Please in real BASIC terms, what's SharePoint?

[mikemedia]

Okay, maybe not that basic.

I know what document collaboration, distribution and tasks, calendars, etc. I'm read so much I'm gonna puke.

I've got to report to my boss tomorow and explain it to him. He thinks we'll run down to Office Depot and buy a shrink-wrapped box for $99.95

Here's what I know so far (courtesy of Wikepedia) If any one else suggests the Microsoft site for an explanation, so help me I'll...

Anyway as I understand it there's SharePoint Services and SharePoint Portal Server. I know what a portal is. I know what a server is.

As far as I know, we're running server 2000. SharePoint comes with 2003.

Finally, bottomline: What "specifically" do we need, where do we get it, and how much does it cost? ... And please don't start your answer with, "Well, that depends...

 

[mikemedia]

Oh! And how does one Develop, Create and Edit a SharePoint site? Is there a development app shrink-wrapped for $99.95?

 

[dwessell]

That depends

Think of Sharepoint as an intranet or website tool.. That's basically what it is.. Or a CMS if your more familiar with that.

We use Sharepoint as an Intranet for document collaboration. Meaning that users can share documents back and forth, make changes/revisions and approve.. The main thing that set's it above others is that it's integrated with AD.

Sharepoint Services 3.0 is free, and can be run on Server 2003 and MABYE 2000. I'm not sure about that.

Sharepoint Portal 2007 is a more functional version of Services 3.0 and costs quite a bit.

For development (And there's a lot that you can do without having to develop for it, just by editing configurations) you'll need Sharepoint Designer, or Visual Studio 2005..

Let me know if I can give more information..

Thanks
David

P.S. My suggestion is try the Sharepoint Services 3.0 for free, then move up from there.. Make sure it's what you need.