Fpweb.net SharePoint Blog

Are you a hospital with an ailing IT department?  SharePoint may be just the prescription you need to get back on your feet.  Who should you see first?  Of course, a SharePoint specialist – wink wink.  Health care providers all over the world are in love with SharePoint (MOSS 2007) because it helps them gain tremendous efficiencies.  They are also starting to realize that the hosted SharePoint cloud not only makes perfect sense, but frees up their already strained IT department.

Attention all Haiti Relief aids! If you are helping Haiti in any way and could use SharePoint’s collaboration, document storage, project management or mobile access features to speed the recovery process, let Fpweb.net know.  We are offering free SharePoint hosting for all aid workers, government agencies and businesses for as long as needed.

I figure you are all like me – and actually want your SQL 08 reporting services to work with the new SharePoint 2010 Access Services features.  I know how crazy that sounds, but that’s the kind of guy I am; I’m a dreamer!  In all seriousness though, I do have more than just sarcastic remarks for you in this post!

Issue:  Trying to run reports from SharePoint 2010 Access Services databases returns error statements.

Solution:  Use the SQL Server 2008 R2 November CTP with Reporting Services in SharePoint Integration mode, then install the SQL Server 2008 R2 November CTP Reporting Services add-in and follow the steps below.

Every wonder what’s buzzing through the minds that make up your company? Creating a survey using SharePoint is a quick and easy way to find out.

The diversity within the SharePoint community has always piqued our interest.  After all, there are millions and millions of SharePoint users across the globe.  Here at Fpweb.net, we have over 1,000,000 users ourselves.  We’ve got hosted SharePoint clients ranging from a one-man shop selling vases to some of the top dogs in fortune 500 companies and government agencies around the World.

This is your chance to let us and the SharePoint World know a little more about you and your business.  Send us a picture and cool blurb about how you use Fpweb.net hosted SharePoint or the impact that our SharePoint hosting services has had on your business.  Your testimonial could appear in the next swanky edition of the Frontier, along with an entry on our official blog, For What I.T.’s Worth.

The Fpweb.net crew has just returned from yet another exciting SharePoint Conference, this time in the fantastic city of San Francisco.  The first night in our new temporary stomping ground came wrought with excitement, as we hosted a dinner for some of the SPTechCon speakers, including @sharepointjoel, Mark Miller (@eusp), @wonderlaura and more.  The party started with a libation and laughter filled joyride through the city on a chauffeured luxury bus, followed by a tasty dinner at one of San Francisco’s best restaurants, Wolfgang Puck’s very own Town Hall.  We relished the opportunity to rest our travel weary bones and bask in the surrounding SharePoint greatness.  I can’t think of a better way to cap off our first night in the Golden Gate City! Check out some of the pictures from the dinner at Town Hall Restauarant.

The top question we were asked at the booth, besides ‘where can I get one of those light up glitter balls’ was how SharePoint hosting from Fpweb.net holds up against Microsoft’s BPOS.  After a bit of deep pondering, we came up with this little treasure trove of insight.

Microsoft’s BPOS – also known as “SharePoint Online” offering is like a huge ship of Titanic proportions.  With a ship this big, flexibility is not an option and change doesn’t come easy.  BPOS is great if you’re a small startup that needs Exchange and live meeting.  However, if the previous sentence doesn’t describe you, prepare to get a watered down, out of the box solution that remains the same, regardless of how your business evolves.

The Town Hall Restaurant was the place to be in San Francisco last Tuesday night! Just before the start of SPTechCon, we decided to give some of our friends a great dinner on us. It all started with an impressive 50 person luxury bus, sent to whisk our special guests away in style as they drank libations from the strategically placed coolers. The only complaint grumbled throughout the crowd was the lack of orange slices for those Blue Moons (sorry about that guys!)

Then it was off to Wolfgang Puck’s Town Hall Restaurant for a night of great food and even greater company. The Fpweb.net crew was dressed to the nines, chatting with some of the best names in the SharePoint game. The conversations were enlightening, dashed with a little bit of SharePoint talk here and there. As for me, I learned a lot about the must watch shows in New Zealand and Australia. Did you know that they play the Super Bowl over there with most of the same American commercials?

After a lot of conversation and a little bit of wine, it was time for a boisterous bus ride back to the hotel to get ready for the first day of SPTechCon. While the weather outside was just a tad bit chilly, the mood of the whole evening was nothing but warm and friendly. Thanks to everyone who came and we hope to see you again soon!

“Mac to Exchange” … “Come in Exchange, do you read me?”

Getting a shiny new Mac to connect to Microsoft Exchange is simple, as it should be right?  Apple prides itself on “It just works.”, so it should just work without a lot of complicated setup.  Lucky for us, talking to Exchange does just work, especially when talking to it from Snow Leopard, OS X 10.6.

SharePoint 2010 has more “flavors” to choose from than SharePoint 2007.  But unlike Ben & Jerry’s – where the choices are fun to sample, SharePoint’s are, well… not so much fun to make sense of.   No worries, Fpweb.net SharePoint Experts to the rescue with a small plastic spoon.  We have been sorting out SharePoint licensing for our customers for over a decade now.  Can we skip right to Cherry’s Garcia or Chunky Monkey?

So let’s identify the versions and talk about a few discoveries we have made getting our hosted SharePoint 2010 offering ready for you.