I just saw this on the Microsoft site, Office SharePoint Server 2007 Training. Previously, I had the SharePoint Learning Kit but that didn’t work out. I was never able to get it to work right, so it wasn’t a usable resource for my end users. Hopefully this one will work just fine.
In my 2003 portal server that I maintained, the online training for end users was an integral part of my “New users class.” Its sometimes difficult for people to retain knowledge from a class when they’re new to it. So, I would let them know about the online training. After the upgrade though, that went away. I spent a lot of time creating my own training materials in PowerPoint :(
I might install this on my virtual server, it has bigger problems right now though. The main site won’t come up :)
While perusing a SharePoint blog, I saw an ad for a SharePoint offline reader. Its called Colligo Reader. First off, its free! That’s always a good thing. It allows you to sync a SharePoint site to your local machine so you can browse the documents at a later time. Obviously this is very useful for travelers but another reason may be for speed. Some sites can be painstakingly slow, sync a site while you’re doing something else and voila! You’ll have access to all the sites documents and lists.
Back in March I wrote about Installing Windows 2008, my experience with it. I finally had a chance to do some more in-depth test driving.
The login is cool, it has accessibility for the first time (text to speech, magnify, on screen keyboard). I tried out the on-screen keyboard because I’ve needed that before when one of my colleagues decides to unplug the keyboard. The only way for Windows Server 2003 to recognize the keyboard would be to reboot (not an option most times). It worked well and stays up for the rest of your session unless you close it.
Next I tried to experiment some more by joining it to a Windows Server 2003 Active Directory domain, no problems there. I know I could have gotten some more benefits by making my 2008 server the DC but I actually want to install Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007. There’s a lot of improvements with IIS that I really want to test out!
One thing I noticed that I don’t particularly like is that a lot of install happen in the background. Usually its a software update or device driver and I don’t mind that at all for my desktops. But when it comes to my servers I really need to know everything that’s happening, all the changes and for the most part I want to document them.
The Initial Configuration Tasks window is the first thing you see. Its organized and I think its more efficient than doing these tasks during install. I chose to add a role for Web Server (to install IIS). The wizard driven interface was easy and faster. The best part was that instead of complaining about missing components and failing, it gave a warning to allow you to confirm you want to install the needed prerequisites – very nice!
That’s it for now, I need to look at some of the new terminology in 2008 (Features?!) And eventually get around to installing MOSS. Should be interesting…
I tested out this facial recognition software today and I was pretty impressed. Its called LemonScreen and its made by KeyLemon. I’m not going to write a full review about it but just to highlight some points that I personnaly like and dislike.
I like:
That its free.
That it seems to work pretty well.
I can save time because I don’t have to type in a password.
Alternately, you can use a password to get back in.
Setup was amazingly easy.
I dislike:
Lack of features, I think it should be modularized so others can create plug-ins for it.
That it only works with one person. What if I want to add my whole family to it??
That there’s no feature for a two-factor authentication.
During my testing, after the 5 minute inactivity (that you can change), the screen locked. I sat down at my computer and immediately it unlocked. It didn’t do any “Please wait… analyzing” or anything stupid like that, it just unlocked and I was ready to go.
Wouldn’t it be nice if it was extendable, I mean if you could replace this for website you visit or to open documents and other things. For now, its a good tool to use on for an alternate login for Windows. I’d like to see a Linux and Mac version. I give it a 4/5 rating. You can read more about it here:
http://bobbytoat.blogspot.com/2008/02/free-facial-recognition-software.html
This was funny:
Picture of All Team Members: Run “admin console†(MMC) with the “/SMS:EE=238†switch, then right-click the root node and click Credits. Pictures of all team members and their names will appear.
Actually I haven’t tried it yet, this is from ITSecurity.com article “The 101 Coolest Easter Eggs Hidden in Your Software, DVDs and Video Games”
Time to fire up VPC and see it work!
