Welcome to Kraft Kennedy

Workshare just announced the release of Workshare Professional 7.  A quick read through the press release notes that the installation process has been streamlined and is easier to deploy in the enterprise.  This is a welcome improvement, as previous versions required a PHD in Workshare to deploy properly.   Among the enhancements is a feature that is already present in the Workshare Point product for SharePoint.   From the press release:

Another significant new feature in version 7 provides automatic detection and comparison of changes when attachments are sent, modified and returned through email, alerting users directly in Outlook. By identifying changed documents and launching a comparison as modified documents arrive, Workshare Professional 7 improves efficiency, making document collaboration a more seamless process.

I think attorneys will love this feature as it saves clicks and steps.   Additional performance improvements have been made in the Workshare Protect meta-data removal module.  What’s more valuable than an attorney’s time?  Kraft Kennedy is a member of the Workshare Alliance Network.

Depending on the configuration, users are sometimes prompted for credentials when opening Office documents from SharePoint, even when Windows integrated authentication is turned on, and the SharePoint site is in trusted sites or the local intranet zone (and auto logon is enabled).  Often, the user can simply cancel the authentication prompt, and the document will open just fine.  Other files, such as PDFs, also open without a prompt.  The reasons for this are complex, and you can read a good background on how Office opens documents from a web server in this KB article:
Continue reading…

Kraft Kennedy is pleased to announce achievement in 8 Microsoft Gold and Silver Competencies (and counting!) for 2011.

The requirements to participate in the Microsoft Partner Program have recently evolved to help differentiate technical and business capabilities among participants; Kraft Kennedy has risen to the challenge by quickly exceeding the goals set forth by the program.

Each competency requires specific individuals with deep technical skills, Microsoft verified customer references, and challenging certification exams to be completed.  This commitment demonstrates our breadth, deep specialization, and proven expertise across a range of Microsoft technologies.

About Kraft Kennedy

Kraft Kennedy provides business and technology-related consulting services to the legal community. By combining outstanding technical skills with an intimate knowledge of our clients’ business and information needs we tailor solutions that enhance attorney productivity, effectiveness, and client value.

We focus on the business needs of the client and ensure that technology is used to enhance, not inhibit their business. KK’s talented staff of strategic consultants, project managers, and network consultants have years of experience with hundreds of projects for firms from small to large. Our services portfolio includes advanced infrastructure projects, business continuity and data center consolidation, desktop deployment, network design and implementation, storage design and replication, and messaging systems migration among others. Our Microsoft specialties include: Desktop, Server Platform, Unified Communications, Portals and Collaboration, Search, Systems Management, Virtualization, and Small Business Specialist Community.

Recently, I decided to purchase the new MacBook Air. Until this year, I was a long time PC user, so Apple products are still relatively new to me. I wanted something that I could do more work on than the iPad but still be small and light. I wanted something I could use on the train as well as use in meetings while in the office. I originally purchased the iPad as a personal device for casual email and web browsing at home. It works fantastic for that, but when I tried to use it at work to take notes or draft lengthy emails, I found the on-screen keyboard of the iPad lacking. This is why I decided to purchase the MacBook Air.
Continue reading…

I recently had the good fortune to attend the SharePoint Conference 2009 in Las Vegas, which outlined the new features in SharePoint 2010.  Below are some of the things I took away.  I think this will be a huge improvement over the current version, and will offer a lot of very compelling new features, and a lot of good reasons to make the upgrade.

General Comments

The Beta will be released in November.  Final product will be released in the first half of 2010.

Microsoft is focusing on making the upgrade and updates easier.  You can upgrade the back end, while still keeping the master pages (look and feel of sites) the same.  Then you can upgrade the master page at the site level to test and get all of the new features.

Everything is 64 bit.  It requires SQL 2005 / 2008 64-bit, and Windows 2008 64-bit.  The server must have at least 4 GB of RAM.

A level 1 browser is required for users (IE 7 or 8, or FireFox 3) plus SilverLight for the best experience.

WSS is now called Microsoft SharePoint Foundation, and is still free.  SharePoint Designer is still free.  SharePoint Server still has Standard and Enterprise CALs.

There’s a limitation on data storage now if you don’t have SQL… The basic install uses SQL Express now (rather than Windows Internal Database in the old version), which has a 4 GB data limit.  So we should keep this in mind for small projects, and typically recommend SQL Server.

SharePoint has emerged as an entire platform, and Microsoft believes this will bring ECM to the masses, BI to the masses, etc.  Microsoft is also positioning this as a full featured internet-facing platform, as well as an intranet / extranet portal which 2007 was though of.

SharePoint should be evaluated along with Office 2010, since the integration is now extremely tight.  SharePoint can be the access point for all of the firm information.

The most impressive things I saw in 2010 were the workflow enhancements in 2010 and the Office web applications.  In many instances I couldn’t tell whether they were demoing things in the rich Office client or in the Office web app—the user experience is almost identical in either case!
Continue reading…