Understanding the evolutionary process of SharePoint Team Services to Windows SharePoint Services and of SharePoint Portal Server 2001 to SharePoint Portal Server 2003 is helpful to users of the older generation of products.
Windows SharePoint Services and SharePoint Portal Server 2003 are recommended based on significant advancements in features and functionality that benefit administrators as well as end users and help to create a secure and scalable knowledge management and collaboration environment.
Windows SharePoint Services and SharePoint Portal Server 2003 require Windows Server 2003 and IIS 6.0 to run, and these products offer significant advantages over Windows 2000 Server and IIS 5.0 that were used by the previous generation of SharePoint products.
Although SharePoint 2003 technologies provide many new and enhanced features that stand on their own, to get the most value of the new SharePoint technology, Microsoft Office 2003 should be used with SharePoint.
As more companies adopt the SharePoint family of products, third-party products are proliferating and should be explored to extend the functionality and value of the SharePoint environment.
