News

Silverlight 3 is out!

This means the new .net RIA platform has been taken to another level, with new features and improvements of existing content.

Speed:

Everything in your web application can now be cached. Images, user and business data, libraries of .net, … All of this to improve rendering performance. The whole web application runs in your browser and not on the server, which makes your application run blazingly fast.

Media:

This technology now enables you to stream your HD content, and along with Smooth streaming feature from Microsoft’s IIS7 it is also brought to you with the best quality possible according to the network and CPU capabilities.
This means you will finally be able to enjoy all the HD content anyone on the web has to offer!

Apart from video to take your website a step further, it is now possible to have 3D perspective of every visual element visualized from your graphics card instead of the browser’s model to run ever so smooth. This will make your application stand out against the other web pages only filled with plain text.

Out of browser:

From now on it is possible to use your web application locally. This means you can start up your application by clicking its icon on your desktop or in your start menu.
The website is smart enough to detect if you are connected to the internet, and update your changes to the server as well as auto-updating the application if needed.

Customization:

The Silverlight 3 runtime combined with the Silverlight Toolkit now includes ~100 UI controls that enable common scenarios (layout, data, charting, etc) while also providing full styling and template customization support to give the application your company brand.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO):

The new navigation framework of Silverlight enables SEO improvement. Your Rich Internet Application will now be found and easily indexed by the leading search engines.
Certain parts of your website can now be added as favorites by your users and the user will now be able to use the browser’s history buttons to scroll through the pages they have visited in your website.

For more information:

Steven Van de Craen awarded MVP for SharePoint Server:
	Ventigrate is proud to announce that one of our Senior SharePoint Consultants, Steven Van de Craen, is awarded by Microsoft as one of the few MVP’s for SharePoint Server in Belgium. Steven’s Blog:

Microsoft announces Silverlight BluePrint for Sharepoint:

The Silverlight Blueprint for SharePoint is source code and guidance for developers describing how to use Microsoft Silverlight and Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies together in business applications and Internet web sites. SharePoint applications that use Web Parts can now be built using Silverlight user interface elements. This capability enables a fresh look at data exposed through SharePoint Products and Technologies using the modern graphics capability in Silverlight.

For more information:

Microsoft releases Silverlight 2.0 Beta 1:
	Take advantage of all the new features in Silverlight 2 that make building RIA applications with your existing .NET programming skills a breeze For more information:

Microsoft releases Visual Studio 2008:

Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2008 delivers on the Microsoft vision of smart client applications by enabling developers to rapidly create connected applications that deliver the highest quality, rich user experiences. With Visual Studio 2008, organizations will find it easier than ever before to capture and analyze information to help them make effective business decisions. Visual Studio 2008 enables organizations of every size to rapidly create more secure, manageable, and reliable applications that take advantage of Windows Vista™ and the 2007 Office system.

For more information:

Microsoft Introduces the SharePoint End User Training Kit:
	This training kit is available in 2 versions. A stand-alone version for end-users and a server version for administrators. For more information and downloading: Stand-alone version: Server version:

New Accessibility kit for SharePoint available:
	The Accessibility Kit for SharePoint solution will help get you started on the road to Web accessibility with an accessible platform and framework from which to launch your portal or intranet site. With this toolkit it is easier than ever to build standards compliant, accessible SharePoint intranet and Internet facing sites. For more information and downloading: