SharePoint Designer will be a free download as of 1 April 2009

Microsoft has decided to make SharePoint Designer available for free, as of the 1st of April 2009 you will be able to download a free version from the SPD site. Note that this does not mean SPD is 'end of life', the next version fo SPD (which I have seen at MVP Summit) will ship when the next version of SharePoint is released.

(more details on this blog post)

MOSSIG and Stargate Global Consulting thought this was a good reason to offer a free introduction training for SharePoint Designer, you can sign up for this 2 hour workshop here.

Each workshop will be limited to 12 people, so sign up quickly!

For questions, just leave a comment.

I'm a PC

The world knows MVP's are PC's now...


http://www.microsoft.com/video/en/us/details/6d53ed7b-f784-4c00-b145-3c1123debc40

BTW, I'm in the first shot wearing a black SharePoint cap.

Free SharePoint Developer Training

Microsoft has just made it very easy for you to step up to the plate and access a generous amount of training resources for free. Start at the Ramp Up page on MSDN and find your way through the maze guided by Microsoft Learning. The courses provide a nice managed way to work through a list of topics applicable to SharePoint as well as Visual Studio developers and help you prepare for certification if that's what your goal is.

Check it out now at http://www.myrampup.com/

VSeWSS 1.3 CTP Now delivers 64 bit support

Good news for those of you developing on 64bit hardware, the Visual Studio Extensions for Windows SharePoint Services is now available in a 64 bit version. And that's not the only improvement, but don't take my word for it, head on over to the SharePoint Team blog and check out the feature list.

Note that this is still a CTP and there are still developers on deck to fix any issues so it's important to download this version, give it a good workout and report any issues you find (through Connect , go to the forums) so they can be fixed before the official release.

Accessing Document Libraries through UNC paths using ports

'Tip of the day' ;-)

You're probably all aware SharePoint Document Libraries can be accessed in Windows Explorer by using a UNC name like \\MyServer\MySite\Document .

I've always been in the dark about how that would work for document libraries in sites running on other ports. All of a sudden I was browsing through the Net work places and I saw a server appearing with an @ followed by a port number. So that's how you can add a portnumber to a UNC path and it will give you direct access to your document libraries:

\\MyServer@55555\personal\edr\Mydocuments would give me access to a MyDocument library on my MySite runnig on port 55555 for example.

Some blog love

Now that I've moved on to Stargate fulltime and run the SharePoint practice my desk is next to the CRM Practice Manager, Mark Fowler. Mark has just started a new blog on Windows Live about Microsoft CRM. Here's his first post on CRM Accelerators.

For those of you unaware, Stargate is building and interesting range of Consulting Services and Training utilising the 'Microsoft Stack' now ranging from Project Management, via BizTalk and SharePoint to CRM.

PDC 208: Microsoft unveils Office Web Applications

I wasn't sure I should blog about this, there's heaps of posts on-line already, yet I want to make sure you don't miss it, so strong advice, checkout the news at the PDC site or do a search for "Office Web Applications" to see what Office 14 will deliver in the browser.

Can't wait for the big event in Sydney next week, Steve Balmer should have plenty to talk about!