Happy 20th Birthday SharePoint!!!
Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server 2001
I recall just like it was yesterday when I was working for a software company as a web developer and my boss yells at me from across the hallway “Sal, come in here! You gotta see this!”
He knew I was frustrated with the early linear mechanisms of the early internet, which involved one transaction per page. You had to complete the transaction and then go to a new page to do another transaction. So I walk into his office, he has a Microsoft representative on speaker phone and an interesting looking web page on his computer screen. It was the first time I had seen a “web part”.
I remember freezing with awe and wonder at what I was looking at.
A web page within a web page? And I can have multiple of these so-called “web parts” in a single page? That meant that I could have multiple transactions going on at the same time independent of each other!!!
We ended up buying SharePoint Portal Server 2001 and I absolutely HATED IT!!! I was a web developer with a SQL Server database background and to my horror, this first iteration of SharePoint had Microsoft Exchange as its backend??! But why!!?? Why the hell would Microsoft use webdav and the weirdness that was Exchange, as its backend instead of a full blown database engine that was Microsoft SQL Server!! Microsoft reassured us that they were working on making SQL Server the backend on the next version. And what about the nightmare of installing SharePoint?!! PSConfig!! Oooops failed, ok just re-run PSConfig and it will probably work this time! Need to patch SharePoint?! Good luck if you have a zillions servers out there and you need to keep them all in sync :)
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007 was the first REAL version of SharePoint in my opinion because that is when it introduce ‘Shared Services’. It also introduced the the capability of using Office Apps as its front-end.
Then came SharePoint 2010 and the use of SharePoint Destructor, I mean, SharePoint Designer! Which was a client software that could be installed on your client machine and you could manage (and destroy) your sites very easily!! As well as create zillions of very cool workflows that we are now modernizing into Power Automate Flows because that technology has been deprecated.
Who can forget InfoPath and its code behind files!!! I miss InfoPath but am a big fan of its successor Power Apps :)
SharePoint went on to become an IT Swiss Army Knife, it can do everything from Records Management, serve as your Portal, Document Management and Social media. Nowadays, SharePoint is the foundation to Microsoft Teams, and is still used on-premises as well as Online. Its still as great, and as misunderstood, as ever!
Although my customers seem to have a love/hate relationship with SharePoint, I absolutely love this product, it has kept me employed for well over a decade AND I’ve been able to meet the most amazing people on the planet due to servicing them as my customers or through the technical community. This community is one of THE most passionate, creative and thoughtful communities out there.
And finally, last year I achieved a bucket list milestone by reviewing the Microsoft SharePoint Server 2019 and SharePoint Hybrid Administration book!!! Check it out if you want to brush up on your SharePoint skills and pass your certification test!
Microsoft SharePoint Server 2019 and SharePoint Hybrid Administration
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHAREPOINT!! I'm looking forward to what we have in store for you for the next 20 years. Can you say Mixed Reality SharePoint?