Actually, I spent two days to be more familiar with different versions of Share Point but it seems I’m back to the square one! As you mentioned there are plenty of info and it’s more confusing for me.

I have a question and I think you can help me to find out an answer:

one of the new versions of Share Point is SharePoint Online! What is your idea about this new product for small business companies? Does the Sharepoint Online support work flow and document management as well? What is your advice for such companies to deploy sharepoint server versions or to use sharepoint online?

Thank you very much in advance.

Cheers,
Ali

Thanks for the comment.
I have to admit I was a little confused when I first read your comment.
After all, I’m a big fan of SharePoint, and I know, you know this (if you know what I mean ) so I was wondering where the comment about pure CMS came from… (and for the ECM stuff people need MOSS anyway)
So, I read, and re-read my post, and I think I can see how you’ve interpreted my thoughts.
So, thanks for bringing this to my attention, and for the chance to clarify…

Here’s my agenda:
Many people I speak to at user groups and events don’t understand the SharePoint versions, and as a result are missing out on its advantages simply because they think they have to spend big dollars to get started. My point is that you can actually get started for free (licensing wise) and then build up.
The line ‘think very, very carefully’ could probably have been written better. Again I am saying, ‘don’t dismiss SharePoint outright because you are caught up on MOSS license costs’ – think carefully about what you want because you may be perfectly serviced with WSS.
Now, if it is the features of MOSS they require, then great, of course use it. And in your space Eddie, I suspect the clients are much better informed than most so this won’t be a problem.

Summary: I’m a fan of SharePoint and want to see more people using it. This post is about making it an option to some who may have otherwise thought it was out of their reach.
But I agree in hindsight my wording could have been better.
I don’t usually go back and edit my posts, but I may in this case – not sure yet.

As an aside: this is a personal blog, and doesn’t voice the opinions of my employer. However, putting my Elcom cap on, (and my readers will know that Elcom develops an ECM product) we’ve just completed our technology strategy for the next two years, and integration with SharePoint is a key priority. So, to be clear, Elcom has a vested interest in and is encouraging of SharePoint being more widely adopted. I thought I’d better mention this so people know where we stand, however I am very careful in what I recommend. I would be promoting SharePoint (as well as pointing out any issues with it) regardless of what Elcom’s strategy is.

Cheers,
Craig

Although your posting talks clinically around the differences, it misses the mark in terms of “real world” scenarios. No one we know has chosen MOSS for its pure play CMS capabilities, as organisations want much more than just CMS. They expect collaboration features, EDRMS, Workflow, Search, Web 2.0 concepts, etc… MOSS delivers this and much more.

So I think many customers would disagree (and perhaps resent) the statement around “be very, very careful around chosing MOSS for their web site”. Many organisations have and they have never looked back.