WINDOWS SHAREPOINT SERVICES

'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 indexed 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 Server ('MOSS'), Microsoft Office Project Server, and Microsoft Team Foundation Server. 'MOSS' is the enterprise version of Windows SharePoint Services, and is not free like WSS is.
The abbreviated term ''SharePoint'' can be used to describe both the underlying base services (Windows SharePoint Services or WSS) and the additional portal software (Microsoft Office SharePoint Server or MOSS) which can lead to confusion. In addition, Microsoft Office has referred to a collection of products that run on desktop PCs which can use WSS for document management and collaboration without MOSS.

Contents

Versions

SharePoint Resources

See also

External links

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. The difference is that SharePoint Team Services stored documents in ordinary file storage, while keeping document metadata in a database. Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 on the other hand, 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's new features include: mobility, RSS, wiki and weblog support, non-Microsoft browser support. 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 made available to the public and ended support for Windows 2000.

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. Microsoft provides 40 free SharePoint Templates and there are additional templates available through a SharePoint templates project on Codeplex.
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 Server' 2007 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. SharePoint Server 2007 includes many new features, such as RSS, wiki, weblog, and much improved site navigation. Prior to the 2007 version, Office SharePoint Server was referred to as 'Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server', but has been rebranded to clarify versions.

See also

★ SharePoint

★ Web widget

External links

★ Windows SharePoint Services page at Microsoft

★ SharePoint Team Blog

★ Windows SharePoint Services Administrator's Guide

★ Free 180 day Trial of Office SharePoint Server 2007

★ msdn.microsoft.com article on deploying Web Parts

★ SharePoint's Role in Microsoft's Collaboration Strategy.