14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates characterized the growth of Office SharePoint Server 2007 as nothing short of spectacular. Present at the company's Office SharePoint Conference 2008, Gates underscored the strong adoption Office SharePoint Server 2007 is enjoying throughout corporate environments. According to data made available by the Redmond company, SharePoint sales exceeded $1 billion, having already passed the 100 million sold licenses mark.
"There is an incredible demand today for solutions that help businesses to harness the power of a global work force and tackle the challenges that come with the explosive growth of digital information. The spectacular growth of SharePoint is the result of the great combination of collaboration and information management capabilities it delivers. I believe that the success we've seen so far is just the beginning for SharePoint," Gates said.
SharePoint is designed to centralize information in large enterprises by connecting people and processes. At the same time, Gates announced that Microsoft would continue to focus on investing in SharePoint. Another milestone reached by the company is the SharePoint Online beta service along with Exchange Online beta, delivered to customers as a per-user subscription service.
And on top of these new offerings under the Microsoft Online Services umbrella, the company is now also offering Search Server 2008 Express, as a free enterprise search solution available for download. And last but not least, Gates introduced Silverlight Blueprint for SharePoint, delivering interactivity to SharePoint's Web application platform.
"We are taking another big step forward in our software plus services evolution to deliver solutions that give customers choice and flexibility, whether those solutions are Web-based, managed on site or anywhere in between," stated Chris Capossela, senior vice president, Information Worker Group, Microsoft. "Microsoft Online Services, including Exchange Online and SharePoint Online, also give partners opportunities to develop new services that expand customer reach and generate new revenue."