- Stephen Elop Launches Microsoft SharePoint 2010 - Microsoft Corporation
Microsoft SharePoint is a Content Management System (CMS) that allows users to work in a Web-based collaborative environment. Sales of it annually exceed $1 billion and it is used by major business enterprises such as Electronic Arts and easyJet for their intranet sites and companies such as Starbucks and Ferrari for their public-facing Web sites.
SharePoint 2000 and SharePoint 2001
The first version of SharePoint was introduced in the year 2000, originally purely as a document management and indexing application before a refocus in early 2001 to target the growing portal market. Alongside the SharePoint Portal Server 2001 (SPS 2001) application, a free add-on to Office 2000 called SharePoint Team Services was also made available that provided Web-based collaboration features.
But this, alongside SharePoint 2001’s positioning against other Microsoft products, proved too confusing to customers. Another problem was that it was based upon technology outside of Microsoft’s core development platform and so had limited support among the developer community.
SharePoint 2003
Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 (SPS 2003) was launched in October 2003 alongside the new version of MS Office. It provided improved collaboration features and personalisation, including the ability to create personal homepages (called My Sites), plus an interface built using core technology already familiar to developers and clients. This gave rise to a wealth of Webparts that could be used to add further functionality to sites and all of this helped to increase Microsoft’s share of the portal market.
SharePoint 2007
The next version of SharePoint was introduced in 2007 and integrated Microsoft’s Content Management Server into its architecture, opening up the ability to create wikis and blogs, as well as enabling customers to build process integration and business intelligence portals through the use of Excel Services and InfoPath forms.
Another key new feature was the ability to synchronise content with Outlook 2007 so users could take documents offline with them. SPS 2007 also adopted content auditing features that were compliant with Sarbanes-Oxley.
SharePoint 2010
Released in the first half of 2010, the latest version of SharePoint (SharePoint 2010) departs from the Microsoft Office family and adopts its own branding. It is a major upgrade that provides business enterprise-grade features and services, plus a new user interface incorporating the Office Ribbon.
The ‘My Sites’ functionality has now become a social networking tool, providing tools for status updates and activity feeds which form the basis of the new knowledge management features of SharePoint 2010. For example, it can search sent mail in Microsoft Outlook for recurring terms to add to user profiles which helps to automate the process of updating user profiles.
Although limited support for accessing SharePoint on mobile devices has been available for a few years (either through SharePoint Mobile for Windows Mobile 6 or third-party solutions such as iSharePhone for the Apple iPhone) support for them is set to increase with SharePoint 2010.
Key to this will be SharePoint Workspace Mobile for the Windows Phone 7 operating system, providing mobile users with the ability to interact with colleagues, office documents and information. In addition to this, a new Office Hub for the same OS will link a user’s desktop Office environment to their phone and bring productivity and collaboration in a more coherent manner than ever before on a mobile.
Apart from Windows Phone 7, the user interface of SharePoint 2010 is designed to work well on other mobile devices and detects if a touch device, such as an Apple iPhone, is being used and puts links slightly apart so they are easier to touch.
Microsoft Office Groove and SharePoint Online
A key companion application for SharePoint is Microsoft Office Groove, renamed to Microsoft SharePoint Workspace with the launch of SharePoint 2010. It is a collaborative software programme that lets team members work together dynamically and effectively inside collaborative workspaces that can be automatically synchronised to all users, whether they are connected to the company’s network, working offline or even working for different companies.
These workspaces bring people, tools and information together in one place, helping teams stay connected and complete their projects on-time and within budget. The application has been successfully used to co-ordinate between emergency relief agencies where the organisations haven’t shared a common infrastructure and where offline access is important, and also among consultants who need to work securely on client sites. It can also be used as a staging environment for documents in development where content can be worked upon and then transferred into SharePoint when complete.
Another way companies can use SharePoint is by utilising Microsoft SharePoint Online, which is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution hosted by Microsoft which can be subscribed to for a monthly cost per user . The current version is based upon SharePoint Server 2007 but will be upgraded later this year to the 2010 version. The advantage of this solution is that internal IT resources do not have to be used to set the site up and it can provide easy access to people working anywhere.
Jason Glover - Jason Glover has worked in the marketing teams of major companies for over twenty years, including over ten years in online marketing ...
