The funniest part of the day was definetly the Video on Bills last day @ Microsoft featuring Bill playing
Guitar Hero II with special guests Bono, JayZ Bill was bored, lol....
The best question had to do with declarative vs procedural code & standards and what Bill thought of the future....
The most fun was hangin out with all my friends, business partners new and old... Including the folks @ Dyntek, SpeakTech, SharedSquared, and Collusions :)
The sessions I attended were the following....
ARC304 Extending the reach of Business Intelligence Solutions: Delivering on the premise of BI for the Masses
Prescriptive guidance on building Business Intelligence solutions on the Office System and the broader Microsoft Platform that extend the reach and value of BI investments across an organization. Topics covered will include prescriptive guidance on addressing requirements pertaining to operational, tactical, and strateging BI. Solution demonstrations will be used extensively to re-enforce the concepts discussed.
SER303 Best Practices in SharePoint Component Deployment witn Ted Pattison
Solution packages are a critical aspect of deployment in SharePoint 2007 and understanding the techniques for creating and distributing them is an absolute requirement for administrators and developers alike. This session examines the different types of components that can be developed for a SharePoint environment and shows the steps involved with building a solution package for best-practice distribution and deployment. You'll see the proper way to configure SafeControl and Code Access Security (CAS) setting in Web Part deployment as well as hear the benefits and drawback of Assembly deployment in the Global Assembly Cache versus the local bin directory for a particular Web Application. You will also learn best-practice techniques for modifying the web.config file for a Web Application using a Web Application-scoped feature which contains code using the WSS object model that is pushed out into a SharePoint farm using a solution package
SER304 Deep dive into the world of SharePoint Community Kit with Forms Based Authentication, Enhanced Blogs, and Enhanced Wikis
The Community Kit for SharePoint contains many different projects that enhance and extend the built-in functionality of SharePoint. In this developer session, we will explore the CKS, specifically looking at the Internet/Extranet Edition (IEE), the Enhanced Blog Edition (EBE), and the Enhanced Wiki Edition (EWE). We will look at how the use of these community projects will provide you the foundation to quickly deploy commonly requested features without having to wait for the next version of SharePoint. This session will dive deeply into self-registration through custom web parts and custom member management, Modular Blog Theme Framework with UI enhancements, and the Enhanced Wiki Markup. During this deep technical dive, you will see how great the SharePoint community is with these amazing additions with easy to deploy solutions built and supported by the Microsoft open-source community!
SER307 Customizing SharePoint's Content Management System
Customizing SharePoint's Content Management System: This session will explain how to build web parts that extend the navigation framework within SharePoint.The bulk of the session will be a demo where I build web parts that extend SharePoint's navigation. The navigation utilizes a custom skin intended for an Internet -facing site and contains several features that allow users to add new elements to the page that normally would require the assistance of a designer. With these web parts, all that is needed is a trained user.
I missed
Andrew Connells track
RLW301 A Structured & Repeatable Approach to Building Microsoft Office SharePoint Solutions. Fortunately I had the opportunity to attend his session on this topic in November @ Developer Connections.. As it was I doubled up on the last two sessions.....
My biggest takeaway is how easy it is to deliver BI to the desktop and enabling the user to continue using tools they know and branding the OFF07 Fluent UI (Ribbon) for product delivery...
Note: The demos did not include the packaging solutions WSPs (Accept for Andrews and Teds Sessions). The perception is creating the solution WSP for deployment takes 65% of the time, it should only takes 15 minutes. In the old days (WSS2), lol , we had to use robocopy or create deployment scripts used with mutiple WFEs so the current deployment model is simple (Doesnt always remove artifacts) but simple.
One more thing the backpacks have been really going down in Quality compared to PDC05.. I cant even give them away they are non functional, please upgrade or give us a chance for a VIP ticket or somethin if its really about cost...
-Ivan