content source schedule in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007: "Access is denied"

20th November 2006

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;927083

Error message when you try to view the "Search Settings" page after you upgrade from the Beta 2 Technical Refresh version to the original release version of SharePoint Server 2007: "unhandled exception occurred in the user interface" (ver 1.1)

20th November 2006

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/917662/

How to make sure that Word 2007 documents that are created in a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 document library use an up-to-date version of the document template (ver 1.1)

3rd November 2006

II. Articles - 2007 Products  (*still for the moment with other Office 2007 products - this may change in the future*)

New

A. Office 2007 Server Products

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032316590&EventCategory=3&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US

TechNet Virtual Lab: Introducing Content Types for Windows SharePoint Services

25th November 2006 (date added)

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032316589&EventCategory=3&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US

TechNet Virtual Lab: Creating Workflows for Windows SharePoint Services

25th November 2006 (date added)

https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastRegistrationConfirmation.aspx?culture=en-US&RegistrationID=1286984277

TechNet Webcast: Using SQL Server Analysis Services with the 2007 Microsoft Office System (Level 200) (Robert Zare)

22nd November 2006

http://www.speaktech.com

speakTech (MOSS 2007 web site)

22nd November 2006 (date added)

http://www.monsanto-ag.co.uk

Monsanto UK (MOSS 2007 web site)

22nd November 2006 (date added)

http://www.rjh.com.cn

Rui Jin Hospital,Shanghai (MOSS 2007 web site)

22nd November 2006 (date added)

http://www.ucb.fr

UCB, France (MOSS 2007 web site)

22nd November 2006 (date added)

http://www.satama.com

Satama (Finland) (MOSS 2007 web site)

22nd November 2006 (date added)

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms441339.aspx

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 SDK (web edition)

22nd November 2006 (date added)

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/356d3a0b-fc26-455c-9afb-6d2ffdceef841033.mspx?pf=true

MOSS 2007 farm deployment 1 - Simple farm deployment

21st November 2006 (date added)

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/798aa915-7025-4adc-a210-4f6ff14c43fc1033.mspx?pf=true

MOSS 2007 farm deployment 2 - Pre-install databases

21st November 2006 (date added)

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/841080ca-3e3b-4dbc-a081-43c29c76b3551033.mspx?pf=true

MOSS 2007 farm deployment 3 - Configure single sign-on

21st November 2006 (date added)

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/80a650f6-c4e9-48f2-86ff-96121fcdae3b1033.mspx?pf=true

MOSS 2007 farm deployment 4 - Create and configure Shared Services Providers (contains only links to further articles)

21st November 2006 (date added)

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/98707115-1ef5-46b4-8029-2fd94c6239a81033.mspx?pf=true

MOSS 2007 farm deployment 4F - Install Office Project Server 2007 on MOSS 2007 (1) - Web Servers

21st November 2006 (date added)

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/ab14a905-7690-404e-894e-682f9b83ab1d1033.mspx?pf=true

MOSS 2007 farm deployment 4F - Install Office Project Server 2007 on MOSS 2007 (2) - Application Servers

21st November 2006 (date added)

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/cf2a97e8-e0f6-4649-b029-81f6ad386ede1033.mspx?pf=true

MOSS 2007 farm deployment 4F - Install Office Project Server 2007 on MOSS 2007 (3) - Provision to the farm

21st November 2006 (date added)

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/26c07867-0150-463d-b21a-a6d42aecf05a1033.mspx?pf=true

MOSS 2007 farm deployment 5A - Deploy language packs

21st November 2006 (date added)

http://bobfox.net/Video%20Demos/B2TR2-RTM.wmv

Bob Fox's .wmv video of B2TR to RTM (using Shane Young's documentation)

21st November 2006 (date added)

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepointdesigner/FX101759001033.aspx

Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007 version comparison (Ed: compares with FP 2003)

21st November 2006 (date added)

https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastRegistrationConfirmation.aspx?culture=en-US&RegistrationID=1286934913

TechNet Webcast: Technical Overview of Office Groove 2007 (Level 200) (Bryan Von Axelson)

20th November 2006

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms400550.aspx

Microsoft Office Forms Server 2007 SDK (Web Edition - Starter Page)

20th November 2006 (date added)

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/188f006d-aa66-4784-a65b-a31822aa13f71033.mspx?pf=true

Stsadm.exe command-line utility (MOSS 2007)

20th November 2006 (date added)

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/7e45c7b1-de7f-4f8f-81cd-7070ce483a821033.mspx?pf=true

Setup.exe command-line reference (All SharePoint v3 products)

20th November 2006 (date added)

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/a59c4e8f-9b7f-4127-8199-1b9ab76991501033.mspx?pf=true

Command-line reference for the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard (psconfig.exe)

20th November 2006 (date added)

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/5a39029f-0939-452b-acd2-44ff87e7ff711033.mspx?pf=true

Using Backup and Restore (Office SharePoint Server 2007)

20th November 2006 (date added)

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/8dfcffcb-fa3c-4314-a644-184f9c2ce25e1033.mspx?pf=true

Manage form templates

20th November 2006 (date added)

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/0e9966df-e374-4df5-b3be-9848c78f9ca71033.mspx?pf=true

InfoPath Forms Services Best Practices

20th November 2006 (date added)

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/8285b82e-19db-4408-859f-1430830fe0fb1033.mspx?pf=true

Deploy administrator-approved form templates

20th November 2006 (date added)

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/351a085e-a5cd-4b8b-8e03-6932459dd50a1033.mspx?pf=true

Deploy form templates

20th November 2006 (date added)

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/ffa4a256-6885-4295-a712-537ce82b9a0c1033.mspx?pf=true

Manage session state (MOSS 2007)

20th November 2006 (date added)

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/7e485f91-379c-4801-a6e3-b170ddab4ade1033.mspx

Understanding Workflow in SharePoint Products and Technologies and the 2007 Microsoft Office System (links to sections)

20th November 2006 (date added)

http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2006/11/18/developing-workflows-in-vs-part-1-workflow-objects-and-a-crash-course-on-mechanics.aspx

Developing Workflows in VS: Part 1 - Workflow Objects and A Crash Course on Mechanics (SharePoint Team Blog - Eilene Hao)

18th November 2006

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/356d3a0b-fc26-455c-9afb-6d2ffdceef841033.mspx?mfr=true

Deploying Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 in a server farm 3 - Deploy and configure SharePoint sites (contains only links to further articles)

18th November 2006 (date added)

http://blogs.msdn.com/ecm/archive/2006/11/17/converting-office-2007-openxml-documents-with-embedded-images-to-sharepoint-web-pages.aspx

Converting Office 2007 OpenXML documents with embedded images to SharePoint web pages (ECM Team Blog - Robert Orleth)

17th November 2006

http://blogs.msdn.com/ecm/archive/2006/11/16/building-tylerbutler-com-part-3-customizing-content-query-styles.aspx

Building tylerbutler.com, Part 3: Customizing Content Query Styles (MS Blog - Tyler Butler)

16th November 2006

https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastRegistrationConfirmation.aspx?culture=en-US&RegistrationID=1286934952

Microsoft Webcast: Information Protection with Windows Rights Management Services (Tim Upton, Titus)

16th November 2006

http://blogs.msdn.com/ecm/archive/2006/11/15/report-rapport.aspx

Report Rapport in MOSS 2007 (ECM Team Blog - Lincoln DeMaris)

15th November 2006

https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastRegistrationConfirmation.aspx?culture=en-US&RegistrationID=1286935039

Small Business Webcast: Outlook 2007 Tips and Tricks (Level 100) (Jeffrey Lin)

15th November 2006

https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastRegistrationConfirmation.aspx?culture=en-US&RegistrationID=1286935009

Microsoft Webcast: Using the 2007 Office System for Enterprise Content Management (Sandy Sharma)

15th November 2006

 

B. Other Office 2007 products

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=e2ddd3fb-8635-4d54-8730-102b75c31db6&displaylang=en

2007 Office System Document: User Interface License and Program Frequently Asked Questions

21st November 2006 (date added)

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa941030(VS.80).aspx

InfoPath Developer Reference for Managed Code (Starter Page)

20th November 2006 (date added)

 

C. Other New 2006/2007 Products

http://www.developer.com/net/net/article.php/3645231

Get Ready for Windows Workflow Foundation (developer.com - Mark Strawmyer)

22nd November 2006 (date added)

http://www.developer.com/net/net/article.php/11087_3627266_1

Building a Practical Application with Windows WorkFlow Foundation (developer.com - Gustavo Velez)

22nd November 2006 (date added)

http://www.developer.com/mgmt/article.php/3624951

Windows WorkFlow Foundation: The Next Step and Beyond (developer.com - Gustavo Velez)

22nd November 2006 (date added)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=e5c79691-62c8-4087-a906-25ae3e1ae867&displaylang=en

Microsoft Host Integration Server 2006 Management Pack for Microsoft Operations Manager 2005

20th November 2006

(The next six are added because they are very useful but hard to find - most are relevant here [from an idea of Scott Hanselman])

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=4f2f1339-cbcd-4d26-9174-f30c10d7ec4c&DisplayLang=en

Microsoft Exchange Best Practices Analyzer Web Update Pack (ver 2.11.13.0)

30th October 2006

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=d2717206-e804-415e-9173-c7b7327289e4&displaylang=en

Best Practice Analyzer for ASP.NET 2.0

29th June 2006

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=d22ec2b9-4cd3-4bb6-91ec-0829e5f84063&DisplayLang=en

Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server Best Practices Analyzer Tool (ver 5.4.2.100)

11th June 2006

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=dbab201f-4bee-4943-ac22-e2ddbd258df3&displaylang=en

Microsoft Exchange Best Practices Analyzer v2.7

7th June 2006

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/biztalk/downloads/bpa.mspx

BizTalk Server Best Practices Analyzer

6th June 2006

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=B352EB1F-D3CA-44EE-893E-9E07339C1F22&displaylang=en

Best Practices Analyzer Tool for Microsoft SQL Server 2000 1.0

25th April 2004

Modified

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=eb8a5fa5-8b21-4abf-aa84-15f85c6aaf34&displaylang=en

Commerce Server 2007 Documentation Update 1 (ver 2.0)

21st November 2006

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms550992.aspx

SharePoint Server 2007: Software Development Kit (web edition) 

21st November 2006 (date amended)  (now November 2006 and RTM !)

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/527763c3-90a5-4d3b-9781-fc9580314a2d1033.mspx?pf=true

What's New for IT Professionals in Office SharePoint Server 2007    

20th November 2006 (date added)   (page moved)

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/bcbae7bd-656b-4003-969c-8411b81fcd771033.mspx?pf=true

Supplemental documentation for Office SharePoint Server (Links to Visio files of poster size charts)

20th November 2006 (date added)   (page to be moved soon)

Deleted

None

III WSS v3 FAQ

New

None

Modified

http://www.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/EditForm.aspx?ID=894

V.24 Microsoft Office SharePoint Server et Office 2007 (In French) (Lavoisier - Erol Giraudy)

http://www.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/EditForm.aspx?ID=908

V.30 SharePoint 2007 User's Guide: Learning Microsoft’s Collaboration and Productivity Platform (Apress - Seth Bates, Tony Smith)

(Book's title changed)

Deleted

None

 

IV WSSv2 KB Articles (plus SPS 2003 Hot fixes)

New

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;928084

Description of the SharePoint Portal Server 2003 post-Service Pack 2 hotfix package: November 8, 2006

20th November 2006

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;927482

Description of the SharePoint Portal Server 2003 post-Service Pack 2 hotfix package: October 27, 2006

17th November 2006

Modified

None

 

V. MS Articles for WSSv2

New

None

Modified

None

 

VI Non-MS Articles for WSSv2

New

None

Modified

None

VII WSSv2 FAQ

New

http://www.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSS%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=647

III.121 Why is the radio button disable for ""Allow all authenticated users to access site""?

Modified

http://www.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSS%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=580

I.28.02 What is fixed in the fix packs for SPS 2003 Service Pack 2

http://www.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSS%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=395

IV.26 How do I move the 'Save and Close' button to the end of a Survey?

What I usually do when faced with the installation of an RTM version of some software on a machine that's been running earlier beta versions has been to wipe the hard disk and start over from the installation of the Operating System. Yes it takes time but you can be sure that nothing is left hanging around from those earlier installations to possibly mess things up in future.

I would still recommend that method for production machines.

But for test machines it seems that most people are tempted not to do this but to just remove the old version of WSS v3 (and possibly something else) and try again. This kind of thing doesn't have a particularly high success rate - at least judging by the numbers of people reporting problems - so in the true Jerry Pournelle spirit of "I do these (crazy) things so you don't have to" I've been trying a few such scenarios myself.

At first I wondered what all the fuss was about. I took a couple of VMs that had been running Beta2 and stripped them of everything I could leaving only VM Tools (and on one of them also leaving something that I hadn't a clue what it was). So I removed WSS then .NET Framework 3.0 then .Net Framework 2.0 and then re-booted before installing .NET Framework 3.0 again (re-boot) and then WSS v3 RTM and everything went like clockwork.

[Note that these were all single server installations using what used to be called  "embedded SQL Server 2005 Express (Windows)" but which is now called the "Windows Internal Database".]

So why were people getting problems?

I tried again on a third machine and this time when I went back to the VM there was no sign of the default page that ought to come up at the end of the installation and I couldn't access it just by specifying it, so something had gone wrong. I then realised I hadn't done any intermediate re-boot this time !

So what to do ? I tried without much hope the Repair possibility for WSS. This went through OK; **required a re-boot**; and then I re-started the configuration wizard (by hand) and this time watched it carefully. It went through OK and then did this time throw up the standard default page.

So obviously there seems to be a need for a re-boot before installing WSSv3 RTM after you have removed whatever was there before. Whether you need both re-boots is something I'll leave to you to look at. My suspiscion is that one re-boot would be enough.

Anyway I'm now going to move on to trying to install SQL Server 2005 (Full) and trying to get a WSS v3 RTM to use that. Once I've done that a few times I might have some feel for that installation too. I have a good SQLServer 2005 book so what can go wrong !?  [Yes, I am more worried about getting the SQL Server 2005 installation right than the WSS part. I've stuck to using SQL Server 2K so far. Wish me luck!!]

Well, SharePoint Designer 2007 finally made it to MSDN and I've spent hours slowing my machine down by downloading it.

It's been a frustrating experience. The first download made it to "99% - 5 seconds left" before freezing so I started a new download to a new location which started off in a rush before settling down to the same steady (and SLOW) rate as the earlier one and so I left it to complete overnight.

When I got in this morning, it too had managed to get to "99% - 4 seconds left" before freezing.

So yet a third attempt, only this time it's (seemingly permanently) "Queued" as it hasn't even started.

I think the above word "frustration" is more than a little justified, don't you ?

... and don't let me get started on Vista where the 32-bit version refuses to install on my only 2 year old 64-bit Athlon desktop and where the download of the x64 version got to 45% before I presume it stuck and it won't re-start (probably because they withdrew the x64 download possibility).

Not of course that I know whether *that* will install on my 64-bit machine, but no-one out there (in Redmond and places nearby) can say I'm not trying.

Sometimes when you are running a web site you need to make decisions that some people won't understand.

I've just added a "Installation" Yes/No field to the WSS FAQ sites for the "Articles - 2007 Products" list and have also added the equivalent View.

I don't think that is going to be a problem for anyone.

But then I had to make the decision as to what I would list in Installation and now there could be some people muttering.

I decided to include ONLY installation of the RTM product. No papers on Upgrading from Beta versions will be shown if you select the Installation View. (They will however still be included in the List and will be accessible for instance via a Search or via a less-specific View).

My reasons for doing this were quite selfish.

For starters it was going to be a lot of work finding all the Upgrade papers I'd already added and clicking on the Installation check-box.

Then there'd be the question of where do I stop. Do I include only upgrading from Beta2 T¤R to RTM or do I also have Beta2 to Beta2TR ?

But finally - and the real reason I did it this way - if I restrict myself to RTM, these papers will continue to be relevant long after all beta users have moved to RTM from their Beta versions. (So no items listed that are irrelevant for most people and anyway what would be the cut-off date for deciding that people now no longer needed TR to RTM articles here?)

Note: All of the addresses of the KB / Articles - 2007 Products / MS / Non-MS Articles below were valid at the time I added them to the WSS FAQ site and to this file. I can't guarantee that they still are.

(This is also posted to the WSS newsgroup at microsoft.public.sharepoint.windowsservices - web access via http://www.microsoft.com/technet/community/newsgroups/server/sharepoint.mspx)

(Items are added to the WSS FAQ throughout the week so you will find new items more quickly by checking at wss.collutions.com or www.wssfaq.com daily.)

From 13th - 19th November 2006 

I.a KB Articles

New

None

Modified

None

II.b 2007 KB Articles

(MOSS 2007 at first)

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=927155

Crawls of a content source that contains MIME file types are not completed successfully after you upgrade to the original release version of SharePoint Server 2007

9th November 2006

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/925198/en-us

You may not see the values of the promoted fields when you upload an InfoPath 2007 form to a document library

9th November 2006

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=925765

How to configure SharePoint to let you search OneNote 2007 content on SharePoint sites (ver 1.1)

3rd November 2006

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=926964

Error message when you use Outlook 2007 to visit SharePoint Server 2007 Web sites that are configured to use client certificate mapping: "401 Unauthorized" (ver 1.1)

3rd November 2006

(WSS from here on)     Note: due to a mixup when adding these some of them are actually MOSS 2007 - apologies

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;928148

Changes to an Office Open XML Formats file are not saved when you click a hyperlink to open the file

17th November 2006

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;928305

Scalable hosting mode sites are inaccessible after you detach and reattach an upgraded Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 content database

17th November 2006

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;926891

Attachment is missing from an e-mail message that is sent to a Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 document library

16th November 2006

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;928028

Error message when a user tries to save an item to a list or respond to a survey in a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Web site: "An unexpected error has occurred"

15th November 2006

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;916895

Error message when you try to install an East Asian version of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0: "Language of this installation package is not supported by your system" (ver 1.1)

14th November 2006

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;916893

Error message when you try to install Windows SharePoint Services 3.0: "This access control list is not in canonical form" (ver 1.1)

14th November 2006

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;916894

Error message when you install SharePoint Portal Server 2007 or Windows SharePoint Services 3.0: "Failed to create sample data" (ver 1.1)

14th November 2006

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;927082

Users are unexpectedly prompted to enter their credentials when they access a list in a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 site that is based on the Publishing Site template (ver 1.2)

14th November 2006

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;927772

Error message during the SharePoint Server 2007 installation process: "The data location path is too long"

14th November 2006

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;927919

You cannot search a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 site when the host header site uses HTTP and HTTPS

13th November 2006

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;927100

A user still has administrator permissions after you change the user's role from a SharePoint administrator to a SharePoint reader in Windows Small Business Server 2003

13th November 2006

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;926961

Error message when you use SharePoint 3.0 Central Administration to try to re-add a content database in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

13th November 2006

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=927675

No Adobe PDF documents are returned in the search results when you search a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Web site

10th November 2006

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=926702

When you open a SharePoint list on the Windows SharePoint Services Web site in Internet Explorer, either the primary key field is blank or the whole list is blank in Access 2007

8th November 2006

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=926536

Error message when you try to save data on a List Item form in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Beta: "Unable to validate data"

7th November 2006

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=919042

Changes that you make to a recurring item are not synchronized, or all-day events are displayed incorrectly when you view a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Calendar list in Outlook 2003

7th November 2006

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=918725

Free/busy information for an appointment in a Windows SharePoint Services Calendar list is displayed in Outlook 2007 but not in Windows SharePoint Services

7th November 2006

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=926319

You cannot change to a view other than WebView view when you use the Open dialog box in a 2007 Office program to open a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 site on a computer that is running Windows Vista (ver 1.1)

7th November 2006

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=926439

You cannot view the items in the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 list that you added to Outlook 2007

6th November 2006

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=925830

You cannot delete an RSS folder that is subscribed to a subfolder of a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 document library in Outlook 2007

6th November 2006

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=924133

You cannot copy a recurring meeting series to a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 calendar from an Outlook 2007 calendar

6th November 2006

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=927376

Error message when you try to create a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Web application in SharePoint 3.0 Central Administration: "The IIS Web Site you have selected is in use by SharePoint"

6th November 2006

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=926718

How to attach a content database backup during a gradual upgrade of a Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 farm to Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

6th November 2006

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;920783

Event ID 10017 error messages are logged in the System log after you install Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (ver 2.1)

3rd November 2006

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;925728

Error message when you click "Create Site" on the tab that is located in the upper-right corner of the Site Directory page of a site collection: "Page cannot be displayed" (ver 1.1)

3rd November 2006

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;923902

Values that were previously associated with a field are reset when you run a custom code that calls the Lists.UpdateList method to update a list view in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 or in SharePoint Portal Server 2003 (ver 1.1)

3rd November 2006

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=917032

Error message when you add a Windows SharePoint Services list to Outlook 2007: "Outlook cannot download to this remote data because Admin Settings allow only creation of Outlook 97-2002 Personal Folders file (.pst)" (ver 1.1)

3rd November 2006

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=919549

The value of a column in a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 list that you connected to Outlook 2007 is blank after you use the "Send/Receive" command in Outlook to update the list (ver 1.1)

3rd November 2006

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=920276

An item in a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 discussion board is missing a follow-up flag, the level of importance, or the color category when you view the item in Outlook 2007 (ver 1.1)

3rd November 2006

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=920785

Attachments that are allowed by Outlook 2007 may be blocked by Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (ver 1.1)

3rd November 2006

(After this are Forms Services articles - may in fact just be InfoPath 2007 articles but Applies To says Forms Server)

None

 

II. Articles - 2007 Products

New

A. Office 2007 Server Products

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms778813.aspx

Best Practices: Using Disposable Windows SharePoint Services Objects (Scott Harris, Mike Ammerlaan)

18th November 2006 (date added)  [June 2006 updated November 2006]

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/c7647e52-2178-4d3d-9376-84b2c9a35a1e1033.mspx?mfr=true

Deploy Windows SharePoint Services version 3 - Pre-install databases

18th November 2006 (date added)

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/bd2a9863-954a-4e44-bafc-af8c9599cb471033.mspx

Deploy Windows SharePoint Services version 3 - Deploy and configure SharePoint sites - Deploy language packs

18th November 2006 (date added)

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepointtechnology/HA102055631033.aspx

Demo: Tour a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 site

18th November 2006 (date added)

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa973804.aspx

Using Excel Web Services in a SharePoint Web Part (Dan Battagin)

18th November 2006 (date added)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=2c5919e4-0757-4db1-9798-e0e4032f12a8&displaylang=en

SharePoint Server 2007 Sample: Web Part That Calls Excel Web Services

17th November 2006

http://msmvps.com/blogs/shane/archive/2006/11/15/installing-moss-2007-rtm-on-a-farm-running-moss-2007-beta2-tr.aspx

Installing MOSS 2007 RTM on a farm running MOSS 2007 Beta2 TR (Blog - Shane Young)

17th November 2006 (date added)

http://blogs.msdn.com/joelo/archive/2006/11/16/office-sharepoint-server-b2tr-to-rtm.aspx

Upgrading from Office SharePoint Server 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh to Release Version (SharePoint Team Blog - Joel Oleson)

17th November 2006 (date added)

http://blogs.msdn.com/joelo/archive/2006/11/16/upgrading-from-wss-3-0-b2tr-to-rtm.aspx

Upgrading from Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Beta 2 Technical Refresh to Release Version (SharePoint Team Blog - Joel Oleson)

17th November 2006 (date added)

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/dd35daa3-dca9-48bd-bc62-affab156d3531033.mspx?mfr=true

Upgrading from Office Forms Server 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh to Release Version

17th November 2006 (date added)

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa830817.aspx

Customizing and Branding Web Content Management-Enabled SharePoint Sites (Part 3 of 3): Creating and Configuring WCM-Enabled Sites (Patrick Tisseghem, U2U)

16th November 2006 (date added)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=d51730b5-48fc-4ca2-b454-8dc2caf93951&DisplayLang=en

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (released version)

16th November 2006 (date added)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=36ee1bf0-652c-4e38-b247-f29b3eefa048&DisplayLang=en

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Language Pack

16th November 2006 (date added)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0a50da0f-7c94-4814-bbfe-2b66fe4a9087&DisplayLang=en

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 x64

16th November 2006 (date added)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=45fa2637-efc0-4ed6-8f47-8a013e9ce9d9&DisplayLang=en

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Language Pack x64

16th November 2006 (date added)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=2e6e5a9c-ebf6-4f7f-8467-f4de6bd6b831&DisplayLang=en

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Trial Version

16th November 2006 (date added)

http://www.sharepointblogs.com/zimmer/archive/2006/11/15/16102.aspx

MOSS 2007: Search and Indexing - Part 1 (Tobias Zimmergren)

16th November 2006 (date added)

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepointserver/HA102078901033.aspx

Demo: Enable Excel Services and data connections for a SharePoint team site

16th November 2006 (date added)

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepointserver/HA102045611033.aspx

Demo: Add a library to a Records Center site

16th November 2006 (date added)

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepointserver/HA102050471033.aspx

Demo: Deploy an administrator-approved form template

16th November 2006 (date added)

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepointserver/HA102047921033.aspx

Demo: Configure a SharePoint Server 2007 site to receive e-mail

16th November 2006 (date added)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0daafc81-efff-4f5b-a28a-8265f1e99f5b&DisplayLang=en

Installing Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 on a Server Running Windows Small Business Server

15th November 2006

http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2006/11/15/moss-enterprise-to-standard-not-recommended.aspx

Enterprise eval to Standard edition steps (MS Team Blog)

15th November 2006

http://andrewconnell.com/blog/archive/2006/11/15/5168.aspx

Programmatically adding pages to a MOSS Publishing site (Blog - Andrew Connell)

15th November 2006

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepointtechnology/FX101758691033.aspx

Which SharePoint technology is right for you? (Comparison of which features are in which product)

15th November 2006 (date added)

http://pschmid.net/blog/2006/11/13/79

Manually removing the Office 2007 Beta (Blog - Patrick Schmid - quoting with permission a Microsoft document)

15th November 2006 (date added)

http://www.rehmanis.net/images/Blog/IntelligentDashboards.zip

Intelligent Dashboard using Excel Services (Asif Rehmani)

14th November 2006

http://www.rehmanis.net/images/blog/features.zip

The "Features" feature (Asif Rehmani)

14th November 2006

https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastRegistrationConfirmation.aspx?culture=en-US&RegistrationID=1286819148

TechNet Webcast: How Microsoft IT Deployed and Architected SharePoint Server 2007 (Level 300) (Sean Livingston)

14th November 2006

http://www.sharepointblogs.com/tbaginski/archive/2006/11/14/16053.aspx

HOW TO: Prevent creation of sub sites within MOSS 2007 My Sites (Blog - Todd Baginski)

14th November 2006

http://weblogs.asp.net/soever/archive/2006/11/14/SharePoint-2007_3A00_-using-the-masterpage-from-your-site-in-custom-_5F00_layouts-pages.aspx

SharePoint 2007: using the masterpage from your site in custom _layouts pages (Blog - Serge van den Oever)

14th November 2006

http://www.sharepointblogs.com/ssa/archive/2006/11/13/15988.aspx

Searching Fileshares in MOSS 2007 (Blog - S.S. Ahmed)

13th November 2006

http://weblogs.asp.net/soever/archive/2006/11/12/SharePoint-Solution-Generator-_2D00_-part-2_3A00_-the-internals-of-the-created-site-definition-project.aspx

SharePoint Solution Generator - part 2: the internals of the created site definition project (Blog - Serge van den Oever)

12th November 2006

http://weblogs.asp.net/soever/archive/2006/11/11/SharePoint-Solution-Generator-_2D00_-part-1_3A00_-create-a-site-definition-from-an-existing-site.aspx

SharePoint Solution Generator - part 1: create a site definition from an existing site (Blog - Serge van den Oever)

11th November 2006

http://weblogs.asp.net/soever/archive/2006/11/11/SharePoint-2007_3A00_-Accessing-information-on-the-SharePoint-Web-Server-Extensions-folder.aspx

SharePoint 2007: Accessing information on the SharePoint Web Server Extensions folder (Blog - Serge van den Oever)

11th November 2006

https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastRegistrationConfirmation.aspx?culture=en-US&RegistrationID=1286819276

TechNet Webcast: Build Great Looking Sites Using Web Content Management Features in Office SharePoint Server 2007 (Level 200) (Bob German)

10th November 2006

https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastRegistrationConfirmation.aspx?culture=en-GB&RegistrationID=1286845249

Records Management in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (Marc Fresko, Cornwell Management Consultants + Rob Gray, Microsoft UK)

10th November 2006

http://weblogs.asp.net/soever/archive/2006/11/09/SharePoint-2007-_2D00_-_2F005F00_layouts-and-how-to-create-pages-that-run-in-site-context.aspx

SharePoint 2007 - /_layouts and how to create pages that run in site context (Blog - Serge van den Oever)

9th November 2006

http://www.sharepointblogs.com/andymay/archive/2006/11/09/15913.aspx

MOSS 2007 - Advanced Search on your own metadata (Blog - Andy May)

9th November 2006

http://www.codeplex.com/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ProjectName=SLK&ReleaseId=1014

SharePoint Learning Kit

8th November 2006

http://spstips.blogspot.com/2006/08/common-and-simple-coding-tasks-in.html

Common (and simple) coding tasks in sharepoint (Blog - Ishai Sagi)

29th August 2006

B. Other Office 2007 products

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=12b99325-93e8-4ed4-8385-74d0f7661318&displaylang=en

2007 Office System Add-In: Icons Gallery (ver 1106)

17th November 2006

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=6f575686-cb66-41a0-be75-b06f542e90bf&displaylang=en

Groove Server 2007 Data Bridge Administrator's Guide, version 1

16th November 2006

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=c6d04019-659d-4229-ae2d-b855e0925225&displaylang=en

Groove Server 2007 Relay Administrator's Guide, version 1

14th November 2006

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=ef5d7e8f-9e09-4606-936f-13499131d0a6&displaylang=en

Groove Server 2007 Manager Domain Administrator's Guide, version 1

13th November 2006

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=0ab02f18-26d6-48e0-9dec-6af923dcd359&displaylang=en

Groove Server 2007 Manager Server Administrator's Guide, version 1

13th November 2006

 

C. Other New 2006/2007 Products

https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastRegistrationConfirmation.aspx?culture=en-US&RegistrationID=1286819318

Microsoft Webcast: Creating Cutting-Edge Web Designs with Microsoft Expression Web (Level 200) (Lindsay Rutter)

14th November 2006

 

Modified

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/6181fe5b-90ca-40cf-aade-abd59cf3c9071033.mspx?mfr=true

Deploy Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 in a stand-alone installation

(Moved and "Beta2" removed)

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/58d28a34-7a84-4564-a4cb-0e6b5425f67e1033.mspx?mfr=true

Deploy Windows SharePoint Services version 3 in a server farm environment

(Moved and "Beta2" removed)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=2672f6f9-7028-4b30-99a2-18cb1eed1abe&displaylang=en

Project 2007: Software Development Kit (Release version Nov06)

16th November 2006

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=771aeb45-9d27-4d1f-acd1-9b950637d64e&displaylang=en

2007 Office System Document: Developer Posters (ver 1106)

16th November 2006

Deleted

None

 

III. MS Articles

ew

None

Modified

None

IV Non-MS Articles

New

None

Modified

None

V. WSS FAQ additions

None

VI WSS FAQ Modified

None

 

VII WSS v3 FAQ additions

http://www.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=901

III.02.08 Limits: Are there any limits to the number of MySites you can have?

http://www.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=903

III.49.10 Search: How do you search Fileshares in MOSS 2007?

http://www.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=911

III.49.11 Search: What's the default form of a many-word search in MOSS 2007?

http://www.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=912

III.76 How do you create a Calendar event in a WSSv3/MOSS 2007 Shared Calendar from Outlook 2007?

http://www.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=900

V.25 Beginning SharePoint 2007 Administration: Windows SharePoint Services 3 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (Wrox - Göran Husman)

http://www.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=904

V.26 Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007: A Beginner's Guide (McGraw-Hill Osborne - Ron Gilster)

http://www.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=905

V.27 Expert One-on-One SharePoint 2007 and Office Development (Wrox - Randy Holloway)

http://www.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=906

V.28 Professional SharePoint 2007 Development (Wrox - John Alexander, Jeff Julian, Eli Robillard, Tom Rizzo)

http://www.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=907

V.29 Pro SharePoint Solution Development: Combining .NET, SharePoint and Office 2007 (Apress - Susie Adams, Ed Hild)

http://www.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=908

V.30 SharePoint 2007 User's Guide: Learning Microsoft Collaboration Technology (Apress - Seth Bates, Tony Smith)

http://www.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=913

V.31 How to Do Everything with Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007 (McGraw-Hill Osborne, David Plotkin)

http://www.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=902

VI.18 Metadata Manager for the Microsoft Office SharePoint Server Business Data Catalog (MMMOSSBDC)  (free - Nick Swan, Ted Baginski)

http://www.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=910

VI.19 Pane Manager v 2.4 (add-in for Expression Web or SharePoint Designer 2007) (commercial)

http://www.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=909

VIII.09 The Unofficial Guide to Microsoft Office 2007 (Unofficial Guides - Paul McFedries) *released*

VIII WSS v3 FAQ Modified

http://www.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=814

V.08 Microsoft SharePoint Bible (Wiley - Avitiva Corp, Wayne Tynes, Simeon Cathey, Wynne Leon)

http://www.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=821

V.15 Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies Administrator's Pocket Consultant (MS Press - Ben Curry?)

http://www.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=888

V.22 Beginning SharePoint 2007: Building Team Solutions with MOSS 2007 (Wiley - Amanda Murphy, Shane Perran)

http://www.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=889

V.23 Sharepoint 2007: The Definitive Guide (O'Reilly - Robert Tidrow)

http://www.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=746

VI.01 MOSS BDC MetaData Manager (free - Todd Baginski)  *replaced by item 18 below*

 

VIII WSS v3 FAQ Deleted

http://www.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=824

V.17 SharePoint 2007: The Definitive Guide (O'Reilly - Jeff Webb)

(The author seems to have been replaced - the new listing is V.21 author Robert Tidrow)

Note: The first part of my review of this book was at

http://mikewalsh.bilsimser.com/PermaLink,guid,d8eb8269-6e83-44d7-95c8-26e26aa21e4d.aspx

The second part of my review of this book was at

http://mikewalsh.bilsimser.com/PermaLink,guid,f5fda223-1398-452f-bb26-ab707bc94c8a.aspx

The third part of my review of this book was at

http://mikewalsh.bilsimser.com/PermaLink,guid,717b9e6c-a388-4199-bec8-bbe811959907.aspx

The book itself can be found via these links

Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0321336615/heme

Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0321336615/heme0f
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We're now up to Chapter 4 which is where I was told the new stuff was. I'll also very briefly cover Chapter 5 which concludes the book.

But first a seemingly irrelevant flashback to 1979.

In 1979 I was living and working in Gothenburg, Sweden and I went to a once-a-week night class at the technical university on "Micro-computers". Now in those days - and particularly perhaps at technical universities - Micro computers were half electronics and half programming. I'd been working in computers since 1968 and had spent a fair bit of that time doing programming so I had no problems with the programming half of my course but struggled a bit with the electronics side of things. (Ironic because my father is a chartered electrical engineer ...!).

Of the 12 people attending that course I was the only person with a programming background. All the rest had an electronics background and so what happened was that the lecturer spend a lot of time going over the programming side of things and (to my mind) rushed through the electronics side. In other words for my purposes he went into too great detail explaining the simple (=programming) concepts and too little time explaining the difficult (=electronics) concepts.

When I had read about 15 or so pages of chapter four of this book, I was reminded of that experience (and kept being reminded of it) because this chapter went into great (and to me unnecessary) detail explaining the SharePoint UI; and the Sharepoint templates; and several standard files that were all well known to me and yet as soon as it finally (and I mean finally - there was a 12 page introduction with too many unnecessary screen shots taking up many almost entire pages before the writer even got to the problem at hand) got to something where I wanted that in depth explanation (the first mention of user controls) there was no explanation at all.

So it continued for most of the chapter with a lot of code but no explanation of how to incorporate this code with the user controls code etc. etc.

So here was the chapter where I wanted to learn new techniques and I couldn't because there were assumptions being made about my field of expertise that were incorrect (and equally assumptions being made about a lack of expertise in basic Sharepoint techniques that were equally incorrect).

Or in other words I was back in Gothenburg again with the lecturer going into great detail about stuff I'd been doing for years and then not bothering with that level of detail for stuff i hadn't a clue about.

I finally (with my eyes glazing) got to the Summary to Chapter 4 and there *for the first time* I read the following bullet-point -

"We've seen JavaScript, user controls, ASP.NET, web services, and Data Access Blocks, which we already assumed you had experience with, and it's good to know that SharePoint uses those things that developers already know."

So there we have it. This book isn't to teach Advanced Concepts to people who already know SharePoint. It's to teach people who don't know SharePoint how to use their "things that developers already know" in a SharePoint environment.

Unlike the writer of that bullet-point, I haven't noticed when looking through the book any part of it that says that they assume knowledge of "JavaScript, user controls, ASP.NET, web services, and Data Access Blocks", in fact the preface says "This book is for people who have wrestled with SharePoint and have tried to make SharePoint behave in a way that it probably wasn't originally designed to  do". I doesn't sound like assuming knowledge of user controls, web services and Data Access Blocks to me - in fact it sounds like it's directed at me.

Well it isn't.

This book should have been "SharePoint for ASP.NET developers" (or something on those lines). What it isn't is a book for people with a good knowledge of SharePoint who want to start doing more with it than the basic product allows. That book is still missing (apart from Advanced SharePoint Solutions by Scot Hillier).

Chapter 5 is easily covered.

It's back to a rather basic level again and while most of the "Global Customizations" are well chosen, spending time on the extremely basic and standard "adding a PDF icon" does seem to be a waste of time in a book supposedly offering "Advanced Concepts".

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Summing up.

This book went into great detail in areas where people who knew SharePoint already didn't need the great detail. It then skipped the detail in areas where people who knew the SharePoint products from the point-of-view of an administrator required those details.

It would be a very good book for ASP.NET (etc.) developers with little or no knowledge of the SharePoint products to get a feel for Sharepoint and how they could use their skills to add additional functionality.

It would also be a good book for people with SharePoint knowledge who already had the necessary developer experience to be able to use Chapter 4. The earlier chapters - as I have noted already - included several gems that even people who have used SharePoint for quite a while would find new.

It would be however a very frustrating book (despite those early gems) for people who already knew SharePoint well but who wanted to extend their skills into adding functionality via user controls and web services.

Unfortunately neither the Preface nor the back jacket of the book made this distinction clear.