Beginning today a new public beta of the Microsoft Exchange 2010 is available for download. This new wave of Microsoft releases is the just beginning and will include a forthcoming version of SharePoint Server 2010. Final versions of several Microsoft products will be available in stages from the second half of 2009 through the first quarter of 2010, says a Microsoft press release [1].
The news of the release has bloggers and journalists doing what they do best: Analyzing and speculating. CMS Wire boils it down [2] saying, the new SharePoint is being built with the intention of providing a consistent user experience across the entire Microsoft suite, creating and editing documents easily and being able to collaborate from anywhere. CMS Wire says, "SharePoint 2010 should be available for technical preview sometime in the third quarter, with an expected public release in the first half of 2010--hence the name."
We have written about SharePoint often in FierceContentManagement--particularly about where the product fits among other CMS products. This latest version may be what SharePoint needs to define itself.
For more:
- see the press release [1]
Related Articles:
SharePoint still struggling to define itself [2]
Survey finds that SharePoint remains a file share for almost half of users [3]
Links:
[1] http://www.fiercecio.com/press-releases/microsoft-unveils-exchange-2010-public-beta
[2] http://www.cmswire.com/cms/enterprise-cms/its-official-a-new-name-and-delivery-date-for-the-next-version-of-sharepoint-004361.php
[3] http://www.fiercecontentmanagement.com/story/survey-finds-sharepoint-remains-file-share-almost-half-users/2009-03-11