Microsoft has recently published a TechNet article containing an Overview for SharePoint Workspace 2010. SharePoint Workspace is the new name for Groove, which provides offline collaborative functionality for SharePoint with better synchronisation than is available within Outlook 2010.

Personally, I have been reluctant to encourage the use of Groove/Workspace within organisations unless they have very specific needs. It adds another layer of complexity to managing a SharePoint deployment and is another user interface for people to learn. A classic target scenario for using Groove is one where organisations need to co-create and collaborate on documents with a distributed workforce who aren’t always well-connected to the Internet (people can author offline and Groove synchronises with SharePoint in the background). Or for working beyond an organisation’s boundaries – Groove crosses firewalls better than SharePoint if you don’t have an extranet, although there are less complicated alternatives…

Whilst talking about new names, Windows SharePoint Services is also being rebranded SharePoint Foundation Service. So to give a summary of what goes with what SharePoint name:

I’ve had one client come away from a Microsoft event confused by hearing about over 8 different versions of SharePoint. Microsoft’s acquisition of FAST for more advanced enterprise search capabilities is being listed as part of the SharePoint range. And then there are products such as SharePoint Designer. Further adding to the confusion, there are two different types of licence available for each edition of SharePoint Server.

To keep it simple, think of SharePoint as serving three core scenarios:

1. Storing content and basic collaborative work: Use SharePoint Foundation Services
2. Finding and managing unstructured information (documents and web content), building social networks (personalisation and knowledge sharing): Use SharePoint Server Standard Edition
3. Integrating structured information (applications, data analysis, identity management/single sign-on): Use SharePoint Server Enterprise Edition

If you want advanced search capabilities, add FAST to any one of those three scenarios. If you want offline collaborative working, add SharePoint Workspace or Outlook (2007/2010). If you want to customise how SharePoint works, you’ll be using SharePoint Designer.

From a licensing perspective, SharePoint Foundation Service is included with Windows Server 2008. For SharePoint Server, both Standard and Enterprise, there is a choice between Intranet licensing (for internal use only) and Internet/Extranet licensing (for external use/public web sites). All the extras (FAST, Office etc.) have their own separate licenses.

Here’s a rough matrix to help get a feel for what you get with each SharePoint product:

Click on image to view larger version

Hope that helps a little. Think it’s time to update the old SharePoint History timeline…

[Update: 20th Oct 09] Additions to the line-up – Search Server Express is here to stays

This is the first in a series of sound bites I’ll be publishing (wi-fi permitting) during the SharePoint 2009 Conference (SPC09) here in Las Vegas. More details will follow after the event.

The SharePoint 2010 product line-up was announced during Steve Ballmer’s keynote on Monday 19th October 2009. And it’s a lot longer list than the current 2007 product range:

As my photography was far from perfect, here’s what’s on that screenshot

On Premise (products you can install)

• SharePoint Foundation 2010 (new name for Windows SharePoint Services)
• SharePoint Server 2010
• FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint
• FAST Search Server 2010 for Internet Business
• SharePoint Server 2010 for Internet, Standard edition
• SharePoint Server 2010 for Internet, Enterprise edition

Cloud (online services you access over the Internet)

• SharePoint Online
• SharePoint Online for Internet Sites

Client Access Licenses (CALs)

• Standard (Core)
• Enterprise

Lots of emphasis on SharePoint having 2 paths – on premise (installing servers onsite) and in the cloud (subscribing to online services, with the servers managed in a Microsoft data center)

Not listed on the slide – SharePoint Workspace 2010 (new name for Groove) and a new and much improved SharePoint Designer 2010 (and it will remain free in the next version)

[Update] At a later session, the search line-up was expanded to include Search Server 2010 Express. Yey! Here’s the slide with a summary of the differences between Search Server Express, SharePoint Server and FAST Search Server for SharePoint in the 2010 product range:

Side note: Wandered outside during the break after the keynote and look what I found parked right outside the conference:

Do you think a certain rival is having a bit of fun?

I’m using the following table in the Enterprise Search workshops I am currently delivering on behalf of Microsoft. People seem to be finding it useful so I thought I’d post it here. It is an expanded version of the table you can find on Microsoft’s web site (see end of post for link). The table is not a comprehensive list of all features and aims to highlight the differences between each product from a search perspective. (SharePoint Server 2007 has additional features not listed here.)

(Click to view)

Windows SharePoint Services and Search Server 2008 Express have identical licensing requirements. They can only be installed on Windows Server 2003 SP1+ or later. That means you will need a Windows Server license but nothing more. If you perform a basic installation of either, you get the database included with the Windows license – MSDE for Windows SharePoint Services, SQL Server 2005 Express Edition for Search Server 2008 Express. If you perform an advanced installation of either, you can opt to use the full SQL Server product instead.

(Tip: You can also use SQL Server 2005 Express Edition with Windows SharePoint Services, but you have to download and install it first, and then use the Advanced Installation to tell Windows SharePoint Services to use it – SQL Server 2005 Express Edition was released after Windows SharePoint Services and has replaced MSDE.)

Search Server 2008 licensing has not yet been announced by Microsoft. Given it is effectively a subset of SharePoint Server 2007, I’d guess it will be a per-server license but we’ll have to wait and see.

SharePoint Server 2007 requires a per-server license and per-client access licences (CALs) for internal use. There are two versions – Standard Edition and Enterprise Edition.

Search Server 2008 is due to be released during the first half of 2008. The new features being introduced (you can download the release candidate if you want to play with them) will also be made available to both editions of SharePoint Server 2007.

If the FAST acquisition does go ahead, expect to see Microsoft’s search strategy expand deeper into enterprise information assets.

Related blog posts:

• Microsoft Enterprise Search Announcements
• Microsoft acquiring FAST?

References:

• Microsoft Enterprise Search web site