10 quotes on what SharePoint really is

Microsoft SharePoint has been a large element in the working lives of many online professionals and I’m certain there is much more to come. A myriad of conferences, consultants, books, articles and blogs have entered the stage, all with a mission to “help us make the most of the important platform”. My impression is, however that SharePoint is still  surrounded by confusion. What is SharePoint really?

The below quotes by individuals with a close working knowledge of SharePoint have been carefully selected and should give you a broad perspective from across the spectre; Microsoft, their partners, analysts, consultants and customers. Take a look and it may just bring you a bit closer to understanding what SharePoint is.

1. Who better to start this list than, Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer of Microsoft, who back in 2007 shared insights into how important SharePoint would become to Microsoft:
   

   SharePoint is the definitive OS or platform for the middle tier

2. Steve’s view is naturally important in terms of understanding SharePoint and what Microsoft’s intentions are, so he gets 2 quotes on this list. In a memorable quote from 2009 he said that SharePoint:
   

   unleashes a suite of capabilities that dramatically improves the way people work

3. Mauro Cardarelli is on my list of people to turn for SharePoint advice. He’s a co-author of several books on SharePoint and has a deep understanding of the platform. On the complex question of trying to figure out how much SharePoint costs, he’s said:
   

   It requires thorough planning if you want to get to an accurate budget figure. Think it through, have a plan; more importantly, have a roadmap!

4. Up next is Shawn Shell, a frequent and popular speaker at the J. Boye conferences and one of the consultants that knows SharePoint best. He recently wrote:
   

   As Microsoft evolves the SharePoint platform, it has become an indispensable tool in many organizations

5. To really understand SharePoint, let us also look at the key analysts, starting with Forrester who has not been entirely positive:
   

   point solutions will represent a better option for buyers looking to preserve existing investments or to add a single workload, like social tools

6. Industry analysts Gartner says that SharePoint is not perfect for large enterprises:
   

   Adoption may be hindered somewhat by current economic conditions, in which many CIOs are watching their budgets carefully. Also, MSS 2010 requires 64 bit versions of SQL and Windows Server. Some high-end needs still remain unmet by MSS 2010

7. Real Story Group, formerly known as CMS Watch, a vendor-neutral analyst firm, received a fair deal of publicity when they released a press release explaining how SharePoint can lead to rampant, viral proliferation and instances of uncontrolled content, as well as major compliancy risks. The headline was simply:
   

   SharePoint is an ECM virus

8. UK intranet expert Martin White has spend much of 2010 getting to understand SharePoint better and says that:
   

   With power comes complexity, and any organisation that thought that a more robust version of MOSS07 would need less governance is going to have to reconsider its approach

9. New Zealand-based Michael Sampson is an expert on collaboration which is generally perceived as a key strength for SharePoint. Still, Michael shares this honest key insight:
   

   Microsoft SharePoint has taken the market by storm, but the embrace of the technology has run ahead of the business and human factors thinking required to make it work. For many organizations, SharePoint has become a chaotic nightmare

10. Last, but not least, this list of quotes would not be complete without the voice of the customer. Mark Morrell, the prolific BT intranet manager, has blogged a fair bit about SharePoint. This one quote will help you avoid confusion even though Microsoft insists on coming up with their own terminology:
    

    I realise that terms I used to use for other publishing tools like ‘template’ have a different meaning when I talk about SP 2010.

What is your favourite SharePoint quote?