Most people reading this already know what this is so you may want to skip ahead a few paragraphs.  For those of you who are just know hearing about this read one.  And, although the title says Windows Server 2008 R2, this will be about Windows 7, but I believe it’s the same either way.

What the boot from VHD feature allows you to accomplish is to run a VHD directly on your hardware, without a host OS.  When doing this the VHD is still contained in one single file and when you shut down you can back it up or move it to another machine, although it’s just like moving any other hard drive and you may have driver compatibility issues.  In simple terms think about it for exactly what it is, a Virtual Hard Drive (VHD).

I also know there’s hundreds of sites about booting from VHD, but as many of them were based on early version of Windows 7, some of the information seems to be outdated and honestly I’m not sure if it worked at all.  I did find a site that helped me get this accomplished though, so I’m going to use that site so share what I did to get it all working.  If you want to stop reading here and just go to the site, it’s http://www.sevenforums.com.  Never heard of them before this, but it all seemed to work.

And lastly before I get to the meat and potatoes, why do you want to do this?  Because unless you own VMWare (and maybe even if you do) Virtual PC does not support x64, which is what is now required to run with SharePoint 2010.  And, I’ve tried but just can’t run Server 2008 and Hyper-V on my laptop without getting frustrated.

<BEGIN what=”actual tutorial”/>

Before you start make sure you have enough disk space (50GB for me) on a LOCAL hard drive (not USB) and a Windows 7 (RTM) DVD.

The first thing I did was to start with a Windows 7 OS, although I think this will work in Vista also.  Place your Windows 7 (I used Enterprise) DVD in your drive and reboot to the DVD.  Instead of repeating any more on this step, simply use the directions from http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2953-virtual-hard-drive-vhd-file-create-start-boot.html.  Scroll down to OPTION ONE.  Also note this entire site has many other ways to accomplish this and is the best resource I found for the information.

I now have dual boot capabilities, but there’s a couple things that bugged me.  1) Both boots are called Windows 7 2) VHD boot is the first and default.

I also want to move my VHD to another hard drive that gets plugged in when I remove my DVD drive.  This is an SSD and will let the VHD run much faster.  This is not a USB drive, but is considered internal and will work just fine.

<BEGIN what=”command line fun”/>

I booted back to my original Windows 7 OS for this part, but it may work on the VHD boot also.

To limit what you need to do on the command line, first run MSCONFIG.EXE and go to the boot tab.  I simply changed my default here which gave me one less command line to worry about.  Select your original, probably “Windows 7 (C:\Windows)” and select “Set as default”.

Next thing you’ll want to do is change the name of VHD boot (at least I did).  Instead of repeating everything, just use the directions from http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/5110-dual-boot-change-os-name-windows-boot-manager.html.  They mention something called EasyBCD, but I have enough junk installed and figured it’d be easier to just type this stuff in.

When I did all this, my VHD boot was still the first on the list and I didn’t like that, even though it was no longer the default.  Using most of the information from the previous step  you can used this command to move it to the last boot option “bcdedit /displayorder {clsid} /addlast”.  If you need help with bcdedit you can do a “bcdedit /?”, or if you need help with a specific option use “bcdedit /[option] /?”.

Okay, the last step was moving my VHD.  Well moving it was the easy, I think we can all do that, but now that it’s on my “D Drive” I need to edit the boot info so it knows.  So, again using the command line I had to do the following two commands (yours will vary depending on your VHD locations):

“bcdedit /set {clsid} device vhd=[D:\vhd\win7.vhd” – because I moved it from c:\ to d:\vhd

Also, you’ll need to change the osdevice:

“bcdedit /set {clsid} osdevice vhd=[D:\vhd\win7.vhd”

<BEGIN what=”complaints” value=”none”/>

This is what I had to do and it should help you accomplish the same.  If it doesn’t work, I’m sorry, but I did try to help.  Again, check out http://www.sevenforums.com as I did learn how from them.

-Chris

Today is a good day.  Bits are here, can’t wait to play.

-Chris

Russ Houberg and I will be presenting at the SharePoint Conference this year on 10 ECM features of SharePoint 2010 that we think rock.  We’d love for you to stop by and see our session.

Session Title: ECM on SharePoint 2010 - Features that Rock!

Session Date and Time: Mon Breakout 4:30 PM

Session Room: Surf 1

Until Vegas,

Chris Caplinger
http://www.knowledgelake.com

If you haven’t registered or made travel arrangements to the SharePoint Conference this year, check out our web site and register for a VIP trip.  The winner will get to hang out with me… no seriously we wouldn’t make you do that, but you will get your conference fee, airfare, hotel, limo service and dinner paid for.  SharePoint 2010 will be unveiled at the conference and most sessions will be centered around the new Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010.

Did I mention it’s in Las Vegas?

You can register to win at http://www.knowledgelake.com/events/SP_Contest2009/default.asp.

Regards,
Chris

Just wanted to give a shout out to Russ Houberg on becoming a Microsoft Certified Master for SharePoint.  Makes me very proud to have Russ as part of the KnowledgeLake organization.  Thank you Russ!

See Russ’ post about his accomplishment at http://www.houberg.net/archive/2009/07/28/microsoft-certified-master-sharepoint2007.aspx.

Chris Caplinger
http://www.knowledgelake.com

Momentum is a great thing, especially in the software world.  We’ve been having a great year at KnowledgeLake and we just got some more good news as Microsoft announced the awards for the Worldwide Partner Conference.  KnowledgeLake won awards in two categories this year, both which hopefully sum up the hard work everyone here has done the last 12 months.

ISV/Software Solutions Partner of the Year
http://www.digitalwpc.com/Awards#ISV-Software-Solutions-Partner-of-the-Year

Information Worker Solutions, Enterprise Content Management and Forms Development Partner of the Year
http://www.digitalwpc.com/Awards#Information-Worker-Solutions-Enterprise-Content-Management-and-Forms-Development-Partner-of-the-Year

See you in New Orleans,

Chris

Just wanted to get this out to reach as many people as possible.  Several of my teams at KnowledgeLake are in need of individuals to fill positions to keep up with the growth we have been experiencing, yes even this the so called horrible economy.  We are in the process of selecting members to fill a few new teams we are building and want as many quality applicants as possible.

We are in need to C# and/or SharePoint developers, people with good customer services skill to work in support as well as quality support specialists.

If you want to a work for a company that employs people that actually enjoy their job and work hard at the same time please reply to this post or contact us at careers@knowledgelake.com.  Couch potatoes need not apply.

Recruiters, please do not contact me.

-Chris

Just pimping our software here.

http://www.ecmconnection.com/article.mvc/ECM-Connection-Announces-Winners-Of-The-2009-0001

… and it’s purpose.  You can read it here: http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/bill_of_rights_transcript.html

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of people to peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Amendment II

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

and so on…

Unless I’m mistaken this give me and my family these rights that cannot be taken away:

• Pray in school
• Put “Ron Paul” bumper stickers on a car (I haven’t yet, but just saying)
• Assemble a militia as long as it was regulated (so I assume as long as I told the state police I have a militia I’m good… again, no plans, but I could)
• If I’m not happy with an elected official I have the right to speak my mind (message to both sides here, just because you like to complain before doesn’t mean that someone complaining now is a terrorist and vice versa)
• The right to bear arms to protect myself from animals, burglars and a tyrant federal, state or local government.  (I can buy a Abrams or Apache if I’d like, not to mention any automatic weapon I so choose)

So please remember what happens in England isn’t necessarily good for the United States.

Chris

Benjamin Franklin once said “Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.”

I’m not sure that’s exact, but it’s very close and makes the point.  Life is dangerous.  Get over it.  I’m not a political blogger, actually I barely blog at all.  Sometimes however I get so frustrated with society and I have to say something.  Last month a new federal law (“Lead Law”) went into place that forbid any good that could be potentially targeted at children under 12 not contain more than 600 parts per million of lead be sold.  On the surface most of you will say this is a great idea, but what transpired is a ripple down effect into the lives of good tax paying citizens and a huge economic impact into good tax paying businesses.  Motorcycles for instance use lead in many of the hard parts that are used to build the machines.  No one has ever been injured from eating motorcycles, yet it’s now illegal to sell motorcycles, ATVs, skateboards, bicycles or any other product that may contain a certain amount of lead if it could be targeted for the youth market.

Now today, to get back on title of the post, the geniuses on the Elementary & Secondary Education Committee in the House of Representative in Illinois have decided it should be illegal to operate any off-road vehicle if you are under 16 or do not have a drivers license (click right here to see it)  First of all, shouldn’t these folks be trying to figure out how to better educate the people of Illinois and stop worrying about whether or not kids can enjoy off-road recreation?

If you are reading this and you think this actually makes sense, let me mention some of the impacts this will make if enforced.

• Shut down any business that sells off-road vehicles to youth
• Make it illegal to take your under 16 year old child hunting with you if you happen to use an ATV to reach your specific hunting area
• Make it illegal for a farmer’s child to use any type of off-road vehicle to accomplish their chores
• Force children who have a potential career as a professional in any type of off-road racing to move to another state to train and practice
• Shut down many motocross (and other) tracks in Illinois who depend on youth racing to operate
• Ruin a past time of thousand of people in Illinois who take their entire family off-road riding on the weekends
• Make it illegal for your child to ride a vehicle you spent thousands of dollars on last year if you live in Illinois
• Make it illegal to ride your off-road vehicle regardless of your age if you don’t have a drivers license
• Make it illegal to ride your ATV to your neighbors house even if you live in a very rural area
• Creates a slippery slope to ban golf carts, go karts and many other types of recreational vehicles

(sigh)

-Chris

Continuing my experiment from last week I thought I would continue posting about turning my laptop into a Hyper-V enabled workstation.  After the weekend and a couple days at work now, I'm sitting here wondering why Microsoft doesn't sell a product called Windows Workstation 2008.  I know most of us with MSDN subscriptions will just make our own from server, but what an amazing tool this would be for developers not so fortunate.

Back to Hyper-V.  What an amazing way to virtualize my desktop.  I've read all the press on hardware virtualization and even Beta tested the server product without Hyper-V, but I had never really grasped it until I started using it.  I had setup VMs before in both Virtual PC and VMWare and had them booting with the server using different methods, but it's just never been so easy.  In fact the first time I rebooted I was amazed that it all happened automatically.  With the added ease of use of the Hyper-V manager and being able to manage other servers just as easy... okay I sound like a commercial, I'll stop.

When I posted last week, I hadn't yet used Hyper-V, so I'll just continue putting down the different things I've done to create my Windows Workstation 2008.

• Enable hardware virtualization in the BIOS.  Doesn't work well without it.
• Installed Paint.NET with no issues.
• I had originally installed SQL Server, but with my new understanding of Hyper-V, I can see no reason why I'd want this on my host.  It's now removed... minus some of the tools.
• Installed RoboForm.
• Changed my theme to Vista.  When I did this Roboform no longer showed up on in IE.  Tried searching for some answers and even reinstalled Robform with no luck.  I changed my theme and changed it back again and now for some reason it's back.  Confusing.
• I'm a Zune owner (sigh) and decided to research installing it before I screwed anything up.  I have no idea if this is really required, but I found these steps on another blog and it seemed to work.  1) Download and Unpack the setup files.  Execute \x64\packages\zune-x64.msi as an Administrator.  I couldn't right-click Run As, so I executed a command prompt as Administrator and used msiexec /i.

What's next?  I've already started creating some Base VMs to mess with.  You can't copy a VM directly in Hyper-V.  You'll need to make a copy of the VHD and then create a new VM to use it.  Keep in mind each VM has identical MAC addresses and such, so it just really wouldn't work.  I also will most likely remove Visual Studio from my host and just do all the work inside a VM.

What's just a little silly about all this was that I originally went to a Server 2008 in order to do all development from my host, without a VM, but as I see the advantages of Hyper-V, I've really come full circle.

Good luck,
-Chris

It's been quite a while since I've put anything in this space, but today I was motivated by a friend who mentioned he hadn't heard much from me in a while.  The last couple nights I have been spending my time hammering away on creating a workstation out of Windows Server 2008 on my Dell D630 laptop so I thought that would be a cool thing to talk about.

Before I get going on what I had to do, I'll first admit I found most of what I learned on other sites, but the information seemed to inconsistent and even outdated (from Beta attempts), so I thought I'd compile everything here.

Do yourself a huge favor before trying any of this.  Just put a new hard drive in and keep your old drive completely loaded with your previous OS.  You may or may not like the results or your new Server/Workstations and this will make it much easier to go back.  Plus you can put it in a USB caddy, plug it in and copy your needed files when finished.

So what did I do?  Here are the steps I took, although I admit I tried some things that broke my server and I had to remove.  I'll detail at then end.

• Had our network guru create a Server 2008 image for me with hyper-v.  He uses Acronis and seems to have these images built for just about anything, so it's a lot easier than doing this myself.
• Installed Daemon Tools to install from all my ISO Image (read warning at the bottom of this post)
• Installed Office 2007 Clients (plus Visio and SharePoint Designer)
• Added IIS.  From Server Manager| Role and added Application Server and IIS roles
• Installed Visual Studio 2008 (I may remove this and never develop on my host) (And yes I still write code, just nothing that matters)
• Installed SQL 2005 (I'll probably remove this too as I've decided not to put SharePoint on my host either)
• Turned off UAC (Administrative Tools|System Configuration|Tools|Disable UAC)
• Turned off IE Protected Mode (Launch IE as Administrator, Tools|Internet Options|Security, disable the tabs for each zone you want to turn off... I only left restricted sites on)
• Turned on Windows Search.  Server Manager|File Services|Add Role Services|Windows Search Service.
• Turned on sounds.  Server Manager|Configuration|Services|Windows Audio.  Set to automatic and then start.
• Installed Adobe Reader and Adobe Flash.  Run IE as Administrator and browse to www.adobe.com.
• Enabled .NET 3.0.  Server Manager|Features|Add Feature\.NET Framework 3.0 Features.
• Installed Wireless drivers.
• Installed Live Messenger 8.1.  Run IE as Administrator and browse to download site.
• Turned on Desktop Experience (needed for Defender and WIA).  Server Manager|Feature|Add Features.  I also added Server Backup and Powershell for my enjoyment.
• Turned on Windows Image Acquisition.  Server Manager|Configuration|Services|Windows Image Acquisition (WIA).  Set to Automatic and then Start.  (I need this for my scanner drivers)
• Installed Scanner Drivers (yes, Fujitsu)
• Copied Live Writer so I could write this.  Program Files(x86)\Windows Live\Writer on my Vista machine to the same location on Server 2008.
• Installed Google Chrome :).  Launch IE as Administrator first.  www.google.com/chrome.
• After getting tired of manually starting IE as Administrator I made it the default.
• Turned on many IE browsing features from Tools|Internet Options|Security and Tools and Advanced, such as XPS, XAML Browser Apps, Active X Prompt, File Download and many more.

I'm sure I forgot something, but this will get you started for sure.

What don't I like?

• No ability to sleep with hyper-v.  Also, when I put my laptop in my bag without shutting down it overheats and reboots itself.
• So far, that's it.

What rocks?

• The fact at so much was turned off by default does two things.  1) Forces me to learn what does what in the OS as I enable what I need.  2) Makes my new workstation run faster because all the stuff I don't want is not on by default.
• Server Manager!  This is so much better than what we had before, although it took a while for me to figure out how to do simple things like enable 3.0 .NET Framework.  The MSI install failed and I was scratching my head.
• Hyper-v of course

What broke?

• I couldn't get the Windows 2008 Workstation Converter application that is all over the Internet to work.
• I read several places to install the old MSN Messenger and let it upgrade to the latest Live Messenger 8.5, but it didn't seem to work quite right and is not supported.  8.1 is supported and does the job just fine.
• Daemon Tools and Live Messenger running together crashes the server.
• Live Writer install does not work.  Copy it as seen above.

What haven't I tried yet?

• Bluetooth
• Windows Mobile phone drivers (Blackjack II)
• Converting other Virtual Machines to Hyper-v (VMWare and Virtual PC)

Have fun, but please don't blame me when you ruin your system without a backup.

-Chris

Our company decided this year to step up to the plate with a Gold Sponsorship at TechEd IT Pro.  I can tell you this was a huge step for our company, but it really does show the growth we are experiencing.  A lot of this is because SharePoint is also experiencing major growth and I believe it has become the fastest growing server technology in Microsoft history.  Seems like every other vendor at Tech Ed was touting some type of SharePoint integration.

What excited me most about the show, was no doubt seeing the company I helped build have such a major presence.  The giant carpet was awesome all though I'm not sure about the idea of being walked all over... as Hao demonstrates.

We also had great booth positioning basically in the center of HP, Intel, EMC and APC.  This no doubt helped drive traffic to our booth, although the KnowledgeLake Shifter Cart didn't hurt.

Getting away from the KnowledgeLake pitch, I did find one new product that I thought was very innovative and impressed me.  It's a Virtual Document solution for SharePoint in appliance from a company called Black Blade.  Many of you may know the CEO, Brad Smith, who's a SharePoint MVP.  I really enjoy seeing people take advantage of the MVP program and use it launch new products and companies.  More on his company here: http://www.blackbladeinc.com.

As most know, Tech Ed this year was split into two different conferences/shows, Developer the first week and IT Pro the second week.  My understanding was the IT Pro had twice as many attendees (not confirmed, just what I heard) and numbered around 11,000.  This conference is getting really large, but what I didn't like about he split was that as an ex-code junkie, I still love the development world and since we were only exhibiting during the IT Pro week I really missed the sessions I enjoy most as well as the development vendor displays.

To finalize here, I don't know how many of you know about our new IN campaign, but think it's been a hit so far.  If you're not IN your OUT and more and more customers are looking for a way to be green and save money by getting rid of their paper and getting IN with KnowledgeLake.  As always I encourage you to stop by our web site http://www.knowledgelake.com and see what we are all about.

The rest of my Tech Ed pictures can be found here.

Regards,
Chris

Russ Houberg told me about this a couple weeks ago and finally got a chance to check it out.  It's a virtual desktop application running in a browser that allows you to store 5 GB of data and can automatically sync to folders from your desktop.  This will allow you to have you documents on your PC, and soon Macs and Smart Devices to allow your documents to be available anywhere you may have access to a browser.

You can also place security on folders and allow them to be shared with other members.  I know you've seen this from Microsoft before and it's called Office Live or whatever, but what makes this different is the fact that you get a desktop like experience right inside the browser along with ability to sync.  It's also different than products such as Google Docs because it supports any file type, however it doesn't have the office applications built in.

Anyway, you can sign up for a Technical Preview at http://www.mesh.com.  It took me about a week to get My Mesh.  You can also read about Meshes, MOEs and Members at http://blogs.msdn.com/livemesh.

-Chris

Last week I got to spend another week in Japan, this time most mostly in the Tokyo area, although I did make it to the Ishikawa Prefecture for my usual run through Komatsu, Kanazawa and Unoke.  As usual I won't talk much about the business side of the trip for many reasons, including the fact that you probably don't care... not that you really care about any of this, but I figured if you made it this far I'd at least try and keep you attention before you just browse the pictures and move on with your life.

I spent Tuesday in Kawasaki, which I found out means (River) Kawa (Hope) Saki.  Guess all those motorcycle racers need to rethink their coolness now.   Luckily I quit racing green bikes at an early age.  Anyway, Kawasaki is a nice place and seemed like a fairly expensive area to live.  After our presentations, we got to eat dinner in the Ginza district which is basically the Japanese Time Square.  Lights everywhere (see pictures) and of all the places I got to visit this time I would have loved to spent more time here and enjoyed the nightlife.

Wednesday was spent in Ishikawa with more presentations and dinner at a very traditional Japanese restaurant.  We had to sit on the floor which was bad enough, but I couldn't eat because I couldn't bend far enough to reach the table.  I'm getting too old.

Thursday was spent site seeing in Kanazawa before flying back to Tokyo.  I got to visit Kenrokuen Park and Kanazawa Castle again.  The great thing this time was the cherry blossoms.  Check out the pictures!  Thursday night was spent near Shinigawa station eating Yakitorri (Grilled Chicken).  This place was the size of my bedroom, but was packed with 50 people or so.  Crazy thing about eating chicken in Japan is that you eat all the chicken.  We had hearts, livers even the bones.

Friday was a site seeing tour of Tokyo.  We visited the Tokyo tower, where Gregg became a rock star to all the school girls.  I guess they thought he was Tom Cruise or something.  Who knows, but they loved him.  We then went to Asasuka where the big Buddhist temple is, followed by the Kabuki Theatre.  This was a very interesting traditional Japanese play and you'll have to Google to understand more as it's very difficult to explain.  Afterwards we had Sukiyaki back in the Ginza district.

All in all it was a good trip and the best part was of course the heated seats!  You just don't realize how great these really are until you expect one to be warm in the middle of the night and realize it wasn't turned on when you sit down.

See the Pictures Here.

Take care,

Chris

We took another major step this week to building the ultimate Capture application for SharePoint.  We now have the ability to create searchable PDF documents directly from the client application without the need to send documents to a server side process first.  There is of course a lag when doing the OCR, so for high volume applications I still suggest using our Capture Server product.  What is nice however is that the OCR process runs in a separate thread along with saving to SharePoint so after you scan, you can send the PDF documents and immediately start scanning again.  This should make KnowledgeLake Capture significantly more usable than non threaded applications.... yes competition, you know who you are.

The new PDF support comes right after the support for ISIS we had just announced in February.  Some of the other features of our capture software include:

• Use of barcodes and patch codes to separate documents
• Ability to automatically index from bar codes
• Ability to automatically classify documents into Content Types in SharePoint
• Ability to clean up scanned documents, removing noise and automatically deskewing
• Automatic removal of blank pages
• Zonal OCR capabilities
• Forms Recognition
• much, much more....

For a complete list of features and trail software, check out our web site at http://www.knowledgelake.com.

-Chris

Actually we've been doing conversions for years here at KnowledgeLake.  The first one I was involved with was at AG Edwards back in the late 90's when I wrote some applications to move content from FileNet Image Services to Documentum 4i.  After that we continued doing these one off migrations.  I did a FileNet to Viewstar and others at KnowledgeLake worked on Application Extender, SharePoint, several others ECM systems and even some home grown document management systems.

After almost 10 years of doing this we started developing some really good methodologies for doing these migrations and over the last two years we have really started ramping up the amount of FileNet to SharePoint migrations.  Realizing we had stumbled into a legitimate marketplace and with last years release of SharePoint 2007, we decided to build a system around these applications and methodologies and have now released the Content Migration Suite for IBM FileNet.  You can read more about this at http://www.knowledgelake.com/news.asp#migration.

I know there will be a lot of people read this and brush it off because they think there's no way we could possible migrate large FileNet systems to SharePoint, however you shouldn't close your mind so fast until you really understand how SharePoint works.  We have successfully converted systems with over 10 million content items and have done this with just one site and in some cases one Document Library.  Yes, there are some tricks, which is what our system is all about, understanding SharePoint and knowing how to successfully store millions of records.

So give me some numbers you say?  If you read the press release, it states we can move content at a rate of 2.5 million documents per eight hour day per SharePoint Front End Web Server.  We've also added more servers and got close to 10 million per day.

What I can also say is "Don't Try This at Home".  There are some things to know, but I'm not allowed to share them right now... I'd then have to kill you of course.  Cramming millions of content items into any ECM platform without a plan is a dangerous thing to do.  This is the reason we decided to build the product and start helping others with it.

-Chris

Knowing we were heading to Seattle for the SharePoint Conference, a few of us decided we should take advantage of the all the Northwest snow this winter.  Hearing great things about Mt. Schweitzer in Idaho, we decided to jump over to Spokane and rent a car to take in this hidden treasure.  This mountain has been skied since the 60's but luckily the rest of the world hasn't found it yet.  Mostly blues and blacks it's a great intermediate and expert hill, and if you like skiing trees this is the place.

My experience was no lift lines, 100+ inch base, great atmosphere, cold beer.  Add in the fresh snow we got today and that pretty much sums it up.

Easier to just check out the pics... http://chrislcap.spaces.live.com/photos/cns!2B396B3160473E4C!1139/

If you see me this week, be careful about asking me about my weekend because I may not shut up.

-Chris

Phew!  Another major project behind us.  Amid the ice and snow storm here in St. Louis, our teams released KnowledgeLake Capture 2008 (4.3).  I've been working on a feature by feature comparison between this product and our competition and I can honestly say, on the client side, this is the best document scanning application produced.  Yeah, I know that sounds biased, but I've used the latest version of our competition and I really believe we have them beat (for now).

Some of the new features include:

• ISIS support
• 2D Barcode support
• 32-bit & 64-bit Windows Vista support
• Ability to index and release to using any character set

We added these to the pre-existing (major) feature set:

• Twain support
• Barcode/Patchcode Separation
• Barcode Indexing
• Automatic index configuration from SharePoint
• Automatic classification into SharePoint Content Types
• Zonal OCR
• Image Cleanup (Deskew, Black Border, etc)

We'll also be adding a full blown PDF plug-in module in March that allows import, exporting and viewing of Searchable or Image only PDF documents.

You can download a trial version of this software at http://www.knowledgelake.com.

- Chris