It's no surprise that Microsoft SharePoint is among the most widely deployed platforms for enterprise collaboration, with more than 125 million licenses sold to more than 65,000 enterprise customers. Right now, though, the mystery is all about what to expect from the next major release -- and that's rapidly starting to unravel. Microsoft recently released the first technology preview of the forthcoming upgrade, code-named "SharePoint 15," to selected testers, and the company is gunning for a general beta release this summer. And while Microsoft isn't saying, observers are betting on a commercial release by year's end or in early 2013.
The current product, SharePoint 2010, is now 2 years old. Microsoft says 65 million users, or more than half of the installed base, are on SharePoint 2010. It represents an improvement over the previous SharePoint 2007 product, yet the 2010 version is already showing its age. Among its shortcomings, critics complain that SharePoint 2010 has only rudimentary social-networking features, weak support for mobile clients such as smartphones and tablets, and requires substantial development for custom apps. Moreover, despite having significant advances in business intelligence (BI), SharePoint 2010 can still use improved integration with back-end systems.
Experts say Microsoft will address many of those concerns with SharePoint 15. Anything can change between the technology preview and the final release, but the planned improvements are already getting some air. SharePoint 15 is expected to be better suited for cloud environments, coinciding with a major upgrade to the SharePoint component of the cloud-based Microsoft Office 365. Microsoft is said to be planning a new SharePoint app marketplace and spruced-up interfaces suited for social networking. Improved mobile support and simplified development and integration reportedly are part of the planning process. Microsoft released the technology preview in late January, with the select evaluators bound by nondisclosure agreements. Still, some details are starting to emerge.
Redmond talked to various SharePoint experts who described what they're expecting to see in SharePoint 15, as well as what they'd like to see based on the current product.
Surrounding the technology preview, Microsoft released two key documents: the SharePoint 2013 Technical Preview Software Development Kit (SDK) and the Office 15 Technical Preview Open Specification Update. Both provide rich technical documentation on what's new in SharePoint 15, notes Bjørn Furuknap, a senior SharePoint solutions architect, founder of training organization USPJ Academy and author of a series of ongoing detailed technical reports on the new SharePoint release.
Among some findings Furuknap has recently revealed, the next SharePoint will:
Include an overhauled Client Object Model (COM), "making it easier for UI designers and front-end developers to build compelling visual interfaces."
Support a new app marketplace that will create an ecosystem for multitenant apps.
Feature a version for education and training called SharePoint Education.
Enable workflow looping in SharePoint Designer, eliminating the need for the Visual Studio development environment for that function.
Provide authentication via OAuth 2.0, an open standard that provides cross-platform authentication.
Offer added information rights management in SharePoint Foundation.
One thing Microsoft is officially saying: SharePoint 15 will tie closely with the release of the next version of Office, code-named "Office 15," and with a planned upgrade to Office 365. The cloud-based Microsoft Office 365 service offers online versions of SharePoint, Exchange and Lync, but the Office Professional Plus option is strictly installed on-premises at this time.
Microsoft appears to have larger plans in mind, though.
Making SharePoint More Social
Microsoft introduced social networking to SharePoint in the 2010 release, with a new homepage in the My Site portal that lets users discover information from others with matching interests and projects in play. Users can bookmark, tag and rate content, making it accessible to those on a team. Activity feeds allow consolidated views of what a user is tracking as well as content published. Wikis also made their debut in SharePoint 2010.
Nevertheless, those wanting to use advanced social-networking features typically turn to the likes of NewsGator Technologies Inc., Jive Software Inc. and Yammer, to name a few. Even rival platforms such as Chatter from Salesforce.com Inc. and Connections from IBM Corp. are said to offer richer enterprise social networking than the base social-networking features in SharePoint 2010. "Some of these things were haphazardly implemented [in SharePoint 2010], like the status updates," says Richard Harbridge, an analyst at Allin Consulting, a Pittsburgh-based SharePoint advisory firm.
"SharePoint has some social capabilities with the My Sites and Team Sites, but there's no true social-networking platform where it's close to being a Facebook for the enterprise," says Eric Winton, a managing director and technology consultant at Slalom Consulting. "We're hearing a lot of companies asking for that; they want that social experience inside the four walls of their companies. When new employees walk into a company they expect to be able to have that. They need to be able to come in and do true social networking and microblogging. A lot of it is the way they communicate."
By Jeffrey Schwartz
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