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Windows Sharepoint

Just found some notes from a Sharepoint conference I attended earlier in the year.

For search they recommended Search Server 2008 (free download). Here’s some additional information on installing and upgrading.
For code samples etc try codeplex.
For anti-virus try Forefront.

Some points:

Never use the default website for sharepoint
Some quick wins include setting up online forms, approval workflows and assigning emails to document libraries
Content types are important
There are two types of Sharepoint:
- Windows Sharepoint Server (WSS) – free from Microsoft
- Office Sharepoint – paid for product that sits on top of WSS

Well that was all I could take form the notes, probably not that helpful but better than nothing I guess.

If you know of any good Sharepoint resources let us know.

December 17, 2009

Puppy Linux – the small operating system

Firstly, for those who do not know, an operating system is software that is on your computer that allows you to run programs to do useful stuff such as surfing the net.

Windows is an operating system, it’s a big operating system! I downloaded a trial version recently and it came in over 2GB (2000MB). Puppy Linux is a small operating system, weighing in at around 100MB. Now that’s small! To be fair Windows does contains a lot more stuff then Puppy Linux but do you use all that stuff?

ITPro published an article on Puppy Linux recently on how it can be useful because of its smallness – easily running in memory from a CD or USB stick. It can also give an old PC a new lease of life.

To learn more about Puppy Linux read the ITPro article: Puppy Linux: Just for fun or go directly to the Puppy Linux website to read up on it and maybe even give it a try.

If you do then let us know what you think.

November 19, 2009

Google Chrome OS

Google has provided more details on it’s Chrome OS. Watch their YouTube video to learn more:

Here are Mashable’s differences between Chrome OS and other OS:

The browser IS the OS
It’s designed to fix itself
All apps are web apps, no installations
Chrome OS doesn’t support drivers and will not run on your laptop
Super-fast startup speeds (we’re talking seconds here)

I think this is a very positive development. As the video states we are now spending increasingly more time on the internet which raises the question: what’s the point of all that other OS stuff if all you really need is a web browser?

I really like the idea of no more updates interrupting you or the need to install programs because all the applications are web-based. This just seems a simplier model that I think a lot of people will welcome (especially of the price is right). It will not be an over night change but I do feel it is in the right direction.

Where does this leave Windows?

I don’t think things are going to change to much. Microsoft may lose some market share but hopefully the result will be a greater awareness by consumers that there are real alternatives out there to Windows and only a big name like Google can achieve that.

Further reading: