Google Sites vs SharePoint - Like Comparing Pencil & Paper to a PC
Good morning everyone! So here I am down in Charlotte, North Carolina getting ready
to give a presentation around SharePoint as a development platform and doing
some catch up with my email. One email caught my eye and has me bouncing
around, so while my blood is pumping I thought I should write this up before I
forget. There are a lot of articles out there (sometimes well meaning ones at
that) which paint SharePoint in a distorted picture due to the lack of
understanding around all that it offers and the flexibility it provides users.
To those unfamiliar with its full capability and flexibility in choice reading
such pieces can leave a skewed impression that is in fact not reflective of the
full platform. With that in mind I decided with an hour to kill I needed to
jump on this, so here we go!
Yesterday
an interesting article was sent to me that called out what on the surface
appears to be a strong challenge presented by Google to Microsoft's SharePoint
Platform. The article titled "
Google Sites Offers Templates; Claims It's
Easier Than Sharepoint" highlights upgrades to the Google Sites
platform that it cites as evidence that "Google Sites is making a clear
strike against Microsoft which requires a certain level of technical skill to
create a Sharepoint site." Citing improvements in page layouts, gadgets,
template saving, as well a what is termed a web-centric approach vs
document-centric one, the article tries to make the case for Google Sites
presenting a challenge to the SharePoint platform while admitting that
"Most organizations work in a document centric environment." Overall
I found in the article that the author tried to present a balanced view of the
two platforms, but if one really takes an in-depth look at what both platforms
have to offer it becomes readily apparent that there really is no comparison
between the two when looking at the needs of Enterprise customers. With that in
mind I would like to point out some of the key differences and ways in which
comparing the SharePoint platform to Google Sites is really like comparing a
pen and paper to a fresh, fully loaded computer. Sure they both provide a
platform for writing notes and ideas but that is where the semblance ends.
With
Google Sites the article "
Google Sites Offers Templates; Claims It's
Easier Than Sharepoint" points out that users can easily
assemble pages, add gadgets to pages, save pages as templates and that as
web-centric platform its pundits claim that it is superior in providing links
to pages vs providing documents. With that in mind lets take a look at how the
SharePoint platform also provides the same functionality with superior
Enterprise capability while also offering document-centric capability where the
business deems appropriate. Then let us also take a look at how SharePoint
moves beyond such baseline activity and delivers a rich capability far beyond
that and how this really extends the experience with the SharePoint 2010
release.
Microsoft
Office SharePoint Server is a web based collaboration platform rooted in
facilitating collaboration between users based on the predication that they
know how to either use Microsoft Office, a web browser, or both, but nothing
else. It is true that out of the box SharePoint provides rich, seamless,
integration for users of Microsoft Office. Using the tools they are most familiar
with Office, users can publish slides to slide libraries, publish blog entries
using Microsoft Word, publish and share data focused information with Excel,
and more. Now to some Google Sites pundits this is something they point out as
a so-called shortcoming. There are those, according to the article, who would
say that creating content natively as a web page is better and links to pages
is better than accessing documents via a folder structure. Really? Better for
who? If users are accustomed to working within a folder file structure, then
shouldn't a platform designed to better support these individuals not force
them to completely rework how they produce content and interact? That is
exactly what SharePoint does and is the reason that it has become the fastest
growing product in Microsoft's history.
Beyond
that though SharePoint does in fact provide a rich environment for creating
native web content that resides as pages and links. Out of the box SharePoint
provides an integrated wiki platform where users can create content like FAQs
and other entities utilizing wiki markup language and simple rich text editing
capabilities. SharePoint also provides a robust blogging platform out of the
box (my own blog
SocialMedia Talk in fact runs on SharePoint). Web based
surveys, threaded discussion boards, calendars, task lists, issues lists,
project task lists with Gantt charting are all out of the box. Additionally
SharePoint provides a range of web page templates for assembling dashboards of
web parts, creating content pages and more, with the ability to create custom
ones that are in turn saved as templates. Sound familiar? And all of this is
done on a platform that integrates with Enterprise security, provides robust
auditing and compliance capabilities and sits atop an Enterprise workflow
engine. SharePoint does in fact provide a rich we-centric environment. The
difference is in the SharePoint platform business users are given a choice to
work and interact with content in the manner that makes most sense for them and
their users. SharePoint doesn't try and shove the round peg in a square hole.
SharePoint
doesn't stop though with just simple content interaction and production.
SharePoint truly is a business enablement platform. Microsoft understands that
business users have a need to access and manipulate data as well as content.
Through services such as the Business Data Catalog, Excel Services, InfoPath
Services, and Performance Point Services SharePoint provides users avenues to
leverage their existing skill sets to deliver rich web based content and
services. With the Business Data Catalog users can readily place Business Data
Web Parts on web pages that expose business critical data from backend systems
and they can do so without being a code junkie, but just an everyday Office
user. Excel services allow users of Excel to tie rich data and charting
capability for dynamic data, publish a spreadsheet to SharePoint, and then
provide a <gasp> dynamic, interactive
web
page that delivers a rich view of that Excel content viewable by a browser.
InfoPath leverages the skills of Microsoft Word users to create forms and
outputs XML forms that are published to SharePoint, are accessed via a browser
as a.. <you guessed it>
web page.
With the inclusion of Performance Point Server corporations now have high end
business intelligence capabilities integrated into SharePoint, delivered via
web pages, and made accessible to the masses within an organization. Such
application delivery in the past was prohibitively expensive for all but a few
corporate users but now is made user friendly and available for everyone. These
are areas that Google Sites can't even begin to touch.
But
wait Michael, isn't there this little thing called SharePoint 2010 on the
horizon? Does it bring anything else to the table? Absolutely!!
With
SharePoint/Office 2010 Microsoft is introducing the Office Web applications.
These are delivered Windows SharePoint Foundation Server or SharePoint
Server.With Office Web Applications users can again use of their familiar tools
to create rich content which they can publish to SharePoint. The difference is
now when they create Word docs, PowerPoint slide decks, Excel spreadsheets,
OneNote books, these same "documents" are viewable as
web pages (note they can be viewed through the browser as a web page but are
in fact documents published in the Open XML format). Not only that, they are
also editable through the web interface as well given end users the freedom of
choice in how they want to interact with the content. SharePoint 2010 also
delivers integrated digital assets management, enhancements to blogs and wikis,
and more, as well as full offline capability for all content, whether
web-centric or document-centric, via the new addition to Microsoft Office,
SharePoint Workplace. SharePoint is also ramping things up in the insight and
composite applications space with Power Pivot, Access Services, Visio Services,
Business Connectivity Services, and much more. Finally, if you want to have
SharePoint provided for as a SaaS offering that is also available from
Microsoft through Microsoft Online Services.
Google
is doing some interesting things with its Sites and apps. To try though and
compare those capabilities with SharePoint really misses the boat. While fine
for casual, simplistic content needs the Sites platform is limited at best.
With Microsoft SharePoint though, customers have a true Enterprise enablement set
of tools that provide the best of web-centric and document-centric flexibility.
There is a reason that SharePoint's growth has been meteoric. It provides the
best, most comprehensive and flexible platform for today's business user.
If
want you want to learn more about SharePoint, and some of the integrated
services mentioned here be sure to check out the following sites:
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