Two views of Microsoft SharePoint

SharePoint can be viewed in two main ways: as a host of things and as a data collection mechanism.  I prefer to view it as the latter because I find that it is far more interesting and compelling that way.

Back in 2001 when SharePoint first came out, I was building web apps for Siemens and they wanted to use SharePoint.  I soon found out that SharePoint was great and offered value beyond the tools I could build.  I would still write custom apps and tools without SharePoint but SharePoint really took off within Siemens as a great data collection mechanism.  The Team Sites feature and all of the lists and modules and such really is the core of SharePoint.

SharePoint has come a very long ways since its early beginnings and added Records Management, Web Parts, Dashboards, and a lot of Business Intelligence features.

Yet some people see SharePoint today as a surface and host for things regardless of its complexity and value.  They see it as a container that doesn't do much.  I don't see it as this at all and am confused by people who think of it in this way.

So get a clue people, it's a database and a holding tank of data and other things; it's a framework.

CTP5 [DataAnnotations]

DataAnnotations are sweet! 

The MSDN announcement to CTP5 has a listing of the Data Annotations provided.  Here they are formatted for your enjoyment:

• Key
• StringLength
• MaxLength
• ConcurrencyCheck
• Required
• Timestamp
• ComplexType
• Column    - Placed on a property to specify the column name, ordinal & data type
• Table - Placed on a class to specify the table name and schema
• InverseProperty - Placed on a navigation property to specify the property that represents the other end of a relationship
• ForeignKey - Placed on a navigation property to specify the property that represents the foreign key of the relationship
• DatabaseGenerated - Placed on a property to specify how the database generates a value for the property (Identity, Computed or None)
• NotMapped - Placed on a property or class to exclude it from the database

Business Intelligence As Feeding the Hungry

The business is hungry for information about their operations and customers. The data that is around the business is not currently very delicious or available. People are picking at scraps all the time but they are definitely not satiated. Business analysts, project, product, and program managers (cooks in my scenario) are hired to prepare data-meals for the very data-hungry executives and managers. The managers are picky eaters and have high expectations of what you put on their plate. The job of the cook/analyst is to gather up the various bits (data-ingredients) and whip them into a lovely broth that the business can enjoyably consume.

Hyperlocal

I was reading something from the guy that's doing Outside.in. He's talking about doing "hyperlocal" web services (things relevant to people at a very small level and made the following--I think uninformed--point in his post:

• The pothole paradox plays out with any number of different topics. The delicious Indian place that at long last opens up in your neighborhood; the creepy science teacher who finally retires at the local public school; the come-from-behind victory staged by the middle-school lacrosse team -- all of these are potentially exciting events if they are happening in the communities you inhabit, but they are mind-numbingly dull if they're one county over -- much less on another coast.

What bothers me about his comment is that I think you can't know if something's going to be relevant (confidence level 95% say) to someone unless it's a stated need for them. They have to opt in! So what's really needed is connecting a web service to people's preferences and interests like so: I have a local (or online) store of my history, etc. I keep track of restuarant types I like, my favorite restaurants, teachers I had, schools, I went to, etc. Keeping all of this information has to be fun, easy, and maintainable. You could build it. If people then exposed all or parts of this personal information to web services we'd be golden.