SharePoint 2010 - What is different?

My last post was about Microsoft SharePoint. Today, I am going to talk about the differences in SharePoint 2010.

SharePoint Editions

Microsoft SharePoint 2010 comes in three different editions: SharePoint Foundation, SharePoint Standard, and SharePoint Enterprise.

Microsoft SharePoint Foundation

Microsoft SharePoint Foundation is the platform for all products in the SharePoint family. It contains all of the core functionality and architecture drawn on by the commercial versions of the package. SharePoint Foundation is available for download at no cost. Downloading SharePoint Foundation however, requires a mandatory registration.

Microsoft SharePoint Standard

Microsoft SharePoint Standard builds on the Microsoft SharePoint Foundation in a few key product areas:

Sites: audience targeting, governance tools, secure store service, web analytics functionality.

Communities: "MySites" (personal profiles including skills management and search tools), enterprise wikis, organization hierarchy browser, tags, and notes.

Content: improved tooling and compliance for document and record management, managed metadata, word automation services, content type management.

Search: better search results, search customization abilities, mobile search, "Did you mean?", OS search integration, faceted search, and metadata/relevancy/date/location based refinement options.

Composites: pre-built workflow templates, BCS profile pages.

Note: some search features are available in Search Server Express - a no-cost add-in for Microsoft SharePoint Foundation. SharePoint Standard licensing includes a CAL (client access license) component and a server fee. SharePoint Standard may be also be licensed through a cloud model.

It is possible to upgrade a SharePoint farm from Foundation to Standard. The product is equivalent to Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007.

Microsoft SharePoint Enterprise

Built upon SharePoint Standard, Microsoft SharePoint Enterprise features can be unlocked simply by providing an additional licence key. The product is the equivalent to MOSS 2007 Enterprise.

Extra features in SharePoint Enterprise include:

• search thumbnails and previews, rich web indexing, better search results;
• business intelligence Integration, Dashboards, and Business Data surfacing;
• PowerPivot;
• PerformancePoint;
• Microsoft Office Access, Visio, Excel, and InfoPath Forms services;
• SharePoint Enterprise Search extensions.

SharePoint Enterprise licensing includes a CAL component and a server fee that must be purchased in addition to SharePoint Server licensing. SharePoint Enterprise may also be licensed through a cloud model.

Changes in end-user functionality added in the 2010 version of SharePoint include:

• user interface featuring Ribbon. The ribbon, part of the redesigned user interface, helps to get the work done faster by placing commands on task-based tabs that are easy to navigate;
• business connectivity services - providing interfaces for interacting with business data;
• new governance and workflow functionality;
• use of Wiki pages rather than Web part pages in default templates;
• social profiles and social networking features;
• support for SharePoint Workspaces 2010;
• a re-developed client editor (SharePoint Designer);
• multi-browser support: Internet Explorer 7, Mozilla Firefox 3.6, Chrome 12, Safari 4.04.

Major Server-side or Developer changes include:

• new central administration UI;
• replacement of "Shared Service Providers" with "Service Applications";
• jQuery & Silverlight Support, plus more theming flexibility;
• new client-side Object Model APIs for JavaScript, Silverlight, and .NET applications;
• claims-based authentication;
• support for Windows PowerShell;
• Sandboxed solutions.

Additional changes exist in paid/advanced versions of SharePoint 2010.

Evaluations of SharePoint by industry analysts have varied. In late 2008, the Gartner Group put SharePoint in the "leaders" quadrant in three of its Magic Quadrants (for search, portals, and enterprise content management). By a wide margin, SharePoint is the most popular high-level enterprise web application platform used today.

More details about SharePoint 2010 in my next post.