Office Newswire: Outlook & SharePoint integration, Business Connectivity Services – 1.25.2012

I am the youngest of two children. I have an older brother and, except for genetics, we are nothing alike. He is very tall. I am of average height. He is clumsy. I grew up playing sports. He had braces and still wears glasses. I didn’t and don’t. He is bald. I have full head of hair. etc. etc.

Despite our differences, we do have something in common besides genetics… a good fight. A fight didn’t need to be violent to be enjoyable. A ridiculous argument was often times better than fisticuffs. Especially since my brother has the wingspan of an albatross. Arguing was better. Even if the argument was ridiculous, it garnered the attention I needed from the press (aka our parents).

I know, I’m being verbose but these words lead us to today’s first Office Newswire item. Let’s get started.

Office news

• SharePoint is a ‘document coffin’, says IBM :: In this lead new item, the author reports a bunch of words from IBM’s VP of Social Software. With these words, this gentleman makes a ridiculous argument and successfully garners a few headlines about IBM’s social and productivity software. Will it be enough to win some accounts away from SharePoint?
• ‘It looks like you’re trying to use Word on an iPad’ :: Which iPad app was the best seller during the Christmas season? How much do analysts project companies will spend on iPads in 2012? Guess who hopes Microsoft doesn’t release Office for iPad?
• One way to fix SharePoint’s Outlook problem :: This headline is also ridiculous because the truth is Outlook and SharePoint integration ain’t bad… if you know what you are doing. I include this item because the author wrote an informative review about product of which I was previously unaware. If you like to look for new tools and add-ins, you might just be into this item.
• Why OnLive’s Windows-on-iPad App is revolutionary :: Flash? Office 2010 on the iPad? HD movies that don’t eat your storage space? Responsive apps and high performance? Bullocks you say? I have my doubts too. But soon and very soon, OnLive will release their pro version. I’m intrigued.
• Steve Ballmer reboots :: Not really Office news per se, but a big profile article on Microsoft’s iconic and highly entertaining CEO tends to be Office Newswire-worthy. I really enjoyed this article because it revealed several facts about the gentleman that I did not know. I think too that any comparisons of Ballmer to Gates or Ballmer to Jobs are unfair. He isn’t the innovator those guys are/were. But he is one heck of a business man. It’s a crime MSFT’s stock has been stuck in the mid-$20 range for 10 years.

Office tips, tricks & tools

I believe today’s T&T&T is solid round-up of recently published content. I especially like the second item and plan to put it to good use soon.

• Generate invoice numbers in Excel :: From the Excel blog. I like it. Now let me see you do it again but integrated with my accounting software. No, do it blindfolded while whistling & typing with your toes. I’d pay at least $1 to see that trick.
• How to extract all images from Office Documents like Word, Excel or PowerPoint :: I have a slew of MSFT marketing decks (aka PowerPoint files). I plan to point this tool at them and extract all kinds of images for my own decks.
• Understanding Business Connectivity Services :: If you are looking to integrate data from your business applications into SharePoint, this article series is for you. It’s from the SharePoint Developer team and provides a solid overview of the BCS… what it is, its benefits, its mechanics, security, and more. Read this and you will gain an understanding of the BCS and think of a few ideas for how it could help your company.
• CRM 2011 and SharePoint 2010 Integration (Part 2) :: I mentioned before that I dabble with non-MSFT technology. There’s lots to like out there… BUT… what I have always like about MSFT is how integrated their software stack is. And if it isn’t integrated, it is fairly easy to make it so. This 2-part article series will show you how to integrate CRM with SharePoint. I’ve wanted to do this myself and I waited so long that someone did the hard part (thinking) for me (& you).
• Microsoft Office Backstage (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4) :: Like the Ribbon in Office 2007, the Backstage is a significant change. Microsoft moved several commands to this new user interface element. If the Backstage confuses you or you are unaware of its existence but you use Office 2010, this 4-part series is informative. I know it isn’t recent but I liked it and thought it worked for today’s newswire.

Office developer items

Just a trio of developer items today but they each include code you cut and paste into your own solutions. Just be sure and send a thank you to the code author. It will make their day… trust me.

• How to display and hide objects using a macro in Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 :: This old-school VBA sample shows how to control the visibility of PowerPoint objects on the fly. The sample is okay but the fact that it is a PowerPoint-based sample is phenomenal. PowerPoint does not receive enough love from us developers.
• How to customize SharePoint List Content Display using Content Query Web Part :: Query some data, style it, and display it. Short and sweet.
• Create a SharePoint custom action to zip and download a document set :: Okay I lied. Not all the sample include code. But, as this author points out, sometimes developers like a solution that works but doesn’t require code.

Cutting room floor

Is it me or is there an inordinate amount of Office and Microsoft news this week? I think the word is out about the Office Newswire. Could it be that Tech Journalist and Tech Bloggers are writing more in an attempt to make the Office Newswire cut?

I cannot be certain but I do wonder. Here are the items that didn’t warrant editorial comments but are still interesting.

• What’s it like building apps for Windows 8? Developers speak out
• Microsoft 1, Google 0
• Microsoft SharePoint users ignore security measures, says survey :: If this is you, shame on you.
• Viewing a SharePoint calendar in Outlook
• Templates by Edition sample diagram for Visio 2010
• Hands-on: Windows 8 pre-beta tablet

Okay, I’m headed out of the office today so look out! Enjoy your day everyone.