Off-topic: If only the iPhone iWorked

OK, so I wasn't one of the Apple fanboys who stayed up all night and camped out in line for an iPhone on 7/11 (does anyone else notice the similarity to 9/11?) but I did get one within the first three weeks of release. I've been a heavy Windows CE, then Pocket PC, then Windows Mobile user for years but the App Store and the improved browsing experience won me over.



On the other hand, how can the fanboys attack Microsoft for poorly tested releases after this? Bill Gates should owe Steve Jobs a beer, or a country or something in exchange for the 2.0 operating system release. Major annoyances experienced so far:

1. Accelerometer fails to recognize movement (only for native iPhone apps) and requires a phone reset.
2. Mail app; don't get me started on this one! Let's just say that it doesn't work and leave it at that. There are over 1000 comments in the Apple support forums on this if you want details.
3. WiFi; good luck maintaining a consistent connection.
4. The darned thing is just, well... crashy!

Don't get me wrong, I love my iPhone and hardly ever turn on my home PC any more, but to claim superiority the way that Apple does is just absurd.

Review: Bamboo Solutions List Rollup Web Part

Why isn't everybody talking about this web part? I spent numerous hours struggling with the styling of Content Query Web Parts and Data View Web Parts in SharePoint Designer before I stumbled across this little gem from my friends at Bamboo Solutions.

It's easy to dismiss this as being only necessary for multi-list rollups but let me tell you, it's the fastest, most elegant way that I know of querying even a single list across sites. I know, you're saying "but why not just use a CQWP or a data view?". Well, for one thing this is faster, and lets you invoke the view of your choice from any of the target lists. It also doesn't choke on multi-value lookup columns. I've used it for everything from simply pulling a single list across sites to creating complex "My Tasks" web parts that aggregate assigned items from several disparate list types on one or many sites for the currrent user.

Check it out if you haven't already!

Welcome to my world...

As a member of the oft-referenced but seldom-defined Knowledge Worker class I often find it difficult to comb through the multitude of blogs, discussion boards and other forums where information about SharePoint 2007, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server or MOSS resides.

With the exception of Mark Miller's most excellent "End User SharePoint" blog it can be hard to discern the knowledge worker content from the huge volume of developer-centric content. I find both classes of information useful but what I hope to do in this blog is to concentrate on the resources that are most valuable to me as a knowledge worker, analyst and site designer type.

In addition to pointing out information in the blogs of people smarter than I am, I'll share my observations and findings with regard to SharePoint designer, third-party web parts and anything else that might prove useful. Onward and upward...