Customer Reviews

Microsoft SharePoint 2007 For Dummies

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book is great for the SharePoint administrator. Unfortunately, I'm the user creating and populating the sites rather than installing the server. There are a few sections for the user at my level, but I'd anticipated a Dummies book wouldn't be for the techies. I also wish it had more screen shots to demonstrate things, but I suppose it would wind up becoming a 1000 page book then. It's fine for what it is, and I did pick up some tips, so it wasn't a complete waste for me. I found SharePoint 2007 User's Guide: Learning Microsoft's Collaboration and Productivity Platform to be a bit more practical for my needs. I still haven't found THE training resource I need to help others utilize SharePoint the way it was intended.

I ordered this text with the intent of creating and modifying team sharepoint sites. Primarily "end-user" kind of work, however this text is far more technical than what I need. It is more for system administrator, not site administrator. I have since ordered "Sharepoint Designer X for Dummies". I think that will be more what I am looking for but it is not yet available.
Review Submitted 6/27/07

This book matches the clear, concise, and practical style of all the "Dummies" books and might be very good for those who are installing, configuring, or developing SharePoint sites. However, it was not until I reached page 4 that I finally was advised that "This book isn't really intended for end users." That advisory should have appeared on page 1, or better yet, on the book's front cover. If you are an end user who is merely trying to learn how to use SharePoint's various functions, you might want to look for an actual "user's guide," e.g., Essential SharePoint 2007: A Practical Guide for Users ... (etc).

Microsoft has been working on SharePoint for quite a while. It's now in it's third release, and as is often the case with Microsoft it has finally reached the point where it is becoming quite useful. The software is now available in two versions, Windows SharePoint Services and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS).

One problem with SharePoint is trying to determine just what it is. It's almost like you need to install it, work with it, and then decide if you want it. But basically (in my opinion) SharePoint is a server based (requires Windows Server 2003 or later, SQL Server, the .NET Framework, and IIS) package that provide for data storage and content management of typically Office like files. Among other things it allows multiple people to work on one project which can be a Word document, a system that tracks help desk problems, or any of a number of other collaborative systems.

Ms. Williams has been working with SharePoint since its first release in 2001. In this book she starts from the idea that you need to find one target application to use to convince the company that SharePoint is a good idea. From there she leads on to a mixture of applications, technical aspects, how to's and everything else you need to get a good understanding of SharePoint.

This is a great book to get you familiar with what SharePoint offers and what it can do for your organization. The author covers everything from initial installation and configuration to setting up the SharePoint sites. She explains the terminology and concepts very clearly. Plus, she goes beyond the tech-speak and gives real-world examples of how SharePoint can be used and how to sell SharePoint to your organization (advantages for collaboration and communication). I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning about SharePoint and/or has been tasked with installing and/or administering SharePoint. Before you read anything else on SharePoint, read this book.

Don't by mislead by the title. This is not written by a dummy or intended for dummy readers. This book is very organized and covers important points on approaching testing, getting management on board, avoiding possible implementation problems, and so forth. This book is very practical and hands on. If you're an advanced technical admin of Sharepoint, this is not your book. But if you're someone with a decent IT background and just getting your hands dirty, this is perfect.

SharePoint is an umbrella term used to describe a multitude of features and technologies. When people mention SharePoint, they're often referring to the part that is of interest to them, so it's hard to capture what SharePoint really is and what it can do.

This book helped me to install SharePoint and give myself a whirlwind tour of WSS and MOSS in just 3 days. The Author is excellent and the topics are laid out in an order that makes sense. You can just flow from one topic to the next, trying different functionality as you read. It's a great starting point for anyone new to SharePoint who needs to get it up and running and figure out what it is and isn't and what the differences are between WSS and MOSS 2007.

Just because its title says, "For Dummies," does not mean you should avoid it. I've got over thirty years in Info Tech and bought this thinking it would be a quick easy read. Well, it is very well written, easy to understand and it is NOT underpowered.

The author knows her stuff and this book gives one a very good start understanding SharePoint so as to be able to approach the product.

Also, if you're really interested, Microsoft has an entire section of their site devoted to this product. You can download the actual product (need FAST connection), and should you choose not to do that, they've created a virtual environment that lets you learn and use the product without installing EVERYTHING (and I do mean everything) on your computer.

That said, this book is really well written, flows logically and will explain enough of SharePoint to give you a head start.

I bought the Kindle version of this book hoping to quickly learn the basics of Sharepoint. What I got instead was a rather confusing text of facts and tips which do not appear to be placed in a very logical order. I should also say that the formatting on the Kindle version is terrible, and made this book harder to read. The author states that this book is designed so the user can skip to particular sections of interest -- however, trying to read this book cover to cover feels very much like you are skipping about. It reminds me of someone showing off some of the coolest features of their latest gadget without showing you how it really works.

While I am sure that the author knows her subject thoroughly, it is not conveyed in this book. There is a cohesiveness lacking - no larger picture presented to tie all the parts together and help them to make sense. After reading this, I still don't feel like I have much of an understanding of Sharepoint beyond it's an intranet web server where you can post stuff and customize websites for you business. I certainly don't feel ready to deploy and support it.

I was under the gun to assist a client in fine-tuning their new deployment of Sharepoint server 3.0. having alot of dba, lotus notes and asp.net experience helped, but this book is from where i pulled the specifics on WSS. it's a bit much trudging thru at first, but when you're 50-75% complete, you have a good understanding of administration and some development tips to get you started in the right direction. mostly, i found this book to be a solid reference guide to look back and quickly refresh myself with the specifics on how-to.

-Frank Melvin IV
www.melvinsystems.com