Alexander’s Blog

In SharePoint Server 2010, User Profile Synchronization (UPS) service allows you to synchronize your user profiles between Active Directory and SharePoint. Users can add their photos to their profile in SharePoint when they are on their own Web site, called MySite. Here’s how you can see where the pictures are located.

1. To view these photos delete everything in the URL after the domain name and add /user photos/. For example, http://mysite.contoso.com/user photos/.

2. You will notice that there is a folder in the library called Profile Pictures. Click this folder and you will see three photos for each profile.

3. There is a large (144 x 144), medium (96 x 96) and small (32 x 32) thumbnail for each picture labeled as LThumb, MThumb, and SThumb.

On a separate but somewhat related topic, the images in user profiles are different than the images that can be stored in the Exchange 2010 Global Address List (GAL). Active Directory has a thumbnailPhoto attribute that works with Exchange 2010 GAL to display the photo in Outlook 2010. Even without Exchange 2010, you can add images to your own Contacts list in Outlook 2010 directly. When you receive e-mails from people in your contacts list, you will see there photos in the e-mail message.

Looks like Microsoft’s latest operating system Windows 8 and tablet Surface RT will be available to general public on October 26, 2012. According to Mary Jo Foley, Windows Phone 8 is expected to officially launch on October 29 and should become available for ordering within a week or two after that.

No official news on Windows Server 2012 general availability yet but it seems like it will be early 2013 before it becomes available. Then why is it called Windows Server 2012? Good question. Obviously, Microsoft expected to launch it in 2012, and may still do that. Frankly, I prefer that Microsoft takes it time and doesn’t release a half-baked product like it did with Exchange 2007 and Windows Vista.

If you recall, in June Microsoft announced an upgrade offer for people who have or will purchase Windows 7 PCs between June 2012 and January 2013. They will be able to upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for only $14.99, which is essentially free. Frankly, this is a very generous offer. Microsoft also announced that people running Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 will be able to pay only $39.99 for an upgrade to Windows 8. Again, this is an incredible offer. Microsoft could easily charge more for an upgrade. Well, let’s put it this way, there is a reason why Microsoft’s operating system is on almost 95% of the computers in the world and Apple’s isn’t.

Launch Dates

Windows 8 = October 26

Surface RT = October 26

Windows Phone 8 = October 29

Windows 8 Upgrade Cost

If you purchased a PC between June 2012 and January 2013 = $14.99

Owners of Windows XP/Vista/7 = $39.99

Apple’s new iPhone 5 is out and once again there are questions if investing in the new iPhone 5 is really worth it. I haven’t used the new iPhone so I can’t pretend to be an expert but someone who is an expert has written an article called Five reasons NOT to get an iPhone 5. In his article on ZDNet, David Gewirtz gives the following 5 reasons.

Reason 1: You’ll have to buy all new accessories

Reason 2: You’ll have to buy an ungainly dock adapter

Reason 3: LTE is far from universal

Reason 4: The larger display will make many apps look bad

Reason 5: You still have months on your contract

You can read the details of his reasons in David’s article here.

People search in SharePoint Server 2010 requires the following:

1. Search service application configured.

2. A complete deployment of User Profile synchronization.

3. A Managed Metadata service application.

4. MySite Web application created and configured.

5. Search crawling for MySite configured.

6. A Search Center that uses the Enterprise Search Center template.

Without all of the above prerequisites, you cannot properly configure people search in SharePoint Server 2010.