MOSS 2007 development is on thin ice
I've spent a few days this fall studying the technological dimensions of the new Office 2007 family – which, incidentally, went RTM on Monday (no binaries yet!). Not being an experienced SharePoint developer myself, immersion into the world of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) has been quite a trip.
Many oldschool SPS developers seem enthusiastic about the new possibilities of MOSS. I share some of that; the product certainly shows a lot of potential. But I'm getting more and more worried about the developer support that's going to available when the first really ambitious projects hit the shore. For example, I was trying to add a custom entry to a popup menu – a well-supported and documented development scenario. Googling with the strongly related term, ECBItem, returned two results. Neither of the documents helped. And zero newsgroup matches.
Also: I've attended some of the most esteemed Office 2007 courses held in Finland so far. For the most part, the instructors haven't been able to help with many of the practical development questions. There are white papers and even books around, but practical information is far less common.
The examples above are just a few isolated incidents, but they do tell a story: When developing with MOSS 2007, it's easy to stray into areas where you're reasonably alone. Sure, Microsoft's support will give you a hand and intensive Googling may help – but you're also exposing yourself to a lot of beta-level – or even SPS2003-age – material. Most of MOSS potential is relatively easy to unleash, but stretching its limits requires a lot of effort at the moment. It's easy to underestimate the amount of work required for some tasks – beware! The new world does come with its own dangers.
November 8, 2006
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Jouni Heikniemi В· 
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