Follow these steps to prepare your machine for development or production Web Services applications that take advantage of AJAX. I had to cull these steps from multiple blogs, MSDN information, etc. Development or Production 1. If not already installed, install .NET Framework 2.0http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=0856eacb-4362-4b0d-8edd-aab15c5e04f5&displaylang=en2. Install ASP.NET 2.0 AJAX Extensions 1.0http://ajax.asp.net/downloads/default.aspx?tabid=473. Install ASP.NET 2.0 AJAX Futures January…

I spent a good part of a day last week digging into the PerformancePoint Server Virtual Machine that was recently released by Microsoft.  (See https://connect.microsoft.com/site/sitehome.aspx?SiteID=181.  You’ll have to sign up for the CTP to grab the VHD.) There are two sets of [somewhat malformed — OK, they are Beta] lab exercises, which I attempted to get through, and almost…

Just as blogs and wikis are no longer relegated to the Wild West of the Web, mapping mashups shouldn’t be either.  There are plenty of great use cases for using mapping to enhance dashboards. For instance, in a sales dashboard, you might be able to see revenue by customer segment and sales territory.  A simple click into…

A friend passed along this article from the Wall Street Journal today.  To me, the fact that IBM is jumping into the social networking field is yet another validation that capabilities like blogs, wikis, and personal profiles are "going mainstream" in the corporate world.   IBM Plans to Join Social-Networking Field By WILLIAM M. BULKELEYJanuary…

Even in small organizations, lots of things happen that are too quickly forgotten.  Who worked on that project last year?  Where did we store the document that outlined this procedure?  Didn’t the CEO tell us that we should focus on margin this quarter? One way to capture this type of activity or knowledge is through…

In Sharepoint 2003, creating custom site definitions required diving into the file system, copying obscure directories, editing XML files, etc. Now, in MOSS 2007, you can create custom site templates from the MOSS interface.  Create a site using whatever out-of-the-box starting template you want.  Then configure it by adding or removing whatever Web Parts you…