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Is there an open source alternative to SharePoint?
I'd like something that gives the same hierarchical structure and portlet-based design of SharePoint, but is open in source. Web based administration and customization is also a plus.
[Disclaimer - I work for Alfresco Open Source Enterprise CMS]
A few days after the original post (on Oct 31st), Alfresco released Alfresco Share, which is an application focused on collaboration. It has a new UI tailored for Collaboration (built on top of YUI), ability to customize it, and also support for SharePoint Protocol, which means you can connect to it from MS Office (Word, PowerPoint) and use Alfresco as it if were SharePoint - check-in / check-out, versioning, etc.
It's built on the Alfresco ECM Core, which has been around for four years.
I depends on what you need.
Is it used as content managment system ? There is plenty open source CMS, as stated before.
Is it used as collaboration tool ?
Then one of the follwing things may do the trick:
eGroupWare: Already available on many hosters, project manager, Infolog for Notes, Tasks, ToDos, and more tools.
Collanos Workspace: Java on Mac, Win or Linux, chats, discussions incorporated
OpenGoo: PHP, tasks, calendar, contacts, weblinks, internal messages, with editor for text-documents and presentations (!)
eyeOS pushes it one level further. It's like a desktop in your browser, including internal drag and drop etc. It incorporates beforementioned OpenGoo, can be enhanced by a multitude of "programs" to be downloaded separately. Sole problem: eyeOS needs full read/write permission on the files, which is often a problem with hosters.
edit: I just found something else and thought it would be worth adding here: O3Spaces (see german article) sees itself as alternative to Sharepoint and has just been released in a new version.
You might have a look at DotNetNuke, it is often compared as being similar to Sharepoint.
Liferay is about to release a preconfigured instance of their generic portal server (named Social Office) that is said to be compatible with the sharepoint protocols .
The demo I've seen is impressive. It's available as OpenSource (AGPL) or with commercial support. The underlying portal is MIT-licensed, but it's quite some work to configure it to be that slick.
Sorry to sound like a marketing guy - I'm not. I've seen it demoed on their symposium and just use their portal server.
Update: The Beta has been released. As announced earlier, it's AGPL (or, once final, AGPL and commercial)
I don't know if it would totally fit the bill, but I happen to like Plone on this front.
If you want a non-.NET method, Joomla might fit the bill.
The Java world has a specification for Portals and Portlets (JSR-168 and JSR-286). Liferay is an open source portlet container.
Opengoo is amazing. It is better than sharpoint because it integrates email calendar documents and projects.
Managing projects with Opengoo is much efficient than using MS Project as well.
Is it a CMS you want, or something just to collaborate. You may want to look at some sort of wiki solution.
Alfresco is an opensource alternative that supports:
Document management
CMS
Collaboration
http://www.alfresco.com/
At http://groups.diigo.com/search?group_name=collaboration&what=t%3ASharePoint 'Expand All' will show some highlights and annotations on the SharePoint subject.
I'm a Plone fan.
Management is not 100% through the web but it's heading that way, and with grace. The management that's not TTW is exceptionally well supported. Documentation is currently undergoing a major review. Community is great.
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I would like to learn SharePoint. Are there any jobs for SharePoint professionals in this recession time? I have .NET knowledge.
To say there is a demand for SharePoint would be an understatement. Because prior to 2007 SP developers were very few and far between, there are precious few people out there that as of now have enough SP experience to work on the really complex projects.
However, SharePoint is not going away, and will be growing even further with the release of MSSPS 2010 next year. If you're a good ASP.Net developer looking to find a niche, then SharePoint would be a good way to go.
My #1 tip for new SharePoint developers: Download the WSPBuilder Visual Studio add-on, and install it before you start any custom SharePoint work. By seeing how the add-on structures your projects and adds SharePoint capital-F Features to SP Solution Packages, it will make it a LOT easier for those concepts to click in your head.
My #2 tip: Inside Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 - the best book, hands down, to really explain how SharePoint works, top to bottom. Read this cover to cover, and you'll know more than at least 30% of the SharePoint people out there.
I'd say two sites are worth checking:
MS SharePoint Developer: http://mssharepointdeveloper.com
My RampUp: http://myrampup.com/
These sites contain a lot of information on SharePoint development including the labs and a Virtual PC with SharePoint and Visual Studio.
SharePoint is Microsoft's fastest growing product. It's complex to administer and develop for, and SharePoint expertise gets a pretty nice premium (at least, in the three markets I'm familiar with: Dallas, Seattle, and central Midwest). I get a few calls a week from recruiters who want my SharePoint knowledge.
If you want to be a SharePoint developer, you will need to be familiar with .NET and either C# or VB.NET, so it looks like you're covered there.
The first thing you should do is spend some quality time reading the SharePoint questions here to see what kinds of issues SharePoint developers face. There are some excellent SharePoint folks on SO.
There is still plenty of SharePoint work around. However, most companies hiring SharePoint developers are looking for someone who is already an expert and will be able to help the existing .NET team learn SharePoint.
There is enough demand that you don't need a huge amount of experience to be considered an expert. However, you'll need at least some time on a real SharePoint project before you can get a job as a specialist. Your best option is probably to be working as a .NET developer for a company starting to use SharePoint or a consultancy that has both .NET and SharePoint projects.
You can go to job sites such as http://www.indeed.com/ to gauge the demand for different products/technologies in your area.
A few places I have worked customized SharePoint pretty extensively.
Personally I see quite a bit of SharePoint use locally. I have gotten a few head hunting calls about SharePoint jobs recently, so there does seem to be demand here.
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I'm starting a new job involving Sharepoint design/development. While the job will involve training courses on Sharepoint and other technologies I haven't used, I am interested to get a headstart and learn a little more about Sharepoint.
Are there any good articles explaining Sharepoint development and what I need to know (being a beginner in the technology)? I am strong with C# and ASP.NET as I use it everyday (job or no job), it's just the Sharepoint specific stuff I wonder. I am checking out MSDN. I did check out some other threads on this, but I am not really looking for a book.
A better question would be what blogs are there which focus on code snippets and best practises?
Thanks
There are lots of SharePoint virtual labs. They are good b/c they let you get your hands on the technology without too much of the setup hassle. :)
http://www.microsoft.com/click/SharePointDeveloper/html/Default.html
This site has the information I started with when learning SharePoint: webcasts from TechEd by Andrew Connell and Rob Bogue and the hands-on-labs that go along with them.
There are very many SharePoint MVPs that have blogs that are easy to find and many of them hang around on twitter so it's easy to get help.
http://andrewconnell.com/blog/archive/2008/11/25/Free-MSDN-Webcasts-amp-HOLs-for-MOSS-2007-WCM-Development.aspx has info on some newer webcasts
http://www.sharepointpodshow.com/ and http://www.methings.com/podcast/70342/MOSS-Gone-Wild.php
are 2 excellent SharePoint Podcasts.
A few months ago I was looking for decent SharePoint articles just to get an introduction to the technology. I found an entire section on CodeProject dedicated to it. Check it out if you haven't already, I found a number of good articles there.
Also, check out the SharePoint dev wiki
In addition to all the links provided by others:
Microsoft has a Best Practices Resource Center for SharePoint Server 2007 on Technet
The official SharePoint Team Blog has some good info.
Sharepoint Joel has a list of Top 100 SharePoint blogs, though a year old provides a good starting point of blogs to look at.
Several MSDN articles such as:
Disposal Best Practices
Common Coding Issues using the SharePoint Object Model
Edit: Also just noticed that the Patterns & Practices team has a SharePoint Guidance project on codeplex.
Sharepoint was a disaster for me (as I've said before), but I'd be willing to give it another try once .Net 4.0 and VS 2010 are released.
I would definitely download the VS 2010 beta and give the new Sharepoint integration a spin. I hear that it is a big improvement over what we have now.
As for documentation, msdn was the best learning resource I could find. It was more concise than what you will get with most books, although books usually provide a storyline and cohesive progression of learning.
Hope that helps, Good luck.
Codeplex is good for examples of developement. Given the rate of change with "best practices" I have seen some books that have become out of date quite rapidly.
I personally have gained a lot of valuable knowledge from looking at questions on forums like this one, trying to replicate the issue on a developement VM. I would recommend having a VM for "play" as hands on will run you up against many of the strengths and weaknesses with different approaches.
If you can get a backup of an existing content database you are using, having lots of documents and document libraries is good for hitting real data and trying out different search configurations etc.
One additional site you shouldn't forget is myrampup.com. It's a community-based training site which will help you get the knowledge you need to develop solutions on the SharePoint platform.
Before learning SharePoint development, learn what SharePoint can do. Use it and become familiar with its features. Many people's first thought is to develop new features when much of what they want to do can be done with existing SharePoint features. It's a huge, complex product.
I've found some very good videos for learning Sharepoint at Point8020
Very good reference for SharePoint Object Model:
http://www.etechplanet.com/post/2009/08/28/Overview-of-SharePoint-Object-Model.aspx
A good starting resource is the Microsoft RampUp Site it's a free resource that has 2 tracks for SharePoint for developers. Each track consists of articles, slide casts and virtual labs to help you gain an understanding of what goes into developing for SharePoint. They are not all inclusive but it should give you a good starting point.
There is also a user centric overview on the Microsoft Office Site for SharePoint 2007 that can help get you an understanding of some of the features in SharePoint.
I don't know if any of the resources have been update yet for SharePoint 2010, but hopefully those will follow soon.
Also check Microsoft Learning with SharePoint 2010 around the corner you might find free courses. Microsoft usually releases free online courseware for new products around the time of release.
For uo to date announcements check out the SharePoint Team blog, usually there's lots of good information around there.
Good Luck.
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What's the best Sharepoint 2007 book for developers in C#?
thanks!
Inside Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Server 2007
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/books/10472.aspx
Inside the Index and Search Engines: Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Server 2007
http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/books/12195.aspx
Pro SharePoint Solution Development: Combining .NET, SharePoint and Office 2007 (Expert's Voice in Sharepoint)
by: Susie Adams, Ed Hild - ISBN: 1590598083, 9781590598085
Pro SharePoint Solution Development: Combining .NET, SharePoint, and Office 2007 takes a practical problem/solution approach to common business challenges. Youll not only encounter interesting code samples, but also see how to combine these examples with the Microsoft collaboration platforms services. The books solutions focus on using Visual Studio Tools for Office to build the user interface layer. And solutions can interact with SharePoint as a service provider, taking advantage of SharePoints many collaboration features like document repositories, collaboration sites, and search functions.
This book is unique because it starts with challenges that end users deal with every day when using the Microsoft collaboration platform to support business processes. The solutions are presented as the hypothetical business challenges of a fictional company. By presenting the examples in this context, authors Ed Hild and Susie Adams make it easier to relate to the challenges and solution value. And the goal of these examples is to build applications that apply the benefits of the Office desktop interface with the richness of SharePoints collaboration features.
Professional SharePoint 2007 Web Content Management Development: Building Publishing Sites with Office SharePoint Server 2007 (Wrox Programmer to Programmer)
by: Andrew Connell - ISBN: 0470224754, 9780470224755, 9780470396315
This book is for SharePoint developers working with Publishing sites—sites that leverage MOSS 2007 WCM capabilities. It does not cover administrative topics in any great detail, only where absolutely necessary. For the most part, no two chapters are dependent upon each other, so each chapter can be used as a reference independently of the others. Readers need not have any development experience with SharePoint, but they should have some experience with and a working knowledge of ASP.NET 2.0 development practices and topics. Of course, it is beneficial if the reader does have at least a working knowledge of what SharePoint is all about.
This book covers MOSS 2007 WCM Publishing sites. You will find some chapters that seem to cover general WSS 3.0 topics, but everything is treated in the context of a Publishing site. While the chapters are arranged in a logical order, it is not necessary to read the book from cover to cover in a linear fashion.
Advanced SharePoint Services Solutions (Books for Professionals by Professionals)
by: Scot P. Hillier - ISBN: 1590594568, 9781590594568, 9781430200024
Whether or not youve already benefited from Scot P. Hilliers first renowned Apress book, Microsoft SharePoint: Building Office 2003 Solutions, this fantastic follow-up is sure to please! This book will cover advanced techniques for programming web parts and SharePoint Services.
Hillier also covers advanced integration techniques with related products like BizTalk Server 2004 and Content Server. Intended for you advanced developers who already know all of the basic SharePoint Services, this book will steer you to solve ultra-specific, advanced problems.
Here's three I've purchased and found to be very good:
Real World SharePoint 2007: Indispensable Experiences From 16 MOSS and WSS MVPs
Inside Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0
SharePoint 2007 User's Guide: Learning Microsoft's Collaboration and Productivity Platform
The Connel and Pattison books listed above are both great, must-read books for SharePoint.
I'd start with the Pattison book as mentioned above. This gives you a great starting point.
Inside Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0
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Developer Documentation: Sharepoint Document Management vs. ScrewTurn Wiki [closed]
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Developer Documentation: Sharepoint Document Management vs. ScrewTurn Wiki
I have been tasked with picking a wiki tool for a development organization, comprised of several different development teams. Sharepoint is installed and upper management would prefer this to be used, but in the past it has only used when PMs are forced to use it. None of the developers will update it with content that needs to be shared. I developed in Sharepoint and I liked it, so I have nothing against it. But for this to work I need something I can get everyone using, so Sharepoint will not work.
Step one is to convince management why Sharepoint will not work. We need the typical wiki features:
WYSIWYG, Clean interface, Easy to use, Attach Files to pages, Support for groups of users, Open source, Hosted Locally. (Maybe others I am not considering now?)
Can anyone provide a list of objective reasons why Sharepoint is not the solution we can use to take our first step?
There are many such products out there so step 2 should be easier.
SharePoint is the exact opposite of a wiki: A wiki is lightweight, easy to use, obvious, quick, doesn't get in the way.
To elaborate: A wiki allows your to jot down an idea quickly and moving details to the next page. In SP, people start to create processes, editing rights, workflows.
Wikis are designed to not get in the way. SP is designed to prevent you from doing "something bad"; whatever that might be. Wikis are driven by the idea that brainstorming works in open space while SP is driven by FUD: Who can see this information? Can it be used against me? How can I prevent someone to see/edit something?
Note: This is not a critique of SP per se; it's just how it used in most organizations. If you look at the security settings and edit rights, you sometimes feel like the workers of the company must all have been inmates in some high-profile prison (or should be).
I have absolutely no sharepoint-foo at all, but the sharepoint setup by IT at my employer has a wiki that we can use for documentation. Wouldn't that be good enough? Works ok-ish in firefox on mac, so I'm a happy camper.
SharePoint is best when using many of it's features (eg DM, WCM, workflow, collaberation etc) - you get a lot of it's benefits from the synergy of using all these things together with a common interface.
In any one area though, it's far from the 'best of breed' application - so, if you want a product for a specific job (eg a wiki), SharePoint isn't the most fully-featured/easy-to-use/delete-as-applicable product to be using - there will be products that do that (single) job far better.
You could also try looking at this question to see others experiences with SharePoint wiki's
I have used MediaWiki, Instiki and Sharepoint. Sharepoint does not work correctly with firefox on purpose. Its wiki functionality is an after thought. All kinds of additional features nobody use. But it does appeal to managers.
Instiki can be up and running in less than a minute and MediaWiki has everything you could need. Sharepoint annoyed most people on our team so nobody wanted to use it which meant a lot of knowledge was lost.
Which version of SharePoint are you using WSS 3.0/MOSS 2007 includes both wiki and blog functionality.
Although the SharePoint wiki isn't as feature-rich as most, the fact is that if your developers would not update a SharePoint wiki, chances are that they would not update any other kind, either.
I recommend creating a SharePoint wiki, and then actually reading the starting page, where it gives the definition of wikiwiki. I recommend only using a wiki (of any kind) for documents that can be written quickly, so that developers can get back to developing as soon as possible. Let the structure and accuracy grow over time. Just get the facts into the wiki quickly.
Wikis offer workflows, Document management and more too. I would disagree with those who say you can't do this in a wiki. Check out Confluence by Atlassian
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I'm trying to wrap my head around SharePoint. Why is it good? Why is it bad?
At a glance it appears to offer some incredible collaboration tools. However, the cost looks astronomical and it seems to be rigid & difficult to customize.
To those who've worked with SharePoint; please describe something good and something bad about it.
Pros:
Document management is its most well-known
function and integrates extremely
well with Office 2007.
Create group calendars that can be
overlayed onto your personal Outlook
and managed on the web.
Notifications in response to certain
actions on the group website
Wiki-type functionality with full
integration into the Office stack.
Full database backend which gives
you the reliability and safety of a
true RDBMS.
Extremely customizable if you choose
to develop custom websites using
ASP.NET (not the built-in wizard/gui
editor).
Form-data collection
Cons:
Freebie version is somewhat limited
on customization.
How to handle multiple editors to a
single file is not obvious.
Workflow for offline editing of
documents is non-obvious.
Very steep learning curve to use it
the right way.
Getting people to use it is like
getting people to go to the dentist.
Out-of-the-box templates don't do a
lot.
Customizing without writing code
really limits your options.
Integration with older versions of
office is ugly
Mac integration is non-existant (has
this changed recently?)
It has pretty good Office 2007 integration. As an example, Excel understands when you have a file checked out and will let you check it in (with comments) when you close it. The document management features simplistic version control (although it's not required; you can go with a single version for each file).
In SharePoint, everything is essentially a list internally and it's very easy to create a custom one. On a related note, I haven't used either yet, but it supposedly works well with workflows and InfoPath.
On the downside, it's pretty much a resource beast. It requires multiple machines with powerful specs, particularly if you want to "really" use it for document management and to be the backbone of your intranet/internet site. It scales to an extent, but it's not pretty from my vantage point.
Customizing it presents it's own challenges. You really need people focused on it full time, as both administration and customization require their own impressive learning curves.
Lastly, some of the out of the box parts are poorly implemented. The wiki is a prime example; it's basically useless in my opinion. So one thing to keep in mind is that some may consider SharePoint as a whole package as "best in class" (not saying I do!), its individual features often are not.
Good
Out of the box, it offers a ton of functionality and power, even for the stock web parts. Just creating a library of documents that anyone can open/edit/upload to is simple...even for those non-web-savvy amongst us.
Bad
Pretty much everything else.
The "Discussion Board" is a glorified Outlook email chain.
The disconnect between achieving similar results in SharePoint Designer 2007 and using the web interface are jarring and annoying
Attempting to customize the look and feel of a SharePoint site usually ends in complete disaster. Especially with WSS 3.0.
The nickel & diming scheme between the WSS 3.0 and MOSS 2007 tiers is absolutely painful; WSS 3.0 is just barely functional enough to be extremely frustrating to use
Changing MS styles is almost impossible due to their horribly-laid-out and obnoxiously large CSS file.
IT IS 2009...GET RID OF THE TABLES FOR NON-TABULAR DATA ALREADY!
It's a beast to use. And handing two complete rebranding projects for two totally different areas of the company is driving me to the point of a nervous breakdown. Especially when opening the core.css file occasionally results in all the styles I've redefined getting reset to the defaults. Without anything done by me other than just OPENING the file. And there is no ability to undo these changes.
Good thing: Great communication tool. Instead of sending out a company wide email you can post an announcement to your SharePoint site. Users can subscribe to an RSS feed of the announcements or have a email alert sent to them when the list is updated.
Bad thing: Error messages displayed on a SharePoint site are generic and the link to help resolve the issue rarely is of any help.
Good:
It can be a great collaboration tool. Beginning developing for sharepoint is simple, assuming you are familar with ASP.NET webparts.
Bad:
The development lifecycle isn't fully implemented. There are no built-in facilities for testing, among other things.
SharePoint is evolving and becoming a better collaboration tool for Microsoft Office environments. It plays well in a small to medium sized business setting. It is critical to implement “best practices” on setup; otherwise it will quickly become a nightmare to maintain and to use.
For “best practices” here are two books that I recommend for SharePoint 2007:
Essential SharePoint 2007
Sharepoint 2007
A lot of the cool things in Sharepoint are avaialable in Windows Sharepoint Services 3.0, which is free with windows server 2003/2008. All you need extra is a license for SQL Server 2000 and later, which most mirosoft shops have. In WSS you can do document management, workflows, custom sites, blogs, wiki's, etc.
If you need Excel Services, Forms Server, CMS, or some of the other MOSS features, then that's another thing. And yes, it does cost a lot of money, but it' cheaper than doing it from scratch in most cases.
Pluses:
- Great object model.
- A lot of good features just come out of the box.
Minuses:
- Steap learning curve to do things the right way.
- It's very easy to hang yourself by doing things the wrong way.
- Debugging and deployment is about as pleasurable as root canal.
good :
A lot of things can be done. Wokflowks, InfoPath forms, Excel Services, Business Data Catalogs and etc.
Bad :
You won't be able to do these described easily. Must have sharepoint administrative and development skills for good solutions that don't improve quickly.
If you have a license for Microsoft Server 2003 then you can install the standalone version of Sharepoint for FREE!
Download Sharepoint
The install is very simple when using the internal database.
Microsoft Office Sharepoint Designer 2007 is a must have for any customization.
I have created a couple Company Intranets using Sharepoint and have been very pleased with its features.
Microsoft Office 2007 interfaces nicely with sharepoint.
I have found Sharepoint to be very powerful and easy to learn. There are lots of people developing sites using sharepoint. The level of customization is awesome. The simplest customization is done in your browser, the next level is using Microsoft Sharepoint Designer 2007, and finally using Visual Studio to create new apps(webparts).