Friday, May 31, 2013

Stuff that's happening- I'll be at TechEd 2013 North America, I'm coauthoring a book about SharePoint 2013 for a little while, thoughts on an online SPF guide, and more...


Hi everyone,

My apologies for letting this blog lag as of late. I have been super busy with work things and life things.

If you remember my post about SPC 2012, I promised that I would be more available for my readers, followers, etc.,. True to my word, I will attending TechEd 2013 North America this year as a full attendee. This means that none of my hours at the event will be dedicated to working a lab, booth, or session. All my time can be yours (well, I might want to see some sessions, and do some certification, but otherwise, I'll be available). Feel free to contact me if you'd like to get together.



I am writing some chapters for the MSPress SharePoint 2013 Administration Inside Out, to be out this autumn. O'Reilly (the actual publisher for MSPress books right now) is doing some interesting sneak peek, "Rough Cut" marketing of the Inside Out book. A "Rough Cut" is a sampler of chapters that are currently in copy edits from the full SharePoint 2013 Administration Inside Out book. Right now those are mostly Chris Givens' Search chapters, but they want me to spend some time signing copies anyway, saying hi to readers, and generally being social.

The time I am scheduled to be signing Rough Cuts is Wednesday, June 5, at 4:30pm at the Microsoft Press booth. If you're at TechEd, and free at that time, feel free to stop by and say hello.

In other news, I have been wondering what to do concerning continuing the content of my Mastering SharePoint Foundation books. My audience deserves to learn all the new features, lost features, tips, and tricks of the 2013 version of SharePoint Foundation. How to upgrade/migrate from 2010 to 2013. How Search has completely changed (unless you're used to Search Server Express- then it's exactly the same). How the graphic elements, and therefore navigation, has changed.

To make matters worse- Microsoft TechNet doesn't even have a separate section for SharePoint Foundation at all. That's right. For those of you using SharePoint Foundation 2013, there is no where to go for articles specifically about SharePoint Foundation 2013 on TechNet at all. Only SharePoint Server 2013. So if you want to see if something works, you have to read the Server article, which might mention Foundation.

So if I don't write anything for my audience about SharePoint Foundation 2013, they aren't going to get the information they need anywhere else. Not TechNet certainly.

But- I do not want to go through the hassle and heartbreak of trying to publish a big fat book dedicated to administering, configuring, managing SharePoint Foundation anymore. It's just too much of an uphill and thankless battle (ask my reviewers for details).

But- I don't want to leave my readers hanging.

But- I just can't do conventional publishing of that topic anymore. But, my readers... But my sanity... But my readers... But my finances... But...

...So what do you think of this-

I create a Callahan's Guide To SharePoint Foundation 2013 online. A site dedicated to documents concerning all things SharePoint Foundation 2013 configuration, administration, and management. It will be a lot like a book (like previous ones I've done), a lot like TechNet probably should be, and all about SharePoint Foundation.

I can use ads to to cover costs, so it can be totally free for you, the readers, and I can even offer on-demand printing of portions into mini-books or manuals in hard copy for a minimal fee.

Do you think y'all might be interested? It'd be a lot of work on my part with no certainty that anyone would read the pages, or click the ads. So I'd like to know if anyone out there might want to use the site. Let me know, and after I finish my chapters (end of July), if there's interest, I'll set up the site and get started.

Also- as a note-- I will be presenting at SPTechCon in Boston this August. This is the first time I've worked with this group. I will be doing a pre-conference 3 hour Tutorial about how to Migrate to SharePoint 2013 (covering both Server and Foundation, since I can), and the free tools, how to monitor SharePoint 2013 without spending a dime. If you're going to the event, please stop by my sessions and say hello.