Office 365 Newswire: Microsoft “Not Nice”, Greedy, For-Profit, Enterprise? – 3.22.2012

We have an extra section today. I didn’t plan it this way but, as I went through the news this morning, I realized it was necessary. Plus, I’m feeling pretty good about this and wanted to have some fun because…

Sometimes, the content comes together in ways unexpected. We are in the midst of a presidential election here in the USA. This situation means anything any candidate says (including the existing office holder) can and will be used against them. And the best strategy for “using it against them” is to present part of the facts and distort the story. It’s like link baiting but with larger ramifications.

It’s fun to watch and make it a challenge to weed through the silliness. So, in a time-honored, Internet journalistic tradition, this next section is my attempt at link baiting. The topic is the recent Office 365 price reduction. I have to tip my cap to the great XL-Dennis. He got me thinking this way by leaving a thoughtful comment on last week’s Office 365 Newswire. So… to be clear… this first section is not my fault… it’s Dennis’s fault.

As long as we are straight about that, we may continue on to today’s Office 365 +Newswire!

MSFT, The “Not Nice”, Greedy, For-Profit, Enterprise

I’m not commenting beyond these catchy headlines. Did I miss my calling as a copy writing editor?

• I can’t stop thinking about how greedy the Office 365 price cut is!
• Microsoft the big, dumb, school yard bully
• Microsoft’s price cut proves Ballmer is smarter than the equivalent of 5 Steve Jobs :: What is the plural version of Jobs? Jobses? Jobbi? Jabba? Jobz?
• Why Microsoft Office 365 is bad for the environment & will suffocate mankind

(Est. reading time for this section: 10 mins)

Other Office 365 news & editorials!

• 6 signs Microsoft has got its mojo back :: Is imitation the best form of flattery? This article is proof that the newswire is read by just about everyone. As I stated last year, Microsoft has rediscovered their MOJO. (est. reading time for this section: 2 mins)
• How Microsoft’s NDA policy is hurting the SharePoint community :: I’ve grown to like this blog maintained by Mr. Furuknap. He thinks differently than I do and his opinions challenge my assumptions. I need that in my life. Not a lot more but “some” more. In this op-ed, he takes MSFT to task on their strategy surrounding early access to Wave 15. He makes a couple of good points and he makes some not so good ones… .at least in my opinion. That’s the fun about opinions… his and mine… take them with a grain a salt and use them (or ignore them) to formulate your own. (est. reading time for this section: 4 mins)
• Minimal download strategy in SharePoint 2013 :: It’s a rare “twofer” here in the newswire. We do have a policy not to include more than one item from a single source in any given newswire edition. The great Mary Jo Foley (MJF) is, of course, exempted from this policy. Anyways… this article describes a potential change to how pages will load in SharePoint 2013. (est. reading time for this section: 3 mins)
• Minnesota maximizes productivity and reduces costs by moving to Microsoft Office 365 :: Another win for Office 365. BTW – I’m still maintaining my ban on including Google Apps vs. Office 365 news items. That might need to change given the recent price cut. Maybe I should my own? Hmmmmm. (est. reading time for this section: 2 mins)
• Early Office 365 adopters: what drove them and what have they learned? :: I’m an early adopter and I can answer both of these questions. What drove me to do it? I have Exchange, SharePoint, and Office for the less money than my coffee monthly habit. I don’t have to maintain. I use it and develop with it. Life is bliss! What have I learned? Plenty… mostly that the Office development world is probably in for some serious changes these next few years. That’s my take as a developer. This article is more business & end-user focused. (est. reading time for this section: 7 mins due to the tiny font)

Office 365 tips, tricks & tools

• Microsoft Office 365 virtual labs available to you online, plus many more Office 365 resources :: Holy cow this is a great blog post! Add this one to your list of “Office 365 resources whose URLs I must remember” list. Have I ever mentioned my friend, “Jim” (his real name), that can’t remember people’s names? He can remember the face and know that he should remember their name. But he forgets their name until he knows them fairly well. To help him remember names, he keeps a list on his phone. The list’s title is “People whose names I can’t remember but should”. When “Jim” sees someone he knows he has met but can’t remember their name… he checks his list. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. This blog post is like Jim’s list while also being different somehow.

Only one T&T&T today. It’s more than enough!

Office 365 developer items of note

• SharePoint Developer Tools in Visual Studio 11 Beta :: (Part 2) :: This topic is definitely a priority in my list. The tools for SharePoint 2010 continue to mature. This is great. I’m glad to see new tools targeting SharePoint 2010 and that MSFT is investing here while also working on tools for SharePoint 2013.
• ALM in SharePoint Online 2010 in Office 365 :: ALM is one of those topics that, no matter how much I learn, it seems I am only scratching the surface. This article deals with the issue of working with test versions of a solution already in production within your Office 365 account. It ain’t pretty just yet.
• SharePoint menu web part with Metro style using a DVWP :: Metro really is very cool. The more Metro-inspired designs I see, the more I think Metro is a winner. I think I like it because I think in “squares”. Nothing like a good square to make you feel safe… comfortable even. Anyways… this blog post explains how the author built a Metro-styled web part that displays a SharePoint sites lists and libraries. He didn’t use custom code either. That is if you don’t count XSL as code.

Cutting Room Floor

Okay… just a few more link-bait-esque headlines. Just for fun and because it’s Friday.

• MSFT decides caffeine is bad for you, bans all reference to coffee in Bing
• Steve Jobs’s ghost haunts Steve Sinfosky, refuses to call him Steve
• Overly clever and smug graphic designer decides he can design a better logo for each NFL football team :: and by the looks of it, he’s correct. But he shouldn’t mess with the Packers.