Another Band-aid for SharePoint?
November 26, 2010
PR-inside.com has published an announcement of Metalogix and Microsoft’s team effort in the production and release of a free migration accelerating tool dubbed “Search First”. This application will aid organizations in unlocking some new SharePoint 2010 tricks within their existing SharePoint 2007 systems including more accurate and relevant search results, improved performance and increased customization.
Per the referenced post, says Metalogix CTO Julien Sellgren:
Metalogix prides itself on providing easy to use tools and solutions for customers to leverage the robust features SharePoint has to offer. We were thrilled at the opportunity to work with Microsoft and help existing SharePoint 2007 customers to leverage new SharePoint 2010 search capabilities. This will help them better manage their SharePoint data and prepare for a move to SharePoint 2010 in the future.
Sounds good, right? Perhaps, but several things strike me about this passage. Forgive me, but I’m all questions. Isn’t it troubling that one cannot leverage SharePoint’s robust features with SharePoint alone? No offense to Metalogix, but rather than ensure SharePoint is itself fully functional, Microsoft instead endorses a third party to do the job for them? And, Microsoft can’t help users with the transition from the 2007 to the 2010 versions of its own product within its own product?
Most responsible consumers learn early on that free products are generally too good to be true. Based on the v2010 features that are being extended to v2007, is there an ulterior motive to this complimentary offering? It sounds as though the real function of Search First is to patch the sub-par features of SharePoint 2007 without divulging to existing users that Microsoft’s software had some issues.
Sarah Rogers, November 26, 2010
Freebie
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3 Responses to “Another Band-aid for SharePoint?”
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Hi Sarah, I work for Metalogix and I don’t follow your argument here. The Metalogix Search First add-on for MOSS allows SharePoint 2007 customers to upgrade to SharePoint 2010 search.
Why is it a surprise that the new version is better? Surely, you’re not suggesting that software should never be upgraded.
Hi Stephen, thanks for the comment. I did not mean to imply that any piece of software should pass the test of time untouched. And, I am sure that Search First is going to be very helpful for SharePoint v2007 users. I was merely pointing to the fact that Microsoft had invested time and money into the creation of this add-on only to watch it be offered for free. This seems like a rare event to me and it leads me to question the robustness of v2007 from the get go if even Microsoft feels it warrants some free upgrades.
Stephen E. Arnold wrote:
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“Most responsible consumers learn early on that free products are generally too good to be true.”
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Yeah, this is true of software, too. Heck, everyone knows that software is worth only as much as you pay for it. And that is why all open source software (OSS) is basically worthless. Yeah, I stay away from that OSS crap. It is worthless. Apache, Tomcat, MySQL, Python, PHP, Perl, Linux, The SleuthKit, PyFlag, and Volatility are all worthless. Would not touch them with a ten foot pole.
— Paul D. Bain, Esq.
paulbain@pobox.com