Some ways to use Sharepoint

I’ve found that people have a general idea of what SharePoint is, but many have no idea how to apply it to their own business and as a result they spend a lot of valuable time to analyse, design and develop applications for their needs. So, I’d like to share some ways that SharePoint can solve your common business needs.

I want to emphasize that listed ways are only a few of the many ways to utilize the SharePoint Services. Once you start using it, you will begin to realize the many other valuable benefits that can easily be accomplished by the everyday user. Let’s see if you can find a few productivity solutions here that you've been trying to find for your own business, organization or daily routine.


With SharePoint you can:

• SharePoint helps you build powerful business solutions using new features such as Language Integrated Query (LINQ) to SharePoint, OData Services, and the Client Object Model. You also can use Business Connectivity Services to pull external data, complete with read/write capability.
• Collaborate with team members on all documents and stay on top of who did what. Earlier versions can easily be restored in case someone has made too many mistakes. Projects can also be linked to related documents.
• Keep a central task location for assigning tasks to team members. These tasks will automatically show up in your team's Outlook 2007 To-Do List. Those tasks will also link to your projects so you can easily find out what tasks are still open for each project.
• Store all your emails on a secure and centralized Website for easy archive.
• Helps in project management by assigning tasks to your team members, and automatically notify them that they have a new task. Alerts are sent when there have been updates to the tasks.
• Organize large events and store the related documents, assigned tasks, and generally post anything and everything related to the events. It will also integrate with Outlook for added efficiency.
• Manage all projects for your team or organization so there's no need to explore buying an expensive project management solution.
• Implement a help ticket resolution for your organization or  team without breaking the bank.
• Use the efficient check-in / check-out management feature to sort your documents.
• Start a private company blog to communicate and share ideas with your team that's viewable only by those you give access to.
• Gain more control over your company's documents with the content approval function.
• Offer training materials to your teams, clients, and/or partners in a password-protected Website that can be accessed anywhere in the world.
• Offer a secure and private place to share documents and other information with clients and/or partners.
•  Create better team communication and brainstorming sessions where everyone can participate when their schedules permit.
• Centralize where company and team project announcements are posted. Everyone will receive a notification via email or mobile phone automatically, anywhere in the world.
•  Access and work with your data using your Internet-enabled mobile phone for added convenience while traveling or out of the office at client meetings.
•  Create "central" documents (and syncronize), so all team members, clients, and/or partners are able to work on the same document and make changes. Updates are accessible with a click of a button. Everyone can then sync back to the "central" document and have all edits merged into that single document.
• Create a project dashboard where on one page you can view and filter on common project elements, such as: project details, project documents, project tasks, project issues, project calendar, project milestones, project lessons learned, project risks, project change orders, and more.
• Pull up and update Microsoft Access 2007 database from a local desktop and sync information to a central location that can be accessed from any where at any time.
•  Easily add custom fields to any area and capture the information that's most important to your company, all without the help of a web designer or IT person.
•  Work offline on the files, project tasks, tasks, discussions, contacts, calendars, blogs, etc. and then sync the updated information later on.
• Create "central" documents (and syncronize), so all team members, clients, and/or partners are able to work on the same document and make changes. Updates are accessible with a click of a button. Everyone can then sync back to the "central" document and have all edits merged into that single document

And last but not least, saves you from spending a fortune to meet these communication, collaboration, and organizational needs.

Windows 8, iOS 6 set for tablet face off in 2012

The next version of Microsoft's Windows operating system puts a much bigger emphasis on tablets, yet by the time it's released Apple could be a whole two versions ahead from where it's at with its current tablet OS.

During Microsoft's public preview of its tablet-friendly next-generation Windows at the D9 confab earlier today, Windows and Windows Live boss Steven Sinofsky said the software would not be released this fall, and that a safer estimation would be that the company releases a new version of the software every "two to three years." As a frame of reference, Microsoft released Windows 7 near the end of October 2009, giving Microsoft nearly a year of wiggle room in 2012 to make good on that promise.

That message comes just days ahead of when Apple plans to take the wraps off iOS 5, the OS that runs on Apple's iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. Apple's announced a new version of that software every year since 2007 and has said it will do so with the fifth major iteration at its Worldwide Developers Conference next week. Even if Apple doesn't ship iOS 5 within the usual June time frame, it's a good bet it will at least be out this fall, potentially well ahead of Windows 8 and putting iOS 5's successor on a collision course with the next Windows release.

Of course, a better match-up between the two is Lion, the latest version of the Mac OS, which Apple is also demoing next week, and will likely give a price and a release date. That particular release has acquired a few iOS-like features, but the fact remains that it's not a tablet OS.

Microsoft's approach--as seen from the limited demo it offered today--is the same one it's been singing the praises of for years: there doesn't need to be a difference in a tablet OS and Windows as you know it. Applications can be skinned to be touch and tablet friendly, yet can also revert to standard Windows applications you'd use with a mouse and keyboard. In other words, you can can have your tablet, and a computer too.

Microsoft's reasoning there, according to Sinofsky, is that certain applications need that particular interface. That's as opposed to the developer having to completely reformulate an application, and custom-tailor it to whatever platform its on.
Sinofsky said Microsoft will be providing developers with APIs for building touch-centric applications that are able to connect to Windows applications, hopefully bridging the gap between the two.That approach is worlds apart from Apple's, at least with iOS. There the company has long stressed specific user design guidelines for iOS applications that tell developers to make applications that match the operating system's UI aesthetic.

From Apple's iOS Human Interface Guidelines document:

You know what your app does and who its audience is; now you need to make sure that your app looks and feels like it was designed expressly for an iOS-based device. This is crucial because people have high expectations for the apps they choose to install on their devices. If your app feels like it was designed for a different device, or for the web, people are less likely to value it.


Microsoft's rebuttal to that during today's demo was that legacy software is a crucial part of the Windows experience and that everything should be able to run on that platform.
One other area where Microsoft's thinking differently is that its tablet can double as a normal computer, letting users plug their existing peripherals in just like they would with a laptop. While Apple sells a keyboard accessory and is able to work with Bluetooth keyboards, the fact remains that iOS at its very core is all about touch. Adding a keyboard for apps like e-mail, word processors, and Web browsing makes sense--yet for most everything else, a mouse does not.

So will iOS 5 adopt these plug-and-play similarities on the tablet side? It's unlikely. What about Mac OS X getting more tablet friendly? Some of the features that have been brought over to Lion, including the iOS-like Launchpad app launcher, touch-screen-like trackpad inversion, and visual styling, suggest it's headed in that direction. Yet it would be at odds with the iPad if such a device were to run Mac OS X instead.

If anything's clear, it's that Microsoft still has some tricks on its sleeve. The split soft keyboard approach, which was the hallmark of the ill-fated ultra portable PC movement, is back and designed to give tablet users a way to type with their thumbs while holding the device. Microsoft's also on the brink of having an operating system that will run on x86 and ARM architectures, an area where Apple's currently divided with its computing efforts (which may not be the case forever).

We'll know more about where Apple's taking its tablet and mobile phone operating system next Monday, when WWDC kicks off. Expect a jab or two at Windows 8 from Cupertino along the way.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/

Groupon files its IPO papers

Groupon, helping to blow more air into the growing tech bubble, filed for an initial public offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The daily-deals company wants to raise $750 million. It's hired Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs as its bankers.
The announcement comes a week after rumors swirled that online gaming company, Zynga, will file for an IPO, and two weeks after the employment networking site LinkedIn went public.
Late last year, Groupon was seen as an acquisition target for Google, reportedly for a sum of around $5 billion.

Groupon chief executive Andrew Mason wrote a letter to potential investors, explaining the company's business strategy and warning that he intends to continue to focus on long-term goals.

"We spend a lot of money acquiring new subscribers because we can measure the return and believe in the long-term value of the marketplace we're creating," Mason wrote. "In the past, we've made investments in growth that turned a healthy forecasted quarterly profit into a sizable loss. When we see opportunities to invest in long-term growth, expect that we will pursue them regardless of certain short-term consequences."
In the filing, Groupon said it intends to use the proceeds for general corporate purposes, including acquisitions, though the company added that it does not have any acquisition commitments currently.
In his letter, Mason wrote that shareholders should "Expect us to make ambitious bets on our future that distract us from our current business. Some bets we'll get right, and others we'll get wrong, but we think it's the only way to continuously build disruptive products.

The filing note how quickly Groupon has grown. The company blossomed from five North American markets in June 2009 to 175 North American markets as well as markets in 42 other countries as of March. In the same period, the subscriber base soared from 152,000 to 83.1 million. Those customers helped generate $3.3 million in revenue in the second quarter of 2009, a figure that jumped to $644.7 million in the first quarter to 2011. And Groupon had 37 employees in June 2009, and now employs more than 7,100 workers.

That said, for the quarter that ended March 31, Groupon lost $146.5 million, compared to a profit of $8 million in the year earlier period. In 2010, the company lost $456.3 million, compared to a loss of $6.9 million in 2009. The filing offers some other details about the company, including executive compensation. Mason received $180,000 salary last year with no bonus. He opted to reduce his base salary this year to $575, and has eliminated the opportunity to get a bonus. That said, Mason also purchased 1.8 million shares in 2009, though he forfeited 150,000 of them this April for undisclosed reasons.
At one point in his letter, Mason took a light-hearted approach, noting that Groupon was an offshoot of The Point, a business designed to help users raise money for social action. Mason, though, shifted his focus to Groupon, which offered far more potential.

"After selling out on our original mission of saving the world to start hawking coupons, in order to live with ourselves, we vowed to make Groupon a service that people love using," Mason wrote.

Source: http://news.cnet.com