And in news of yet more releases, the Windows SharePoint Services Solution Kit for hosting providers is now available. This offering, downloadable on CodePlex, provides 40+ application templates geared to be utilized as offers by Web hosting providers.
Check it out today at http://www.codeplex.com/SharePointHosters.
For my official post on Web Hosting, I wanted to chronicle some of the efforts we have had ongoing around Longhorn Server Beta 3, which shipped yesterday (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver/longhorn/default.mspx). E-Week presented a great article on this and some of our team’s efforts with respect to this launch – available at http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2122094,00.asp.
One of the key aspects was the IIS 7 Go-Live program, which has allowed hosting providers to provide offers based on IIS 7 and Longhorn Server Beta 3 today. Some of those participating in this program include:
This just goes to show how baked the technology is – as it is literally in production today in multiple places on Beta 3. So, I would highly enoucrage you to go check out getting your Web site hosted on the most major revision of IIS since 4.0 came out years ago.
And if you are a hosting provider and would like to participate, visit http://www.iis.net/default.aspx?tabid=7&subtabid=79 today!
I have been quiet, but it’s all done in the sake of working on cool stuff that I can’t yet talk about. 😉 As they say at the movie theatre, silence is golden.
What I will say is that in addition to continue to work on all things e-commerce, I have taken on some new responsibilities at Microsoft in the Web space over the last month. Things are now sufficiently baked in terms of internal communication that it is a good time to start blogging about it.
Specifically, I am now also working on the Web Hosting space – which is a large and fascinating market filled with several unique customer segments (comprising shared, dedicated, and virtual dedicated – through either application or operating system virtualization) and quite a few interesting technological challenges.
So does this mean any wavering in my focus on e-commerce? Not at all – it just means twice as much energy towards furthering the Microsoft Web platform for our customers to cover two principal areas of focus instead of one. Now, if only I could alter the space time continuum to double my working hours…
Be seeing you – with a lot more content soon.
Linking from my update on the Commerce Team blog – http://blogs.msdn.com/commerce/archive/2007/04/24/mix-silverlight-and-commerce-server-2007-at-mix-07-in-las-vegas-next-week.aspx – be sure to stop by and see us at Mix ’07 if you are there or in Las Vegas next week.
You’ll get a great overview of how rich interactive application technology vis a vis Silverlight and Commerce Server can go together to develop next-generation multi-channel experiences.
I’ll be specifically partnering with our good colleagues at Cactus Commerce to show the next-generation multi-channel story demonstrated at the National Retail Federation (NRF) show in January – but this time with a behind-the-scenes technical look.
So as of April of this year, I have re-evaluated my blogging strategy. Over the last three years I have played with every major tool out there – WordPress, LiveJournal, TypePad, Spaces, Blogger, MySpace, Friendster, and more. It has been an interesting experiment in many respects. At the same time, I have experimented with various forms of content, ranging from amusing personal anecdotes to writing about hobbies, and more.
My observation is that the new age of electronic social networking is quite daunting – the myriad of means to communicate, extremely dedicated online communities, and sheer numbers of individuals posting content is simply mind boggling. Participating meaningfully can end up eating a significant part of one’s life – often to the detriment of an actual life.
At the end of this my conclusion is that I do have a life of my own – and do not need a digital alter ego to complete my existence. Creating and managing meaningful content while still maintaing a reasonable semblance of privacy also requires significant effort – considerably more effort than my various experiments require without sacrificing my actual non-work life. So to this end, I have decided to focus on quality versus quantity and consolidated my digital efforts to my work blog and my digital photography for now and ceased my other experimental pursuits.
So, please enjoy these at:
Be seeing you!
rdonovan.com 