At the 2008 SharePoint conference, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates
will also announce the availability of Silverlight Blueprint for
SharePoint.SEATTLEWhen Microsoft Chairman
Bill Gates takes the stage to deliver the keynote address at the annual 2008
Microsoft SharePoint Conference here March 3, he will announce the
availability of both Search Server 2008 Express and the Silverlight Blueprint
for SharePoint.
Search Server
2008 Express, the free, downloadable enterprise search product announced in November, is
relatively simple to install and easy to use, and brings a powerful set of
search features, including new capabilities to help businesses connect to a
wide range of information, a Microsoft spokesperson told eWEEK ahead of the
conference.
Silverlight
Blueprint for SharePoint jumpstarts the effort to combine the interactivity of Silverlight with the next-generation Web
application development platform of SharePoint. It includes sample applications
that combine Silverlight and SharePoint, detailed guidance and proven best
practices, and new rich business data visualizations and interactivity.
The blueprint can
be downloaded here.
Gates will also
tell the audience that more than 100 million SharePoint licenses have been
sold, taking sales revenue beyond the billion-dollar mark, largely due to the
collaboration and information management capabilities it delivers, and that
this is just the beginning of SharePoints success, the spokesperson said.
There are
currently some 2,250 certified SharePoint partners, with more than 17,000
businesses using the product to collaborate with team members, search and
create social networks for experts and corporate information, manage content
and workflow, and leverage business insight to make better-informed
decisions.
One such customer
is Elliot Gerard, a technology manager at General Mills, who said most of
its workers now have an official home site, where they contact one another,
share information and ideas, track tasks, and write documentation.
Almost every
week we are astounded by the organic applications our users create in
SharePoint to make themselves more productive, as well as the blossoming
SharePoint social networks that connect people to people, Gerard said.
Enterprise Applications 
