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Rob Foster Profile |
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A view from the call center for the Nashville Flood telethon
Rob Foster
pI want to break away from my usual topic of something technical and talk about what I experienced tonight while working in the call center for the Nashville Flood telethon, which was broadcast on WSMV, CNN, and The Weather Channel. /p
pWe started receiving calls about 7pm local time and to be honest, I had no idea what to expect when going into this. I mean, I'm a pretty good talker, but this is different...We had a good script of what to say and how we were supposed to say it, as well as p [read].
Posted: Fri, May 7th '10 |
Preview of the SharePoint Pod Show Flier for the BPC in DC
Rob Foster
We are very excited to have a flier that will be included with all of the bags that are given to the attendees of the SharePoint Best Practices Conference that is happening in Washington, DC. Below is a preview of the final version that is going to print today. Be sure to stop by and meet SharePoint Pod Show co-host Brett Lonsdale who will be standing at the Lightning Tools booth and signing his book “SharePoint 2007 Developer's Guide to Business Data Catalog” during the conference. [read].
Posted: Tue, Aug 18th '09 |
UCF Cuts MIS Degree Program
Rob Foster
This blog is a response to the following report from the Orlando Sentinel that states that the University of Central Florida will be cutting the five following programs: Cardiopulmonary Sciences Engineering Technology Management Information Systems Statistics Actuarial Sciences http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/education/orl-ucf-program-cuts-060509,0,1772001.story Now for my rant. Having received my undergrad in MIS, this is mostly targeted at the university cutting the MIS program, whi [read].
Posted: Sun, Jun 7th '09 |
SharePoint Pod Show Featured on the Microsoft MVP Blog
Rob Foster
I woke up this morning to quite a nice surprise. The SharePoint Pod Show is featured on the Microsoft MVP blog today! It discusses our guests as well as our latest show about Test Driven Development.
Check it out here. [read].
Posted: Tue, May 19th '09 |
New SharePoint Training Company: Critical Path Training
Rob Foster
As with any typical day, this afternoon I checked my Twitter feed to see Andrew Connell's big announcement that he and Ted Pattison have launched a new company called Critical Path Training.
I'm excited about this for multiple reasons. First, take a look at their site...It's all SharePoint 2007 WCM and it's smoking fast! Nice work on the site guys! It's good to see another successful WCM implementation on SharePoint!
Here is what makes me really excited about the launch of this new c [read].
Posted: Sun, May 10th '09 |
SharePoint Pod Show: 100,000 Downloads Later!
Rob Foster
Read all about it here! [read].
Posted: Mon, Apr 20th '09 |
New SharePoint BDC Book coming soon!
Rob Foster
I am very excited about the new BDC book that is coming out soon from SharePoint Pod Show co-hosts Brett Lonsdale and Nick Swan called "SharePoint 2007 Developer's Guide to the BDC". I have had a chance to review some of the chapters in this book and am very excited to see something like this hit the market.
You can check out the details of the book at the following link as well as pre-order a copy.
http://www.manning.com/lonsdale [read].
Posted: Fri, Feb 20th '09 |
The Big SharePoint Survey Results are In!
Rob Foster
In Episode 15 of the SharePoint Pod Show, we discussed the preliminary results from the Big SharePoint Survey that was conducted by Lightning Tools. The results are in and you can get them here:
http://www.lightningtools.com/blog/archive/2009/01/28/sharepoint-survey-results.aspx [read].
Posted: Wed, Jan 28th '09 |
SharePoint Pod Show Episode 15 is Live!
Rob Foster
We had fun with this one and I hope that you enjoy it as well. In this episode, you will hear our cheeky humor as well as learn where to focus your SharePoint skills for 2009.
Get it here [read].
Posted: Tue, Jan 20th '09 |
Take the Big SharePoint Survey
Rob Foster
Our friends at Lightning Tools have created another survey so that you can provide feedback on how you are using SharePoint. The results of this survey will be posted on their site as well as discussed in a future episode of the SharePoint Pod Show. Take the Survey here. [read].
Posted: Tue, Jan 6th '09 |
Documenting Your SharePoint Application Design-Part 2, The Process
Rob Foster
In Part 1 of this series, we looked at a simple template to help you can use to help document the security roles that need to get created for your new SharePoint application. In this part, we will look at a common process that is used to augment your Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)and targets applications that you think might be suitable for running on the SharePoint platform. As you read through this blog post it is important to note that this process (or something similar) can be u [read].
Posted: Tue, Dec 30th '08 |
Documenting Your SharePoint Application Design-Part 1
Rob Foster
Download the design template here.
In my role, I am lucky enough to get to design lots of very cool software to solve (sometimes difficult) business problems. Many times, these applications involve design solutions that leverage SharePoint technologies. In this series, I will be discussing some of the design patterns and documentation patterns that I have encountered in my applications.
Disclaimer: this documentation is given as-is, so please use it and modify it as needed to meet your ne [read].
Posted: Wed, Dec 17th '08 |
SharePoint Pod Show Episode 12 is now live (our BDC show)
Rob Foster
You can download Episode 12 here.
In this episode, Nick, Brett, and I discuss the SharePoint 2007 Business Data Catalog, how to use it, and how it can save you a bunch of money. :-) Check it out! [read].
Posted: Thu, Dec 11th '08 |
I've Updated My RSS
Rob Foster
Please subscribe to my new feed here:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/lespaulrob [read].
Posted: Sat, Dec 6th '08 |
Christmas Present Recommendations
Rob Foster
So, Nick Swan tagged me to do this blog and I really had to think about 5 of the gadgets and things that I have purchased over the year to recommend as Christmas presents. Here is a list of my 5 recommendations (not in any order). 1. New Sunglasses * As seen on the SharePoint Pod Show! Yep, I needed a new pair of sunglasses and found these and just had to have them. They are Giorgio Armani model 597’s and are pretty cool looking shades. They pair well with anything from casual sho [read].
Posted: Tue, Nov 25th '08 |
Visual Studio 2010 Tools for SharePoint Announced
Rob Foster
Check it out on Paul Andrew's blog here!
This is HUGE news for SharePoint Developers!!!! [read].
Posted: Mon, Nov 10th '08 |
SharePoint Guidance from the Patterns and Practices Group
Rob Foster
I am absolutely thrilled with the new SharePoint Guidance that has been released from the Patterns and Practices group. It covers the following areas:
Creating a SharePoint Development Environment
Overview, walkthrough, deployment, and upgrading a sample application that is provided
Best Practices on development activities
Technical Guidance
Quickstarts
If you are getting ready to start a SharePoint project or have one (or many) going right now, you should stop what you're doing right [read].
Posted: Fri, Nov 7th '08 |
SharePoint Pod Show get some link love from MS Governance site!
Rob Foster
We got our first link love from the Microsoft Governance Resource Center today.
Check out the link to the SharePoint Pod Show on there and thanks again to Rob Bogue for doing a great interview on SharePoint Governance! [read].
Posted: Thu, Oct 9th '08 |
Surprising Results for a BDC Survey
Rob Foster
The Lightning Tools team did a recent survey on the usage of the BDC in organizations. The results of the survey were quite shocking to me as I thought that most people would use the BDC integration for searching their line of business data. The results indicate that search came in a distand 3rd next to BDC web parts and list integration (for list columns).
Get the survey here.
I know that I will be using the results of the survey to refine my approaches to using the BDC as it appears to pai [read].
Posted: Wed, Sep 24th '08 |
SharePoint Pod Show Episode 4 is up!
Rob Foster
Get it here.
We are talking with Rob Bogue about SharePoint Governance, Engagement, and Taxonomy! [read].
Posted: Mon, Sep 8th '08 |
The Passing of Patrick Tisseghem
Rob Foster
We just got word that one of our fellow SharePoint MVP's and community leaders Patrick Tisseghem suddenly passed away this morning.
Patrick left a mark on the SharePoint community and influenced a lot of people around the world. Patrick will be missed very much and my thoughts and prayers are with his family. There is a posting on the U2U site (the company in which he co-founded) about his passing.
http://www.u2u.be/
[read].
Posted: Fri, Sep 5th '08 |
Connect at Lightning Tools
Rob Foster
I co-host the SharePoint Pod Show with Nick Swan and Brett Lonsdale, who both work at Lightning Tools, but that doesn’t affect my feelings about their new service. I want to just get the word out on the new service offering from Lightning Tools called Connect.LightningTools.com. Below is an excerpt describing the site (yes, I copied and pasted directly from the site): “This site enables the users of Lightning Tools web parts and products to have an impact and provide feedback to driv [read].
Posted: Wed, Sep 3rd '08 |
SharePoint Pod Show Episode 3 is Live
Rob Foster
Nick, Brett, and I just went live with another episode of the SharePoint Pod Show. In this episode, we interview SharePoint MVP Eric Shupps who was recently in London to speak to the SharePoint Users Group.
Also, we got new recording equipment, so this time the show quality is 1000% better than any of our previous episodes! Thanks to MVP Keith Elder of Deep Fried Bytes for helping me out with questions and showing me how they record their show. I really appreciate it! :-)
Click here t [read].
Posted: Tue, Aug 26th '08 |
SharePoint Pod Show Episode 2
Rob Foster
Nick, Brett, and I just went live with Episode 2 of the SharePoint Pod Show. Check it out here, the topic is "what is SharePoint and the differences between WSS 3.0 and MOSS (standard vs. enterprise)". [read].
Posted: Wed, Aug 13th '08 |
Applying patches to SharePoint? READ THIS!
Rob Foster
I just read a VERY good article called "The Zero Downtime SharePoint Patching Myth" by Todd Carter. If you are applying patches (SP1, Infrastructure Update), you should read this article immediately.
Great post, Todd! [read].
Posted: Mon, Aug 4th '08 |
SharePoint Pod Show -- Behind the Music
Rob Foster
First of all thanks to all that are providing feedback on the show and suggestions on future shows!
So far, we've had several questions/comments about about the intro which have ranged from cool music, where did you get it....to dude...WTF is up with your intro music? :-) Ok, ok...I must come clean here...it's actually all me.
Nick, Brett, and I bought some pretty decent USB Mics to record the show with and I was actually testing out all different audio situations that included me talking [read].
Posted: Mon, Aug 4th '08 |
Announcing SharePoint Pod Show!
Rob Foster
I would like to announce the launch of the SharePoint Pod Show!
Nick Swan, Brett Lonsdale and I (Rob Foster) will be hosting the show and will be bringing you the latest and greatest SharePoint news and topics relating to SharePoint. We have a lot of great topics lined up and are looking forward to doing the future shows.
In the first show, you will meet us as well as learn what the show will be about. Episode 1 is now live and you can expect new shows to be available every two weeks. P [read].
Posted: Wed, Jul 30th '08 |
Free Vista SP1 Support
Rob Foster
Free, unlimited installation and compatibility support is now available for all worldwide customers using Windows Vista SP1, until March 18, 2009. Telephone support is available worldwide. Chat and Email support in US and Canada only.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Effective dates
From now until 18 March 2009.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Location
Find out more and access the serv [read].
Posted: Thu, Jul 17th '08 |
SharePoint Infrastructure Update is Live
Rob Foster
The SharePoint Infrastructure Update was released yesterday. My advice: install SP1 and then install the Infrastructure Update IMMEDIATELY! There are a lot of bug fixes and features in both of these updates that can make your SharePoint experience much better.
The updates can be downloaded from the links below:
Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Servers (KB951297) - x86
Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Servers (KB951297) - x64
Infrastructure Update for Windows SharePoint S [read].
Posted: Wed, Jul 16th '08 |
Announcing the International SharePoint Professionals Association
Rob Foster
I would like to announce the launch of the International SharePoint Professionals Association (ISPA)!
This organization has been formed to support all SharePoint-based user groups and you can read about it in Bob Fox's post here.
I have been named as a Regional Evangelist for the Heartland district which covers Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and Michigan. In my role, I will be helping support the user groups in my region so that they get what they need to build a successful community. I am lo [read].
Posted: Wed, Jul 16th '08 |
Thoughts on a SharePoint 2007 Operating Model
Rob Foster
What is it about "SharePoint" as a platform that is so difficult? I hear this almost every time that you get more than zero SharePoint people in a room. Quite possibly the most frustrating thing about SharePoint for me is the way that companies (not all, but some) view the SharePoint platform as well as staff and train for an operating model around SharePoint itself. A lot of companies are somewhat inadequately staffed or at least inadequately skilled for a full on SharePoint implementa [read].
Posted: Wed, Jun 18th '08 |
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Tools: Visual Studio 2008 Extensions, Version 1.2 available now
Rob Foster
Get them here.
There are no new features, other than this works with Visual Studio 2008.
[read].
Posted: Thu, Jun 12th '08 |
MS SharePoint Developer site is live!
Rob Foster
Check out this site. It has a lot of great information pertaining to SharePoint 2007 Development. There are hands on labs, VPCs, and a lot of information about developing on SharePoint 2007. All for free!
Thanks to the SharePoint team for getting this site up and running! [read].
Posted: Thu, Jun 12th '08 |
TechEd: Spring Break for Nerds...
Rob Foster
I have to call out this funny blog from Mike Houston. So true...see if you can find me and a few other SHAREPOINT NATION folks in the pics. :-) [read].
Posted: Wed, Jun 11th '08 |
We are SharePoint Nation!!!!
Rob Foster
If you have been following my tweets (or have been anywhere around me since MVP Summit), you have likely heard me randomly screaming in my very obvious Nashville accent "SHAREPOINT NATION!", especially at events/conferences and such (they typically frown on me randomly screaming it at work). :-)
Here is a little insight. SharePoint Nation is a name that I started giving to all of us SharePoint folks as we seem to connect at conferences, events, etc. and somehow are bonded by the produ [read].
Posted: Sun, Jun 8th '08 |
TechEd 2008 Jam Sessions
Rob Foster
Just in case you missed it, Jam Sessions rocked for a bit this year. The band started out by playing some classic rock (Skynyrd, Creedence, etc.) when I got there with some of my SharePoint Nation brothers. Jeff Julian pointed out to me that Denny Boynton was a great drummer (Denny and I had previously had a phone interview where I was the interviewee a year or so ago). With this in mind (and knowing that Denny had NO idea who I was or that he had interviewed me) I told him to jump on dru [read].
Posted: Sun, Jun 8th '08 |
Nashville SharePoint Users Group
Rob Foster
We have started a SharePoint Users Group in Nashville!!! Visit the site here! [read].
Posted: Thu, May 29th '08 |
SharePoint FireStarter @ TechEd IT Pro week!
Rob Foster
More information about this event can be found here. [read].
Posted: Wed, May 28th '08 |
Twitter Features that Should Exist for Enterprise Social Networking
Rob Foster
What can I say, I am totally addicted to Twitter and the way that it has changed the way that we communicate. I seem to post at least once a day and see what my tweeps (people that I follow and are following me) are up to at least 10 times per day. Yes, it's still somewhat progressive for the mainstream crowd, but its adoption is really taking off. One question that I have is: "So what's next with Twitter?"
I've been pondering this for a few weeks as I dive deeper into the true enterprise [read].
Posted: Sat, May 24th '08 |
5 Rules to Live By When Interviewing for a SharePoint Job
Rob Foster
There are a ton of blogs out there that tell you "questions to ask when interviewing a SharePoint person" which will help give you a baseline for what you should know technically. However, technical interview questions are somewhat easy to answer if you have done enough of them. I am not talking about the technical part of the interview, i'm more talking about how you are selling yourself as a SharePoint person to a client, which is important for you, but mostly important for the client in w [read].
Posted: Thu, May 22nd '08 |
SharePoint by Day, SharePint by Night @ TechEd 2008
Rob Foster
I wanted to get the word out on the SharePoint by Day/SharePint by Night event at TechEd 2008 this year.
This event is being put together by Andrew Connell and Bob Fox and will happen on Monday night before the conference starts (both weeks). Below is the event information:
SharePoint by Day, SharePint by Night @ TechEd North America 2008 Developer
Monday, June 2, 7p ->? @ BB Kings Orlando (9101 International Drive #2230; Orlando, FL)
SharePoint by Day, SharePint by Night @ TechEd [read].
Posted: Mon, May 19th '08 |
I WILL be blogging @ TechEd
Rob Foster
So I got a comment on my twitter post yesterday asking if I was going to blog during TechEd as well.
Yes, of course I'm going to blog about TechEd and the sessions that I attend. You can't attend it all and I always find value in blogging about sessions that I attend as well as reading the other attendees blogs, especially when i'm unable to attend a conference.
If you see me at TechEd and want to chat, please grab me by the shirt and pull me aside. I love to chat about anything SharePoin [read].
Posted: Sat, May 17th '08 |
Follow me on Twitter
Rob Foster
I will be going to TechEd 2008 in Orlando (developer week). As most of you know, I'm a twitter addict and usually post updates from conferences and general technology related information this way in a more realtime manner than my blog. You can follow me at http://twitter.com/lespaulrob.
It will be a fun ride! :-) [read].
Posted: Thu, May 15th '08 |
12 reasons to Twitter
Rob Foster
I've been Twittering for awhile now and here are 12 reasons to start now.
[read].
Posted: Thu, May 8th '08 |
MVP Renewed!
Rob Foster
Well, folks...My MVP award for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server was renewed another year! woot!
See you all at either Summit or TechEd 2008 (dev week) ! [read].
Posted: Fri, Apr 4th '08 |
Watch the Billy Collins Fight...
Rob Foster
From my previous post, I researched and sure enough found Collins/Reston fight on YouTube! As the fight goes on, watch how badly Billy's face is hurt. At then end, you can hear his trainer (who is also his dad) say "There's no padding in his gloves!!!".
Rounds 1 & 2
Rounds 3 & 4
Rounds 5 & 6
Rounds 7 & 8
Rounds 9 & 10
[read].
Posted: Fri, Apr 4th '08 |
My Cuz--Irish Billy Collins
Rob Foster
If you know me, then you know that i'm a HUGE boxing fan...This is partially due to getting interested in the sport when I was probably 5 or 6 years old by watching my cousin Billy fight on TV. 25 years ago, he fought in a fight that would change the sport of boxing forever.
He fought a guy named Louis Resto (trainer was Panama Lewis) at Madison Square Garden for 10 rounds. All of this time it has been known that Resto's trainer, Panama Lewis had removed the padding from his gloves and he wa [read].
Posted: Fri, Apr 4th '08 |
ASP.NET 3.5 AJAX Unleashed: coming soon to a bookstore near you!
Rob Foster
It's official...My new book "ASP.NET 3.5 AJAX Unleashed" is coming out soon.
Read all about it here.
[read].
Posted: Tue, Mar 25th '08 |
Unknown Server Error: d
Rob Foster
Yes folks, I received one of the most abstract error messages from MOSS the other day. When trying to provision a new site collection (team site site collection, that is), the error message that was thrown by MOSS was titled:
"Unknown Server Error: d".
After checking my usual spots for crazy activity when errors are thrown (event logs, IIS logs, MOSS logs, etc.) which turned up nothing, I tried to provision a new site collection of a different type thinking "ahh...it must be in the site pro [read].
Posted: Tue, Mar 25th '08 |
CryptoCollaboration for SharePoint 2007
Rob Foster
Check out Adam's CryptoCollaboration project on CodePlex here.
It's very cool! Nice work Adam! [read].
Posted: Tue, Mar 25th '08 |
Party with Palermo @ MVP summit!
Rob Foster
I'll be there!
[read].
Posted: Mon, Mar 17th '08 |
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