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Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003, $3,999; client-access license, $71. Microsoft Corp., (425) 882-8080. www.microsoft.com |
There is also a problem with files for which the MIME type is not correctly configured. When I tried to open a Word document on a machine with only WordPad installed, I received an error message that SharePoint required a SharePoint-compatible program. Why not take me to a download dialog? And why call it a SharePoint compatibility problem when the real problem is MIME type configuration? It was no biggie to work around--I simply right-clicked and downloaded the document, then opened it with the application of my choice--but this glitch needs attention.
My primary concern with SharePoint 2003, however, regards document management. The ability to check in a document in many different places severely limits the usefulness of document management, because edits to the doc in one location are not carried over to the doc in other locations. Therefore, if you choose SharePoint for document management, be prepared to write standards for how and where documents are published and edited, and to develop tools to validate that there is only one copy of a document in the repository. It's also disconcerting that there are no options to "show me all subareas
in the system" or "browse documents." Both of these items are essential tools for keeping control in your corporate portal/intranet.
If you are a Microsoft shop looking for a portal and you can live with the severely limited document management, SharePoint might be the solution you've been looking for--the portal can really make life easier. I would not recommend moving to SharePoint without checking out the competition, though, as this is a tight market with excellent competition.
Don MacVittie is an application engineer at WPS Resources. Write to him at [email protected].
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