What is Microsoft SharePoint

SharePoint, also known as Microsoft Office SharePoint Server or simply MOSS, is a software platform developed by Microsoft for collaboration and web publishing combined under a single server. These capabilities include developing web-sites, portals, intranets, content management systems, search engines, wikis, blogs, and other tools for business intelligence. SharePoint is a server program that is part of the 2007 Microsoft Office system. Often used to facilitate collaboration, provide content management features, implement business processes, and supply access to essential information. SharePoint also includes Microsoft's content management system, which allows groups to set up a centralized, password protected space for document sharing. Documents can be stored, downloaded and edited, then uploaded for continued sharing.

Features

Microsoft does not intend SharePoint to replace a full file server or to function as a single-use solution. Instead, it positions the product to play various roles in a business environment. SharePoint users access the web-based user interface through a browser. While the product supports all browsers, only Internet Explorer, which Microsoft designates as a "Level 1" browser, is fully integrated and able to utilize the full functionality of SharePoint.

SharePoint sites are functionally ASP.NET 2.0 web applications, served using IIS and using a SQL Server database as a data storage back-end. All site content data, such as items in document libraries and lists, are stored within an SQL database.

Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer, a freeware editor which helps administrators develop and customize SharePoint solutions, also belongs to the SharePoint "family".

Microsoft Search Server

Microsoft Search Server (MSS), an enterprise search platform, builds on the search capabilities of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS), MSS shares its architectural underpinnings with the Windows Search platform for both the querying engine and the indexer. MOSS search provides the ability to search metadata attached to documents. Microsoft made Search Server available as Search Server 2008 in March 2008. A free version, Search Server 2008 Express, is also available. The Express edition features the same feature-set as the commercial edition, including no limitation on the number of files indexed. However, the free version is limited to a stand-alone installation and cannot be scaled out to a cluster. Various plug-in’s can index third-party files, like Adobe's .pdf files.

Microsoft SharePoint 2010

SharePoint 2010 was released to manufacturing on April 17, 2010 and will be available in two editions: SharePoint Foundation Server and SharePoint Server 2010. Microsoft has described the new version as the "Business Collaboration Platform for the Enterprise and the Web” and advertises the following improvements over its predecessor:

• A new user interface, including the new Office Ribbon
• Web Edit, allowing easy customization of a site
• Silverlight Web Part, allowing rapid integration of rich Silverlight applications
• Rich Theming, allowing simplified skinning of a SharePoint 2010 site
• Support for multiple browsers, including Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari (amongst others)
• Enterprise Metadata Management ("SharePoint taxonomy"), which enables a centralized taxonomy

The product includes a collection of other new features relevant to IT professionals, developers, and partners. Complications in upgrading to SharePoint 2010 include a lack of support for Internet Explorer 6, only 64-bit architecture is supported, and businesses will need to run the latest versions of other Microsoft products (notably Windows Server 2008 R2 and Microsoft Office 2010) to take advantage of full functionality.

Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer

Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer is a WYSIWYG (X)HTML editor which is primarily used for designing SharePoint sites and end-user workflows for SharePoint Server and SharePoint Foundation sites. SharePoint Designer also allows developers to manipulate data from SharePoint or external sources (such as Microsoft SQL Server) without coding directly against the .NET Framework. SharePoint Designer and Expression Web replaced FrontPage as the primary web design tools in versions of Microsoft Office since Office 2007. SharePoint Designer 2010 is the successor to SharePoint Designer 2007, although the two versions are not compatible.

Reception

Evaluations of SharePoint by industry analysts have varied. In late 2008, the Gartner Group put SharePoint in the "leaders" quadrant in three of its Magic Quadrants (for Search, Portals, and enterprise content management).