An update to the SharePoint User Manager program I mentioned a few weeks back has been released. With a new name: SPUM2003.

Not sure I like the name, but the tool is very nice.

Mads Nissen has a very good post about the SmartPart and its effect on the SharePoint community. He also includes a great graphic showing the various customization methods. You must read it!

Mads also points out that Steve Ballmer stated SharePoint is the number one growing product, yet the developer support is certainly less that other areas of Microsoft's business. I second his call for more content.

Amanda, your virtual SPS user group might help in this area. Any news on that?

Renaud COMTE has released a “Christmas Gift” to the SharePoint community -- Document Library Browser 1.0!

The screen shots in the article show a web page that looks very much like Windows Explorer: a list of directories on the left and the contents of the directory on the right. This just might be the view that get's my users more comfortable with the document library.

Thank you Renaud! And Merry Christmas!

This download includes a preview of the reference documentation for Microsoft® SharePointPSSearch, the SQL Syntax used for Microsoft SharePointPSSearch Full Text Search.

Future Tense has a great podcast that discusses how bad these things really are. Computer geeks are probably saavy enough to avoid these, but are your family & friends?

This must be SharePoint tools week. I missed the announcement!

“Not sure about other people, but I find it quite time consuming when trying to manage users inside of Windows SharePoint Services sites, especially when the sites in the hierarchy have their security inheritance broken. A number of customers end up breaking security inheritance at every opportunity and then hit this problem.

So, I am in the process of writing a SharePoint User Manager Windows Application in order to help out in this area!”

From SharePoints (Nigel Bridport)

Check out these samples from GotDotNet:

SharePoint explorer (VS 2005)
This sample application demonstrates how to use the SharePoint web services to obtain and display a rich set of information about SharePoint. Discover the sites, lists, picture libraries, download pictures, obtain a list of forms and file versions and much more. Discover how you can use SharePoint from within your application using its web services.

SharePoint Services web service browser (VS 2005)
This sample application lists all available web services and web methods Windows SharePoint Services provides. It ties right into the MSDN help topics so you see a detailed description of each web service, web method as well as its input and output parameters. This allows a convinient way to discover and learn the web services and web methods. Discover how you can use SharePoint from within your application using its web services.

Jan Tielens has released SmartPart for SharePoint! This product brings easy-to-design ASP.Net User controls to a web part page.

More info on the GotDotNet workspace.

Mr. Udell is lead analyst at the InfoWorld Test Center, and is what I call a “big thinker.” If you aren't subscribed, go do so now!

Jon has updated his RSS feed to include enclosures, starting with a podcast that includes an interview with two of Microsoft's patterns & practices leaders: Ward Cunningham and Jack Greenfield. But it is even better -- Jon will be including screencasts!

When an eloquent writer/speaker/thinker like Jon Udell offers such a multimedia experience, then entire industry benefits. Thank you Jon.

I am a few weeks behind, but I just discovered a good tool for SPS/WSS administrators. SharePoint Explorer from Navigo Systems is a WinForms application that shows a tree-view of your server as well as displaying properties of Sites/Lists/Items. See the details on the download page.

I'll add my recommendation to all the others on the web.

Anyone who has worked on SharePoint (or WSS) for any length of time has certainly encountered many situations where a site or list would be very helpful. I had just a situation today -- an ad hoc committee is forming to organize a “Day of Service” for the company.

I responded with an offer to create and moderate a WSS site for the group. That led me to think about other ways that the SharePoint story could be spread. I would love to get feedback about how you've approached these situations.