Looking Toward SharePoint 2013
January 23, 2012
In the constant conversation surrounding SharePoint, the next SharePoint release seems to always be on the horizon, ever present in the blogosphere. SharePoint 2010 is still relatively new, and yet some experts have already moved on to the yet unknown SharePoint 2013. Mike Walsh discusses this and more in his piece, “End of year look at SharePoint.”
Walsh offers:
SharePoint 2010 came out in May 2010 so we are now just over halfway through the usual three year cycle before the next version of the product . . . Also while clearly most of the developer team have been working on the new version since they virtually left the SP 2010 forums in summer 2010, people from the team such as Bill Baer seemed to have stopped writing anything on SP 2010 and there was even a Microsoft SP 2010 blogger who recently announced the end of his SP 2010 blog articles because he had moved to working with the next version of the product. Whether this means that they are already informing people . . . about what the next version will include is something that I don’t know . . . I do however suspect that if that stage hasn’t been reached yet it will be by maybe May 2012. That would be followed by the first private betas (end summer 2012?) and in time by the first public beta . . .My own guess is that we’ll be back to the October (2013) release date we had for the 2007 products.
It seems to me that Microsoft is stuck in an old-fashioned update routine. Instead of making updates, improvements, and patches a constant fluid process, SharePoint is confined to a rigid three-year release cycle. We wonder if users might be getting a bit tired of the three-year redesign schedule. It is a bit like a lame duck presidency – if something is on the way out then it gets no further attention. Everyone is looking forward to the next thing.
For this and other reasons, we like the flexibility and agility of third-party enterprise solutions. Fabasoft Mindbreeze, for example, releases updates quarterly for on-site installations and monthly for the cloud.
From their web site:
Continuous quality assurance and performance optimization ensure extremely short release cycles. We release a new Mindbreeze Cloud update every month.
If you are looking forward to a day when SharePoint is no longer hindered by the three-year cycle, consider a third-party solution like Fabasoft Mindbreeze, and enjoy the added agility that it brings to your organization’s enterprise needs.
Emily Rae Aldridge, January 23, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
SharePoint Training Now Focuses on 2013
January 22, 2014
Many companies make their success on the basis of SharePoint. Some may provide customization while others will offer training. Once such company is PremierPoint Solutions and they made the latest headlines on PRWeb in, “PremierPoint Solutions Reduces Training Prices, Unveils New ‘SharePoint 2013 Power User Fast Track’ Course.”
The article begins:
“PremierPoint Solutions has reduced the prices of its SharePoint training classes and unveiled a new three-day course called ‘SharePoint 2013 Power User Fast Track.’ ‘We are concentrating primarily on SharePoint 2013 training courses in the new year, as more and more organizations are deciding ‘out with the old; in with the new’ when it comes to SharePoint,’ said Randy Moody, sales and marketing representative for PremierPoint Solutions.”
The surge in SharePoint training and customization is proof that out-of-the-box, SharePoint alone is not enough. Stephen E. Arnold is a longtime leader in search and follows this trend on his Web service, ArnoldIT.com. Much of his coverage focuses on what companies are doing to make the most of SharePoint through customization, add-ons, and increased training.
Emily Rae Aldridge, January 22, 2014
SharePoint Trends of 2013
January 10, 2014
SharePoint had a big year in 2013 as users settled in to their SharePoint 2013 deployments. In addition, Microsoft made a few significant announcements relating to the software. CMSWire covers all of the biggest SharePoint news in their article, “A Look Back: Yammer, Office 365, Mobile Dominate SharePoint in 2013.”
The article begins:
“Everyone that has had anything to do with SharePoint over the year has his own SharePoint story. With such a vast platform used in so many ways, everyone has something he loves and something he hates. The only thing everyone agrees on is to disagree. For my money, SharePoint this year was characterized by SharePoint and Yammer, SharePoint and Office 365 and Mobile SharePoint.”
Stephen E. Arnold, a longtime leader in search, including enterprise, is a frequent contributor to the ongoing SharePoint discussion. His SharePoint coverage on ArnoldIT.com is also reflective of the trends mentioned above. Along with the points in which Arnold is in agreement with the CMSWire article, he has also found that 2013 was a year in which many large SharePoint deployments turned to add-ons and third-party solutions in order to make SharePoint infrastructure work.
Emily Rae Aldridge, January 10, 2014
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
SharePoints Top 20 Hits of 2013
January 9, 2014
Last year was a big year for SharePoint, coming off of the release of SharePoint 2013. CMSWire devoted a lot of virtual print space to SharePoint, and is now offering a year in review in their article, “CMSWire’s Top 20 Hits of 2013: SharePoint.”
The article begins:
“SharePoint was one of the topics that attracted a lot of interest in the past year — and just as much controversy. It seems everyone has a view on it and how it should be used. However, there were three big subjects that dominated, and make up the lion’s share of our Top 20 this year: 1) SharePoint Online 2) SharePoint and Yammer and 3) SharePoint in Office 365.”
Stephen E. Arnold is a longtime leader and expert in all things search, including enterprise. His information service, ArnoldIT.com, devotes a lot of attention to SharePoint. He has also found that users are interested in online deployments and social applications for SharePoint. The last year was a busy one for SharePoint, and it will be interesting to see where 2014 goes as the newness of SharePoint 2013 wears off.
Emily Rae Aldridge, January 9, 2014
Comperio 2013 SharePoint Seminar to Charge Extra for No Shows
April 17, 2013
Held in Oslo, Norway, this year’s Enterprise Social and Search with SharePoint seminar promises its usual diverse audience and tech-based discussions. It will take place on May 14, 2013 from 9:00-11:30. Although official events begin at 9:00, show up early for breakfast and networking at 8:30.
The seminar is free, unless, of course you do not show up without providing advanced notice.
According to the seminars registration page, the audience will include the following:
“CIOs, IT Directors, Collaboration Leads, SharePoint Leads, Social Networking Leads, Enterprise Search Leads, Big Data Leads, Business Intelligence Leads, Communication Directors, HR Directors.”
Technology discussed includes SharePoint 2010 and 2013, FAST Search for SharePoint, Comperio FRONT, Hadoop, HD Insight, and Yammer.
Not a bad line up for a free seminar in Oslo. However, those who register but do not attend (and do not provide notice) will be charged a fee of kr. 200, or about $30 US dollars. Considering the expenses Comperio will shell out for each attendee, this no-show charge is an interesting approach to guaranteeing attendance and accounting for wasted expenses.
Samantha Plappert, April 17, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Learning about SharePoint Search 2013
September 18, 2012
“Search Is Everywhere! What You Need to Know about Search in SharePoint 2013 Preview” provides a handy summary of new features and major changes in Microsoft enterprise search.
The summary begins with a look at the tweaked document library. The author points out, “Search is everywhere in SharePoint now so it is important to understand how it has changed.”
One important assertion the article makes is, “Search was essentially rewritten from the ground up… The concept of FAST Search for SharePoint servers is gone. The components from FS4SP have made their way directly into SharePoint and we don’t need separate dedicated servers for it (necessarily).
Corey Roth adds:
Aside from cool stuff like drag and drop, document libraries directly leverage the search engine to allow users to filter documents easily. Gone are the days of relying on CAML for simple document library searches. You’ll find out why later in this post on why you can rely on search for those uses as well.
The other topics covered in the summary include the components of the search system; specifically, crawl component, content processing component, index component, analytics component, query processing component, and the search administration component.
The summary provides additional detail about crawling. The summary points out:
Whereas SharePoint 2010, only had protocols for Local Search and OpenSearch 1.1, SharePoint 2013 Preview (as well as SharePoint Online Preview), support for Remote SharePoint servers and Exchange has been added. Since SharePoint and People Search results are served by the same search index now, you can choose which type of results you want here too.
This summary includes information about querying, the user interface, and the API, and some of the new administrative controls. Illustrated with screenshots, we think the article is a useful reference.
For more detail, you will want to take a look at “What’s New within SharePoint 2013 Search.” So far, SharePoint Talk has issue three useful write ups which include screenshots and links to supplementary documents.
The first part is “What’s New within SharePoint 2013 Search? Part 1. This is an overview. The second part has the same name but focuses more on some of the configurable elements; for example, managed properties.
The new features of SharePoint Search 2012 deliver significant benefits to those seeking information. However, implementing and customizing specific search features will require close attention by programmer who are deeply knowledgeable about Microsoft’s technologies. The “cool stuff” is indeed very exciting. Comperio can provide the engineering support to make these functions deliver to the SharePoint’s licensees’ specific requirements.
Comperio’s search engineers continue to work closely with clients, Microsoft partners, and Microsoft itself. As a result, we have compiled deep experience with the most recent version of SharePoint Search. We can implement the specific features of SharePoint Search 2013 that a client requires. More importantly, we can extend the system to deliver particular functions such as seamless interaction with third party enterprise applications. For more information about Comperio, visit the firm’s Web site at www.comperiosearch.com.
Stephen E Arnold, September 18, 2012
Sponsored by Augmentext
SharePoint Server 2013 Preview
August 13, 2012
Microsoft posted two documents which we believe merit any SharePoint licensee’s attention. The principal features of the latest SharePoint appear on the Microsoft SharePoint site.
Search will be particularly important because SharePoint 2013 will make it easier to incorporate social content and support mobile access. The new SharePoint will be available later this year or early in 2013. Getting a head start is important if you plan to upgrade.
The SharePoint Server 2013’s enterprise search model provides information we found quite useful. The diagram’s PDF is 560 Kb and available from the Microsoft download center. The PDF covers:
- Search Components, including the application components and the search databases
- Example topologies. The illustrated use case is a medium-sized search farm with 40 million items or content objects in the system
- Scaling out. The diagram includes a proposal model for a search farm which handles 100 million item or content objects.
Of particular value are the details for the hardware required to support the 100 million item farm. A series of tables covers the scaling considerations, detail about the application servers recommended, and a table layout the hardware requirements necessary to handle upticks in the volume of content to be processed.
In the general guidance section, Microsoft points out that one additional crawl database is needed per additional 20 million items. One link database is recommend per additional 60 million items. The schematic’s detail recommends that the system include redundancy.
Bottom line, there is no mistaking the Fast-like functionality described here. Search Technologies has delivered more than 30,000 consultant-days of search implementation services to Fast and SharePoint users since 2005. We believe that this new search functionality will be widely adopted over the next few years, and we look forward to helping our customers to implement it.
Iain Fletcher, August 13, 2012
Sponsored by Augmentext
Sinequa and Microsoft SharePoint: The Emperor Has No Search!
September 9, 2015
The French are endlessly entertaining. A number of information access outfits have emerged from the super sophisticated French academic machine. Most of these outfits are mostly unknown outside of France. I am not sure about the reason. For example, have you been keeping pace with the push of Antidot, Dassault Exalead, and Polyspot into the US market? Are you tracking the Spotter acquisition? What about the open source search solutions available?
I was in the wilds of Canada. A reader sent me a link to a LinkedIn thread about Gartner’s absolutely fantastic analyses of enterprise search. (Nope, don’t fret. I won’t rehash my earlier comments about this brilliant piece of work. I will not remind you that the report omitted a few outfits.)
On with the mission.
The post was/is “Don’t Forget These Solutions That Did NOT Qualify for 2015 Gartner MQ on Enterprise Search” and written by a professional at the consulting firm Search Technologies. (Search Technologies has some of its roots in the Excalibur/ConQuest/Convera era I believe). The “MQ” is the author’s way of referencing the Gartner Magic Quadrant. Yes, indeed, it is magic.
The author pointed out that Gartner ignored based on its extensive quantitative and poetical analyses Endeca (an Oracle outfit), Microsoft SharePoint (owner of the outstanding Fast Search & Transfer Technology from the late 1990s), Elasticsearch (which is now Elastic and inking deals in second string outfits like Goldman Sachs), and MarkLogic (which I think may be a data management system).
The meat of the thread was this comment by one of France’s most prescient experts on information access, who is also hooked up with Sinequa and presumably reflects the collective insight of that firm, which was founded in 2002.
Sinequa wrote:
Sorry, Graham but SharePoint is not an enterprise search platform. [Editor: We fixed the punctuation and spelling of SharePoint, gentle reader.]
Okay, there you have it. Two outfits disagree about search in SharePoint. Both are in the search game. Both are clearly wizards and mavens in the search thing.
I would humbly submit that Microsoft indeed does offer search in SharePoint. The methods can be mind breakers. See, for example, this write up about crawled properties in SharePoint 2013.
Better yet, check out the “Search in SharePoint 2013” from the horse’s mouth or as Donald Trump prefers, the horse’s whatever.
I want to reflect on what the statement “Sorry, Graham but SharePoint is not an enterprise search platform.”
My thoughts are:
- Sinequa is an enterprise search platform. If SharePoint is not an enterprise search platform, therefore, you, gentle reader, must license the French system Sinequa to deliver you to information access heaven. If you sign the deal in Paris, you may be delivered to an okay French restaurant.
- SharePoint is a box of Legos. Once a licensee builds something like a content management system for employees, there is absolutely no way whatsoever to look up if the person in the next cube or on contract and working from Starbuck’s is in the system. Wrong. Dear, dear Microsoft provides. Goodness, even Windows 10 offers a way to find a person if an expert has cracked the SharePoint and Windows 10 permissions and access codes.
- Sinequa is just reminding a consultant that real information access vendors do not make silly mistakes. I find that when I mispronounce a French word or phrase, native French speakers are ever so helpful. My fave is faire le pont, which means take more days off.
Why do I trouble myself to write this?
First, the silliness of arguing with the Gartner’s mathematical analyses of enterprise search vendors warrants not one whit of criticism. Perfection has been attained. This is not a European Philae lander bounce around thing.
Second, Sinequa feels strongly that Graham definitely needs to be set straight. Who better than a vendor of information access systems which was sidestepped by Microsoft when it was tire kicking before the 2008 Fast Search acquisition? Is there a sour French whine?
Third, LinkedIn loves these threads which attract a robust two comments. There are so many LinkedIn members involved in enterprise search. I mean two comments. Be still my heart.
What’s that say about Gartner? What’s that say about enterprise search? What’s that say about LinkedIn?
Answer: Three Michelin stars for paupiettes de porc.
Stephen E Arnold, September 9, 2015
Coauthoring Documents in SharePoint to Save Time
August 4, 2015
SharePoint users are often looking for ways to save time and streamline the process of integration from other programs. Business Management Daily has devoted some attention to the topic with their article, “Co-authoring Documents in SharePoint and Office.” Read on for the full details of how to make the most of this feature.
The article begins:
“One of the best features of SharePoint 2010 and 2013 is the way it permits co-authoring. Co-authoring means more than one person is in a document, workbook or presentation at the same time editing different parts. It works differently in Word, Excel and PowerPoint . . . With Word 2013/SharePoint 2013, co-authors may edit either in Word Online (Word Web App) or the desktop version.”
SharePoint is a powerful but complicated solution that requires quite a bit of energy to maintain and use to the best of its ability. For those users and managers that are tasked with daily work in SharePoint, staying in touch with the latest tips and tricks is vital. Those users may benefit from Stephen E. Arnold’s Web site, ArnoldIT.com. A longtime leader in search, Arnold brings the latest SharePoint news together in one easy to digest news feed.
Emily Rae Aldridge, August 4, 2015
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Connecting SharePoint with External Data
July 28, 2015
One of the most frequently discussed SharePoint struggles is integrating SharePoint data with existing external data. IT Business Edge has compiled a short slideshow with helpful tips regarding integration, including the possible use of business connectivity services. See all the details in their presentation, “Eight Steps to Connect Office 365/SharePoint Online with External Data.”
The summary states:
“According to Mario Spies, senior strategic consultant at AvePoint, a lot of companies are in the process of moving their SharePoint content from on-premise to Office 365 / SharePoint Online, using tools such as DocAve Migrator from SharePoint 2010 or DocAve Content Manager from SharePoint 2013. In most of these projects, the question arises about how to handle SharePoint external lists connected to data using BDC. The good news is that SharePoint Online also supports Business Connectivity Services.”
To continue to learn more about the tips and tricks of SharePoint connectivity, stay tuned to ArnoldIT.com, particularly the SharePoint feed. Stephen E. Arnold is a lifelong leader in all things search, and his expertise is especially helpful for SharePoint. Users will continue to be interested in data migration and integration, and how things may be easier with the SharePoint 2016 update coming soon.
Emily Rae Aldridge, July 28, 2015
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
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