Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Feature Pack CTP, February 2008

The Feature Pack is a collection of stand-alone install packages that provide additional value for SQL Server 2008. It includes the latest versions of:

Redistributable components for SQL Server 2008
Add-on providers for SQL Server 2008
Backward compatibility components for SQL Server 2008

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Native Client
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Native Client (SQL Native Client) is a single dynamic-link library (DLL) containing both the SQL OLE DB provider and SQL ODBC driver. It contains run-time support for applications using native-code APIs (ODBC, OLE DB and ADO) to connect to Microsoft SQL Server 2000, 2005, or 2008. SQL Native Client should be used to create new applications or enhance existing applications that need to take advantage of new SQL Server 2008 features. This redistributable installer for SQL Native Client installs the client components needed during run time to take advantage of new SQL Server 2008 features, and optionally installs the header files needed to develop an application that uses the SQL Native Client API.


Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Backward Compatibility Components
The SQL Server Backward Compatibility package includes the latest versions of Data Transformation Services 2000 runtime (DTS), SQL Distributed Management Objects (SQL-DMO), Decision Support Objects (DSO), and SQL Virtual Device Interface (SQLVDI). These versions have been updated for compatibility with both SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2008 and include all fixes shipped through SQL Server 2000 SP4 and SQL Server 2005 SP2.

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services Add-in for Microsoft SharePoint Technologies
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services Add-in for SharePoint Technologies allows you to take advantage of SQL Server 2008 report processing and management capabilities in SharePoint integrated mode. This version also includes data-driven subscriptions. The download provides a Report Viewer web part, web application pages, and support for using standard Windows SharePoint Services or Microsoft Office SharePoint Services.

Get it all here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=D68DE3C9-60A9-49C9-A28C-5C46BBC3356F&displaylang=en

SharePoint and SQL Server Reporting Services Posts

blah!bLaH!BLOG has a couple of posts about SharePoint and SQL Server Reporting Services


SharePoint and Reporting Services - Introduction
SharePoint and Reporting Services - Installation and Setup.
SharePoint and Reporting Services - Setup your database.
SharePoint and Reporting Services - Authoring a simple report.
SharePoint and Reporting Services - Enabling end users - the report model.

If you are doing any SharePoint and SQL Server Reporting Services development then do yourself a favor and visit the links above

Office 2007 Service Pack 1 Available For Download

Microsoft has just released their first service pack for Microsoft Office 2007, promising lots of bug fixes, performance enhancements, and improved security. The 2007 Microsoft Office suite Service Pack 1 delivers important customer-requested stability and performance improvements, while incorporating further enhancements to user security. This service pack also includes all of the updates released for the 2007 Office suite prior to December of 2007. You can get a more complete description of SP1, including a list of issues that were fixed, in the Microsoft Knowledge Base article 936982: Description of the 2007 Microsoft Office suite Service Pack 1.

Access 2007
For third-party applications that use Data Access Object code to synchronize replicated information in a Microsoft Office Access™ 2007 database, Office Access 2007 no longer returns a run-time error that causes the application to close or time out.

Communicator 2007
Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 now presents more accurate presence information and does so with consistent visual cues.

• The icons used to display presence are modified so that users who are red-green colorblind can determine people’s presence status.
  
• Office Communicator 2007 no longer causes presence icons to flicker when multiple people appear simultaneously.
  
• Presence information in Office Communicator 2007 and other Microsoft Office applications is consistent in all scenarios.
  
• Microsoft Office Outlook® 2007 no longer starts in the background along with Office Communicator 2007.

Excel 2007
Several stability, general usability, and compatibility improvements have been incorporated into Microsoft Office Excel® 2007.

• Office Excel 2007 no longer stops responding in some instances when opening a workbook containing calculations.
  
• Office Excel 2007 workbooks that are saved in Page Break Preview mode and opened in Microsoft Office Excel 2003 no longer produce an error when switched to Normal view.
  
• When inputting calculations that should result in numbers 65,534 through 65,536, Office Excel 2007 no longer returns the display error of 100,001.
  
• Office Excel 2007 now retains custom colors on shapes in Excel 2003 worksheets.
  
• Office Excel 2007 no longer misplaces or wraps labels in charts when the workbook is reopened.

Groove 2007
For Microsoft Office Groove® 2007, issues surrounding the activation of new and previously retired accounts have been resolved.

• Office Groove 2007 no longer places a 60-day limit on retired accounts that are stored in backup files.
  
• When the auto-activation feature is turned on and invited users open an invitation file (.grv), they are no longer prompted for an activation key or notified of an unconfigured account.
  InfoPath 2007 and InfoPath Forms Server
  Microsoft Office InfoPath® 2007 benefits from a more consistent user experience, especially with online forms.
  
• When users input data into an Office InfoPath 2007 form using a Web browser, the saved changes are now retained after closing and reopening the form.
  
• Font size no longer increases when pasting from one rich text box in Office InfoPath 2007 to another.

Outlook 2007
Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 benefits from a number of fixes and enhancements that make the popular messaging client more stable and easier to use.

• Office Outlook 2007 no longer closes unexpectedly when the junk e-mail rule is set to null.
  
• Body content in HTML-formatted e-mail messages now appears properly in the preview pane or when the message is opened.
  
• Items moved from an offline folder file (.ost) to a personal folder file (.pst) now display properly in the preview pane.
  
• In search folders, Office Outlook 2007 now shows the accurate count for unread items that are hidden.
  
• When scheduling a resource such as a meeting room in meeting requests, the public free/busy information for the resource is now complete and visible in Office Outlook 2007.
  
• When users forward plain-text e-mail messages with attachments, the body text is now retained.
  
• If the Mailbox Cleanup wizard starts while the user is dragging a message into a folder, Office Outlook 2007 no longer closes unexpectedly.

PowerPoint 2007
Fixes in Microsoft Office PowerPoint® 2007 make the presentation application even more reliable, especially when used in conjunction with Microsoft Office Outlook Web Access, Web sites that use forms authentication, or event macros.

• Users who have started an event macro in Office PowerPoint 2007 can now advance slides by right-clicking and then choosing Next or Previous.
  
• When users try to open a presentation in Office PowerPoint 2007 from a Web site using forms authentication, the presentation will now appear properly.
  
• Users can now open presentations in Office PowerPoint 2007 from e-mail attachments in Office Outlook Web Access.
  
• Office PowerPoint 2007 no longer crashes when the user programmatically accesses the parent property of the Hyperlinks Collection Object in the Office PowerPoint 2007 object model.
  
• Text formatting now behaves similarly to previous versions of PowerPoint, where new text retains the formatting of the deleted text instead of using the formatting of the character to the left.

Project 2007 and Project Server 2007
The 2007 Office system SP1 eliminates instances when either Microsoft Office Project 2007 or the accompanying Microsoft Office Project Server 2007 crashes due to a software error.

• Office Project 2007 no longer crashes when users click to view Windows account or Details in the Resources Information dialog box and then perform any other action.
  
• Office Project 2007 does not produce an error message when a link from one task accesses a task in a different project stored on Office Project Server 2007. This error only occurred when the linked project was renamed.
  
• Microsoft Office Project Web Access now makes task IDs available and allows users to enter a work estimate when creating a new task.

SharePoint Server 2007
Microsoft Office SharePoint® Server 2007 has improved manageability and compatibility.

• Office SharePoint Server 2007 now has the ability to be installed on Windows Server 2008 providing compatibility and support.
  
• ASP.NET AJAX has compatibility and support with Office SharePoint Server 2007 including examples for customer web parts build the AJAX 1.0 Control Toolkit and the AJAX 1.0 Extensions for ASP.NET (KB 941955)
  
• New manageability with STSADM commands for consolidating or repartitioning your content databases, renaming host named site collections, and the ability to scope the people picker to a specific active directory organizational unit.
  
• Advanced search results now include results with spaces in file names.
  
• The View by Modified Date function now works correctly in search results.
  
• Office SharePoint Server 2007 is now able to crawl case-sensitive Web content on computers not running the Windows® operating system.
  
• Office SharePoint Server 2007 can now index a public folder on a Microsoft Exchange Server with a backslash in the subject.

Visio 2007
Microsoft Office Visio® 2007 now properly redraws shapes when users apply a dynamic connector that is part of a group of shapes in Office Visio 2007.
Word 2007
By taking care of several small stability and usability details, Microsoft Office Word 2007 is a more useful and reliable tool for everyday document creation tasks.

• With Office Word 2007, users can now open and edit embedded objects that contain other embedded objects.
  
• When using smart documents in Office Word 2007, the Document Actions task pane no longer disappears when moving the pointer into the Reviewing pane. Additionally, task panes opened earlier no longer appear unexpectedly.
  
• Office Word 2007 properly creates and updates a table of contents in unprotected sections of documents that also contain sections protected for forms.
  
• Office Word 2007 no longer prints an extra page when users choose a printer with the duplex option enabled.

Download it here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=9EC51594-992C-4165-A997-25DA01F388F5&displaylang=en