VSTS Database Edition for SQL 2008 is Available

Just announced at the PDC:  the Visual Studio Team System Database Edition GDR Release Candidate is available.  See this link for information, or skip right to the download page.

There are no new features since the September CTP release, just bug fixes and performance enhancements.

You must have Visual Studio 2008 SP1 installed, as well as SQL Server Compact Edition 3.5 SP1.  If you have a previous version of the GDR installed, you must uninstall it before installing this version.

According to an earlier post, this version is a "go-live" release, meaning you can use it to develop code that you intend to go live with, though you'll need to wait for the RTM version before doing so.  However, there is no mention on the latest blog post as to whether this is actually a "go-live" release, so do your own due diligence before assuming anything.  I've pinged the blogger, GertD, about whether this is the case, and I'll update this post when I have an answer.

SpringCM Document Management Solution

SpringCM delivers a broad set of content management functionality and is available as a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS).

About SpringCM

SpringCM is the leader in on-demand document management and workflow. Their solution makes customers more profitable, competitive and effective with resources that accelerate revenue, reduce costs and improve content leveragability. Capture of print and electronic content, secure hosting with full-text search, routing and approval workflows, document delivery, out-of-the-box configurability and many other features make SpringCM the award-winning document management and workflow choice.

SpringCM: Company History

SpringCM was named to the 2007 list of "100 Companies That Matter in KM" by KMWorld, a leading content, knowledge and document management resource.
Their seasoned executives are industry veterans from companies such as Open Text, FileNet, Interwoven, Hyland, Stellent and others. Thanks to the executive team's leadership, SpringCM has experienced double-digit growth each quarter. In their customer base there are great name brand businesses like GE, Avon, Stratus, Comcast, Dresser Industries and Cox Communications; public sector groups like the State of Alaska; services firms such as Corefino and Pacific Crest Securities; and a host of smaller companies, all of which are reaping the benefits of on-demand ECM.
SpringCM is headquartered in San Mateo, Calif. and maintains a major regional office in Chicago, Ill. The company is backed by Foundation Capital, a premier venture company that was an early investor in leading content management companies, including Documentum and Interwoven.

Online Language Barrier for networks

By Brenda Zulu
Community Information and Communication Support Centre (CAICC) a joint initiative of national organizations working in the field of community ICTs is still finding it difficult to access information beyond Brazil for its network online because most of the content online was not in Portuguese.

Polly Gaster Eduardo Mondlane University Information Communication Technology for development (ICT4D) Director asked if there were other sources apart from Brazil where they could access relevant content for their network as most online databases where in English and French.

Gaster explained that they get a lot of resources information from Brazilian websites which have been of great help in terms of information provision for their networks.
She explained that equitable access to education and communication and the means to produce and disseminate information were key factors in social-economic development and civic participation. Local activities were reinforced through building horizontal and multi-directional networks- national, regional and international.

Over 50 of Mozambiques’s 128 districts already enjoy the benefits of community radios, community multimedia centres or telecentres and that the number was growing every year. She said they were providing local access to information and communication tools, the opportunity for citizens to acquire new skills, and services for local institutions and civil society.

This factors was discussed during the workshop that was held on Sustainable Rural Telecentres for Africa held in Lusaka last week.

Chuckwalla: Digital Asset Management Beyond The Enterprise

Digital Asset Management (DAM) has become one of the digital content delivery industry's most familiar buzz phrases. Coming out of the enterprise database management space, Santa Clara, Calif.-based Chuckwalla, Inc. is developing Digital Asset Management technology that manages rich content across multiple communications channels.

"What Digital Asset Management has done for a number of industries is establish a difference between elements stored in a database that have value and those that do not. An asset has value," says Jon Lewis, vice president of sales & marketing for Chuckwalla.

"There are three sets of tools in the digital asset management space," Lewis continues. "There are desktop products, workflow tools, and enterprise models that are client server based." Chuckwalla develops products for the entire enterprise. "Because digital content comes in multiple formats, we have to be agnostic to all content," he says. "That's the only way to ensure that once an asset has been created it can be used over and over again."

One of the biggest problems content-owning companies and even major corporations face according to Lewis is the inability to locate specific materials once they have been created. "No one ever loses an asset," says Lewis, "but they often can't find one when they need it. And that's what asset management is all about: being able to find what you need, when and how you need it."

Digital Asset Xchange (DAX)

Digital Asset Xchange (DAX) is a highly secure, web-based, content exchange and asset management solution for film and television production companies. It enables studio personnel to upload, stage and collaborate on all digital content from anywhere in the world. Simply put, DAX is a universal command center for every aspect of production, post-production, servicing, distribution, marketing and publicity. DAX services the following industries:

• ilm & Television Production Studios
• Broadcast and Cable Networks
• Production and Distribution Companies
• Stock Footage Libraries
• Post-Production Facilities
• Advertising Agencies

Digital Asset Xchange: The Production Workflow Accelerator was created by industry workflow experts with backgrounds in production, post-production, marketing, e-commerce and digital media. By incorporating collaboration, workflow and full digital asset management capabilities,
Digital Asset Xchange: The Production Workflow Accelerator creates a secure online environment where producers, creative, clients, management, distribution and licensing partners can share ideas, information and content created throughout the production or campaign lifecycle; or required for trafficking, distribution and archival of final product â€" from script to screen to archive.
Using Digital Asset Xchange: The Production Workflow Accelerator results in faster time to decision; a dramatic reduction in hard and soft cost expenditures; streamlined collaboration; more creative control; and the simplification of managing and distributing of production content and information worldwide.

Subscription is Disabled When User!UserID Global Variable is Used in SSRS Report

I recently had a problem where I was unable to create a data-driven subscription for a SQL Server Reporting Services report.  I opened SQL Server Management Studio, connected to Reporting Services, navigated to a report, then right clicked on it's Subscriptions node and both the New Subscription and New Data-Driven Subscription menu options were grayed out.

The report in question had five parameters that the users could enter at runtime.  I wanted to implement the data-driven subscription to execute the report with all possible combinations of the parameters in order to get every possible version of the report to be cached.  Since the data for the report was only refreshed once a week, this seemed like a good idea.

I eventually found the answer in Books On Line.  Subscriptions are disabled when you use the User!UserID global variable.  The User!UserID global variable contains the domainusername of the user running the report.  In my case I used the User!UserID global variable to filter the various dropdown lists for parameters so users could only run the report for specific regions and/or offices that they are allowed to see.

Extensis Portfolio 8.5.1

Extensis Portfolio 8.5.1 has been released on January 28th. The new version of Extensis Portfolio 8.5 digital asset management software family is recommended for all Portfolio, Portfolio Server, Portfolio NetPublish, and Portfolio SQL Connect users.

The updated version of this digital asset management software has implemented full compatibility for users of Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) and also the following general performance improvements for all users:

• Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) support for all components
• Additional Raw file formats added:
  • Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III, EOS 40D, and PowerShot G9
  • Nikon D3 and D300
  • Olympus E-3
  • Sony DSLR-A700
  • etc.
• Enhanced metadata support and management via Adobe® Bridge.
  
• Support for saving and exporting Catalog Types
• Improved asset usage logging in NetPublish
• Additional enhancements to performance and stability

The price for Extensis Portfolio 8.5.1 starts at US$199.95. The update is free for version 8.5 users.