1) SharePoint is SO complicated
There are just so many features that should just work, but it’s always a struggle to get them doing what they should. Ever tried to get the user profile synchronisation service to work? It should be a simple task, but Googling will show you tens of situations where it just does not want to work. There are workarounds and fixes available, but it’s not good.

And then there’s the behind the scenes object model for SharePoint. I was brought up on BASIC as a programming language and I still cannot understand why they have to make everything so darned complicated in these newfangled object languages! I wanted to enumerate all the items in a SharePoint library and if the item is a Document (content type) then trigger a workflow to run. Honestly shouldn’t need more than 8 lines of code to do this, but finding it’s way more complex than that.

2) SharePoint is so slow
Some nice new features in SharePoint 2010, but it is dog slow. I still can’t understand why it takes so long for a feature like the user profile import to go off to a (Microsoft) Domain controller database and get updates. Or the search crawler that takes hours to browse the (Microsoft) SQL server content server database!

3) Why are there still huge gaps in the compatibility matrix between Microsoft applications?
I am thinking primarily about the missing link that would allow me to copy emails from (Microsoft) Outlook to SharePoint! Apart from saving my emails as a MSG file and then importing them as documents, I cannot find a way to get them in. There are some 3rd party tools (at a cost) to do this, but given how Microsoft is heralding the compatibility of it’s applications, I do think this is one huge omission.

I don’t suppose anyone else will ever read this – just the rantings of a frustrated IT consultant!

Finally the UK consulate in Brisbane contacted me and offered to give me a temporary travel document, so I drove down to Brisbane today to pick it up.

Left home around 8am. Stopped a couple of times including an hour or so at Australia Zoo to feed some roos. As an SES member, I get free admission to the zoo.

Staying tonight at Rothbury Hotel and Apartments on Ann St.

Found another place for fish and chips, then ice creams, then walked back to our apartment, pausing for another paddle.

Our Aus mobile phone was not working this afternoon, so I had to go and get the SIM card changed. Found out later that it was a network problem, rather than a problem with my SIM.

Had cheese on toast for supper, then watched TV for a while .