This seams to be a common problem, and one that I get many calls from users about:

I have a query with our Sharepoint site and was advised that you were probably the best person to ask.

I have created a list under:

http://sharepoint/sites/department/Lists/ListName/AllItems.aspx

I need the first column (Issue ID) to be an automatically generated number but can’t seem to get it. Would it be possible for you to take a look and advise?

You can’t add a new unique auto-generated ID to a SharePoint list, but there already is one there! If you edit the “All Items” view you will see a list of columns that do not have the display option checked.

There are quite a few of these columns that exist but that are never displayed, like “Created By” and “Created”. These fields are used within SharePoint, but they are not displayed by default so as not to clutter up the display. You can’t edit these fields, but you can display them to the user. if you check the “Display” box beside the ID field you will get a unique and auto-generated ID field displayed in your list.

Analysts at Wedbush Morgan Securities have reported that there is the likely possibility that Netflix will strike a deal with Microsoft to stream movies through the Xbox 360.

The report came after the investment banking firm looked through comments made by Netflix management. If the report turns out to be true, the popular online rental service would be able to stream movie directly to million’s of consumer’s gaming consoles.

“As we have speculated in the past, we believe that one of Netflix’s partners is Microsoft. We arrive at this conclusion based upon Netflix management repeatedly mentioning ‘Internet enabled video game consoles’,” said a Wedbush Morgan statement.

“While there are three such consoles, only one - Microsoft’s Xbox 360 - has a sufficiently large installed base to make sense from a streaming partnership with Netflix.”

“The competitive advantage of such an alliance is clear: Netflix customers who are Xbox Live members will have the ability to stream online content through their Xbox 360s directly to their televisions. The ability to do so is available without the Xbox 360, but requires a measure of technological sophistication and a high tolerance for failure,” it added.

The “measure of technological sophistication” would most likely involve Roku’s new Netflix set-top box which allows users to stream movies to their TVs using Netflix’s Instant Watch feature.

In January, Netflix gave a survey to subscribers on whether they would like the possibility of having movies streamed to their consoles.

This might start a fan boy war! According to Rockstar spokesperson Hosi Simon, Grand Theft Auto IV will be a better experience on the Xbox 360. He said this in an interview with Games Radar.

They’re identical games. We’re not hardware makers, and we’re not like a pawn between these companies, we try not to be as much as we can. We make great games for people to enjoy on whichever system they want. But I guess if you want the complete experience with the episodes, then yeah, you should buy the 360, I suppose.”

Some days ago, we had reported that Microsoft had paid a whooping $50 million to Rockstar for the episodic content for the Grand Theft Auto IV on the Xbox 360. These updates will be launched in early 2008.

According to data from Chart-Track, sales of the Xbox 360 are over 18 percent ahead of the PlayStation 3 in UK sales since the launch of GTA IV.

After the first month of sales of the game it has also become clear that the Xbox 360 is the clear format of choice for gamers in the UK. 57 percent of total game sales for GTA IV were for the 360 compared to 43 percent for the PS3.

Chart-Track also added that sales for the game in the UK are at about 1.3 million for the first month of sales, meaning about 750,000 of those copies were sold for the 360.

It seems the game has had a a huge effect on hardware sales as well. For the four weeks after the launch, compared to the four weeks before, 360 sales have jumped 47 percent compared to a lowly 8 percent on the PS3.

NBC had sent off broadcast flags thus causing Vista Media Center users to not be able to record TV episodes of “American Gladiators” and “Medium” on Monday night.

After these reports surfaced around the internet, The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) announced that the same exact thing was happening to over-the-air (OTA) programming, something it had not seen before.

One individual report shows a man attempting to record TV shows from NBC’s Raleigh affiliate, WNCN HD, and having an alert tell him “the broadcaster has disabled recording of the programming.” The man was recording from an antenna signal and EFF confided that it was the first it had ever heard of OTA programming being restricted.

Broadcast flags, which come part of the upcoming 2009 DTV standard, were challenged in court two years ago by the EFF and the court ruled in favor saying “that using the flags to restrict copying was not appropriate”. The law was subsequently thrown out. The panel of judges said the FCC did not have the authority to enforce a law of that nature, which is a clear violation of fair use laws.

The EFF then added that Microsoft was voluntarily adopting broadcast flags into its software, as other similar programs now ignore them and have no trouble recording programming even if it is flagged.

“If it is a deliberate ‘feature,’ they have some explaining to do,” EFF international outreach coordinator Danny O’Brien said. “That would amount to putting the desires of content holders above the best interests of its customers.”

Microsoft announced today that its Xbox 360 gaming console has been sold over 10 million times here in the States since it launch in 2005. Microsoft’s senior VP of Interactive Entertainment Business Don Mattrick was quick to point out that theirs was the first console to reach this number, “History has shown us that the first company to reach 10 million in console sales wins the generation battle. We are uniquely positioned to set a new benchmark for the industry.” Worldwide, sales for the Xbox 360 have reached 19 million. Historically, it looks like the Xbox 360 might be winning the console war thanks to its head start on the PS3 and Wii and its extensive gaming library. But don’t count Nintendo out yet. Read more »

Recenlty i was trying to get a development environment setup on my new Windows 2008 computer, and was installing the typical Microsoft items. Little did i know that SharePoint 2007 wont install on Windows 2008:

Here is the error I ran into: Read more »

After Take-Two announced that the blockbuster hit GTA IV had hit $500 million USD in sales for its first week, Microsoft was quick to release data alleging that over 60 percent of those sales were for the Xbox 360 console and not the rival PlayStation 3.

The software maker claimed that 3.75 million copies of the 6 million sold worldwide in the first week were for the Xbox 360 console and even added that the games helped push 360 sales 54 percent week-on-week, a gigantic surge.

Microsoft also noted that in the UK retailers were reporting “a strong attach rate between the game and console sales”, claiming that at least 40 percent of new console sales were selling with a copy of the hit game.

“Grand Theft Auto IV has done phenomenally well this week with Xbox 360 version outselling PS3 in our stores,” said Gerry Berkley, trading manager at Woolworths.

“Xbox 360 console sales have seen a big uplift off the back of Grand Theft Auto IV launching. It’s clear our customers see Xbox 360 as a great console for this incredible game.”

According to data by Chart-Track in the UK, GTA IV led the software sales charts selling about 927,000 copies. The next closest game, Wii’s hit Wii Fit sold 103,000 copies for the week.

According to Taiwanese industry news source CENS, improved 65nm Xbox 360s should be arriving later this year, even as soon as August.

The report adds that Microsoft has “already begun contracting out the production of 65nm chips,” which in turn should form part of the consoles long anticipated “Jasper” revision.

There was also word that there was a depletion of the current chipset, dubbed “Falcon” and that Jasper could be pushed up if the other chips are depleted. The Falcon’s main processor uses 65nm technology just like the Jasper chip but all the other components including the GPU use 90nm manufacturing.

The Jasper revision has been long anticipated as Microsoft claims it will help to eliminate the “red ring of death” failures that plague over 15 percent of all current consoles. The new revision should be cooler, quieter and less power-consuming.

Let us hope this new report proves to be true, as it must be getting expensive for Microsoft to replace all RROD Xbox 360s at its own cost.

Windows/Mac/Linux (all platforms): OpenOffice.org, the free office application suite, has released a beta of its 3.0 version to the public with a few key features rolled in. The biggest update is native support for Mac OS X platforms, meaning no need to install X11 packages on older Macs or switch to NeoOffice for a smoother experience (although NeoOffice plans to release a 3.0 of its own, so stay tuned). OpenOffice also adds built-in conversion filters for Office 2007/Mac Office 2008 files, a new “solver” function for spreadsheets, enhanced notes and viewing options in Writer, and other enticements for those willing to risk a few bugs. OpenOffice.org 3.0 beta is a free download for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux systems.

http://download.openoffice.org/3.0beta/