One question I have strugled to answer clearly in past is What is the difference between Windows Sharepoint Services (WSS 3.0) and Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server?

The first difference is in the name, and is best highlighted in the words of Richard Campbel of DNR/Run-As fame:  When it is a service it is free, when it is server you have to pay for it.

The following diagram shows how I keep them apart in my mind:

To explain a bit: this is not a complete list of features, and not the most important features, just my favs

So if you have any features that you think are really important and didn't get a mention, leave me a comment!

Listening To: You're Living All Over Me, Dinosaur Jr.

OK I'm wheeling out the Sharepoint Annoyances category for one last random show - until next time (kinda like the Rolling Stones)

The problem comes when you remove WSS 3.0 from a box and the instance of Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Embedded Edition (SSEE) does not get removed. 

This is by design, however if the reason you are removing WSS 3.0 is because of a problem with the SSEE database you have a problem.

It turns out it is easy to uninstall after all - I found the answer via Jérémie Clabaut's blog.

The good news is it is a one liner to call msiexec.  Quoting Jérémie:

msiexec /x {CEB5780F-1A70-44A9-850F-DE6C4F6AA8FB} callerid=ocsetup.exe

As is documented elsewhere - don't forget to move away / delete any errant Mdf/Ldf files as they can interfere with the reinstall. 

Thanks Jérémie!

Listening To:  The Velvet Underground and Nico, The Velvet Underground

Don't get me wrong, I love Sharepoint.  Use it every day and sometimes even recommend it to others, but as no less an authority on the human condition as Ryan Adams put it, we hurt the ones we love :)

Sharepoint team:  please stop changing the names of things.  That will be all

So I've just worked it out...

If you want to edit a list in Datasheet View - an insanely useful feature - you must not have Office Basic or Office Small Business versions.

You have to have the Pro version of Office and make sure the "Microsoft Office List Datasheet Component" is installed in the "Office Tools\Windows SharePoint Services Support" option in selected as Installed under Office setup.

Again, I'm sure that there is an easy resolution to this and I know I haven't read every page of the administrators guide, or every blog post, but this one is really getting to me.

Just say 2 development teams in the same company each have their own site, tracking issues for their own product.  The rules for the problem:

• They would like to record the client who reported the issue against the issue.
• We all work in the same company, and therefore we all have the same clients.  Each client may have a product from either team, or a products for both teams.
• It is not apropriate for these issues lists to be in one site, because different partners work with different teams on different products.  These need to be kept seperate for reasons of commercial confidentality.
• It must be scalable so that more teams can be brought online with minimal effort.
• Custom development must be kept to a minimum.
  

I want to maintain one client list and one client list only that has views into each teams site.  I can't seem to make this work for me.

I'm new to Sharepoint, so here I'll start a list of Sharepoint Annoyances :)

#1:   It lets you think you are designing relational data... but you are not!

Some examples:

I have a list of clients, and I have a list of contacts (or individuals) at that client's site.  I am designing a form for entering job details and I want to link in to a job both the client who requested it and the contact at that site. 

I want the user to pick a client and then a contact that is valid for that site, but I can't seem to filter them!

Secondly, there is no validation!

I want to have a form where the user can enter a start date and a finish date.  No problems so far but logic dictates that the finish date cannot be before the start date!  I don't have a way of enforcing that.

I'm sure there are ways around these, but right now they are annoying!