Microsoft Re-Christens SharePoint

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With Microsoft planning two major releases this year —
Windows Server 2003 on April 24th and Office 11 in late summer — the
software giant Monday moved to rebrand team collaboration technology, which
it considers a key component of both offerings.

Microsoft said Monday that its SharePoint Team Services will now be dubbed
Windows SharePoint Services, adding that the collaboration platform will be
available to Windows Server 2003 customers in mid-2003.

“In today’s world, basic file sharing isn’t enough,” said Bill Veghte,
corporate vice president of the Windows Server Group at Microsoft. “Windows
SharePoint Services is the next-generation platform for file sharing and
team collaboration. It redefines the way teams work together and share
information, increasing the productivity of your entire company.”

Built on the .NET Framework, the Web-based environment enables the use of
Web services to allow Windows SharePoint Services sites to connect directly
with end-user productivity tools like Microsoft’s Office suite.

“In the upcoming release of Office, we’ve made a commitment to integrating
platform technologies like Windows SharePoint Services to take the power of
collaboration and deliver it into the tools that information workers use
most,” said Joe Eschback, corporate vice president of the Information
Worker Product Management Group at Microsoft. “Together, Windows SharePoint
Services and Office will deliver revolutionary team capabilities that will
streamline ad-hoc collaboration, making it easy for information workers to
take advantage of the power of team collaboration every day.”

As an example, Microsoft said SharePoint’s integration with Office 11 will
allow multiple information workers to use the check-in/check-out feature of
the new Document Workspace to work on the same document without overwriting
each other’s changes. It will also give them the ability to receive
real-time notices of changes and to connect directly with other editors via
Windows Messenger. The Document Workspace connects to a Windows SharePoint
Services Web site, where teams have access to shared task lists, calendars,
discussion strings and Meeting Workspaces.

Additionally, Microsoft said SharePoint Portal Server will tap the
SharePoint Services platform to deliver cross-site search capability and
line-of-business application integration. It will also allow Portal Server
to create portal pages for people, information and organizations.

Also, Microsoft said corporate developers and ISVs will be able to build on
the new capabilities to deliver new productivity features.