Re: ...trying to sip from a firehose...

Kevin,

It's hard to truly get a feel for how SharePoint compares without using it.
You may want to consider installing it on a test machine so you can see for
yourself how different aspects work.

We also use Lotus Notes, but I don't know what you mean by "transparently"
either. In fact, I find a major pain point in Notes is the "Save
replication" error that occurs frequently when users are trying to update the
same document at the same time. To me, it is just better document management
to use the "Check Out" feature so that users aren't overwriting others'
changes.

In SharePoint, a user can open a file read-only, or open it in Edit mode.
If they have it open for Edit, and another user tries to open it for Edit,
the second user will get a message stating that and they can then open it in
read-only mode. That's better, IMHO, than trying to merge different
versions after the fact. Secondly, if a user opens a doc that is already
open for edit by someone else, they will not automatically see the new data
real-time; they'd need to get a fresh copy.



"Kevin" wrote:

By transparently, I just mean that the other users don't (have to) know or
care that other users are in the file. Toss a spread*** (or database or
document, etc) onto a file share and the 2nd & subsequent users get locked
out, read-only or other messages about someone else using the file - just
trying to avoid that & let them all share the data.

Now, in the Sharepoint list you mentioned - does that still 'look & feel'
like the spread*** they thought they were using? If user C makes a change,
does that update onto user A's & user B's screens in real time (or do they
have to refresh to see changes?)?

I'm trying to get very basic information to make a decision on Sharepoint or
not and the amount & level of information actually makes that harder - there
is just so much..

Thank you for your reply and that does help - but, as you can see, it also
brings up more questions...

K


"Engelbert" wrote:

You can convert a spread*** to a SharePoint list and then many people can
open and edit the list simultaneously as they can be amending different
records.

I have no idea what you mean by "transparently" though.

Engelbert

"Kevin" <Kevin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1E8FDDD0-CDA9-484B-8DB4-A1948BEAE926@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Ok, there can certainly be no criticism of 'lack of information' about
Sharepoint..

The problem is, I have very basic questions and there is just too much
information to get good, simple answers.

We have an all WindowsXP/OfficeXP environment with the one (annoying)
exception of Lotus Notes.

Notes allows document sharing in a way I can't seem to get elsewhere. I
need for a dozen or more people to be able to open & edit the same
spread*** simultaneously and transparently. I can do this with Notes -
but
that isn't enough of a reason to keep it. I want to do away with Notes
and I
need some way for users to share files not normally shareable.

We could use a ton of other features, I'm sure - but this is the
immediate,
demonstrable business need.

Can Sharepoint do this? I don't know sharepoint, so a ton of involved
explanation isn't going to help me much - just the facts, ma'am?

Thanks in advance..

K



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