Frequently Asked Questions
Here we attempt to answer the more frequently asked questions about Sinet Consulting and SharePoint (hence the name) so that you can then concentrate on asking us the difficult questions. If you do have any further questions then please get in touch.
Q: What is SharePoint?
A: Lets start with a hard one then!
SharePoint is many different things to many different people - and that is an issue that confuses a lot of people. In fact there is no actual product specifically called 'SharePoint', there are a range of products that Microsoft terms 'SharePoint Products and Technologies'. The base product is called 'Windows SharePoint Services' which is often abbreviated to 'WSS' and is at version 3 so is referred to as WSS 3.0. WSS 3.0 is a free product that Microsoft supplies as an add-on to Windows Server 2003. Windows Server 2008, Small Business Server 2003 and Small Business Server 2008. If you have one of these products then you already have free access to one of the main SharePoint products. But be careful, just because it is free does not mean it is a simple and limited product. It can still provide many very good features and benefits to many thousands of staff members. The next product main SharePoint product is 'Microsoft Office SharePoint Server' or 'MOSS' which is currently at version 2007 and so is referred to as MOSS 2007. MOSS 2007 is licensed for each physical or virtual server it is installed on and for each named user that accesses it. There are two different editions; the Standard Edition has a good range of additional features over WSS 3.0 and requires a 'Standard' Client Access License (CAL) and the 'Enterprise Edition' which has more business features and requires both a 'Standard CAL and an 'Enterprise' CAL.
For a comparison chart of the differences between WSS 3.0, MOSS 2007 Standard Edition and MOSS 2007 Enterprise Edition follow this link
Q: Do you have any examples of
SharePoint Sites
A: Yes
An Australian Bank using WSS for their Australian Internet site and using MOSS 2007 for their New Zealand Internet site.