Interestinger and interestinger...

A few posts ago I'd listed a few of my disappointments about SharePoint 2010. In particular I'd mentioned that SharePoint Templates Packages, or .stp files-- the file type for list and site templates, would no longer be supported in SharePoint 2010. And how, obviously, that would leave those of us with custom site templates, and the 20 Fantastic 40 templates from Microsoft itself, in jeopardy.

Well, I happened to be monitoring the End User SharePoint live coverage twitter feed for the SharePoint Conference because I am not happy about missing all that critical info because I'm not there, and I came across a link to a blog post about one of the sessions. The presenter of the session was none other than Laura Brown, who is Product Manager of SharePoint over at Microsoft. Listed in the blog post was an intriguing sentence:

"The Fantastic 40 templates will be fully upgradable to SharePoint 2010"

Hmmm, does that mean all of the templates (since half of them are already .wsp or "solutions packages" and therefore supported by default in the upcoming version of SharePoint), including .stp's? I am hoping so, because that means that all of the custom templates I use for my book and my presentations will be portable. Hundreds and hundreds of list items won't have to be painstakingly remade, custom views, fields, lists, libraries, and more, all safe to import into a bold new world...

...Well, at least into a new install of SharePoint 2010, and ready to be presented to a new audience in the future.

So for Liam and the other attendees of my sessions of the last year, here's hoping that Laura is saying that, somehow, .stp files, and those who made them, won't be abandoned come SharePoint 2010's release date.

You can see the blog entry I am referring to here.