I’ve been playing around with it and so far I’m impressed. There is a pretty good document for system administrators that has been updated with the SP2 content. The best part: advanced extranet configuration. Before SP2 there was one way to publish the SharePoint to the external users and if anything changed SharePoint complained. The new SP2 release however allows for the following:

Organizations who want to implement extranet deployments for Windows SharePoint Services often use a reverse proxy and load balancers to protect and manage access to the virtual server front ends. This type of advanced extranet configuration could alter the protocol, host header, or port of the request before it reaches the server running Windows SharePoint Services. Several functions within Windows SharePoint Services generate links and e-mail messages based on the protocol, host header, and port of the request as it is received by the server running Windows SharePoint Services. If the protocol, host header, or port were altered, the wrong URL would be returned to the client.

Sold yet? If not, check out the other additions:
* Support for IP-bound virtual servers
* Support for advanced extranet configurations
* Kerberos authentication enabled by default
* Support for Microsoft ASP.NET 2.0
* Support for Microsoft Windows Server 2003 64-bit implementations

I have to hand it to Bink, he can find a good story. You know how they say “Where there’s a will, there’s a way” – well apply that to a few German professors drinking out with their students and you come up with a really bad example of how technology can be applied. These folks created an intelligent beer mat (stay with me here) that calls the bartender when it starts running low. Talk about utility.. no more getting up, no more waiting for beer to arrive after you’ve run out, no more problems… Its the JIT inventory control system applied to beer.

Jen, say hello to your birthday present! I wonder if it can be programmed to scream “No way am I walking around Epcot sober” in front of children

Over the last few days a number of Microsoft Office updates have been released in form of Microsoft Office 2003 Service Pack 2. I won’t pretend to talk about something I don’t know so I’ll just talk about Outlook: New phishing bar. All I can say is: about the damn time guys. This protection is available right now and you can take a look at it on the left. Just be careful because in order to enable this you will need Outlook 2003 SP2 and the latest Outlook Junk Filter update. Once both are installed the protection is enabled automatically as you can see on the left. There is also a “phishing” bar that pops down when you open a message that is suspected to have phishing in it. Unfortunately, thanks to ExchangeDefender I have never received a phishing email so I have nothing to test and demo this with.

Here is Microsoft’s description:

SP2 contains a new Phishing Protection feature to be used with the Outlook Junk Email Filter. Phishing is the luring of sensitive information through e-mail, such as passwords and other personal information, by an attacker masquerading as someone trustworthy. Phishing attacks can result in a user divulging sensitive information, including financial information, that can result in a loss of privacy or money. Phishing e-mail is hard to identify, because attackers make their e-mail appear genuine and often mimic recognizable e-mail sent out routinely by legitimate organizations such as banks and credit card companies.

SharePoint SP2 has also been released and there are quite a few new features. According to Susan Bradley this is also SBS-ready although I am not sure why that had to be explicitly defined (SharePoint Team Services is SharePoint is SharePoint is SharePoint). I guess people doubting this just haven’t installed SBS 2003 SP1 which explicitly required SharePoint SP1 to be installed. Something is news every day I suppose…. and considering that take a look at the brief overview of what will be provided with SharePoint SP2 in Windows R2.

I am posting the following against my better judgment, having owned an HP Ipaq phone in the past and been remarkably disappointed by the marketing P’s: Price, performance, promotion. Too expensive, too many reboots, too many lies about it being a useful phone. While I know people that continue to reboot it and hang up on people by continued use, I can’t ignore the Blackberry killer form-factor this will have for a lot of people. I talk to professionals in different segments every day and while they are impressed with my gadgetry they do put it and Blackberry through the, pardon the foul expression, pissing match: “mine is smaller”, “mine is lighter”, “mine just does what I need” – but when I show them all the features they just have to have it. Well, this new device, the HW 6510 and 6515 will soon be available from Cingular with an outdated operating system, smaller screen but the design that will fit most peoples pocket.

Here are some of the features:
* Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 MHz for enhanced global use
* Integrated QWERTY keyboard for easy response to email, text, and instant messages
* GPS location capabilities via integrated GPS receiver with separately purchased GPS navigation application provides driving directions at your fingertips
* Microsoft® Windows Mobileâ„¢ 2003 Second Edition software – Phone Edition
* 64MB RAM / 64MB ROM
* Integrated Bluetooth for use with various headsets, car kits and other accessories
* Integrated Secure Digital (SDIO) and Mini-SD slots for greater storage and expansion
* Optional 1.3 mega-pixel camera, with video capabilities

I won’t be buying it, but if you need a more compact device that will still let you write mail on the go, this may be worth a second look. The signup for Cingular is open here.

This announcement drew a large applause at the SMB Nation so you should check it out. Short notice, I’ll post the link to the replay after its done (but you can find this and previous webcasts at http://www.mssmallbiz.com)

Just a quick reminder about the LiveMeeting session for Small Business Partners scheduled from 10:30 – 11:30 am PST today entitled: “The NEW Single SKU Solution for Small Businesses!”

Description: For years the Small Business Partners have been asking for a way to help make acquiring the core Microsoft software products that Small Businesses use easier to buy and sell. Your requests have been answered. Join us for this 60 minute session to learn all about the NEW single SKU offering for Small Business customers that every Small Business Partner can sell! To make things even better, not only does this offering make it easier for you and your customers, it also makes it more affordable as well.

Registration available at:
http://www.msreadiness.com/WS_abstract.asp?eid=15003036

According to John Westworth the Microsoft Office 2003 SP2 will be coming out today. It looks like he’s right, the Office servers have been behaving funny as if they are trying to stress-test them Here are some details:

- Improved Security – SP2 includes an enhancement to Outlook to help prevent “Phishing.” Outlook has also improved the handling of “Junk” email. Junk messages are now rendered as plain text, preventing HTML information from being viewed inadvertently. Links are also now disabled in “Junk” email messages with SP2.

- Improved application stability – SP2 includes numerous fixes and enhancements for Office applications and servers based on customer and partner feedback as well as extensive internal testing.

- Support for Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 – Windows SharePoint Services and Microsoft Office InfoPath 2003 have been updated to include support for the upcoming releases of SQL Server 2005 and Visual Studio 2005.

Keep an eye on it..

Update: Just noticed that a buddy of mine, Brian Kruse is blogging. Way to go Brian!

Microsoft has released the Data Protection Manager 2006 server today. For my local folks, this is what Rene Alamo demoed for us during the last partner technight event in Orlando. For those of you not familiar with the product here is the web site so please get to learning.

To help push you along here is my dumbed down opinion of what DPM 2006 is. Think of the DPM server as external Volume Shadow Copy for file servers running on a remote server. The same way you have your local server taking snapshots of your documents on a predefined schedule and having the ability to restore documents on demand, the DPM allows you to take snapshots of all the servers shares and store them on a remote server for purposes of disaster recovery. This is something that would sit in the data center and take periodic snaps just to keep your data redundant. The killer feature, in my humble opinion, is that it takes file-based deltas which allow it to only pass changes accross the pipe, not the entire file. So if you modified a 5 meg PowerPoint slide deck it would not attempt to upload 5 megs but just the change. Multiply that type of an effort over 5-20 users and you’ll kill a DSL in a snap. In larger environments even the T3 connection would get floored. Thats what DPM has been designed to solve – offsite backups that happen frequently, automatically and allow for user self service.

What would you be willing to pay for a product like that (Chef Vlad takes out a new tomato and cleans his knife)… The retail price is $995 for a DPM server and 3 DPML (Data Protection Management Licenses) which cover 3 file servers. Additional 3 packs are $559. But call in the next 15 minutes and.. Well, you get the idea – there is a discount with Volume Licensing and all the other stuff that goes on with Microsoft licensing. If thats not in the budget, start playing with it. There is a free 120 day trial ISO available. If you’re not absolutely thrilled it won’t cost you a dime.

Note: Notice of Correction for September 19 Newsletter
On September 19, the Microsoft Partner Program newsletters incorrectly stated that Visual Studio 2005 Standard was included in the Microsoft Action Pack. Please note that Virtual Server 2005 Standard Edition will be offered in the October Action Pack quarterly update shipment. We apologize for any confusion or inconvenience that this may have caused.

They confused the VS2005 acronym: What you will actually be getting is the Microsoft Virtual Server 2005. If you still need Visual Studio 2005 but can’t break the piggy bank for it, there is a MAPS version for developers called: Microsoft Empower for ISVs. Its a slimmed down MSDN and MAPS subscription with basic productivity, servers and 5 CALs of Office/Windows for developers. You must be a partner to get this and there are other restrictions.

When you wake up to a mailbox like this:

In case you’re wondering, I sent back feedback regarding community events in Florida and how we have been supported strictly by the people going above and beyond their job description.

P.S. Light blog today because Blogger image functionality seems to be broken today. I looked at the free Movable Type license yesterday with my neighbor as she seems to love it but I just don’t know… It took a long time to get off perl, the ugliest programming language syntax ever, and going back to debugging and maintaining yet another codebase.. bleh.

Care of our buddy Brian Kruse from Boca Raton comes a “for-resale” promotion on Small Business Accounting 2006: For-Resale Software Incentive. Basically, if you’re a Small Business Specialist you get a free copy of SBA 2006 that you can resell.

Not a big deal ($150 or so) but this is just another example of Microsoft’s commitment to Small Business Specialist program. Way to go guys!

Remember JJ’s post about SBA 2006 SP1: Download it today and put your BCM database on that SBS Server.