Microsoft’s SharePoint in a Post Chrome World
September 17, 2008
CNet ran an interesting story on September 9, 2008 with the fetching title “Microsoft’s Response to Chrome. SharePoint.” The author was Matt Asay, a fellow whose viewpoint I enjoy. For me, the key point to this article which you can read here was:
Microsoft, then, has not been sitting still, waiting to be run over by Google. It has been quietly spreading SharePoint throughout enterprises. SharePoint opens up enterprise data to Microsoft services, running in Microsoft’s browser. Unlike Google, however, Microsoft already has an impressive beachhead in the enterprise. It’s called Office, and most enterprises are addicted to it. In sum, if Google is aiming for Windows, it’s going to lose, because the table stakes are much higher. For Microsoft, the game is SharePoint. For the rest of the industry, including Google, the response needs to be content standardization.
The battle between Google and Microsoft pivots on content. SharePoint is Microsoft’s content standardization play. I think this argument is interesting, but a handful of modest issues nagged at me when I read the article:
- SharePoint is a complicated collection of “stuff”. You can check out the SharePoint placemat here. Complexity may be the major weakness of SharePoint.
- SharePoint search is a work in progress. If you have lots of content even if it is standardized, I find the native SharePoint search function pretty awful. I find it even more awful when I have to configure it, chase down aberrant security settings, and mud wrestle SQL Server performance. I think this is an iceberg issue for Microsoft. The marketing shows the top; the tech folks see what’s hidden. It’s not pretty.
- Google’s approach to content standardization is different from the SharePoint approach Mr. Asay describes. The GOOG wants software to transform and manipulate content. The organization can do what it wants to create information. Googzilla can handle it, make it searchable, and even repurpose it with one of its “publishing” inventions disclosed in patent documents.
I hear Mr. Asay. I just don’t think SharePoint is the “shields up” that Microsoft needs to deal with Google in the enterprise. Agree? Disagree? Help me learn, please.
Stephen Arnold, September 10, 2008
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4 Responses to “Microsoft’s SharePoint in a Post Chrome World”
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I detest Sharepoint. Actually, detest isn’t a strong enough word! It’s being implemented wholesale throughout my company (which is a huge one in tech and services), and my problem is this: we have created a sea of isolated sharepoint islands of information that aren’t accessible or known to me, an intelligence analyst. I feel like I am being blindfolded to all of the user-generated content in the enterprise. I have to know the sharepoint exists in order to ask permission to be allowed access. I have to know that something’s in there that I want in order to know that I need to ask to get in there. The search capability… ha. My ability to find valuable user-generated content now depends more on my human network than any IT tool. My sharepoint access granted emails sit in their own email directory and the pile keeps growing.
It doesn’t work. It’s not scalable. Period. Just my 0.02 from the trenches… (and I enjoy your blog! 🙂
I’ve worked with Lotus Notes and several Enterprise Content Management systems from a variety of vendors. I will never ever learn or implement Sharepoint it is some difficult to develop or maintain. It is totally crap! As the previous commenter wrote, Sharepoint ultimately creates pockets of content all over the enterprise. Google mantra is to make all the world’s information available, while Sharepoint as a platform does the opposite for enterprises.
Julie
Thanks for the praise. I am an addled goose and at the end of my career. Even though wacky and jaded, a person who enjoys my posts is a rare and wonderful creature.
Stephen Arnold, September 19, 2008