Saturday, March 31, 2012

Developing Applications for SharePoint 2010

Patterns & Practices Developer Center for SharePoint 2010 introduces rich new areas of functionality that create more choices and fresh opportunities for developers and solution architects. Sandboxed solutions, new options for data modeling and data access, and new client programming models with Silverlight and Ajax integration offer a step change in what you can accomplish with SharePoint applications.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff770300.aspx
 
The documentation is divided into four core sections.

SharePoint 15 Features and Resources

“SharePoint 15″ – Its a hot topic in SharePoint world right now and I finally felt a need to write something about it. I am no expert on SharePoint 15 and I have no inside details about what features are included in SharePoint 15 but I have collected few key features that were mentioned by some of the great SharePoint gurus out there. Don’t forget to check the references for them at the end.
Features -
1. SharePoint 15 will include a new SharePoint Apps Marketplace.
2. New App Store Database Provider – App ‘package’ can be configured to use any back-end database that supports the new Database provider interfaces.
3. SharePoint Apps will support multi-tenant installations so that hosting providers can make available the same set of applications to multiple customers.
4. SharePoint 15 gets a new Education module/option.
(Another FYI – Microsoft is also working on making its Office 365 for Education globally available this summer as the successor to Live@Edu. Microsoft plans three pricing/licensing plans for it, namely A2, A3 and A4, the first of them being free for both students and faculty.)
5. SharePoint 15 and Exchange Server 15 are both getting additional built-in information-rights-management (IRM) document-protection functionality as part of the base products.
6. SharePoint Server 15 will also feature Rights Management Services (RMS) integration.
7. SharePoint 15 supports OAuth.
8. MDS or Minimal Download Strategy (MDS allows websites to take much less bandwidth than with traditional technologies.)
9. Project Online: New Project site to manage lightweight projects.
10. Visio cloud service component.
11. SharePoint Duet: A cloud version of the Duet add-on Developed by SAP and Microsoft that allows SharePoint to integrate with SAP applications.
12. Support for viewing business intelligence content on Apple iPad devices.
13. New Versioning – Now you will be also able to version entire parts of SharePoint. An entire site for instance.
14. Improved Client Object Model – The Client Object Model is extended with Search. Also no need to add Form Digest control in your page you can include that in your ClientContext.
References -
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/details-begin-to-leak-on-microsoft-sharepoint-online-2013/12184
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/microsoft-sharepoint-15-a-2012-release-target-an-app-marketplace-and-more/12002
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Microsoft-SharePoint-Online-2013-Details-Leak-259172.shtml
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=28768&
http://jeffreypaarhuis.com/2012/03/12/whats-new-in-sharepoint-15-sharepoint-2013/
http://www.collaboris.co.uk/blogs/blog-post/mark-jones/2012/01/31/will-sharepoint-15-%282013%29-finally-get-an-app-store-we-think-so

Thursday, March 29, 2012

The Industry is Changing—What about Your Skills

You’ve probably noticed that IT Technology cycles continue to compress. The advantages of Microsoft’s private cloud solution mean that it is easier and quicker than ever to develop and deploy new applications in a private cloud datacenter. And the software companies you depend on for your tools and environment—like Microsoft—have compressed their cycles, too. That means new more change, more often, as your work environment updates with new software and technologies.
Microsoft Certification continually updates too, to help you keep your skills up to date in this changing environment. We’re keeping Microsoft Certifications current with more streamlined, solutions-based certification paths covering the latest trends in the industry. For example, in addition to our upcoming Private Cloud certification, a Windows 8 Certification is coming soon.

And having a Microsoft Certification sends a clear message to employers that you have proven skills in the latest technologies. For instance, a 2011 CompTIA study found that IT professionals gain an average 9% salary increase immediately after receiving certification, and 29% over the long term, versus peers who are not certified (channelinsider.com, 2011-10-19). And in a in a 2010 survey of hiring managers, 91% said they consider employee certification as a criterion for hiring (Microsoft Learning, 2010).

Friday, March 23, 2012

Online Free SharePoint 2010 Trainings for Developers

  1. Get Started Developing on SharePoint 2010
    Use these ten modules to get started with development for SharePoint 2010 using Visual Studio 2010.
  2. Video Center | SharePoint 2010 Development
    Have just a few minutes to learn something new? Watch these short videos about creating custom solutions with SharePoint Online, SharePoint Server, and SharePoint Foundation.
  3. SharePoint 2010 Developer Training Kit
    Guidance that provides developers with advanced guidance on how to develop for SharePoint.
  4. SharePoint 2010 Advanced Developer Training
    SharePoint 2010 Advanced Developer Training offers technical training as self-paced modules and hosted labs for SharePoint 2007 professionals who want to upgrade their skills to SharePoint 2010.
  5. SharePoint 2010 Enterprise Search Developer Training
    The Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Enterprise Search training course provides a series of hands-on labs, presentations, and videos that demonstrate how to enable high-end enterprise search with Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 for Search and Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint
  6. SharePoint 2010 for Internet Sites Implementers' Course
    This course describes how to implement and brand a SharePoint based public website using SharePoint web content management (WCM).
  7. SharePoint 2010 Enterprise Content Management Implementers' Course
    This course teaches implementers how to leverage features in SharePoint Server to implement an Enterprise Content Management (ECM) system.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Keeping Relevant to Evolving Technology

Over the past 20 years, Microsoft Certifications have continually stayed relevant to the needs of technology professionals and the companies that employ them. Let’s look at some of the ways they’re keeping the certifications themselves relevant to changing technologies.
And speaking of changing technologies, IT departments all over the world have heard the news:

A private cloud delivers fundamentally new capabilities that represent a generational paradigm shift in computing.


By pooling resources across the datacenter and the enterprise and offering an elastic and usage-based self-service model, a private cloud solution simplifies deployment, maintenance, and cost, while increasing agility and power.

And this paradigm shift in computing means a paradigm shift in the skills IT professionals will need to configure, deploy, monitor, and operate private cloud solutions of today—and tomorrow. The increased capacity and capability of Private Cloud solutions means that IT Professionals and Developers will need to have a new and broader set of skills.

Microsoft Learning is addressing this need for new skills by ensuring it offers training and certifications that enable IT Pros and Developers to develop and validate their skill sets across this new range of skills with a focus on specific technology solutions.

One example of this effort is the recently announced private cloud certification. Available as a Beta release in April, the certification starts with the foundation of current Windows Server 2008 exams, and adds two new System Center 2012 exams, currently in beta.

Get started today by heading over to the Microsoft Private Cloud Certification Overview page. That’s where you can prepare and practice for the certification, sign up for our upcoming Private Cloud Jump Start course, and get a head start on your private cloud certification by starting your MCITP Server Administrator certification.