Microsoft has released significant updates for SQL Server 2008, including 2008 Service Pack 1, Express Edition Service Pack 1, large Feature Pack, Upgrade Advisor, SRS Report Builder 2.0, SharePoint integration, and data mining Office add-ins.
Microsoft has released a CTP of the new version of Visual Studio 2008 extensions for SharePoint (WSS). VSeWSS v1.3 includes several improvements SharePoint development including installation on x64 Windows Server, command line build, and improvements in the WSP View pane.
Visual Studio 2010 will support tighter integration with the SharePoint development process. The focus of the tooling is to automate tedious tasks, enhance the debugging experience, and provide a GUI surface for visually exploring deployment and feature packaging.
Microsoft has been touting a new way to build composite applications using the acronym, “OBA”. The intended sweet spot for OBA is within the Lines of Business within the greater Enterprise cloud. The OBA framework capitalizes on the large number of Microsoft Office licenses that have been sold world-wide.
Ben Robb from cScape has written an excellent article about Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, MOSS 2007, to develop a full featured public facing website. cScape was able to do this because of the dramatic redesign of MOSS 2007. Using ASP.NET Master Pages, CSS, WebParts, and the Office SharePoint Designer, they created a maintainable Web Site branded to very specific requirements.
