Announcing three CodePlex projects for community developed SharePoint WCM components

Announcing three CodePlex projects for community developed SharePoint WCM components

There's been some buzz about the Community Kit for SharePoint during the past few days, but it's not the only exciting and useful SharePoint oriented shared source project on CodePlex. The SharePoint Governance, SharePoint Features, and SharePoint Learning Kit projects are definitely also worth a good look.

Now, a couple of SharePoint MVPs, Andrew Connell and Spencer Harbar, who are well known within the community for their expertise in the web content management capabilities of MCMS 2002 and MOSS 2007, have accepted the responsibility for adopting and enhancing the WCM field controls, web parts, and utilities donated by the Microsoft SharePoint product group and for growing the community of volunteers, who will help create even more shared source WCM components in the future.

Their SharePoint WCM projects and the currently available components are listed below:

SharePoint 2007 WCM Field Controls
A collection of sample Field Controls for use within Publishing Sites built using Office SharePoint Server 2007's Web Content Management features.

• MultimediaFieldControl: Custom field type and control allowing content authors to specify a URL, width and height of a media file (SWF, PDF, WMV, MPEG, AVI, MPG, MOV) and renders the display of the control with the appropriate ActiveX control markup.

SharePoint 2007 WCM Web Parts
A collection of sample Web Parts for use within Publishing Sites built using Office SharePoint Server 2007's Web Content Management features.

• FAQWebPart: Web Part that allows business users to contribute to a frequently asked questions list which is rendered with DHTML allowing users to expand/collapse each FAQ item.
• RandomFlashMovieWebPart: Web Part that allows a content author to select one or more Flash movies from a SharePoint library. The Web Part will then display one of the Flash movies, at random, in display mode.
• ThumbnailWebPart: Content authors can specify a SharePoint library containing images that the Web Part will generate thumbnails for. It allows content authors to specify the size, sort order and the number of thumbnails to be displayed in one row.

SharePoint 2007 WCM Utilities
A collection of useful utilities for Publishing Sites built using Office SharePoint Server 2007's Web Content Management features.

• METATagsGenerator: This ASP.NET 2.0 server control renders HTML tags for each field in the current page’s content type.
• PropertyBagFeature: Allows content authors to modify values within the property bag of pages… similar to the custom properties provided in MCMS 2002.
• SharePointSSLHttpModule: Makes it easy for developers to SSL enable certain parts of a MOSS 2007 WCM Publishing site.

"Under the Hood" white papers for Fantastic 40 Application Templates and Splendid 7 My Site Templates now available!

"Under the Hood" white papers for Fantastic 40 Application Templates and Splendid 7 My Site Templates now available!

Ever since the releases of the ”Fantastic 40” Application Templates for WSS 3.0 and “Spendid 7” Role-Based My Site Templates for MOSS 2007 during the past several months, many people have asked, “How did they build this or that?” or “Why would they build it this or that way?” So, I’m very happy to announce that the “Under the Hood” white papers for both sets of templates are now available for you to download via the hyperlinked titles below!

“Under the Hood” of the Fantastic 40 Application Templates

The purpose of this paper is to describe how Microsoft developed the application templates, identifying best practices for how to work with core capabilities within both Windows SharePoint Services and SharePoint Designer, with the goal of empowering customers and partners to create their own applications. The paper is not a substitute for the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 SDK, nor is it primarily a developer resource. Developers should use the SDK for understanding generally how to extend Windows SharePoint Services 3.0.

This paper is meant to be a resource for a new breed of site designers. Because Windows SharePoint Services and SharePoint Designer make it possible to build so much application functionality through the UI, advanced development skills are not required to build rich applications. To be sure, this paper does describe some custom code implementations for particularly tricky design patterns, but the overall methodology should be accessible to non-developers and is presented with that audience in mind. Developers may want to quickly read through the early sections on tools and methodology and pay more attention to the description of the design patterns and the specific examples of how to implement those design patterns

When you finish this paper, you should have a good understanding of how to design and architect an application, how to begin by building a site directly in Windows SharePoint Services, including building linked lists, custom columns, libraries, workflows, and so on, how to then open the site in SharePoint Designer to make further customizations, create custom forms, add custom code to change certain behaviors, create custom workflows, and so on, and, finally, how to create the application template itself and deploy it for usage.

“Under the Hood” of the Splendid 7 My Site Templates

This paper discusses the strategy for building the role-based My Site templates and takes an in-depth look at the common features and Web Parts that make up each of the templates. The paper also provides guidelines for branding, extending, and deploying the My Site Templates and covers a comprehensive set of scenarios that include collaboration, business process management, reporting, document lifecycle management, and project management.

25 web sites to watch

25 web sites to watch

Think that all of the great Web sites have already been invented? Think again. The Internet is evolving in new and inventive ways thanks to mashups that pull data from all over the Web and to AJAX-based interfaces that give sites the same degree of interactivity and responsiveness that desktop apps possess.

To keep you ahead of the curve, we've rounded up 25 innovative Web sites and services that are well worth watching. Some of them help you design your own personalized Web site mashups; others enable you to create video mixes, build wikis, share personal obsessions, and more. But take note: A number of these sites are works in progress, and user-generated sites depend on developing a critical mass of content, which doesn't happen right away. With that in mind, check out the following dot-com destinations. One of them may become the next big Web hit.

In an article that came out today, PCWorld lists Microsoft Popfly as one of the 25 Websites to Watch – their way of picking out cool services and sites that could potentially be the next big Web hits.

It is great to see the tremendous enthusiasm from the community in Popfly. We already have several thousand pieces of user created content that we are hosting. I love the creativity that we are seeing here with a number of fun projects.

For example, there is a block called “ScribbleCanvas” where you can take an existing picture and use your creativity by adding hats, funny glasses, and other accessories. My team has already tried this out on a picture of me, which I conveniently decided not to post here.

Visual Studio Team Edition for DB Professionals

Visual Studio Team Edition for DB Professionals

Historically, we have always been focused on improving the individual developer productivity with every release of VS. When we introduced Visual Studio Team System (VSTS) as part of Visual Studio 2005 late last year, we expanded our focus to significantly enhance software team productivity with an integrated set of tools that enable team members to work together in a collaborative fashion. We are now ready to take the next big step forward in that evolution.

I’m excited to announce today a new addition to the VSTS family – Visual Studio Team Edition for Database Professionals.

Visual Studio Team Edition for Database Professionals is a great example of the innovation we are bringing to the application lifecycle management (ALM) market. It’s a market-shifting database development product designed to manage database changes, improve software quality through database testing and bring the benefits of Visual Studio Team System and life cycle development to the database professional (such as database architects, database developers and database administrators).

You can find out more about it and get access to early community technology previews here.

We’re making Visual Studio Team Edition for Database Professionals part of the Visual Studio Team Suite, so you’ll get this product for free when we RTM this edition if you are a Visual Studio Team Suite subscriber through MSDN.

We’re in the midst of planning for the next version of Visual Studio Team System and I’ll post more details as we make more progress.Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy the CTP (to be released at TechEd the week of June 11th) and look forward to your feedback on this product.

Security Track in TechMela 2007

Security Track in TechMela 2007

Another track which I am eagerly looking forward is the security track. This time the theme of the security track is around security products. Today Microsoft has a wide range of products in the security domain. These products include client side antivirus, antivirus for messaging and collaboration servers, application layer firewall, network hygiene technologies and identity management. These products are the results of heavy investments made by Microsoft in the security space in terms of research, development and acquisition. Security experts from different organizations within Microsoft are going to deliver sessions in this track. For detailed information on sessions and speakers click here The security track is on June 16^th.

Ok, now I don't have much time left to write about all the track details. In the next few blog posts I am going to discuss in detail the sessions I am going to deliver in this year's TechMela. I am a speaker in the Enterprise mobility track. This is on June 16^th .

Windows Mobile 6 and Exchange Server 2007

Windows Mobile 6 and Exchange Server 2007

This is one of the sessions I am going to deliver in TechMela 2007. Last year also during TechEd I presented a session on mobile messaging. But the world of mobile messaging has changed a lot in the past one year. While WM 5 and Exchange 2003 were the products of interest last year, this year I am going to talk more about the new enhancements in Exchange server 2007 and Windows mobile 6.

New features are there in both Windows mobile as well as Exchange server. So to reap the complete benefit of the latest technologies, the ideal combination one should be using is Exchange Server 2007 on the server side and Windows Mobile 6 on the client end.

The architecture of Exchange has considerably changed in its latest version. Exchange Server 2007 has multiple server roles. It is the client access server (CAS) role that is most relevant to Windows mobile clients. The configuration of mobile devices and access to the Exchange Server system are done at the CAS. My session will have the details of the deployment architecture and security best practices around the same. In fact I am covering the security part very much in detail. In short the security features include

• Secure deployment
• Protecting the data while it is transmitted between the Exchange server and the Windows mobile device
• Protecting the data residing in the device
• Policy enforcement
• Information rights management (IRM)

I will be demoing the policy enforcement feature using the mini lab I have set up in my laptop J.While writing this blog I am still exploring the options to demo the IRM feature. Hope I will be able to manage that demo too.

After talking about security features, I will be spending few slides on the manageability part of the mobile messaging system. OWA self-support is the key demo I am going to include in this section.

And I will conclude the session with a couple slides as well as demos on Outlook Mobile features.

Script# + Reflector

One of the benefits of using Script# that I've alluded to multiple times now, is the ability to use a standard class browser like .NET Reflector against your code. If you're using Reflector, you probably want to browse your Script# assemblies separate from the .NET Framework assemblies because of their overlap (eg. both of them contain a definition of System.Object and other basic classes such as String, Int32 etc.). In fact Reflector has the notion of assembly lists so you can already create interesting groups of assemblies and open/browse them as a set.

I've been asking Lutz for a feature to enable defining and storing an assembly set into a file, and then launching reflector.exe with an assembly list file. He has added that functionality as of version 5.0.21.0, so if you don't have the latest version (you probably do, given the auto-update functionality) go and download it now.

Essentially you can now have .reflector files with a plain list of assembly paths. You'll need to run reflector.exe /register once so that file association is created. Once you've done that, you can download ScriptSharp.reflector (the set of Script# assemblies and ScriptFX script framework), and ScriptSharpAtlas.reflector (the set of Script# assemblies usable against Microsoft ASP.NET AJAX). Caveat: For these standalone files, I've assumed the default install path, so you may need to edit them depending on your particular setup. This will be cleaned up in the future once the Script# installer creates these files and places shortcuts into the start menu.

The screenshot below shows browsing against the ASP.NET AJAX assemblies along with documentation. As most users of reflector will know, the tool picks up the same doc-comments stored in xml files alongside their associated assemblies that are used to drive intellisense inside Visual Studio.

The Script# readme describes all the assemblies in more detail. So there you have it ... class-browser support and some initial documentation... enjoy!

ASP.NET Futures

ASP.NET Futures

We recently put out the Microsoft ASP.NET Futures May 2007 release. This release includes an early developer preview of features currently being considered for future versions of ASP.NET and the .NET Framework. This showcases a number of innovative solutions that further drive up developer productivity and help create better user experiences. Features include:

ASP.NET AJAX - New functionality includes CSS selector APIs, navigation history support (Back button support), and more.

Silverlight Controls for ASP.NET - Enables the ability to integrate rich interactive application scenarios and add media (video, audio), vector graphics, and animations with new, powerful ASP.NET server controls – XAML and Media sever control.

Dynamic Data Controls for ASP.NET - Introduces a set of data controls that provide a simple, intuitive user interface for data-driven Web pages.

ASP.NET Application Services - Offers new application services to make AJAX and Silverlight Web applications more discoverable from search engines and easily searchable from within the site. Additional services help you gather and analyze data about client errors.

Dynamic Languages support in ASP.NET - Provides support for both IronPython and Managed Jscript, as well as the DLR (Dynamic Language Runtime) - extending the language choice for developers and brings the benefits of dynamic languages to the entire .NET platform from client to server. With the DLR you can use those same languages on the Server for ASP.NET Web applications, Web Services, and more.

The product teams truly value the feedback they receive from the developer community as it influences decisions for subsequent releases, so I encourage you check out the ASP.NET Futures May 2007 release.

TFS Project Server Connector

TFS Project Server Connector

Last week nearly 13,000 people gathered in Orlando for TechEd 2007. We heard lots of excitement around Visual Studio 2008 (yes we announced the actual name for “Orcas”), the Visual Studio Shell (ideal for ISV partners and enterprise customers who want to leverage the power of Visual Studio as a platform to build their own applications), and that IIS will be part of the Windows Server Core edition for Windows Server 2008. In one attendee’s own words “Even after 15 years of programming, I felt like butterfly trying to hang-on the hood of a Ferrari on the Autobahn”.

TechEd is a great opportunity for the product team and the community to get a chance to interact face-to-face. My team always comes back with great new comments, ideas and passion to ensure we meet the needs of our developer and designer community.

One great example of this is the TFS Project Server Connector which was released today. Our internal VSTS gurus (dubbed the VSTS Rangers), worked hand in hand with community developers using Codeplex to plan and develop the integration between Team Foundation Server and Project Server.

Although TFS already integrates into Project Standard and Professional, we received a lot of customer feedback that they would like the same integration seamlessly with Project Server. This connector will provide more effective Enterprise Resource Management across development projects, better project management, improved status management and automated updates. As of today, you can now download and use this product. We have also posted the final version also back to Codeplex as shared source for developers to also extend this to their exact business requirements.

Linux Violates Microsoft's Patents - Final Part

Linux Violates Microsoft's Patents

So sue me!

Through this calculated move to declare that GNU/Linux infringes on its patents, Microsoft may be trying to take the shock and awe game to the next level. There is a possibility that Microsoft might now get into low-profile talks with industry players and convince them to sign cross-licensing deals. To push its agenda ahead, Microsoft might even try to slap some lawsuits against competitive companies. Even if the court rejects appeals relating to the first round of patents, Microsoft would be ready with another set. It has enough resources to drag a legal dispute. In a situation like this, the defending company would be forced into an out-of-court settlement. And that translates into one thing: crosslicensing and royalties.

''It seems unlikely that they would go after the Linux companies initially, who have everything to lose and so would fight to the end. It's much more likely that they would first go after a company whose use of Linux or open source is incidental, so Microsoft could reasonably force them to switch back to MS software or to pay a small fee to settle. But the history of SCO trying to do the same thing is probably discouraging Microsoft from going any further than they are today,'' says Behlendorf.

Many industry experts feel that it would be a poor idea for Microsoft to scare GNU/Linux users through patent infringement threats because almost every company has a mixed environment. Along with the open source solutions they use Microsoft products as well. It would make no sense for Microsoft to alienate its customers. Besides, some governments are also major users of proprietary software, even as they advocate open source software. It's nearly impossible to sue a government.

Will Microsoft sue the larger supporters of GNU/Linux, such as Sun (which pays many OpenOffice.org developers), IBM or Red Hat?

Wasserman believes that, ''It would be a bad idea for them to sue people or companies. SCO has spent six years trying to pursue similar claims against IBM with no success. IBM is very well prepared to fight Microsoft on this issue, and Microsoft might well lose many of the patents that it claims as its own. I would also note that IBM has recently stated that it would not pursue claims on many patents that it holds, effectively giving them to the open source community. Finally, the stock price of Red Hat has not changed significantly since the Microsoft announcement, an indication that the investment community does not view the claims as a significant potential threat to Red Hat's business.''

There is another reason why Microsoft might not want to take some companies to court for patent infringement. In a recent high-profile dispute, involving Microsoft and AT&T, the US Supreme Court sided with Microsoft rejecting AT&T's claims that Microsoft infringed on its patents. In a separate case, judges also made it clear that courts should be more flexible in the way they interpret the standards governing whether patents are valid or merely obvious' combinations of previous inventions.

''I'm not a lawyer, but I did understand that decision to make it tougher to litigate internationally on software patents. The US Supreme Court, in another recent decision, also seemed to raise the bar for obviousness of patents by invalidating one patent that was a mere combination of two prior innovations. Microsoft has actually been fighting to limit the power of patents in some of these cases, and supports the patent reform bill currently in front of the US Congress. It makes sense -- remember the Eolas decision? Bad patents, and bad patent law and precedent are just as dangerous to Microsoft as they are to open source -- perhaps more so,'' says Behlendorf.

May the force be with you

It has been made abundantly clear that big companies are in a much stronger position to counter Microsoft's shock and awe game. But, there is some element of fear amongst small developers or start-ups that want to stick to GNU/Linux. Who would come to the rescue of small players if Microsoft decides to go after them?

''We are engaged in improving software patents, as well, through our Open Source as Prior Art Program. Also, as I stated before, with our members' backing, the Linux Foundation has created a legal defence fund to defend users or developers of open source software against malicious attack. Organisations like the Linux Foundation exist to defend the community in cases like this. In addition, when you take on a single member of this community, you take on everyone. That is a powerful force,'' declares Zemlin with passion and conviction.

These words very well address the fear, if there was any!

Republished with Permission :
More Details http://efytimes.com/archive/preview.asp?articleid=14

Linux Violates Microsoft's Patents - part 3

Linux Violates Microsoft's Patents

Shock and awe

There are many players who rely on GNU/Linux, and here was a possibility to use a shock and awe strategy to intimidate them. Observers feel that this move might scare those players, forcing them to sign cross-licensing deals with Microsoft. The best thing Microsoft could come out with was fresh claims that GNU/Linux infringes on its patents. Only this time, it gave a number as well -- 235.

But the GNU/Linux community seems unaffected. ''There are collective industry groups like the Open Innovation Network and our own legal programmes at the Linux Foundation that aggregate patents against predatory patent trolls. With our members' backing, the Linux Foundation has created a legal defence fund to protect users or developers of open source software against malicious attack. While we don't expect to, we will invoke this fund, if needed, to defend Linux,'' avers Zemlin.

The confidence in organisations like OIN is deeply rooted within the FOSS community. ''I sleep pretty well at night without a concern that there is some time bomb that Microsoft could set off that would overnight remove my ability to use critical open source software. I do not plan to have to pay Microsoft any money; at worst, I might have to give up a feature here or there that has to have a workaround because none of the above approaches work. Despite that, it's worth worrying enough about the issue to make sure we have strong legal institutions in open source -- the non-profits around major foundations, the Software Freedom Law Centre, the Open Innovation Network, etc,'' says Behlendorf.

In the wake of these allegations, Rosenthal decided to shoulder the task of building trust and a sense of security amongst GNU/Linux players, by stating, ''This is not the first time that unsubstantiated claims of patent infringement have been levelled at Linux. Moreover, just as in the past, these claims are made without disclosing any evidence. It's time to stop the accusations and show the evidence.''

Name it to claim it

Microsoft has not yet revealed the specific infringements, although it has described the areas. "Out of the 235 patents it claims to have been violated by GNU/Linux, 42 are said to be part of the Linux kernel, about 45 are part of OpenOffice.org, and about 65 are related to the graphical user interfaces (in GNOME and KDE, for example),'' says Tony Wasserman, executive director, Centre for Open Source Investigation, and director, the Software Management programme, Carnegie Mellon West.

According to Lachal, ''Microsoft has been claiming that open source software infringes on its patents for some time but had so far declined to give any details. Microsoft is still refusing to specify which patents are being infringed (a common stance among IP holders: it is not in their interest to divulge their IP cards until it becomes legally necessary).''

''It's important to note that the US Patents and Trademarks Office has very little expertise in the area of software, which makes it possible for someone to patent almost anything. It's hard to know if Microsoft's patent claims would be upheld if they were challenged and reviewed,'' adds Wasserman.

Behlendorf, too, is not buying any of Microsoft's claims, ''Until they reveal specifics about which patents they feel conflicted, there's really no way to determine how concrete their claims are.''

Defending the company's claims, Horacio Gutierrez, vice president of intellectual property and licensing, Microsoft, says, ''Even the founder of the Free Software Foundation, Richard Stallman, noted last year that Linux infringes well over 200 patents from multiple companies. The real question is not whether The real question is not whether there exist substantial patent infringement issues, but what to do about them. Microsoft and Novell have already developed a solution that meets the needs of customers, furthers interoperability, and advances the interests of the industry as a whole. Any customer that is concerned about Linux IP issues needs only to obtain their open source subscriptions from Novell.''

Ironically, even Microsoft's closest ally in the open source world, Novell, doesn't seem happy with the allegations made by Microsoft. Bruce Lowry, director, global public relations corporate services, Novell, writes on the Novell Open PR, ''There's an article out in Fortune Magazine talking about Microsoft, intellectual property and open source. Because of our interoperability agreement with Microsoft, which includes a patent element, Novell is featured in the story. We've received a number of inquiries about the story, in which Microsoft lays out the specific number of patents it claims are violated in Linux and other open source projects. While providing numbers is new, the claims that violations exist are not new. In response to similar Microsoft claims back in November, we put out an open letter from our CEO, Ron Hovsepian, which states our position on this issue. That position hasn't changed.''

Hovsepian wrote in that open letter, ''We disagree with the recent statements made by Microsoft on the topic of Linux and patents. Importantly, our agreement with Microsoft is in no way an acknowledgment that Linux infringes upon any Microsoft intellectual property. When we entered the patent cooperation agreement with Microsoft, Novell did not agree or admit that Linux or any other Novell offering violates Microsoft patents.''

Linux Violates Microsoft's Patents - part 2

Linux Violates Microsoft's Patents

Get them before they get you

The industry seemed to be well aware of Microsoft's intentions. There was a remote fear within the industry that Microsoft might use its patent portfolio to scare other companies and force them to sign cross licensing deals. Biggies like IBM, with larger patent portfolios than Microsoft, would be well prepared to counter Microsoft in court, but no one else would want to wrestle with the legal team of one of the world's biggest companies. So, some of the giants -- IBM, Novell, NEC, Sony, Red Hat and Philips -- came together and erected a firewall, Open Invention Network (OIN), as a shield against Microsoft's possible threats. Under the leadership of Jerry Rosenthal, ex-vice president, intellectual property and licensing business, IBM, OIN is committed to providing security to its members against any licensing threat posed by proprietary giants like Microsoft.

Jerry Rosenthal, as the chief executive officer of OIN, set out to acquire patent after patent, creating a pool for the open source community and corporate world. This pool of patents was to be used for cross-licensing purposes to defend the GNU/Linux environment, as well as to make these available to support GNU/ Linux by licensing them on a royaltyfree basis.

Microsoft exploits GPL's zero day vulnerability

The creation of OIN seemed to have thwarted Microsoft's plans to a great extent, but it couldn't let go of the lucrative open source market so easily. Microsoft succeeded in getting one of the GNU/Linux players, Novell, into its camp. On 2nd November 2006, Novell and Microsoft signed a pretty controversial deal. On the face of it, the deal was projected as an effort to smoothen interoperability between the two platforms, but there was surely something lurking behind the smokescreen. And it was pretty visible in the press release issued by the two companies: ''The patent cooperation agreement enables Microsoft and Novell to give customers assurance of protection against patent infringement claims. It gives customers confidence that the technologies they use and deploy in their environments are compliant with the two companies' patents.'' Through this deal, Microsoft not only got access to OSS, but also sent an indirect message that GNU/ Linux infringes on some of its patents. Thus, those who use Novell would remain immune to any lawsuit Microsoft may file against those who violate its patents.

This was a wake up call for the GNU/Linux community. The Free Software Foundation immediately got into the act and started discussions to revise and update the GNU GPL; to patch the holes that Microsoft had exploited to sign the deal with Novell.

Releasing the third discussion draft for GNU GPL version 3, on 28th March 2007, Richard Stallman, president of the FSF and principal author of the GNU GPL, wrote on the FSF website, ''The GPL was designed to ensure that all users of a program receive the four essential freedoms that define free software. These freedoms allow you to run the program as you see fit, study and adapt it for your own purposes, redistribute copies to help your neighbour and release your improvements to the public. The recent patent agreement between Microsoft and Novell aims to undermine these freedoms. In this draft, we have worked hard to prevent such deals from making a mockery of free software.''

However, even if the doors to exploit the 'zero day vulnerability' in GNU GPL were shut, there still seemed scope for Microsoft to not only make money out of the deal, but also re-enforce its claim that GNU/ Linux infringes on its patents. Microsoft then did something that infuriated the open source community even more. In the months of March and April, it signed controversial cross-licensing deals with Fuji Xerox and Samsung Electronics Co. It was made clear in the press release issued by Fuji Xerox that it ''will obtain access to Microsoft's patents for Fuji Xerox's existing and future product lines, including products that incorporate proprietary source and open source software, such open source software, such as Linux.'' Whereas the Samsung-Microsoft deal announcement read, ''...Samsung will also obtain coverage from Microsoft for its customers' use of certain Linux-based products.''

Experts believe that Microsoft has accomplished what it wanted to achieve. According to Laurent Lachal, director, open source research, Ovum, an independent research firm, ''It seems to work. Following the open source-specific patent agreement with Novell (which does not prevent Novell from suing Microsoft should the latter become too overly confident), the company has signed IP deals with Fuji Xerox and Samsung that cover both closed and open source software.''

Linux Violates Microsoft's Patents

The Conspiracy Theory:

Linux Violates Microsoft's Patents

The penetration of GNU/Linux had increased and Microsoft just couldn't sit back and see its potential clients move out of its camp. It wanted to make money out of GNU/Linux, and it did!

By Swapnil Bhartiya, assistant editor, EFYTimes.com

Run! Hide! Surrender! That's the reaction Microsoft probably expected from the open source community when, in a high profile interview, Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith and licensing chief Horacio Gutierrez told Fortune magazine that GNU/Linux infringes on at least 235 of its patents. But it seems Microsoft missed the bull's eye not by inches, but by a few feet. And we are still not sure as to what Microsoft wanted to achieve with its shenanigans.

One would doubt that this is something Microsoft had thought of overnight - simply because it's one of those companies that plan strategies far ahead, after analysing market trends. The company might have noticed some trends upsetting its dominance in the global market. Most of its online properties werenot performing well. Hotmail, a name that was once synonymous with email, seemed to be losing ground to Yahoo! And people were not even searching for something called MSN Search in Google, let alone using it. Meanwhile, GNU/Linux was trespassing heavily into its core territory -- the desktop market.

Apart from that, while OpenOffice.org was offering strong competition to Microsoft Office, Google was reshaping the computing world by taking desktop-based applications to a virtual online world, with its Google Docs and other applications.

Linux was dominating the server market, and there was little space for Microsoft to fight that with its closed model when enterprises wanted transparency. Desktop-oriented GNU/ Linux operating systems were getting glossier and more user friendly. And distributions like Ubuntu had started to replace Windows as the preferred OS.

Adding insult to injury, Microsoft's much-hyped Windows Vista turned out to be a jobless prodigal son. IT managers, after looking at the cost of transition, the limited number of device drivers for Vista, the incompatibility of file formats and the restraining issues, had made the decision to not switch to the 'new' thing. The only Vista buyers were those who were getting it preinstalled with new PCs. Even new users had started demanding XP instead of Vista (refer to They Want XP back, published in the June issue of 'i.t.' magazine, page 22). This same pattern was repeated with office suites -- only a few had moved from Office 2003 to Office 2007. In a nutshell, nothing seemed to be working in favour of Microsoft.

''In the time it will probably take your readers to go through this article, Microsoft will have made $500,000 in net profit. It's instructive to note that the majority of that profit comes from its Windows and Office lines of business; not coincidently, the two lines of business most threatened by Linux and OpenOffice.org (also, these are the primary technologies whose intellectual property Microsoft claims are being infringed on). Given the high stakes involved, it's not surprising that Microsoft would take steps to protect its turf,'' says Jim Zemlin, executive director, The Linux Foundation.

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The hidden agenda

The software industry saw a major trend emerge when software patents started getting recognition in the United States. Most companies started piling up stacks of patents. Microsoft picked up the trend, though a little late, and began filing for new patents. In this heap of patents, Microsoft might have seen a very promising revenue generation model -- envisaging that it could make money from the markets it had no direct presence in. The company started signing cross-licensing deals with other companies, en masse. The rule of cross licensing is simple: 'I will pay you for the 10 licences you hold, and you will pay me for the 20 licences I have.' The company that holds greater value in their licences ends up getting royalties for them.

Microsoft, being the company it is, would have been aware that the increasing penetration of GNU/Linux had started burning a hole in its pocket. Red Hat and Novell were enjoying the lion's share of the Linux server market. Microsoft seemed to be getting nothing out of this lucrative market. Also, the corporate open source world was posing direct competition to Microsoft's products. The Redmond giant needed a plan to take on the market. So it did what anyone else would have done -- it started tapping open source companies for cross-licensing deals.

''They want to put a tax on open source -- even though they had nothing to do with its development. Their modus operandi is to seek a fee from every computer user in the world, and they can't imagine someone using a computer without becoming a licensee of Microsoft. It feels like 'free money' to them, so why not? They're only acting in their shareholders' interests, which they are legally required to do,'' says Brian Behlendorf, CTO, CollabNet.

To be continue.........

Silverlight With Java Script Tutorial 01

Silverlight With Java Script Tutorial 01

Purpose of this Series

On the Silverlight.Net Forums, I see repeated questions arise, and after a "Web Developer Conference" this morning, I realized that there really still are a lot of developers out there that have not actually tried their hand at Silverlight yet because of the perceived complexity involved.

Couple that with the fact that many of the existing 'Tutorials' seem to want to jump right into Visual Studio and AJAX, I thought I'd take a shot at simplifying this all even further.

This first Tutorial

The purpose of this tutorial is to show how simple it is to Silverlight-enhance a web page. Everything necessary to do so with the exception of the bits from the SDK are included on this page, and a link to the SDK is given along with instructions, so within just a few minutes, you should have your first Siverlight web page running!

It is normally my intent to explain everything in detail, but I'm breaking with that tradition on this page. Because I want you to be able to get a page up quickly, I'm going to bypass delving into some of the syntax this time in favor of product-to-browser.

The Bottom Line

The 'Bottom Line' on putting up your first web page containing a Silverlight canvas is that you don't need AJAX, and you don't need Visual Studio! Worst-case scenario is notepad... if you have a good color-coded templated code editor, that's great as well, but also not necessary.

The minimum need for a Silverlight-enhanced web page is 3 things:

The html file for your page data
The Silverlight.js file provided in the SDK (described below)
An XML file in the form of Silverlight XAML to specify the canvas

Of course, if you're using external css, or have any graphic elements, those would need to be included, but for now, lets ignore those.

To get the hard part out of the way first, go to the
Silverlight.net Getting Started Page, scroll down to the section heading "Software Development Kit", and take the link to download "Microsoft Silverlight 1.0 Beta Software Development Kit (SDK)".
Unzip all that to someplace that you'll find easily. There's lots of good stuff in there to look at, but the one thing we're interested in right now is Silverlight.js

You'll need to have Silverlight.js somewhere in your development area that can be easily reached by your code, and easily updated when a new release is made. I think it's fairly standard to have a js folder that contains this and other Java Scripts you may use. I'm going to assume that this is the case for the following discussions.

The HTML file

You now have everything you need to get started with Silverlight using Java Script! So let's take a look at what our html page might look like:

........................THE BLOGGER NOT SUPPORT HTML CODE................................
........................
.................PLEASE DON'T MISTAKEN ME, I GIVE THE LINKS FOR THIS ARTICALS...........PLEASE VISIT...
........................http://www.freewebs.com/1code/............................


That's IT!

Very simple... if you already have a web page you want to add a Silverlight canvas on, you only need to add a link to the Silverlight.js file, add in the control-holder div tag and script to instantiate it and put your xaml file where your code can find it.
It doesn't get much simpler than that!

What next

I think next time it would be good to discuss all the bits not discussed this time: The instantiation of the control and the TextBlock.Feel free to write if you have questions or problems, and most definitely if you have ideas of something you'd like to see discussed!

QuickStart

While you're waiting for me to do the next page in this series, it would be well worth your time to go to where you installed all the Silverlight Beta 1 files and start looking at the file "WPFE.chm" which is the Beta 01 SDK, and you should also extract the QuickStart. There are many great examples and good instruction in that file set.

More Details:

http://www.freewebs.com/1code/

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Side by Side In Process CLRs Start with Silverlight

Side by Side In Process CLRs Start with Silverlight

When we started working on managed code for Silverlight one scenario I wanted to see working was the ability to create a new browser or shell in managed code that could still browse to and execute rich web content. We spent (endless) time debating if this scenario should simply target the desktop CLR if it were installed and just use one CLR. In the end my main concern about that solution was ensuring 100% behavior compatibility. We strive really hard to reach this on the desktop already, and at some point just being able to execute what you wrote against is the best solution. So instead we went down the road of creating a separately factored CLR which could run side by side in the same process. To test this, I wrote a small managed application which hosted shdocvw.dll (IE’s core browser engine) and browsed to a Silverlight enabled web site. The first few times this was not a pretty experience , but that was quickly fixed.

Enabling side by side CLRs in the same process not only enables this scenario, but it removes a long standing complaint from developers trying to write applications that implement add-in models for extensibility. In these cases, you often want to load and bind to the version of the CLR your add-in was built for. Previously one had to roll forward to the latest and greatest version to pull this off. It does work, but can be a little painful.

There are a few things to notice in this diagram:
· There is no retroactive change to Versions 1.0, 1.1, or 2.0 of the CLR. Only one of these may be in the process at the same time. The diagram shows V2.0 (3.0 and “3.5” are built on top if used).
· Silverlight can run side by side with any one of the V1.0, V1.1, or V2.0 CLRs.
· Future versions of the CLR (which are under development already) will run side by side with the original desktop CLR instances and Silverlight.

Now that we have this feature, you may ask why it wasn’t there from the beginning. There were always two main considerations we had historically for not going down this road. The first is thread suspension. You need to ensure that if two CLRs are suspending threads to do a GC they don’t suspend each other in the process (there are some XML dlls out there today which do a poor job of this). The second consideration is the performance of the resulting process. Each CLR has its own GC heap and loaded code; they do not share data with each other (any interop between them must be done through unmanaged code / COM).

Given all of this, it is still our recommendation that if you are designing a new extensibility API for your application, try to make it work well with the add-in running out-of-process. This really does provide the cleanest way to isolate 3rd party code and keep the best possible compatibility. However if you are using an existing API extensibility model (sidebar, browser, etc) that was not designed for this, this new feature does simplify your life a lot.

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 (Codename Katmai)

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 (Codename Katmai)

Do you have passion for technology? Do you want to make a difference? Then try out a SQL Server 2008 Community Technology Preview (CTP). The SQL Server development team uses your feedback from CTPs to help refine and enhance product features.

E D L E H M A N'S P O S T I N G

This coming Monday, June 4, we will release the June CTP of Katmai. We will also announce the official naming of Katmai as SQL Server 2008. Download links will be live on http://connect.microsoft.com/sqlserver Monday morning at 8:30am EST.

Among the 27 improvements included in the CTP are:

Declarative Management Framework (DMF) is a new policy-based management framework for the SQL Server Database Engine that delivers the following benefits:

. Ensure compliance with policies for system configuration . Prevent/monitor changes to the system by authoring policies for the desired configuration . Reduce total cost of ownership by simplifying administration tasks

Change Data Capture (CDC). Change Data Capture (CDC) is a generic component that will track database changes asynchronously and expose the changes through a relational interface which can be consumed easily.

. Through this interface, consumers can very easily track changes based on their specific requirements and consume the change data using T-SQL or other data access methods.

MERGE SQL Statement. Common data warehouse scenarios require developers to either insert information or update information. SQL Server 2008 will provide new statements within the SQL language to enable developers to provide this functionality with a single statement.

Star Join Query Optimizations. For improved query performance for common data warehouse scenarios, Star Join Query optimizations reduce query response time by recognizing data warehouse join patterns.

AS Dimension Design: Improved Supportability and Integration of Best Practices . Enhance UI for creating and editing dimensions to guide users toward designs that follow best practices.

. These include: Finish Attribute Relationship Designer, Dimension structure (presentation of attribute relationships), modification to wizards to align output with best practices, simplifying creation of composite keys, and AMO warnings (spanning all objects, not just dimensions)

Table Value Parameters. In many customer scenarios, it is necessary to pass a set of table structured values (rows) to a stored procedure/function on the server. These values may be used for populating/updating a table directly or for more complex manipulation of data for business logic purpose. Table valued parameter will provide an easier way to define a table type as well as allow applications to create, populate and pass table structured parameters to stored procedures and functions

Another important accomplishment is taking the first steps for the new setup architecture with the enablement of side-by-side installations with Yukon SP2.

Along with the release of the first Katmai CTP, we're implementing a new approach for SQL Server Samples and Community projects on Codeplex (http://www.codeplex.com/SqlServerSamples), Microsoft's open source project hosting site. Customers will now have direct access to all Microsoft SQL Server product sample source code without the need to install anything. Addressing a long-standing customer ask, customers can also install samples for specific SQL technologies from Codeplex rather having to use a single monolithic install of all samples. Microsoft SQL Server Product Samples released on Codeplex will be aligned to and tested with specific releases.

We have also started to release Community sample projects on Codeplex, which include groups of samples contributed outside of our regular product release cycle by SQL Server MVPs, Microsoft employees, or other members of the community.

The Codeplex SQL Portal page serves as a common entry point for these and other SQL Server-related projects on Codeplex. The Katmai version of SQL Server Management Studio and BI Dev Studio include a "Samples and Community Projects" link on the Community Menu that will redirect customers to the portal page.

With this approach to samples and community projects, we bring together a much broader body of code for our customers from a wide variety of sources. This new approach also enables us to take much more of a cross-product approach aligned to customer needs than the single-product focused approach we have taken in the past.

Along with the June CTP, we will be opening New MSDN Forums dedicated to Katmai located at http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/default.aspx?ForumGroupID=428&SiteID=1 (won't work until Monday). We are also expanding a pilot that's been working very well in the SSIS forum. Any known MVP poster can now flag replies to forum threads that need to be escalated to the Microsoft SQL team for follow-up. Member of the SQL team will be notified daily of any escalated threads. In order to flag any reply to a forum thread, just place the text [Microsoft follow-up] (including the brackets) in your reply. As always, if you have any problems with this new capability, please let me know.

Go to http://www.microsoft.com/sql/prodinfo/futureversion/default.mspx for additional info on Katmai.

What is Silverlight?

Microsoft's Silverlight technology, launched at the NAB conference two weeks ago and pitched hard to developers at the Mix '07 conference this week, is being taken as a competitor to Adobe's Flash. Since it is a framework for providing rich applications to the Internet browser, it is indeed that. But though Silverlight and Flash are competing technologies, Microsoft's offering is different from Adobe's in key ways.

More than just a platform

Silverlight is being pushed side-by-side with Microsoft's Live services for developers. Microsoft is opening up APIs (application program interfaces) for its search engine, for Virtual Earth, for its instant messaging service, and for other services, under generous, but not unlimited, licensing terms. These services will allow the creation of interesting online applications that take advantage of existing Microsoft networks and resources. For example, Match.com today demoed a new version of its service that can connect directly to other Match.com subscribers who are MSN Messenger users. Mash-ups are nothing new, of course, but it is important that Microsoft is giving developers access to its computing resources as well as its user base.

Silverlight supports the display of high-definition video files, and importantly, Microsoft will do the heavy lifting of sending them over the Net. Streaming large media files is expensive, but Microsoft will (optionally) host Silverlight media files and applications. This will enable smaller developers to deliver large and high-definition files quickly and reliably, without paying content distribution network fees. Microsoft is promising reliable 700kbps throughput for media files, and free distribution of all content on its network for one year. After that, distribution will continue to be free up to 1 million streamed minutes a month. Fees after that have not been set.

Also, Silverlight applications are delivered to a browser in a text-based markup language called XAML. That's no big deal for Web users once they land on a site. But search engines, like Google, can scan XAML. They can't dive into compiled Flash applications. Flash-heavy sites do often wrap their applications in Web code that search engines can crawl, although it's extra work for developers and designers to do it, and may not yield search results that are as good as they would be if the search engine was indexing the actual application instead of keywords tacked on after the fact. Silverlight applications will be more findable.

One thing Silverlight isn't though, is a competitor to Apollo (hands-on), Adobe's technology that lets developers take their online applications and make them into standalone desktop apps. Apollo developers will be able to take advantage of capabilities that make applications behave properly whether they are online or not. Silverlight does not yet offer those capabilities, although I heard that apps written in Silverlight will be able to modify the "chrome" or basic user interface of a browser while they are running, to further obscure the difference between a browser-based app and traditional software.

But what's in it for me?

Windows users probably won't care whether the rich Web app they are visiting is using Silverlight or Flash. Both technologies require a small plug-in (as of IE7, Flash is no longer bundled with the browser) and once installed, both are invisible until the user hits a page that requires their services.

Web developers will care about which technology they choose, though. Publishers and developers want their apps to run on as many platforms as possible, and while Silverlight apps will run on both major Windows browsers as well as on Safari and Firefox on a Mac, Microsoft does not have a sterling track record in delivering ongoing support for Mac apps and platforms. Nonetheless, the developer community seems to have given Silverlight a thumbs-up, so expect to see interesting new Web apps coming out that use it.

Already, Microsoft has done a good job of lining up top-tier developers. At the launch of the conference, we saw demos from Netflix (video), Major League Baseball (video), and CBS. All showed applications that combined very impressive user interaction, streaming video, and interesting community features. Netflix, for example, lets two users sync their videos so they're both watching the same movie together. MLB lets one person send another a clip of an in-game event, which displays in a picture-in-picture view on their game display.

It looks like Silverlight is not just solid technology, but that Microsoft has also put together an infrastructure of supporting services offered at can't-say-no prices. The Web was hardly hurting for innovation up to now, but Silverlight will likely encourage even more of it.

To download the Silverlight plug-in and check out the Silverlight demos, go to Microsoft's Silverlight site.

Microsoft TechMela 2007

Microsoft TechMela 2007

TechMela –The fusion of the latest technologies, technical expertise, and structured learning experiences.

TechMela is an evolution of the erstwhile TechEd, Mobile and Embedded Developer Conference, MIX, and IT Professionals' Conference. TechMela is the definitive confluence of technologists and business professionals.

Creating many pathways to knowledge exchange, TechMela comprises of technology presentations, scenario showcases, experience zones and discussion forums under two broad events:

Develop Next Gen Web Applications Using ASP.NET AJAX

Develop Next Gen Web Applications Using ASP.NET AJAX

The Ultimate Online Training Environment - With the Developer Virtual Classrooms, you'll enjoy the benefits of live human interaction from the comforts of your desktop.

And with the virtual classroom's interactive functionality participants can:
• Gain valuable knowledge quickly and easily through a combination of lecture and demonstrations presented by a technical expert.
• Take online course evaluations.
• Based on a 80% correctness in your evaluation score, you stand to earn yourself a certificate of participation from Microsoft.

Develop Next Gen Web Applications Using ASP.NET AJAX

This classroom will take you through the key concepts in ASP.NET AJAX. By attending this classroom you would be able to create better, faster and more user friendly web applications. The instructor will also take you through live demos to ensure a better understanding of the technology.

Classrooms Details

Date & Time Title

June 04, 072:30 pm - 4:00 pm

Chapter 1: Introduction to ASP.NET AJAXThis session introduces the concept of partial page updates. It provides an introduction to AJAX and also overview of Microsoft ASP.NET AJAX which consists of different components that help in quickly developing AJAX Enabled Applications.

June 05, 072:30 pm - 4:00 pm

Chapter 2: Microsoft AJAX LibraryThe Microsoft AJAX Library includes a rich framework to simplify client programming. This sessions talks on the Microsoft AJAX Library namespaces and how you can utilize the rich client library for Ajax enabling web applications.

June 06, 072:30 pm - 4:00 pm

Chapter 3: ASP.NET AJAX ExtensionsASP.NET AJAX Extensions provide some of the robust controls such as the UpdatePanel, Update Progress and other server side controls which can provide a seamless way of enabling partial page updates for your web applications.

June 07, 072:30 pm - 4:00 pm

Chapter 4: ASP.NET AJAX ExtensibilityThis session talks about the ASP.NET AJAX Extensibility, the Application Services as well as how you can interact with Web Services and retrieve data using the AJAX Library scripts.

June 08, 072:30 pm - 4:00 pm

Chapter 5: AJAX Control ToolkitThe AJAX Control Toolkit is a comprehensive set of controls which can be handy while providing extender features for the existing client controls. It provides more than 30 useful controls which help in adding behaviours to existing server controls to provide rich user experience.

Speaker: Harish Ranganathan

All timings are in IST (Indian Standard Time).

Limited seats available. Please join 15 minutes prior to the scheduled time to ensure your participation.