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There's no doubt that the world, Microsoft included, is moving more toward the "cloud." However, while cloud solutions offer a great number of advantages, they also have limitations and potential downfalls. We'll take a look at those advantages and disadvantages with Microsoft Office 365 and the cloud-based SharePoint Online.
Pros:
- You reduce your cost. Since you no longer have to run and maintain your service, you could save a substantial amount each month.
- Microsoft keeps your privacy in-tact by allowing you to create group-facing intranet pages.
- The new design has several areas of improvement, especially when it comes to Silverlight visuals.
- Employees can share and access group documents even more easily, from wherever they are.
Cons:- You lose control. While you may be paying less for the maintenance of your servers, they're also no longer your servers.
- You can't implement farm-level solutions; absolutely everything has to be made in the sandbox.
- Your entire staff will face a learning curve as they migrate to the new system.
- Microsoft's servers aren't completely free from errors. Earlier this year, their BPOS system went down for over a day.
Do the pros outweigh the cons? That really depends on where you're coming from. For many groups, the decreased cost is well worth sacrificing a bit of control and learning to use the sandbox for site customization. For others, however, their current version of SharePoint resolves all their needs with ease and facing the new learning curve and potential problems is an unnecessary hassle.
Regardless of what you choose, SharePoint Engine can help you do it right. Give us a call today for a free consultation discussing how we can work together. -
We just got out official beta invitation for Microsoft Office 365, giving us the opportunity to browse through, learn, and toy with the various new features of Microsoft's latest evolution, SharePoint Online. However, those who haven't managed to get into the beta just yet – or who prefer a more "read only" method of education – may prefer to explore the developer guide released by Microsoft.
The guide is perfect for those eager to learn about the new features. The 45-page document walks users through the basics (what is SharePoint Online, why SharePoint Online is advantageous when compared to both previous versions of SP and to competition, etc.), it also has a succinct look at what's new for standard users and developers. Key components of the update include:
- Updates to SharePoint Designer. Users will be able to more quickly "leverage the building blocks" of the SharePoint environment. This includes branding, workflows, custom actions, and library interaction.
- Updates to the Visual Studio. Users will be able to build applications, templates, and other development resources more effectively, and will be able to import previously created solutions (any file in .wsp format) into SharePoint Online.
- A SharePoint to LINQ converter that translates LINQ coding into CAML.
- A new client-side model.
- And much more!
Please note that everything discussed in the developer's guide, just like Office 365 itself, is in beta and thus is subject to change. Check out the developer guide for yourself: download now.
Showing posts with label office 365. Show all posts
Showing posts with label office 365. Show all posts
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