Inside Microsoft® SharePoint® 2010 [Paperback]

I purchase this book with high hopes to learn great deal about SharePoint 2010 development but I got disappointed in every front. I like inside series from Microsoft, and given the fact that the last installment of Inside SharePoint Server 2007 was an epic book I was expecting something similar to say the least.

There are couples of things that just take the credibility away from this book. To start with I don't really understand why authors push Critical Path Training so much, yes the logo on the cover is just the start and whole books is full of un-necessary fluff about the training company. Also the writing style among the author differs so much that I literally felt lost couple of times as I made transition from one chapter to another. Another thing lacking is demonstration and coverage of Visual Studio 2010 Tools for SharePoint 2010, by no means I am expecting snazzy images and step by step guide but at-least reasonable amount of coverage is required because these tools are essential for doing SharePoint 2010 development. You will see few project templates in Chapter 2 but later on there is very little discussion on the topic.

The overall content coverage is another thing that led me down. For example there is whole chapter on ECM (Enterprise Content Management) but not a single chapter on WCM (Web Content Management). Similarly there is not even a single page on creating development environment for SharePoint 2010 development, I initially cannot believe it and try to check index and table of content couple of times before got utterly dejected, seriously how you can leave something as important as setting up the platform for development. The chapters on sandbox and web parts add little value as MSDN articles already cover these in greater detail.

To sum up if you want to get good inside and under the hood coverage of SharePoint 2010 development better to look elsewhere. Frankly I recommend you to read "Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Developer Reference" by MS Press along with "SharePoint 2010 Development with Visual Studio 2010" by Wiley. I am only blaming myself to waste money earlier on this inside book.

The IT department at work setup the actual server, but it is my job to maintain the data and the flow of operations. I reference this book pretty regularly.

Almost every topic is about boasting the author's supposedly superior knowledge, with an half-hearted purposely cryptic attempt and drive you to learn the rest from some Critical Path training. Ted's been always a very bad writer since his Visual Basic days. You can read through this difficult book - difficult not because of the content - but the style and unwilling to part with any useful info - and still won't be able to take away much. The authors never want to explain anything clear or deep - a shame considering it's an "inside" book by MS Press about their own very promising technology.