| It was the start of my epic voyage into what was supposed to be the most exciting thing to happen to collaboration “ever” and “a new way for teams to work together”. It only seems like yesterday when I first took the Team Services and SharePoint Portal Server 2001 CD from the brown jiffy bag and put it into my brand new Windows Server 2000 Drive.
WOW, how things have changed! Not just in the way we use SharePoint as an end user, but also how we, as a SharePoint specialist, take for granted features such as workflow and content management.
As a product, SharePoint has become enormous from where it was nearly 10 years ago. It really became usable in 2003 when suddenly you could build an Intranet and people could search for things and get “some” meaningful results. The day I installed the BETA of MOSS 2007 was when I realised that persevering with this technology had all been worth it.
Suddenly it sold itself on features alone and it started to become a hot topic; even my family members started to use it at their work places. No one could have predetermined the success that this version has bought about. Now with the latest version of SharePoint being released in May (SharePoint 2010) we are in for some exciting times ahead.
So, “Why do we all use SharePoint”? Does it help us all become more organised? Does it stop us from saving files directly on to our Desktops? Will it prevent IT departments from buying more and more storage?
Perhaps, I think the question you ought to ask is “Where next for SharePoint”?  | Oli Stickley - MD Creative SharePoint |
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