With close to 300 SharePoint-based sites featured on TopSharePoint.com, Europe’s adoption of SharePoint is not a surprise anymore. As a matter of fact, majority of these SharePoint sites are very well designed and trendy. Just take a look at the Top Rated SharePoint Sites and you will notice well known industry names very fond of SharePoint technology: SWISS, Ferrari, Fiat, Volvo, Alfa Romeo, Migros, Carlsberg or Cadbury. Today, we showcase Top 20 highest rated European SharePoint sites. As we mentioned on previous articles, the showcase is updated automatically, based on your votes. So, don’t forget to vote for your favorite SharePoint site. (more…)

May 12, 2010 is the official release date for SharePoint 2010 & Office 2010. Also, Microsoft announced their intent to RTM (Release to Manufacturing) for April 2010.

Join the virtual launch event hosted by Microsoft executives on May 12, 2010 at 11 a.m. EST.

By attending this live event you can find out how peers and partners are already seeing benefits to their business by leveraging the next wave of productivity. You can also submit your questions through live Q&A.

View on-demand breakout sessions showing how Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 meet the unique challenges people and businesses are faced with today, and provide the solutions they need for tomorrow.

Microsoft unveiled new enhancements for the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) that continue to improve cloud security and privacy. Also, a new dedicated cloud offering has been released specifically for federal government. The new package is so called Business Productivity Online Suite Federal (BPOSF). The new BPOSF is optimized to meet the security, privacy and compliance needs of U.S. federal government agencies. “Microsoft is the first and only cloud provider to offer this level of protection and security for governments. We were able to achieve this industry first thanks to our experience providing dedicated cloud services for the past five years.” said Ron Markezich, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Online. (more…)

As you probably expected, the majority of SharePoint sites featured on this showcase are based in USA (approx. 40 percent). This article covers the Top 20 Best Rated US SharePoint sites. This cream of the crop list of US SharePoint sites is updated automatically, based on your votes. So, if you discovered an interesting site not on the list, go ahead and vote for it; eventually it will make it to the top. Hopefully these beautiful sites will give you a bit of inspiration on what you want your SharePoint sites to look like. (more…)

Here are 8 simple steps on how to set up anonymous access in SharePoint 2010. It is not much different then SharePoint 2007 set up, the only difference is the GUI or the Ribbon.

1. Starting in Central Administration, under Application Management, click on the Manage web applications.

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Lately, we’ve been flooded with lots of beautiful designed SharePoint-based sites originating in Australia. There is no coincidence that Australia even has a national design awards program promoting Australian designs nationally and internationally. Their SharePoint Users Group is very well organized and active in five major cities and with upcoming Australia SharePoint Conference, June 16-17 2010, these “Aussie” just prove once again how seriously they take SharePoint. This showcase presents the Top 20 Best Rated Australian SharePoint sites. (more…)

According to the outdated web design principles, whatever is at the bottom of the page is qualified as not important. The main reason: “The site elements at the bottom of the page are not really capable to catch visitors’ interest”. Unfortunately, a lot of old-school designers are still very fond of this idea. That needs to be changed! Just browse the following selection of footer clippings and you will understand why. This article shows some creative examples of footers on SharePoint-based sites, new trends and inspiration on utilizing your website footers to improve user’s experience. (more…)

SharePoint Server 2007 Cumulative Update Packages for December 2009 are now available. To successfully plan and deploy these updates follow these steps:

Step 1: View the presentation Understanding and deploying hotfixes, public updates, and service packs. This presentation, given by Daniel Winter at the SharePoint Products and Technologies conference in March 2008, provides valuable information about the different types of software updates that Microsoft releases for Windows SharePoint Services and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server.

Step 2: Read the article “Deploying software updates for SharePoint Server 2007“.

Step 3: Download and install the update for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0.

Step 4: Download and install December cumulative update. This update provides hotfixes for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (KB 977027) and Office SharePoint Server 2007 (KB 977026).

Step 5: Run the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration wizard

Updates to the SharePoint Products and Technologies become available periodically here.

A quick and amazing tour of the SharePoint Designer 2010 interface. Four tasks you need to perform in order to customize no-code solutions on the SharePoint platform: Create data sources, Create custom views and forms, Create custom workflows and Design and brand a site.

Whether you are a Developer, Designer, Microsoft Partner, IT expert, or just interested in Microsoft technology, there are few SharePoint associated conferences that offer different levels of learning and networking opportunities.

Below you will find a list of the most important SharePoint Events for 2010 you don’t want to miss.

I presume that this list might change and new conferences might be available throughout this year. If you heard of any conferences not on the list just post them in the comment area. (more…)