Sharepoint 2007 and Sharepoint 2003

If you’re familiar with SharePoint Server 2007’s predecessor, SharePoint Portal Server 2003, you might appreciate a quick look at the changes in the new version.

While SharePoint Portal Server 2003 offered a great method of aggregating content from multiple sites to a single, easy-to-navigate location, the process was dependent on a user’s manual actions to publish the links to the portal areas, a dependency that highlighted the platform’s shortcomings. If the person who updated content forgot to publish a link to the portal, business decision makers could not access information.

Microsoft responded with SharePoint Server 2007, which offers tools and features that automate business processes and content aggregations. Built-in Web Parts, such as a site aggregator and Content Query Web Part meant that the site administrators can specify what content should automatically roll up to the main portal sites, eliminating manual updates and resulting in sites with up-to-date information.
With 2007, the technology in the top-level portal sites is exactly the same as that available on the team sites. This was not the case for SharePoint Portal Server, where there was a very distinct difference between working in a team site and working with portal content. Users had to learn each separate tool and there was confusion as to what activities were appropriate for each location.

The architectural changes and feature enhancements make it possible for you to use SharePoint for a wider range of organizations and scenarios. SharePoint Portal Server required that users authenticate using a Windows-based authentication system and Active Directory for user profile information. Because of its platform enhancements, SharePoint 2007 uses a variety of systems for authentication due and supports multiple authentication providers as well as LDAP sources for user profile information. In addition, SharePoint has much better support for extranet and Internet-facing scenarios.

SharePoint Portal Server 2003 has no mechanism for automated workflow or business processes. SharePoint 2007 includes several workflow templates that business users can further customize to suit their specific requirements.