I've gotten a number of questions recently about adding tag clouds to SharePoint. Tag clouds are handy for visualizing content tags in sites, wikis, and blogs.

The Community Kit for SharePoint contains a great Tag Cloud web part...available here: http://www.codeplex.com/CKS/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=4820

Check out the entire Community Kit for SharePoint here: http://www.codeplex.com/CKS/. It's a set of best practices, templates, Web Parts, tools, and source code that enables the creation of a community website based on SharePoint technology.

I just read the first review I've seen for Essential SharePoint 2007.  I was blown away.

http://www.chapmanconsulting.ca/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=144

I'm glad to see that the non-traditional approach we took for this book did not go unnoticed. Thanks for the great review, Chris!

If you are at TechEd this week, be sure to stop by the bookstore between 11:30 and noon. Immediately after my session, I will be signing copies of my book Essential SharePoint 2007: Delivering High-Impact Collaboration at the conference bookstore.

If you're not at TechEd, you can get a great deal on the book here:  http://www.bookpool.com/sm/0321421744

If you're in Orlando for TechEd, be sure to attend my session entitled Composite Application Architectures: Using the 2007 Microsoft Office System.  

We'll discuss how the 2007 Office System isn't just a great set of products; it's an application platform that supports industry standards and provides key application and integration services via composite application architectures. I'll show some features in Office Enterprise 2007 and Office SharePoint Server 2007 that enable great solutions as part of an overall composite application architecture. This session covers common architectural patterns and the core services provided by Office and SharePoint with two fun examples.

It's all happening tomorrow (6/7) at 9:45AM in Room N310 A.

One of the most-requested features of SharePoint for the current release was the addition of the recycle bin. This is great for users who accidentally delete a file. But what if the user deletes a site?  SharePoint still does not have a native recycle bin for sites.

One option is the Microsoft IT Site Delete Capture 1.0 tool available at codeplex.com, which captures sites that are deleted by end users and backs them up to disk using the event model. The restore would take place by an administrator.

The Microsoft Office Interactive Developer Map is a Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) application that helps developers visualize the different programs, servers, services, and tools that will help them build solutions. It allows them to drill down to each product and technology and learn about new features, objects, Web services, namespaces, and schemas required to extend Microsoft Office and build custom Office Business Applications (OBAs).  Check it out here: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/office/bb497969.aspx

I sometimes get asked if it's possible to customzie the MySite templates in MOSS 2007.  The answer is yes!  In fact, there are now nine MySite templates available for free from Microsoft here:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepointserver/HA102147321033.aspx

The Role-Based Templates for SharePoint My Sites are custom templates designed for Office SharePoint Server 2007 and the My Site functionality. They are tailored to address the unique needs and requirements of specific roles within an organization. Here's an example of the "marketing manager" template:

I'm a big fan of utilities.  Here's one I like: http://www.sharepointblogs.com/keutmann/archive/2007/01/27/18652.aspx

We throw around terms like "information worker" and "knowledge worker" all of the time.  So a common question I get is "What's the difference between information and knowledge?  They're the same thing, right?"

That's a big, fat no.  I had the pleasure of having dinner with Larry Prusak, Jonathan Spira, and Dan Rasmus last night -- three heavyweights in the world of knowledge management.  Along with several customers and Microsoft folks, we discussed that very question at great lengths.

My conclusion:  Knowledge = information + experience.

As an example:  If you described a certain person to me, you could tell me their name, how tall they were, what they look like, etc.  I have information.  When I meet the person, I can experience them, and talk to them, and smell them, and understand what makes them tick.  I have knowledge.

Another example (from last night's dinner):  Getting and passing along information is much easier now than it was 400 years ago.  But is learning a language any easier?  Not really.  There's more information available, but the learning process isn't any easier.  Holding a book on Spanish is having information.  Speaking fluently is having knowledge.

One more example:  A recipe for making a cheesecake is information.  Being able to apply that information and turn it into a nice dessert?  That's knowledge.

I have one more example around sex, but I'll leave that one off the blog...

Thanks to everyone who attended my sessions on Monday at the SharePoint Connections conference in Orlando. I got some fantastic questions on the new search capabilities of MOSS 2007.  We covered content sources, search scopes, custom tabs, duplicate collapsing, custom search web parts, and a number of other features. We also reviewed how to influence relevance and how SharePoint search has really come a long way!

As promised, I've posted my slides. You can download them here: click to download slides.  I will follow this post with the custom search web part code and the Excel services code in the next day or two.

In case you need a good book on MOSS 2007 with your favorite Irish beer...here's one that I personally recommend! 

Essential SharePoint^® 2007 focuses relentlessly on utilizing Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 to improve collaboration and decision-making, streamline processes, and solve real-world business problems. Three leading SharePoint consultants systematically address the crucial success factors, intangibles, and "gotchas" in SharePoint deployment, helping you maximize value and reduce risk.The authors walk you through planning and architecting successful SharePoint solutions around your business, hands-on. Next, they address the operational support and end-user functionality needed to make SharePoint 2007 work — with special attention to make-or-break organizational and political issues. Coverage includes: Defining collaboration strategies; building attractive, usable applications; architecting infrastructure; leveraging SharePoint content management and business intelligence; migrating from SharePoint 2003, and much more. Essential SharePoint^® 2007 was written for everyone involved in SharePoint 2007 projects: IT and line managers, consultants, analysts, project leaders, and developers

www.awprofessional.com/titles/0321421744