I just found Protolize.  It's a great resource for web development - everything from Ajax to XHTML.  It's basically a collection of pointers (done very nicely) to various web resources.  Very nice!

It's been a long time coming, and will address many common problems people have been running into. Get your hands on the beta and start giving feedback today!

Read Brian Hary's post for more details. You can find SP1 at the Microsoft Connect Site. (Remember that it is beta software)

TFS SP1 is out!  it takes a while to get on the list, and to start the downloads, but it's worth it!  There are lots of improvements in SP1 and I'll be running a few tests against it myself.  Remember, it is Beta, so unless you have a very compelling reason, keep it off your production servers.  But get in there to play with some of the new features!  Especially the ability to host your own WIT controls, so you'll be able to more easily add functionality to the Work Item viewer!

Some other areas of improvement:

• Version Control, WorkItem Tracking and Datawarehouse performance/scale improvements
• "Extranet support"
• WIT Custom Control support
• Support for Office 2007 (Project and Excel - no Sharepoint 2007 support yet), Vista and the new WAP project support
• Detailed Merge History

The release includes fixes for a total of 85 issues!  For more information on the release see Brian Harry's weblog posting, and to sign up for the download visit the Microsoft Connect Site.

Good work, Microsoft! 

Finally, my German last name on a book in German!

I picked this up when I was in Stuttgart last summer at the World Cup. This one now sits on my shelf next to the Russian version.

Here are a couple of good sites for learning about Sharepoint 2003 customization:

• MSD2D - Sharepoint
• SharePointCustomization.com

Reporting in Team System is handled by SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services. As such, team members get to enjoy (and are restricted-by) the built-in report rendering extensions (CSV, Excel, HTML, Image, MHTML, PDF, and XML). What's missing from this list is the Microsoft Word DOC format and a richer Microsoft Excel XLS format.

This is where a product called OfficeWriter comes in. It enables you to use Excel or Word to create templates utilizing data markers and merge fields for databinding sections of the document to the various Team Foundation Server data items. After a quick configuration of Reporting Services, your reports can generate documents/spreadsheets based on these templates without the need for Microsoft Office on the server. There's also an integration with Reporting Services that will let you create these documents without any coding at all. Users will design their RDL reports using Excel or Word, without the need for Visual Studio or SQL Report Builder.

Check out their latest version of OfficeWrite (v3.6) at http://officewriter.softartisans.com

Microsoft works when they get feedback about their software and services. Their Connect site enables this and allows you to participate in several ways, such as downloading the latest software and written material, taking surveys, exchanging ideas in newsgroup forums, and, most importantly, providing and reviewing feedback about your experiences.

Here are the types of resources you will find at Connect:

• Announcements - New information for connection participants
• Articles - Articles that are related to the connection
• Surveys - Surveys can be used to collect information
• Events - Dates for upcoming events that are related to the connection
• Links - Web site links that relate to the connection
• FAQs - Frequently asked questions about the connection or program
• Downloads - Software, whitepapers, and other information
• Product Keys - The product keys that you need to run the downloaded software
• Newsgroups - Forums for discussing current connection issues
  

Brian Harry has just posted a great Word doc that gives a few ins and outs when building extensions to Team Foundation Server.  It's focused on the Version Control side of the house, but many of the recommendations work for automating Work Item access as well.  Head over to the blog post (here), and download the Advice for developing TFS client applications.doc document.  If you build TFS extensions, it's definitely required reading! 

If you're building a web site that needs to be viewed in multiple different browsers, it has been difficult in the past to really get a good test.  No longer.  A site called BrowserShots.org provides a way to view screenshots of a web page as seen from over 30 different types of browsers.  They actually run the site in the browser, take a screenshot, and post it.  Pretty amazing!  Here's a list of the browsers and options you can choose from.  Color me impressed!

Here are my slides from yesterday's presentation at Tech-Ed 2006 SEA. Thank you to the many delegates who joined me for the session.