A screen shot or two would have been very helpful. This article reads like the author has a distinct bias for "anything but Microsoft" solutions, so I discount his enthusiasm for this product. I'm not even compelled to download it and try it out just because they "emulated the Microsoft shared drive". What does that mean from an ECM perspective?

I see an overhyped product in an article likely written by a friend of a friend, not a killer product. Mark my words, SharePoint will be ubiquitous in the corporate landscape, Alfresco will not.

Yes, a screenshot would help. Characterising this article as "anti Microsoft" is hogwash. More products have been mentioned then only Microsoft products.

The sound of your mail is one of a fanboy; "sharepoint will be ubiquitous". As far as I am concerned Vista is still distant and vapourware. It may become a good product but so far we have had many indications where the wind would come from and we have seen many things blow over.

So if Microsoft now has a bigger problem as more of its functionality can also be found elsewhere, I would say good for them because in a healthy competitive environment they will have a chance to shine.

The story on Alfresco was somewhat short on product details, including screenshots, but this may very well be a result of the deliberate silence of the vendor.

Indeed there were references to other ECM applications other that Microsoft's (Note: Sharepoint is not considered an ECM), and it is quite possible that Alfresco can garner strong support in the corporate/enterprise market, simply because Java's "dominance" and the probable direct links to Alfresco, which eliminates Sharepoint from such position (not being a Java advocate).

The story on Alfresco was somewhat short on product details, including screenshots, but this may very well be a result of the deliberate silence of the vendor.

Indeed there were references to other ECM applications other that Microsoft's (Note: Sharepoint is not considered an ECM), and it is quite possible that Alfresco can garner strong support in the corporate/enterprise market, simply because Java's "dominance" and the probable direct links to Alfresco, which eliminates Sharepoint from such position (not being a Java advocate).

"sharepoint will be ubiquitous"

Unlikely - it does not run on Linux.

A link to the company would be nice

Want a screenshot? Deliberate silence of the vendor?

Go the Web site, morons. Don't know how to use Google? Try clicking on the blue word "Alfresco" - you know, the FIRST WORD in the article?

As for Alfresco not being considered a competitor to Sharepoint, notice that said Alfresco Web site does in fact refer to it's being an alternative to Sharepoint.

Doesn't run on Linux? From the Datasheet:

Minimum Requirements
JDK 5.0 or higher, 512 MB RAM, 100 MB hard disk space,400 MHz CPU.

Supported Operating Systems:
Microsoft Windows, Linux, Apple OS X®, Unix

Supported Databases:
Interoperable with any database supported by Hibernate, including MySQL® and Oracle®.

In other words, the usual comments from people who haven't bothered to look at the product but prefer to comment based on second-hand articles.

Either that or they're all Windows shills.

The "doesn't run on Linux" was referring to SharePoint. I know it's exciting when you are in mid-flame, but take a few deep breaths and /then/ respond. It sounds crazy, but it works!

Yes, don't be LAZY!
the link is provided in the first word of this article.
let me show you again:
http://www.alfresco.org/
-ws-

For those seriously interested in a complete, functionally modular ECM that is not tied to Hibernate for database access. Is truely cross platform, incorporates multiple workflow engines and is already in use in tens of thousands of locations. You should look no further than http://www.plone.org

[Note from site editors: Plone is a web content management system, not a document content management system (which is what Alfresco and SharePoint focus on).]

Windows SharePoint Services is a FREE product and because it is a .NET application, can be treated as a platform to build upon. SharePoint also provides a ton of out-of-the-box functionality such as on the fly collaboration sites (along with templates), document storage, alert mechanisms, integration with the ENTIRE Office Suite, and a fairly robust search engine.

So, with that said... I hardly see this as a SharePoint killer. It's a good idea but this article clearly is over-hype.

Also, how can something be "innovative" if it has already been done??

I don't think it's fair to categorize my post as "hype." I wasn't hyping anything. I was just speculating that this open source ECM play strikes me as having the best chance to displace Sharepoint over time. (OK, that said, the title of the blog entry was a bit "loud," but would you have bothered to read it if it hadn't been? :-)

As for innovation (i.e., the lack thereof), that charge should be laid at Microsoft's door, not Alfresco's (or any other open source CM system, like Plone above). Open source brings an innovative business model to the mix that SharePoint which, when it grows up fully, will look/feel/sell like Documentum and company. That's a losing strategy. It's a winner as SharePoint takes out these established vendors over time (just as Microsoft has done in a range of products, like servers, where it was initially laughable but then rose to be a serious competitor, only to now be undercut by the formerly laughable Linux - Innovator's Dilemma, anyone?), but will become a loser as open source products like Alfresco's ECM kill its fundamentally flawed business model eventually. (Also on innovation, Alfresco would win that argument, anyway, since they're the guys who invented the ECM space that Microsoft is now copying.)

Lastly, be careful how you distinguish SharePoint. Yes, Services is "free" (if you've already bought Server 2003, which isn't exactly cheap, as well as use the rest of the Microsoft infrastructure like IIS, SQL, etc.), but SharePoint Portal (the "grown up SharePoint") is not.

In all this, keep in mind that I'm hopelessly biased. I advise Alfresco. Alfresco aside, though, I'd bet on open source projects like Plone, Joomla/Mambo, etc. before I'd bet on Microsoft's business model, no matter how good the technology ends up being (which I'm willing to bet it is/will be - I use it now, and it's a decent product, and looks even better when you consider ease of use compared to other systems (This has always been Microsoft's strength)). The "killer" of SharePoint has less to do with technology and much more to do with business model.

Matt, everyone is entitled to their opinion and I'm glad you have backed down from your original statement. Innovative Business Model has nothing to with SharePoint as a portal/application but rather with Microsoft itself. Last I checked, Bill Gates became a VERY rich man off this Business Model so I'm not sure that's the right point to make there either. It would also have helped if your opening line said "In all this, keep in mind that I'm hopelessly biased. I advise Alfresco."

I also want to make one correction. Windows SharePoint Services is free and is dependent on the purchase of Windows Server 2003 (IIS included). I will make the point also to say that WSS comes with it's own version of SQL entitled WMSDE which is FREE but limited from the full functionality you'd have with purchasing SQL Server. You're not exactly advising for free either right? Everyone has to make a $$ somewhere. SharePoint Portal Server is not free as you mentioned but remember that it is WSS that Portal is built on top of and thus, gives you your collaboration capabilities.

I also dont agree with creating loud titles for the sake of sensationlizing an opinion (hence, "hype"). I might have read this with growing interest in a new product rather than reading this in the more negative fashion as I have. You've giving people a reason NOT to look at the product based on an opinionated post without all the facts and without all the details of your standpoint (your advisement of Alfresco).

Yes, I like others have read your article but wasn't the real point to gain interest in the product itself and not begin a debate?

This "article" is nothing more than a rehash of the first two links on the Alfresco page.

Better business model? For whom? Certainly not for the creating a profitable company, if you're trying to compete with the likes of Plumtree and Microsoft. Certainly not for customers, who are left with "AS-IS" support. Certainly not for open source, which now has yet-another portal system in the mix to confuse people with.

It probably is a better business model for the "big name executives"..

Sharepoint is certainly NOT free, requiring a number of servers to run a minimal portal. If you have any high volume at all, you end up with front-end servers, index servers(s) a search server, and SQL cluster of servers, with performance that is about the same as you would get from 2 Linux servers, one as a FE and one low end indexer. All of those MS servers require not too cheap licenses that MS loves to sell, and Office 2003+ on every computer in the system (10000+ computers!). I am not what you would call an MS fan, mind you, but Sharepoint is one of those "Solutions" that is seeking a problem right now. I just got back from thet MTC in Chicago and was very unimpressed by the way the MS techs tried to make SP "fit" our problems. Of course our other people were nodding the whole time but they aren't that experienced with systems design, and think if it has an MS on the box, it must be good. I for one am looking at the alternatives!

Hey,

I liked the article.
I was looking for something like this. We need offline-edit capabilities, document-locking etc.
Ideally, they (alfresco) would implement something like iFolder - then, it would be perfect IMO.
Yes, I don't want to run SP. We're just as biased towards Unix as others are towards MSFT.

Hi All!
Can anyone tell(rough) how much will be cost the "full-stack" SharePoint solution (with and without the additional desktop licenses for MS Office)?

I.e. :
1. How much cost the server side
[Asay: The cost of Windows Server 2003 and SQL Server. Depending on whether you actually want SharePoint to (sort of) scale, you'll then need to invest in SharePoint Portal. Mucho dollars for it all, unless you compare it to Documentum et al, in which case lightweight SharePoint seems relatively cheap. But then, I'm not comparing it to those overbloated programs - I'm comparing it to Alfresco.]

2. How much cost the one desktop side.
[Asay: Generally, you need to have IE if you want to get the most from it. It's free, of course, but my experience was that unless you're using Windows, you have a sub-standard experience. So you need Windows and probably Office if you want to take advantage of that.]

Thanks!

I would love to know the point-by-point differences between SharePoint and Alfresco. Can anyone help me please?

Debaditya, hop over to http://www.cmsmatrix.org and select the two products to compare. I've played with both and the devil is in the detail but CMS Matrix gives you the a rough indication of the differences.

http://www.cmsmatrix.org may find it difficult to keep up with the efforts of the MOSS and Alfresco communities as they compete to fill the gaps between user needs and the base product.

For instance, The first 'No' in the MOSS column says that CAPTCHA is not available in MOSS. Most MOSS installations don't need CAPTCHA because users must be authenticated. However, I've seen CAPTCHA added for public-facing MOSS sites as part of the FBA (forms-based authentication) project, it's a free download from codeplex--which is open source.