What is the point of Windows SharePoint?

[InorganicMatter]

Just set up a SBS 2008 system. It came with Exchange 2007 and SharePoint 3 configured out of the box.

I just can't see a use for SharePoint. It seems to duplicate functionality already in Exchange. Calendar, Task List, Shared Documents? Already done in Exchange. Photos? I'll just set up a simple PHP-based photo gallery that is far more professional looking and fully-featured.

Am I missing something here? This SharePoint seems like a redundancy of a far better product. What am I supposed to be looking at here?

[YeOldeStonecat]

Agreed redundancy with calendars....but you can get some cool intranet sites going on. Daily updates, almost "blog like". It's also excellent for collaboration with documents....look at how you can integrate it with explorer, file management.

And for WANs...or access to stuff from people outside the network, like logging in through RWW.

[Ockie]

I use sharepoint and offer consulting and design on sharepoint services. It's an amazing tool and it can be very powerful if used correctly. It's main function is to "collaborate", while access (which is built in to sharepoint) can be used as a standalone and do a lot of the same functions, it's not collaborative. With sharepoint, you can have a hundred or more users all editing, working, and collaborating on the same site.

You can establish sub sites for different tiers or divisions, you can establish work spaces for meetings and meeting minutes which can be shared and distributed on the fly. You can not only log information in its data base, but you can interface it with say google maps and overlay coordinates and points on a map and still present it on the same page. You can have document archiving, document protection, granular security, etc. All via a simple web browser.

It's super functional and flexible. It's basically your office suite expanded with a web modular interface.

[klesik]

Do you guys know of any good tutorials or examples to learn from online? I have Sharepoint running at home, and have been messing around with it to learn a little. But without really knowing its practical and common uses, I haven't really been able to get much out on my own. If you guys can suggest any good resources to learn from, it would be greatly appreciated!!!!

[4saken]

People at my company have huge boners for Sharepoint. I get calls all the time from departments to set them up a new sharepoint site. Im not a sharepoint designer, i just admining a few sharepoint servers falls under my jurisdiction from time to time. I can definitely see the use of it to keep departmental items in one portal that can be reached only by those people.

http://www.wssdemo.com/default.aspx has some good info on using sharepoint btw.

[Bigbacon]

I use sharepoint and offer consulting and design on sharepoint services. It's an amazing tool and it can be very powerful if used correctly. It's main function is to "collaborate", while access (which is built in to sharepoint) can be used as a standalone and do a lot of the same functions, it's not collaborative. With sharepoint, you can have a hundred or more users all editing, working, and collaborating on the same site.

You can establish sub sites for different tiers or divisions, you can establish work spaces for meetings and meeting minutes which can be shared and distributed on the fly. You can not only log information in its data base, but you can interface it with say google maps and overlay coordinates and points on a map and still present it on the same page. You can have document archiving, document protection, granular security, etc. All via a simple web browser.

It's super functional and flexible. It's basically your office suite expanded with a web modular interface.


Correctly is the key word. If you want to use it correctly, you really need to take some time (months) and research it and test it like crazy for your uses. We use MOSS 2007 here and have for the last 1.5 years and the project manager did a horrible job with it. It ended up as a mish mash of stuff and is almost impossible to work with now. I mean, I think I oculd have handled the projoect much better and I've only been doing such things for a few years (vs his 15+ years)

It needs to have pretty concrete rules in place in terms of organization, permissioning or it will get way out of hand, really fast. (which is what happened here)

Sharepoint can be an install and go but it needs to be looked at from the inside out for you to figure out how you need to use it. I honestly think it is a terrbile product.

[requiemnoise]

Just set up a SBS 2008 system. It came with Exchange 2007 and SharePoint 3 configured out of the box.

I just can't see a use for SharePoint. It seems to duplicate functionality already in Exchange. Calendar, Task List, Shared Documents? Already done in Exchange. Photos? I'll just set up a simple PHP-based photo gallery that is far more professional looking and fully-featured.

Am I missing something here? This SharePoint seems like a redundancy of a far better product. What am I supposed to be looking at here?

I don't bother with it. Crap security. I don't see a point for it. php has tons more better templates for applications.