Review: Microsoft SharePoint 2007 Unleashed

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Microsoft SharePoint 2007 Unleashed

Authors: Michael Noel and Colin Spence
Format: Paperback, 840 pages
Publisher: Sams (April 12, 2007)
ISBN-10: 0672329476
ISBN-13: 978-0672329470

Review by James Pyles
April 23, 2007

About a year ago, I was thrown into a situation where I needed to learn how to administer SharePoint 2003 fast. I was working with a group of software engineers in an enterprise environment who needed data from six separate Intranet sites within the organization joined into a single SharePoint 2003 site collection. There was no one in the organization to consult, so I tested the "ease of use" features of SharePoint and proceeded to learn on my own. I thought myself fortunate that I owned a first edition copy of Microsoft SharePoint 2003 Unleashed. I figured that whenever I got into a jam, I'd just consult the appropriate section of the book and become enlightened.

Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way. Perhaps I was not using the book correctly, but I didn't have the time to read the tome cover-to-cover to gain a holistic perspective of this Microsoft product. What I sadly discovered that was I almost never found the answer I was looking for in the 2003 incarnation of SharePoint Unleashed. Since that time, I have increased my knowledge of administering both SharePoint 2003 and 2007, so perhaps my view of this book will be modified. Let's find out.

Chapter 1 covers a general overview of what features SharePoint 2007 possesses and what you can do with them. Not all of the features are particularly new in 2007 but the chapter doesn't point out new vs. older functionality. I popped over to Chapter 6 Migrating from SharePoint 2003 to SharePoint 2007 to see if there was an outline of the differences, however the information in that chapter focused on the actual migration path and process.

I look at SharePoint 2007 from the perspective of someone who has administered SharePoint 2003 and is quite familiar with the 2003 product. My questions about 2007 face the direction of understanding what the differences are between the two versions, what new features I'll need to learn and what part of my current knowledge base I'll be able to leverage? I didn't find any portion of the book that specifically addressed my concerns.

That said, Noel's and Spence's book is extremely detailed in regards to the installation, configuration, and administration of SharePoint 2007. At least in theory, the SharePoint neophyte reading this book should be able to install and administer 2007, even if they have never used 2003. In practicality, I was glad I already possessed a familiarity with both products. A lot of what 2007 does, 2003 does; it just does it differently. Like all other Microsoft Office 2007 products, one of the major feature changes is the user interface. This is the same with SharePoint 2007 and SAMS latest SharePoint publication describes the current interface quite well.

Developers will appreciate the architecting portions, although that's not the main thrust of this book. Server, web, and other resource administrators seem the primary audience of this text and will get the most out of it. It's not really written with the end user in mind, however, the SharePoint site admin after reading this book, should be able to put together a training program to bring end users up to speed.

At least from my point of view, the big, big plus of Microsoft SharePoint 2007 Unleashed is that it's just loaded with tons of information about this product, how it works and how it integrates with other products. From a "details" perspective, it has SharePoint pretty much wrapped up and provides a very good overall presentation of this application. The downside is that it still is difficult to ferret out some specific operational details. If I have just one small problem area I'm trying to understand, I'm going to have to work to find out where it is in the Noel and Spense book. Maybe that's the price you pay for trying to include everything but the kitchen sink in a book or maybe it's an issue with how SAMS "Unleashed" series is formatted.

Like most people associated with the technology industry, at my center, I'm a problem solver. What I need in terms of SharePoint is a resource that not only tells me how to manage the "macro" processes such as installation and maintanence, but also the "micro" features. Maybe that's too much to ask or maybe a different book series would be better designed to fulfill this task. Michael Noel and Colin Spence are obviously well versed in SharePoint 2007 and have written a straightforward and feature inclusive book on the product. However, as someone who needs to understand how I do the same thing in 2007 that I did in 2003, I don't think I'd find all the answers.