Some time ago I posted a blog post about SharePoint terms (from 2007 days) to help people get their minds around the language we tend to use when speaking about, or explaining SharePoint. It was entitled SharePoint Terminology and you can read it here.
So what has changed in SharePoint 2010? What new terms should we be aware of? In this post I will do my best to re-hash that older list specifically as it pertains to SharePoint 2010.
Why am I writing these terms and sharing them?
I could write several posts about the importance of avoiding using technical terms, slang terms, and phrases that don’t work across cultures (especially after having spent quite a bit of time working internationally now) when explaining concepts, and SharePoint to another individual.
I could write a really extensive one on what “SharePoint” is, and how it creates different responses from different individuals and different groups. (Example: Dux’s “What is SharePoint?” or Steve Balmer’s statement that he would pay copious amounts of money to someone who could tell him what SharePoint was in one sentence…).
In fact I could go into great detail about why you should never call your SharePoint solutions/environment “SharePoint” and should refer to it by a brand/name you created, or by the term intranet (if that’s what it represents for you) to reduce confusion that goes with that ‘term’ and how people misunderstand it.
Finally I could write at length about perceptions and the psychology behind how we interpret things differently and how this also influences how terminology can be confusing even when carefully defined or relatively well known.
Unfortunately I don’t really have much time these days so I am going to just give you another set of terms/glossary for SharePoint 2010 . Heckle me until I give you other stuff if you think it would be interesting reading. 🙂
SharePoint 2010 Terminology (and Acronyms)
Boy are we lucky this time. There is actually a big glossary list Microsoft has provided us with for SharePoint 2010 terms. It can be read here. This is of course technical information relating the SDK, so while it might be just perfect for you, for most users I worry that this giant list can be confusing.
And so without further ado here is my SharePoint Term and Glossary list (all shiny and updated) for your viewing convenience.
Hope this helps someone,
Richard Harbridge
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Nice site Richard.
THANK YOU RICHARD.
I APPRECIATE THE EFFORT.
Genial brief and this enter helped me alot in my college assignement. Thank you on your information.
thanks Richard it is really a nice post:)
Thanks so much for this. This is a wonderful resource!!
Hi,
I was just wondering if you could provide the reference for that Steve Ballmer attribution, that he would pay copious amounts of money to the person who could explain SharePoint to him in one sentence. I can’t find it anywhere!
Thanks
Keynote from SharePoint 2009 Conference in Las Vegas. I believe it was near the beginning of his part. Note that while I remember him stating this I have not verified that the public transcript notes it, though there is a public transcript of the whole thing available online. 🙂