This past week at work we have been having some in-depth training.  The interesting thing is it hasn't been SQL Server, although the Microsoft product involved uses it extensively, it has been Windows SharePoint Services and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server.

The reason I thought I'd talk about it briefly is what I have learned about it during the last 4 days.  My previous employer used it, and based on one of my co-workers who also worked there with me, its use there exploded after I left.  Everyone in the company used it extensively.  We started using Windows SharePoint Services about three years ago a little bit.  I implemented a small team site when we first started our Data Warehouse project, but it didn't go anywhere beyond that for a quite awhile.  We developed a small POC site last school year hat went over pretty good at the school where it was used, but it wasn't really a ready for prime-time site.

We have put together a site just recently that went into production for our Professional Development department.  We'll see how this site goes.  The interesting thing here is that the developer that put it together wishes we had had this class first.  Found some things he would have done quite differently had he known more about the product.

I have learned quite a bit myself.  WSS and MOSS are both extremely powerful development platforms.  WSS for department level applications, and MOSS for Enterprise applications.  If you get the opportunity to work with either product, take the time to really learn it in depth, I think you'll be quite surprised.  For me, there are a couple of minor issues, the most glaring is the lack of scheduled backups for Farms, Site Collections, and Sites.  You either have to use Task Scheduler (I haven't figured out yet how to get a job in SQL Server Agent to run the STSADM tool to run a backup) or purchase a third party tool to accomplish the task.

I'm actually looking forward to learning a lot more about WSS and MOSS over the next few months.