Windows SharePoint Services

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Windows SharePoint Services (WSS), or Windows SharePoint, is a free add-on (value-add) to Windows Server 2003 made available by Microsoft, which offers basic web portal and intranet functionality. It includes portal pages called web part pages made up of web parts (developed in ASP.NET), team, document, and project sub-sites, version-controlled document storage, and basic search functionality. It is made up of an ASP.NET web site hosted on Internet Information Services 6.0, using a SQL Server or MSDE database back-end to store data.

'Windows SharePoint Services also forms the basis for Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server and Microsoft Office Project Server. Office SharePoint Portal Server is the enterprise version of Windows SharePoint Services, and is not free like WSS is.

== Versions =='

The first version, called SharePoint Team Services (usually abbreviated to STS), was released at the same time as Office XP and was available as part of Microsoft FrontPage. STS could run on Windows 2000 Server or Windows XP. The only things it had in common with SharePoint Portal Server 2001 were some common graphical images and styles.

Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 was marketed as an upgrade to SharePoint Team Services, but was in fact a completely redesigned application. Key differences in document storage facilities differentiate the two products. SharePoint Team Services stored documents in ordinary file storage, while keeping document metadata in a database. Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 stores both the document and the metadata in a database, and supports basic document versioning for items in Document Libraries. This versioning capability was not present in STS. Service Pack 2 for WSS added support for SQL Server 2005 and the use of the .NET Framework 2.0.

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 was released on November 16, 2006 as part of the Microsoft Office 2007 suite and Windows Server "Longhorn". It includes many new features, such as mobility, RSS, wiki and weblog support, third-party browser support, and much improved navigation. WSS 3.0 is built on the .NET Framework 3.0 and the Windows Workflow Foundation component of the .NET Framework 3.0 (formerly called WinFX).

By the beginning of 2007 WSS 3.0 was RTM for the public release and ended support for Windows 2000, but started on ME and XP.

[edit] SharePoint Resources

SharePoint Resources comprise tools that individuals and organizations can use to expand their knowledge, solve problems or improve the SharePoint user experience. The most widely available resources are webparts, SharePoint oriented blogs, online publications, directories & Sharepoint trade shows.

SharePoint itself is a component of the Microsoft product family and can be divided into two main products lines.

Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) is a basic offering of SharePoint and is available for free from Microsoft. It has been widely adopted in the worldwide business community because of its inherent ability to facilitate collaboration between various business stakeholders including partners, customers & suppliers. WSS enables users to create work sites which can be made available across the entire organization.

Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 is the enterprise version of SharePoint (minimum 5 license purchase) and was designed as an upgrade to WSS. SPS 2003 is a web portal that enables users to connect users, teams and information across business processes. SharePoint Portal Server 2003 relies on Windows SharePoint Services to provide basic Web hosting and document storage functions, but extends it with additional functions for navigation, search, application integration, and personalization.

A new version of SPS is currently in production and has been rebranded to Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. This long awaited release signifies the arrival of the next generation of collaborative software from Microsoft. The public beta version will be available in Summer 2006 with the full release of Office 12 Suite expected before year end. SharePoint Server 2007 is set to include many new features, such as RSS, wiki, weblog, and much improved site navigation.

As of March 21st 2006, Microsoft officially lifted their previous request for non-disclosure of Office Server products (Including Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Server 2007) For more information visit Bil Simser's or Patrick Tisseghem's blogs

Kurt Delbene (Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Office Server Group) recently wrote an article detailing SharePoint's Role in Microsoft's Collaboration Strategy. Article Excerpt: "First, we think of SharePoint as fitting into a broader goal of providing a rich collaboration environment for users. Collaboration is a pretty fuzzy term in the industry. Let me clarify how we think about collaboration. We don’t think that collaboration is a place you go to. We think it’s a set of tools that you have available to you in the context of how you already work....."