The uniqueness at play here is that it finally provides SharePoint novices an easy way to extend the platform without fumbling around in areas with which they might be unfamiliar. (i.e., system files, DLLs, stsadm, etc.)

The product isn’t cheap by any means ($4K) but if you’re already using SharePoint server in the enterprise, chances are, you’re probably used to big budget line items. You can explore both the AppEngine and the CorasWorks app store on their site at corasworks.com.

The new feature also allows a server admin to manage the machine (think Automatic Updates and Group Policy settings) without forcing the user to login to the VPN.

DirectAccess is said to be secure but the first question that popped into my head was: “yeah, but how secure…?” (After all, it is Microsoft we’re talking about and VPNs are put in place for a reason.) According to Microsoft, “DirectAccess helps ensure that organizations can meet regulatory and privacy mandates for security and data protection for assets that must roam beyond the corporate network.”

So, I suppose by limiting the types of data that a remote user can access, you can provide a better security experience… as opposed to just granting access to pretty much anything on the network.

What say you, faithful readers? Leave your comments below…

In the meantime, here’s a little more information regarding the type of security in use with DA:

“DirectAccess uses IPsec for authentication and encryption. Optionally, you can require smart cards for user authentication. DirectAccess integrates with NAP to require that DirectAccess clients must be compliant with system health requirements before allowing a connection to the DirectAccess server. IT administrators can configure the DirectAccess server to restrict the servers that users and individual applications can access.”

(Image courtesy of 4sysops.com)

Typically, these things just don’t make a big difference at all but there are some big changes in store with the arrival of the “Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 February 2009 Cumulative Update.”

Performance for “startup, shutdown, general responsiveness and folder or view switches” are four areas that are said to be dramatically improved in this update. Currently, the hotfix is available as a standalone download but will eventually be included in the forthcoming Service Pack 2 for Office 2007.

[via msexchangeteam.com]

In the case of the latter, Sysinternals Live, all you need to do is simply point WSCC to live.sysinternals.com and the program will provide you direct GUIfied access to every Sysinternals utility… and not a single one of them will require installation on your computer. (Let me add that this is *very* convenient, as you might imagine.)

In addition to the Sysinternals suite, WSCC can also provide an all-in-one GUI wrapper for the Nirsoft suite of utilities. All told, this tool will give you easy access to nearly 240 incredibly useful tools.

Taglocity, for those of you that don’t know, is a simple add-in designed to allow for “tagging” of emails, tasks, appointments, etc. in an effort to make organization of those items in Microsoft’s infamous email client a little easier. 

I’m personally a big fan so I was a bit troubled when I received a message this morning stating that my beta software had expired.  After downloading the most up-to-date version from taglocity.com, I was presented with a few big changes.  The two biggest changes in the new release are the “Taglocity Task Pane” and “Conversation View.” 

The first big change, the task pane, is where the Xobni reference comes into play.  The task pane, much like in Xobni, is displayed to the right of the message you’re reading and is an area where you can view snapshot information in regards to the individual who sent you the message.  (e.g., recently exchanged messages, files exchanged with the sender, number of emails to/from, etc.)  Those of you who currently use Xobni know exactly what I’m talking about.  In fact, here’s a visual comparison of the two:

(Click on the image for a larger view.)

To clarify,  I’m not saying that Taglocity has blatantly ripped Xobni off or anything because I think the new task pane fits perfectly into the features that they’ve been building up over the last few versions: groups/networking.

The other new feature, conversation view, is exactly what you might expect.  Clicking the conversation view button on the Taglocity toolbar brings up a quick window that neatly displays all of the messages related to the same subject.  It seems to work perfectly and is a great replacement to Outlook’s “Find Related Messages” which inevitably takes a while to pull up.  (Xobni also has this feature but it’s a little too slow for me.)

If you’ve yet to give Taglocity a try, you can sign up for the beta at Taglocity.com but I’d personally recommend reading about what all the software has to offer prior to doing so.  It’s designed to do more than just “tag” messages – although, admittedly, that’s primarily what I use it for – so far.  Also, a recent post on Taglocity’s blog also gives some great insight on what the company desires to achieve with its flagship product: “Saving Email – A Brief History.”

If you’re unfamiliar with Taglocity, the software essentially allows you to add "tags" to your E-mails, tasks and calendar items from within Microsoft’s antiquated Outlook product.  To do this, the software takes advantage of Outlook’s "categories" feature and, for each new "tag" you create with Taglocity, a "category" of the same name will be created behind-the-scenes and added to your Outlook personal files folder (.PST) 

I’m guessing the object of enhancing already existing Outlook functionality is to provide you with the option of retaining the methods of organization you’ve established with Taglocity if you no longer wish to use the product anymore.  It makes sense to me…data portability always makes sense to me.

(What never did make sense to me was why Microsoft never made "categories" a more prevalent feature in Outlook to begin with.  It really is a great way to add organization to Outlook.  Regardless, Taglocity helps to enhance and bring focus to this semi-powerful existing feature.)

Whether you’re browsing your inbox or composing a new E-mail/task/appointment, you’re presented with intuitive options via the Taglocity toolbar for adding tags to help you easily find E-mails at a later date:

The average Fans of Tech reader already realizes the benefit of tags over folders but there might be a few of you out there still asking  yourself: "why tags?"  Here’s the answer: after you’re finished reading an E-mail, one would normally file that message in a single folder in a vein attempt to keep your inbox "organized."  The problem is that, after a while, you’ll most likely have multiple folders that pretty much serve a similar purpose.  That leaves you with multiple places to search in order to find the item for which you’re looking.  With tags (or "labels" if you’re a Gmail user), you can assign multiple keywords to the item in question thus improving the likelihood that you’ll find this item whenever you go looking for it.  And, since Taglocity is essentially a plug-in for Outlook, you can do BOTH!  File and tag!

The free product even takes tagging a step further by incorporating two very useful features: Bundles and AutoSuggest.  The latter, as you might guess, makes the tagging process even faster by "suggesting" similar tag matches as you type…start typing a few characters and if the tag suggestion is the tag you want to apply, just hit "enter."  The other feature, Bundles, allows you to assign many tags at once by assigning a bundle tag name.  You might equate this feature to "Distribution Groups" in Outlook where you can send an E-mail to ONE distribution group in Outlook and that message is automatically sent to the many different members you’ve assigned to that DG. 

Taglocity & the Entperise

From what I can tell, Terazen will monetize Taglocity by selling enterprise versions of the product which makes perfect sense to me as it would fit very well into the enterprise atmosphere.  One reason I say that has to do with yet another brilliant feature of the product: "groups."  Here’s what the site has to say about groups:

"Groups are a way of sharing tags and email messages. You can publish common information to our Taglocity groups (with Tags on the message, of course!) which then means other people in the group will be able to search and see. Think of how many CC: email chains you can get rid of!"

I have first-hand experience with the aforementioned E-mail chain problem and I can genuinely see a need for this product in an enterprise setting…especially for non-profits. (*Shudder* So much E-mail.  *Shudder*)

Searching

Now, let’s say you’ve had Taglocity installed for a few months and you want to go find one of the E-mails you’ve tagged.  Use the toolbar (see above) and enter your search query on the far-right.  You’ll be taken to the Taglocity search window (and quickly, I might add.)

You’re presented with your results and a quick way to modify those results using the tag cloud at the bottom and side of the window. I don’t necessarily anticipate using this feature more than the built-in search of Outlook 2007 (as I can typically remember the exact contents of the item I’m looking for) but, for generic searches, this could still prove to be pretty handy.

Of course, all these settings (tags, searching, etc.) can be tweaked using the utility’s configuration window:

Overall, I think the product fills a void (and then some) that Microsoft should have filled a long time ago.  A long time ago.  Install this (in addition to that other useful Outlook tool, xobni) and you’ll actually find yourself becoming…gasp…productive.

Despite my rambling, there are a few areas of Taglocity I didn’t even cover so head on over to their site and check out the product…and then sign up for an account.  This new release is a dramatic improvement over v1.1 and should actually have enough weight behind it to take it into the mainstream.