Will SharePoint Replace Windows Explorer?

This is a question I ask myself a lot. Will Microsoft eventully use SharePoint as the default method of browsing your desktop? As a user I prefer a common interface, I like the KISS method. So I would approve of it. As SharePoint intergrates with office more and more, I can't help to wonder why they would not take it a step further and make the transition complete: become fully integrated with Windows. Maybe it is my SharePoint bias talking, but I for one will not be surprised (I may even be happy... if not because it is useful but because it will be a validation of my forsight) if a couple versions down the road Windows is completely SharePoint based.

Now from a technical perspective I start to ask myself some questions: how efficient would it be? is it even possible? is it worth the reward (if any)? would it make sense to do it? I get mixed feelings at this level partly because I am not aware of many of the issues involved but also because I often come up with crazy ideas that I think are great, but others don't seem to share my enthousiasm. Why would microsoft have a SQL Server based system sitting atop NTFS? Why have users access their files through a database if they can just get them directly? Did Vista not improve search enough? Are search an indexing really that much better? Maybe not.

However I still remain optimistic about the idea of SharePoint managing your windows files and this is why. I personally do not like directory based file systems. They are great because there are logical paths to documents. Super! But what about the file that could logically exist in more than one place? What if documents could be tagged? Well metadata is the basis for WinFS an operating system based on relational databases. So now your files are all at the same level, allowing users more flexibility to create personalized views... which happens to be one of the great features of SharePoint, which (may I remind you is built on the Microsoft relational database: SQL Server). So now to find out if my profecy will materialize, I will just have to either "wait and see" or I can start researching. I think I'll stick to whatever requires less effort.

What happened to SharePoint Portal Server, Content Management Server and Frontpage?

Microsoft has traditionally offered 2 SharePoint products. Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) and SharePoint Portal Server (SPS). Up until recently Windows SharePoint Services has been primarily a collaboration tool while SharePoint Portal Server had 3 main components:
1) Collaboration
2) Enterprise Search
3) Portal

In the current release some names and functionality have changed. Windows SharePoint Services is still known as WSS and the current version is WSS 3.0. SharePoint Portal Server has now been expanded and renamed to Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS 2007). MOSS 2007 main components include:
1) Collaboration
2) Enterprise Search
3) Portals
4) Enterprise Content Management
5) Business Process and Forms
6) Business Intelligence

Enterprise Content Management (ECM) is a broad term which encompases Content Management Server (CMS) functionality. CMS will be discontinued but supported, while MOSS 2007 will take its place.

Frontpage is now SharePoint Designer, which is capable of no-code workflow, which is great for prototyping or for non-technical individuals. Expression Web will be the replacement product for non-SharePoint web designers.

Inside Information

For those who want to be ahead of the SharePoint game this is one blog you will want to keep in mind. You may even want to subscribe to the RSS feed if you are one of those "first to know" people.

http://blogs.msdn.com/mikefitz/

This blog belongs to Mike Fitzmaurice, the Senior Technical Product Manager for Microsoft's Information Worker Division, which encompases SharePoint. The Information Worker (IW) is Microsofts target audience for SharePoint.

NOTE: The term IW is one that Microsoft has adopted. The definition of the IW group is seems to vary depending on who you ask. My introduction to the term had a simple Litmus test: "If you use Outlook in the morning, then you are an Information Worker".

Here is an interesting blog by Mike Bower giving a breakdown of the Information Worker:

http://blogs.msdn.com/bowerm/archive/2005/01/06/347803.aspx

He defines The Knowledge Worker, The Structured Task Worker and The Data Entry Worker The Data Entry Worker as subsets of the Information Worker.

Technical SharePoint Blog

Here is a blog belonging to a collegue of mine in Ottawa. Dominic is a respected software architect & developer who is always on the cutting edge of technology. Dominic is blogging quite a bit about SharePoint these days, so I would keep an eye on this blog if you are interested in developing on the SharePoint platform.

http://www.dplouffe.ca/

Dominic has recently presented at Microsoft's Ottawa office to the local developer community on the subject of developing custom Web Parts.

http://www.ottawacommunity.net/SiteContent/20061205SharePointServices30/tabid/125/Default.aspx

This event was a joint effort between Cre8Object Corp and the Ottawa .NET Community.

www.Cre8Object.com

SharePoint Developer Training

If you or someone in your organization is serious about becoming a SharePoint developer guru Ted Pattison is someone who you should look into. Pricing is available under the "Trainding" section of his site:

http://tedpattison.net/

You can also find some great videos under "Screencasts" as well as some basic explanations under Ted's world famous "Sneaky Wiki".

SharePoint Conference

I attended the DevConnections conference in Las Vegas last November and followed the SharePoint stream. For those interested the conference had great value to developers, IT staff and company decision makers as well. Many of the new functionalites stuffed into MOSS 2007 were explained and demonstrated.

http://www.devconnections.com/shows/SP2007SP/default.asp?s=91

Speakers attending this conference include member of the SharePoint team at Microsoft, the most reknowned trainers and published SharePoint authors. As valuable as all the speaker sessions were, as a consultant the most valuable part entire exibit would have to be the high concentration of SharePoint companies exibiting their products. Being on top of these companies features is the only way to understand how to truely leverage your SharePoint infrastructure.

SharePoint Videos

This is a good site for SharePoint videos and articles. Many of the videos are from a user level, which can be helpful if you want to teach someone about SharePoint and can't do a live demo.

http://www.sharepoint-videos.com/

Credit for this site goes out to Asif Rehmani. Asif is a Microsoft Certified Trainer with SharePoint Solutions.