Most of the time I go around thinking how much of the v3 SharePoint products I don't know enough about so it's good sometimes to be faced with a book like the User's Guide that at least so far is so basic that I actually have a feeling that "Wow, I know more about this product than I thought".

The second chapter is about sites and if you want to be told very briefly about every single site template that comes with WSS 3.0 (together with it seems a screen print of each) then this is the chapter for you. I found it unnecessary to say the least to spend quite so many pages on listing and picturing all the variants.

Finally we got past the listing of the site templates and onto Site Navigation and Creating Sites.

This latter was odd. Earlier in the chapter we'd been told that additional types of sites that were available in MOSS 2007 as opposed to WSS 3.0 would come in Chapter Three - from which I assumed that Chapter Two was WSS 3.0 only.

This was however not the case because in Creating Sites there were two sub-sections - Creating Sub-Sites in MOSS sites and Creating Sub-sites in WSS 3.0 (actually Creating "subsites" but I think that's the wrong way to write it - certainly my spelling checker agrees with me as it flags subsites but doesn't flag sub-sites).

OK it's fair enough to divide them up even if mainly it gives a great opportunity for Copy/Paste as almost all the text is identical, BUT having divided them up, how come the WSS 3.0 section includes the words "If MOSS is in place" ? It's beyond me.

The rest of the chapter emphasises what I'd already worked out - namely that this book is designed for people who have never used any earlier SharePoint product. While they don't actually say this in the Title (SharePoint 2007 User's Guide) the next part of the front cover does say "Learning Microsoft's Collaboration and Productivity Platform" so I suppose that's warning enough.

The final part of the cover page (in minute print) is "A comprehensive guidebook for users of Microsoft SharePoint 2007". This actually comes closest to the truth I've seen so far (ignoring chapter one which in four pages has not hopes of being comprehensive), chapter two is indeed comprehensive if that means including all the details, but whether that makes a good Learning Book depends to a large extend on your learning style. So far at least the detail has been numbingly boring.

Finally just let me mutter a bit.

There's a section called "Editing Site Templates". This includes the (true) information "Even though you cannot edit existing site template files you can edit the properties of these files". Precisely. You can't edit the site templates themselves, so why have a section header saying you can ?

Finally the section of WSS Site Search shows some of the shortcomings of this book which however are clearly because of the audience envisaged for it. It doesn't say how to set up search (which can be surprisingly non-obvious) just as it didn't give any guidance on how to install even the simple (to install) WSS 3.0. So readers of the book need to have a site which someone else has setup for them. Whereas I can accept the amount of detail in this book in a book for Administrators (as they need to cover everything), I would much prefer a book for users to concentrate more on a few key features (in more depth and with guidance as to when to use them) rather than covering everything (and rather skimming over them).

We'll see if I keep up writing a blog item on a chapter at a time. At the moment - and following wading through chapter 2 - I feel rather like skimming myself until I get to something I don't already know rather a lot about. (Which is likely to be chapter 7 - I don't think 60 pages on document libraries (Ch 6) is going to teach me much despite the number of pages. At least I hope not :)

I have quite a few v3 SharePoint books but I don't own a copy of the Apress "SharePoint 2007 User's Guide" which according to Amazon is selling well.

One of those copies went to the Helsinki Public Library system and so it was the only v3 SP book that popped up when I searched the whole system with "SharePoint".

So as I had to reserve it and probably someone else will have reserved it after me, I have exactly four weeks to check it out before it must go back.

So I'm looking at that book rather than one of the others.

I started at Chapter One (!) which is a very short (4 pages) overview, yet even in those four pages I found one thing I really hated from the point-of-view of someone who answers questions in newsgroups and forums and one thing that is just completely wrong.

I thing I hated was this

"Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (WSS)"

We already have a problem in the newsgroups of continually having to ask people which product they are using - now all the ones who are using Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and who have read this book will say "I have WSS".

Help. Don't the two guys who wrote this book know that there are in fact two versions of WSS (2.0 and 3.0) and that thus saying that WSS is the short form of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 isn't helpful.

In fact they do know because a few lines further down on the same page there is "In 2003, Microsoft ... released Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 and .." So why do they think that saying WSS is enough. It's beyond me.

Another thing that is beyond me is how they could come up with this sentence.

"SharePoint 2007 includes all the capabilities previous provided in SharePoint 2003 and the content management capabilities previously provided by Microsoft Content Management Server 2002"

Note by the way that they have already defined SharePoint 2007 as meaning BOTH Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.

This statement that SharePoint 2007 contains the capabilities early provided by CMS 2002 is complete rubbish. You try looking for CMS 2002 capabilities in WSS 3.0 - you won't find them.

No, these capabilities are only in MOSS 2007 and some of them in fact are only in one of the two versions of MOSS 2007.

As I wrote in the subject line, such crass errors in only 4 pages of introduction doesn't bode well for the rest of the book. But maybe they'll surprise me - we'll see as I get to the chapters that follow.

The other problem with getting the readers of this book to think that "WSS" is the abbreviation for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 is that in some older Microsoft papers "Windows SharePoint Services" (and occasionally "WSS") is used for Windows SharePoint Services 2.0, because at the time those papers were written Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 was the only Windows SharePoint Services product out there (as there never was a version 1.0 - that was called SharePoint Team Services) and so there seemed to be no need to write the name Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 in full (and they were perhaps rather embarassed about it too given the lack of a 1.0) so they contented themselves with just Windows SharePoint Services. Today of course that decision is coming back to haunt them and Microsoft recently have made a major effort to add 2.0 to each listing of Windows SharePoint Services at least as far as KB Articles are concerned.

A few blogs here have mentioned my efforts to get the mp4 files I have (created as .avi files) to play on the Mac with proper sound. To recap Quick Time played the video part OK but the sound was very jumpy, incomprehensible, and also out-of-sync so useless. So I tried - still on the Mac - within VMs running Windows XPPro/Server with Windows Media 10 or 11 and had no picture (but good sound!) until I added the free divx codec whereupon I had good sound and a good picture but that picture was both reversed and upside down.

Meanwhile on the pure Mac side paying 19.95 for a QuickTime codec was just a waste of money.

So finally I did what I should have done in the beginning and went searching and found a free QuickTime plug-in called Perian. I printed out the description of it in a site called Version Tracker where the download was available and it said 'support for these formats when they are inside an AVI: mpeg4 etc.'.

I then naturally lost that print out under a pile of paper on my desk and it was only when I did a clean-out that I found it and finally got round to installing Perian.

After that I started my test .avi file and the results were just as before, so no improvement.

Normally that would have been that, but this is the Mac and I'm still never really sure if things like plug-ins really are running so I clicked on the Perian icon just to see. Once there I saw that sound was set to its default which was Dolby something. OK, it doesn't work now so changing that default isn't going to stop something that is working from not working, so I amended the setting to Stereo and tried my file again.

Success! Perfect sound. Perfect picture.

I only wonder why Stereo isn't the default ....  

P.S. I hope this is not connected to adding this plug-in and only congested networks but I now have very jumpy pictures when accessing the videos at www.zdf.de Videothek where I regularly watch the "Krimis". I'm not sure if I've watched anything there (there's only news and politics at weekends) since I added this plug-in. At the moment it's the typical great picture / images messed up / sound coming and going that you get with bad digital lines - but maybe it's that plug-in slowing things down.

I really hope not because as this is the Mac I haven't a clue as to how to turn it off when watching these things and back on again when playing my .avi / .mp4 files.

Meanwhile I'm going to see how the Vista machine copes with those German Krimis - usually the picture isn't quite as good or a large there ...

Problem solved. It was Perian causing the jumpiness. To turn it off (it actually says uninstall) you can go to the Perian.PrefPane and Uninstall. Once you've done that the Perian PrefPane has an Install button for when you want it back for those .avi files. Nice.

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 my blog at http://mikewalsh.bilsimser.com)

(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 18th - 25th November 2007

I.1 2007 KB Articles    (*now only one section for WSS and MOSS*)

New

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;944267

How to troubleshoot common errors that occur when you run the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard on a computer that is running Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 or SharePoint Server 2007 (ver 2.3)

20th November 2007

http://www.sharepointblogs.com/tbone/archive/2007/11/20/re-using-sharepoint-designer-workflows-in-multiple-lists.aspx

Re-using SharePoint Designer workflows in multiple lists (Blog -TBone)

20th November 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;937208

Description of the SharePoint Server 2007 hotfix package: May 15, 2007 (2nd with this date) (ver 1.1)

15th November 2007

Modified

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;943076

Description of the Excel Services in Office SharePoint Server 2007 hotfix package: October 9, 2007 (ver 1.3)

23th November 2007

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

Attachments that are allowed by Outlook 2007 may be blocked by Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (ver 4.0)

20th November 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;932919

Description of the SharePoint Server 2007 hotfix package: February 26, 2007 (ver 1.2)

15th November 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=934793

Description of the SharePoint Server 2007 hotfix package: April 12, 2007 (ver 3.1)

15th November 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;936877Description of the SharePoint Server 2007 hotfix package for SharePoint Server 2007 and for SharePoint Server 2007 for Search: May 8, 2007 (ver 1.3)

15th November 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;937207

Description of the SharePoint Server 2007 hotfix package: May 15, 2007 (ver 1.1)

15th November 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;937906

Description of the SharePoint Server 2007 hotfix package: May 25, 2007 (ver 1.2)

15th November 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;937904

Description of the SharePoint Server 2007 hotfix package: May 25, 2007 (2nd one from May 25) (ver 1.2)

15th November 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;938535

Description of the SharePoint Server 2007 hotfix package: June 11, 2007 (ver 1.1)

15th November 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;938537

Description of the SharePoint Server 2007 hotfix package: June 12, 2007 (ver 1.1)

15th November 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;939077

Description of the SharePoint Server 2007 hotfix package for SharePoint Server 2007 and for SharePoint Server 2007 for Search: June 24, 2007 (ver 1.2)

15th November 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb%3Ben-us%3B939599

Description of the SharePoint Server 2007 hotfix package: June 29, 2007 (ver 1.2)

15th November 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;939654

Description of the SharePoint Server 2007 hotfix package: June 29, 2007 (2nd of the same date) (ver 1.3)

15th November 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;938241

Description of the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 for the Multilingual User Interface pack hotfix package: May 31, 2007 (ver 2.3)

15th November 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=934790

Description of the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 hotfix package: April 12, 2007 (ver 1.6)

15th November 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=931636

Description of the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 hotfix package: February 6, 2007 (ver 2.3)

15th November 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;931637

Description of the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 hotfix package: January 25, 2007 (ver 1.2)

15th November 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;938536

Description of the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 hotfix package: June 11, 2007 (ver 1.1)

15th November 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;939188

Description of the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 hotfix package: June 24, 2007 (ver 1.1)

15th November 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb%3Ben-us%3B939592

Description of the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 hotfix package: June 29, 2007 (ver 1.3)

15th November 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;937203

Description of the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 hotfix package: May 15, 2007 (ver 2.2)

15th November 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;937901

Description of the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 hotfix package: May 25, 2007 (ver 1.3)

15th November 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;938183

Description of the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 hotfix package: May 31, 2007 (ver 1.2)

15th November 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;936867

Description of the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 hotfix package: May 8, 2007 (ver 1.3)

15th November 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb%3Ben-us%3B941422

Description of the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 hotfix package: August 24, 2007 (ver 4.0)

31st October 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;934525

Description of the security update for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0: October 9, 2007 (ver 5.0)

30th October 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;937832

Description of the security update for SharePoint Server 2007: October 9, 2007 (ver 3.1)

17th October 2007

I.b Forefront KB Articles

New

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/943621/en-us

The SharePoint Central Administration page is unavailable and Event IDs 2268 and 2214 are logged after you uninstall Forefront Security for SharePoint

20th November 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/943628/en-us

Error message is logged in ProgramLog.txt file after you relocate the database in Forefront Security for SharePoint: "ERROR: Unable to create SharePoint Notifications database."

20th November 2007

Modified

None

I.c InfoPath 2007 KB Articles

New

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/891162/en-us

BUG: The results of the calculations in an InfoPath form are incorrect (ver 2.1)

16th November 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/891165/en-us

An ActiveX control does not appear as you expect it to when you add the control to a form in InfoPath(ver 2.1)

16th November 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;938182

Description of the SharePoint Server 2007 hotfix package for SharePoint Server 2007 and for SharePoint Server 2007 for Search: May 31, 2007 (ver 1.3)

15th November 2007

Modified

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938540/en-us

Description of the InfoPath 2007 hotfix package: June 11, 2007 (ver 1.2)

15th November 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938894/en-us

Description of the InfoPath 2007 hotfix package: June 17, 2007 (ver 1.2)

15th November 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/939187/en-us

Description of the InfoPath 2007 hotfix package: June 24, 2007 (ver 1.2)

15th November 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/939593/en-us

Description of the InfoPath 2007 hotfix package: June 29, 2007 (1st of same date) (ver 1.2)

15th November 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/939605/en-us

Description of the InfoPath 2007 hotfix package: June 29, 2007 (2nd of same date) (ver 1.2)

15th November 2007

II. Articles - 2007 Products  (no longer with all links to articles for other Office 2007 and other 2007 Products)

New

A. Office 2007 Server Products

http://labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php/PDF_iFilter_8_-_64-bit_Support

PDF iFilter 8 - 64-bit Support (Adobe - how to get the 32-bit IFilter included in Adobe 8 to work in a 64-bit MOSS 2007 system)

21st November 2007 (date added)

http://blogs.msdn.com/jingmeili/archive/2007/11/20/how-to-sign-an-infopath-form-template-with-verisign-certificate.aspx

How to sign an InfoPath form template with VeriSign certificate? (Blog - Jingmei Li)

20th November 2007

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/b18c35f6-2107-40b8-8102-7540d35d0de91033.mspx

Sites and subsites roadmap (Note: MOSS 2007)

20th November 2007 (date added - was 12th November)

http://www.sharepointblogs.com/mdlotter/archive/2007/11/19/why-the-text-on-my-infopath-form-is-so-large.aspx

Why the text on my InfoPath form is so large (Blog - Michael Lotter)

19th November 2007

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb944807.aspx

Downloading InfoPath 2007 Forms in a Specific File Format from a SharePoint Form Library (S.Y.M Wong-A-Ton)

18th November 2007 (date added - actually dated November 2007)

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb892784.aspx

Integrating SharePoint Server 2007 with Community Server Membership Databases (Hans Hugli)

18th November 2007 (date added - actually dated November 2007)

http://www.elumenotion.com/Blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=23

You Don't Need to Copy PDB Files to Debug in the GAC! (Blog - Doug Ware)

12th November 2007

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/fc47c930-cab9-4dee-b829-b5fb6fc9512d1033.mspx

Recycle Bin: Stsadm properties (Office SharePoint Server)

8th November 2007

B. Other Office 2007 products (selected few only since 1.1.2007)

None

C. Other New 2006/2007 Products  (selected few only since 1.1.2007)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=b273269c-97e0-411d-8849-5a8070698e4a&displaylang=en&tm

BizTalk Server 2006 Installation and Upgrade Guides (ver 1.1)

20th November 2007

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=30402623-93ca-479a-867c-04dc45164f5b&displaylang=en&tm

Visual Studio 2008 SDK Version 1.0

20th November 2007 (added here to get in SDK list)

Modified

None

III WebCasts (+ PodCasts, On-Line courses) for 2007 Products
 
New

http://wm.microsoft.com/ms/msdn/office/2007OfficeVisualHowTos/Wd2007ConsumingQueryServicesUsingVSTOSE.wmv

Visual How To: Consuming SharePoint Server 2007 Query Services from Word 2007 Using Visual Studio Tools for Office SE  (Video) (Joel Krist, Akona Systems)

20th November 2007 (date added - actually 30th October 2007)

IV WSS v3 FAQ

New

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1266

III.101 I get 'System error 67 has occurred' when I map a path to a WSS document library. What's the solution?

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1264

VII.29 Inside Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (MS Press - ISBN 9780735623200) (Chapter 2 - SharePoint Architecture)

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1265

X.89 SharePointUpload (free - Gluegood Software)

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1267

X.90 Content By Type webpart (free - Ton Stegeman)

Modified

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1085

V.55 Pro SharePoint 2007 Development Techniques (Apress - Margriet Bruggeman, Nikander Bruggeman) *released*

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1241

V.69 Windows SharePoint Services 3.0-Programmierung (in German) (MSPress Deutschland - Ted Pattison, Daniel Larson) *released*
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

V WSSv2 KB Articles (plus SPS 2003 Hot fixes)

New

None

Modified

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=934000

Description of the Windows SharePoint Services post-Service Pack 2 hotfix package: March 9, 2007 (ver 2.2)

15th November 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;924931

Description of the SharePoint Portal Server 2003 post-Service Pack 2 hotfix package: August 31, 2006 (ver 4.1)

15th November 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;933853

Note: It seems that every single SPS 2003 post-service pack 1 and 2 was updated on November 15th 2007. I'm not going to list them here and I'm not going to amend the dates in the site. (I imagine they have added a code at the end and there are no other changes)
Note: The same applies to every Windows SharePoint Servic!es 2.0 post-Service Pack 2 hotfix package

VI WSSv2 FAQ

New

None

Modified

None

Finally, 10 days after I posted a series of messages to the support address for the Nero range from Ahead, I got a reply.

It asked me in some detail (included how to do an image of a screen) to supply some screen print images of what I was seeing and also to send them some more information.

I couldn't send them any of this information (which is why I didn't bother to note down what exactly they wanted apart from the screen prints) because as I wrote earlier this week I'd already given up after EIGHT bad installations and had re-formatted my entire Vista 64-bit partition; installed Vista 32-bit and then the Nero 8 installation worked perfectly.

However, you have to wonder about a support address that takes 10 days to respond with what is probably a fairly standard response for more information. I know I do.

Most computer Pros prefer getting their information in English and if their users/customers allow them will also if possible install Operating Systems and Server products in their English language versions.

For one they are tested better and the bug fixes come out faster and also because having English language error messages makes finding a Knowledge Base article (if one exists) much easier.

The same to a large extent happens with computer books in English. There are more of them; they come out quicker and their screen prints reflect the software versions that most Pros are using.

There is however still a market for computer books (and from now on this piece will be about SharePoint books) in other languages and this is reflected in the books I have listed in my SP v3 Books page (http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/V%20Books.aspx) where I try to be language-neutral and give as much space to non-English books as to English books.

The books available are either books originally written for the "local" market and books originally written and published in English but then translated into one or more other languages. The above-mentioned page has examples of both.

What has been a striking feature of the SharePoint v3 books is that - with the very honourable exception of the French language Sharepoint 2007 book written by several French experts but steered by Erol Giraudy (http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=968) - all the early books were translations of English language originals.

Microsoft Press has had a very active role, in especially the German but also the French market, in quickly making translations available of some of their key books but also the For Dummies series has a SharePoint book out in German so it's not just a Microsoft effort. (O'Reilly had a German translation of the v2 book Essential SharePoint but so far hasn't brought out a translation of either of their two v3 books).

As for other languages, I don't have as good sources of information there, although I try to snap up references in people's blogs. Suffice it to say that I don't know of many books in any other languages and that those are few (two in Spanish ...)

Anyway, to save you doing your own search, here is a summary of the numbers for each foreign langauge

German:

Released: 6  (Translations 5 / Originals 1)  - One of the translations is WWF

Not Released: 5 (Translations 1 / Originals 4)

The sole German language original that is released is this one

Microsoft SharePoint - Technik und Einsatz (Microsoft Press, Deutschland - Egbert Jeschke) - http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/3866456158/wssfaq0e-21 € 39.90.

French:

Released 4 (Translations 2 / Originals 2) - One of the translations is WWF

Not Released: 0

The second released French language original (the first is linked to above) is this

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS 2007) - Personnalisation et Développement (in French) (Editions ENI - Antony Bidet) - http://www.amazon.fr/exec/obidos/ASIN/2746038153/wssfaq0fe-21 at a fraction of the price of the Giraudy book at ca € 25.78

Spanish:

Released 2 (Originals 2) - One of the books is WWF

The released books are

Modelando procesos de negocio con Workflow Foundation (Editorial Krasis Press - Unai Zorrilla Castro) - http://www.campusmvp.com/CampusMVP/Modelando_procesos_de_negocio_con_Workflow_Foundation.htm (€ 32)

and

Programación con SharePoint 2007 (in Spanish) (dotNetMania - Gustavo Vélez) - orders via www.dotnetmania.com for ca € 24.50.


I'm not happy with the lack of information on that web page on non-released books in French and Spanish and surely there is or will be something in Italian soon, so please let me know about such things at englantilainen@hotmail.com

P.S. One interesting question is whether those native books provide anything which the vast quantity of English languages books don't.

It may be a cliché but Germans do tend to be more rigorous than Anglo-Saxons and so it could well be that one of the reason for the delays in availability of most of the German language books could lie in that they are better researched. It may well also be that German readers (and Swiss-German, Austrian and even Luxemburgers and Liechensteiners [and even a small Belgian minority]) prefer a drier style than that found in many of the English language books.

Here too I'd like to know for myself, so if any of the German writers of SP books is asked by his publishers who should receive a copy, my e-mail address is above.

The book "Pro SharePoint 2007 Development Techniques" (Apress) from Margriet and Nikander Bruggeman (Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1590599136/heme0f
 $ 32.99) seems to have started off the next phase of SharePoint 2007 books with also the release of the long-awaited "Digital" book "Microsoft SharePoint 2007 Technologies: Planning, Design and Implementation" (Digital Press) by Kevin Laahs, Emer McKenna and Veli-Matti Vanamo (Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0123736161/heme0f
 which was earlier $ 44.07 but now Amazon US list at the list price of $ 69.95 so look instead at Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0123736161/heme where it is £26.39 if you are in Europe until Amazon US has regained its senses)  expected to be released in mid December.

There's also a heavily researched book by C. A. Callahan (Mastering Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (Sybex) (Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0470127287/heme0f $ 31.49) which is due out a few days before the Laahs etc. book

Then in February 2008 we might finally see the release of mainstream SharePoint Designer 2007 books including what might well be my favourite "SharePoint Designer X for Dummies" (For Dummies) by Dustin Miller and Heather Solomon (Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0470096012/heme0f $16.49) although the rival book from Penny Coventry might also be worth an only slightly less cheap look ("Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007 Step by Step (MSPress) : Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0735625336/heme0f $19.59)

Why most (all?) of the SharePoint Designer 2007 books are out so late in the cycle is a separate discussion and I can only guess the causes of that delay. SPD 2007 was certainly too difficult for me to even consider writing a book about unless all it consisted of were chapters on Data View Web Parts. But it seems this was the case for all the authors originally signed up - if indeed many were signed up. I remember being shown a proposal before RTM for yet another standard SharePoint book and of suggesting to the publisher that what we really needed was ONE SharePoint Designer 2007 book. If only they'd followed my advice ...

As for the new wave of standard SharePoint books mentioned above, it's clear to me that these only have a chance of success if they provide in-depth information obtained by extensive working with the released product. The first phase was books based entirely or almost entirely on the Beta versions. The second phase (summer?) was books sketched out in the beta phases and with the text adjusted after checks were made using the released version(s). Finally this third (and possibly final) phase could and ought to be the same again but with a greater amount of detail.

I haven't seen any of the books from this third phase unlike the books from earlier phases where I have seen quite a large number and so that's my assumption only. All the three writers/sets of writers mentioned above have it in them to do extensive research so we'll soon see whether they have included the fruits of their research in these new books and whether by doing so they have made them unreadable :)

P.S. I'm not sure whether to assign the two O'Reilly books to Phase 2 (for which they were late) or to Phase 3 (for which they were early). Certainly from my quick look at the Definitive Guide, that is not heavily researched so I won't be generous and allocate it to Phase 3 but Jeff Webb usually does a lot of research for his books so maybe his Essential SharePoint (Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596514077/heme0f $ 26.39) might just sneak in.

P.P.S. The total book list (which of course includes the very worthwhile (!) "Real World SharePoint 2007" book!) is still here http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/V%20Books.aspx  It includes several foreign language books which I hope to take a closer look at tomorrow.

 

 

Installations 6, 7, and 8 of Nero 8 (caused by my seeing a suggestion on the Nero web site's upgrade section to use a new tool they have for completely removing old versions) still didn't work and in fact it took until the 8th installation before I was back to where I was after the 5th installation.

During these installations there were increasing signs that the Registry was in a mess and once again - and despite having Location and Settings set to English(UK) I once again got Finnish language installation menus (6, 7).

Meanwhile the laughably-named support department of the Ahead people (makers of the Nero product) still hadn't got round to replying to any of my e-mails (even the 100% nice one) of a week ago (and still haven't).

So I finally got so fed up with all of this that I decided that Vista 64-bit (which I perhaps  unwisely was blaming for most of my installation problems) was just too much hassle (I was already using only 32-bit IE within it because various things wouldn't work in 64-bit IE) and that it was time to wipe it.

I couldn't of course use the 32-bit DVD Vista version I had bought a year ago because that being corrupt was the only reason I had installed 64-bit Vista in the first place, but I still have MSDN and this is a development machine (for SharePoint web sites) so I used the MSDN DVD instead. (Actually as I have a legal copy of this version of Vista that's not in use anywhere else, it would have been legal to use the MSDN copy even if it wasn't a development machine).

But first I moved off a couple of things (probably on reflection not enough) from the drive to an external USB disk; re-booted into the still present original OS (XP-Pro) and then re-formatted the entire drive used by the 64-bit Vista.

I then shoved in the MSDN DVD and installed 32-bit Vista Ultimate - naturally as a new installation - and for the first time ever just left the settings as English (US) hoping in that way that the problems caused by over-intelligent software installations deciding that I would just love to have my installation screens in Finnish would vanish.

I did however say that I wanted a Finnish keyboard.

This combination doesn't by the way work as you would expect. I was later using my Finnish keyboard and had to type a " ' " and I got a " \ ". So I looked in the keyboard settings expecting to see that it was in fact still specifying a US keyboard. No, it was saying Finnish but it was an odd Finnish - what it seems to have defined was a "US English - Finnish" keyboard as a sub-set of the US English keyboard rather than as a separately listed Finnish keyboard.

Very, very odd. It was solved easily enough by adding a new Finnish keyboard and selecting that rather than the odd hybrid "US English - Finnish" and now a check showed that " ' " was indeed showing up as " ' ".

Most of the rest of the installations (Office 2007; Adobe Reader 2007; Thunderbird; VMWare Workstation 6.x) went fine with not a hint of Finnish in either the products selected or in the installation screens and then it was time for the big test - would Nero 8 install correctly ?

Naturally it did (it needed a re-boot partway through which made me slightly nervous) and all the Nero products are listed correctly in Start / Programs / Nero8 and SmartStart tabs no longer ask me to upgrade.

Meanwhile I have, for the first time in months, a fast, lean, system again. I wonder how long that will last ?

P.S. The mottos of the story.

1. Every cloud has a silver lining.

2. Vista 64-bit is a big black cloud.

3. Intelligent installation routines aren't.

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 11th - 17th November 2007

I.1 2007 KB Articles    (*now only one section for WSS and MOSS*)

New

None

Modified

None

I.b Forefront KB Articles

New

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;943608

The Forefront Security for SharePoint keyword filter blocks Shockwave Flash Extensions (.swf) files

9th November 2007

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;941005

An error message may be logged in the STSADM export log file after you install Forefront Security for SharePoint on a computer that is running Windows SharePoint Services 3.0: "Access Denied" (ver 2.0)

7th November 2007

Modified

None

I.c InfoPath 2007 KB Articles

New

None

Modified

None

II. Articles - 2007 Products  (no longer with all links to articles for other Office 2007 and other 2007 Products)

New

A. Office 2007 Server Products

http://blogs.technet.com/stefan_gossner/archive/2007/11/15/some-comments-on-common-variation-problems.aspx

Some comments on common Variation problems (MS Blog - Stefan Gossner)

15th November 2007

http://unitedsupplyco.sharepointsite.net/publicfacing/bensblog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=48

Use Conditional Formatting in Data Views based on User Security Permissions (Blog - Ben McCormack)

13th November 2007

http://unitedsupplyco.sharepointsite.net/publicfacing/bensblog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=49

Create Custom E-mail Alert Templates for SharePoint Workflows (Blog - Ben McCormack)

13th November 2007

http://www.sharepointforum.com/en-US/Blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?List=f0104928%2D1beb%2D4409%2Db7f3%2Df577171376fd&ID=6

How to build an optimal developer VPC for SharePoint Development

12th November 2007

http://sharepointnutsandbolts.blogspot.com/2007/11/change-sharepoint-site-url.html

Change a SharePoint site's URL (Blog - Chris O'Brien)

11th November 2007

http://www.sharepointblogs.com/mirjam/archive/2007/11/11/setting-item-level-security-in-an-eventhandler.aspx

Setting item level security in an eventhandler (Blog - Mirjam)

11th November 2007

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepointdesigner/HA101191181033.aspx

Add another SharePoint site to the Data Source Library

11th November 2007 (date added)

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb931107.aspx

Welcome to Microsoft Search Server 2008 (pre-release documentation)

11th November 2007 (date added)

http://www.crackerbelly.com/?p=4

Recover a document if the SharePoint Recycle Bin is not in use (Crackerbelly - Mark Shea)

11th November 2007 (date added)

http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/07/11/OfficeSpace/default.aspx

Events in SharePoint 2007 (MSDN Magazine, November 2007 - Ted Pattison)

11th November 2007 (date added)

http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/07/08/Excel/default.aspx

Excel Services: Develop A Calculation Engine For Your Apps (MSDN Magazine, August 2007 - Vishwas Lele, Pyush Kumar)

11th November 2007 (date added)

http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/07/08/OfficeSpace/default.aspx

Solution Deployment with SharePoint 2007 (MSDN Magazine, August 2007 - Ted Pattison)

11th November 2007 (date added)

http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/07/05/OfficeSpace/default.aspx

Features for SharePoint (MSDN Magazine, May 2007 - Ted Pattison)

11th November 2007 (date added)

http://www.tonstegeman.com/Blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=47

Querying SharePoint for content - using SPSiteDataQuery and CrossListQueryInfo (Blog - Ton Stegeman)

10th November 2007

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb870301.aspx

Visual How To: Creating a Custom Task Pane to Consume SharePoint Server 2007 Query Services in Word 2007 (Joel Krist, Akona Systems)

10th November 2007 (date added - date of article is October 2007)

http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepointdesigner/archive/2007/11/09/an-introduction-to-conditional-formatting.aspx

An Introduction to Conditional Formatting (MS Team Blog - "Jon")

9th Novmber 2007

http://blogs.msdn.com/markarend/archive/2007/11/08/scripting-stsadm-commands.aspx

Scripting STSADM commands (MS Blog - Mark Arend)

8th Novmber 2007

http://blogs.msdn.com/joelo/archive/2007/11/08/what-not-to-store-in-sharepoint.aspx

What Not to Store in SharePoint (MS Blog - Joel Oleson)

8th Novmber 2007

http://blogs.msdn.com/joelo/archive/2007/11/07/is-the-hotfix-or-service-pack-going-to-break-my-sharepoint-pages-or-deployment.aspx

Is the hotfix or service pack going to break my SharePoint pages or deployment? (MS Blog - Joel Oleson)

7th November 2007

http://blogs.msdn.com/joelo/archive/2007/11/06/web-usage-reporting-tools.aspx

Web Usage Reporting Tools (MS Blog - Joel Oleson)

6th November 2007

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=a2f225fd-dfb8-4e2a-b0b5-2facd681541f&displaylang=en

2007 Office System Sample: Setting Up a Development Environment (ver 1007)

23rd October 2007

B. Other Office 2007 products (selected few only since 1.1.2007)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=e5e6d7dc-e0b0-4387-9c28-c49b1ffe34d7&displaylang=en&tm

Microsoft Forefront Server Security Management Console Log Purge Tool

14th November 2007 (relevant to Forefront for SharePoint)

C. Other New 2006/2007 Products  (selected few only since 1.1.2007)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=bc381af4-9bd0-49dd-be1a-0c6ee49cd2bc&displaylang=en&tm

Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Beta 2 VHD - 32-bit version

14th November 2007 (added because it's a semi-relevant VHD)

http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/07/05/BizTalk/default.aspx

8 Tips And Tricks For Better BizTalk Programming (MSDN Magazine, May 2007 - Marty Wasznicky, Scott Zimmerman)

11th November 2007 (date added)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=6662c7be-d79b-475a-863c-f976239ac0af&displaylang=en&tm

Microsoft Search Server 2008 Express VHD (Note: NOT with WSS 3.0)

9th November 2007 (added because VHD)

Modified

None

III WebCasts (+ PodCasts, On-Line courses) for 2007 Products
 
http://wm.microsoft.com/ms/msdn/office/2007officevisualhowtos/wd2007consumingqueryservicesusingvstose.wmv

Visual How To: Creating a Custom Task Pane to Consume SharePoint Server 2007 Query Services in Word 2007 (Video) (Joel Krist, Akona Systems)

10th November 2007 (date added - date of video is October 2007)

https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastRegistrationConfirmation.aspx?culture=en-US&RegistrationID=1293635296

TechNet Webcast: SAP Enterprise Portal and SharePoint Server 2007 Interoperability (Level 200) (Tilo Boettcher, Anu Chawla, Thomas Reimer)

8th November 2007

https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastRegistrationConfirmation.aspx?culture=en-US&RegistrationID=1293635406

Microsoft Office System Webcast: More Tips and Tricks for Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies (Level 300) (Evan Archilla)

6th November 2007

IV WSS v3 FAQ

New

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1262

I.41 How do I quickly check if I am running WSS 3.0 or MOSS 2007?

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1258 

III.49.17 Search: How do I change the scope of a search in MS Search Server 2008?

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1259

III.49.18 Search: Are there any issues I need to know about when using PDF IFilters with MS Search Server 2008 ?

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1261

V.74 Microsoft Office User's Guide to SharePoint 2007 (Apress - Michael Antonovich)

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1260

VI.86 Longitude for SharePoint (Ed: Search) (commercial - BA-Insight)

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1263

X.88 Visio Stencils for Sharepoint 2007 Site Structures documentation. Version 0.2. (Blog - Maxime)

Modified

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=813

V.07 Microsoft SharePoint 2007 Technologies: Planning, Design and Implementation (Digital Press - Kevin Laahs, Emer McKenna, Veli-Matti Vanamo)

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=967

V.40 Microsoft SharePoint - Technik und Einsatz (in German) (Microsoft Press, Deutschland - Egbert Jeschke) *released*

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1046

V.45 6 Microsoft Office Business Applications for Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MS Press - Microsoft [no author given]) *released* (out of stock Nov 11th)

http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=997

X.19 Ontolica Wildcard for MOSS 2007 (free limited version - Ontolica)

V WSSv2 KB Articles (plus SPS 2003 Hot fixes)

New

None

Modified

None

VI WSS v2 FAQ

New

None

Modified

None