SharePoint: Forcing It To Fit’ Is An Expensive And Painful Experience

The Content Wrangler Blog Archive SharePoint: ‘Forcing It To Fit’ Is An Expensive And Painful Experience.

Each time I’ve sat down to write aboutMicrosoft SharePoint, I’ve experienced a sensation that is the polar opposite ofwriter’s block. Indeed, there is much to say about SharePoint. The current ‘deluxe’ edition, (Microsoft Office SharePoint Server aka MOSS), is a big, feature-rich solution, developed by a gigantic company that has bankrolled an aggressive marketing campaign. Additionally, there are many Microsoft partners and bloggers helping to spread the SharePoint gospel. There is also a proportionally large population of SharePoint detractors and companies that profess to offer solutions that rival those of MOSS.

Some time ago, after decades of experience with theMacintosh, and several years in supportingUnix systems, I found myself working for a Microsoft development partner. Thus, I can assure you that I have already received my life’s ration of SharePoint hype. I have also seen a fair amount of unwarranted criticism of SharePoint. Neither unbridled praise nor baseless criticism are helpful, if you, the content specialist, or your clients are considering SharePoint as a possible solution.

To add another layer of confusion, Microsoft is scheduled to release a new version, SharePoint 2010. this year. We’re already seeing a fresh wave of SharePoint hype, and SharePoint hate.

In this article

• What is SharePoint? (really, I’m going to try to answer that)
• What are some of the merits and drawbacks of SharePoint?
• How much does SharePoint cost? (I’ll give you the final answer right now: it’s complicated. However, I will try to provide some guidance on the factors that may impact SharePoint’s price tag for you.)
• What types of resources are available for to help ensure successful SharePoint implementations?

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