The long waiting game will soon end for enterprises looking to upgrade their Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server 2003 installations, as the much delayed Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007 becomes generally available later this month.

Analyst firm CMS Watch reports that while MOSS makes advances in many directions, the updated version is still held back by a significant number of limitations.

MOSS is a part of the new Office 2007, also due out in November. MOSS now combines traditional SharePoint collaboration and portal services with Microsoft CMS and adds new functionality, such as Enterprise Content Management and Records Management.

Microsoft has published initial guidance and best practices for upgrading from SharePoint 2003 to MOSS 2007. Nevertheless, upgrading will require careful planning and extensive testing given the dearth of real-world upgrade experience. Meanwhile, example upgrade solutions emphasize installations with minimal changes to the default configurations of the old version.

By Brice Dunwoodie
Original Article: http://www.cmswire.com/cms/cms-reviews/ana...2007-000856.php