Is Microsoft's SharePoint unstoppable, or mostly smoke and mirrors?
Microsoft rebuffs criticism that its widely quoted momentum figures mask a less-rosy reality
October 19, 2009 12:55 PM ETComputerworld - Guessing what eye-popping growth figures Microsoft Corp. will trumpet for SharePoint, its popular portal and collaboration app, has become an annual parlor game for fans and detractors alike.
At Microsoft's first global conference for SharePoint in May 2006, which 1,300 people attended in Seattle, Microsoft said the software had 75 million licensed users.
That number grew a year later to 85 million licensed users, generating $800 million in annual revenue.
Last year, Microsoft reported more than $1 billion in SharePoint sales and more than 100 million users.
At this week's sold-out worldwide SharePoint conference, which has drawn 8,000 to Las Vegas, Microsoft said SharePoint is defying the company's slump, growing more than 20%, to $1.3 billion, according to Jeff Teper, corporate vice president for SharePoint.
Teper hinted that SharePoint's licensed user base may be as high as 130 million today, saying its year-on-year growth was "roughly in relation to our revenue."
Windows' replacement?
That would seems to provide compelling evidence that SharePoint is preparing to enter Microsoft's pantheon of ubiquitous platforms along with Windows and Office. CEO Steve Ballmer has called SharePoint Microsoft's "next big operating system."
It's even more impressive considering the software's short history. First introduced in 2000 under the name Office Server Extensions as a tool for hosting Microsoft Office documents on the Web, the software underwent several minor name changes, reflective of Microsoft's changes in positioning against incumbent collaboration and groupware apps such as Novell's GroupWise and IBM's then-dominant Lotus Notes.
Early on, SharePoint had the reputation of being a jack-of-all-trades that, out of the box, was a master of none, said Michael Sampson, a consultant and former analyst at Ferris Research.
SharePoint
Additional Resources



White Papers & Webcasts
Open Source Master Data Management: The Time is Right
MDM is a natural extension to data integration and data quality. Open source MDM introduces a new, more accessible approach. It reduces implementation...
The Value of Real SaaS at Workday
Download this short video! Provided by Workday
The Top 10 Reasons for Choosing Open Source Data Integration
Are you trying to understand your options for data integration? This White Paper presents the top 10 reasons why organizations are choosing open...
BMC Application Performance and Analytics: Predictive Intelligence in Action
See the highlights of BMC's Application Performance and Analytics today!
Overcoming Single Provider MPLS Limitations
Download this white paper today!
Data in Action: Making the Planet Smarter
Register Now
The Shift from Legacy Application Servers to Tomcat
Download this valuable white paper written by Bill Laberis, Editorial Director of Computerworld Custom Solutions Group.
Bringing Web 2.0 to the Enterprise
Downlaod this white paper now!
The Workday User Experience Video
Watch Workday's Creative Director, Scott Lietzke, discuss the business-centered design philosophy at Workday.
Computerworld Reports
Strategic Content ManagementLearn how the right Enterprise Content Management (ECM) solution can start saving you money within a week and pay for itself in as little as three months. These case studies and white papers provide practical information on how to go from theory to reality - to help you put together a plan that will achieve your content management and process automation goals. Enter the Strategic Content Management Zone now |


