Technet Virtual Labs for SharePoint Available!

Virtual Labs for learning SharePoint 2007 and WSS 3.0 are now available here -

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/office/sharepointserver/bb512933.aspx

It's a powerful way to get trained by presenting a virtual machine workstation inside your browser. No need for a SharePoint box at all! All you need to do is have an MSN or Hotmail id and say "Yes" when it prompts to install the MS Virtual Machine plugin for your browser! There is a lab manual included which gives step-by-step instructions on how to go about the tasks. It has a nice interface with the VM workstation on the left and a pane on the rightwhere the instruction text is displayed. You can even close your lab session and resume later.

The only nag is the number of forms that it throws at you before the VM interface is displayed. Overall its a great way to learn and one gets a ready made box with all the features installed!

Happy Learning!

Community Kit for SharePoint

At last a nice looking template from Microsoft - The Community kit for SharePoint. The Community Kit for SharePoint allows us to create a community site with all the features such as Blog, Wikis, Discussion boards and the usual stuff found on a Team Site.

The template is a free download from the codeplex site -

http://www.codeplex.com/CKS

Online Demo of the community kit based website -

http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/sharepoint/cks/uge/default.aspx

Community Kit home is here -

http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/sharepoint/cks/default.aspx