Essential Reading Series: Review of the SharePoint 2016 launch discussions

This week we are publishing the “essential reading” post a little bit earlier – also I am having quiet a twist on a purely one-technology coverage. The talk is about SharePoint and last week’s discussion around the version 2016 launch event.

The event created quite some buzz around the hashtag of “#futureofsharepoint“. Daniel Glenn captured and analyzed the comments in his blog:

In the aftermath of the event quite a number of people have published reviews and wrap-ups of the news around SharePoint 2016.

For our “Essential Reading” post we have collected some key contributions:

The Future of SharePoint – Official blog post by the SharePoint team on the “four key pillars of the SharePoint 2016” update with (1) simple and powerful file sharing and collaboration on any device, (2) an mobile app and the integration of PowerApps and Microsoft Flow for a more automated and intelligent intranet, (3) a new SharePoint Framework as open and connected platform and client-side programming enhancements, and (4) some security, privacy and compliance features.
List of demo videos of the new SharePoint 2016 functionality by Microsoft Mechanics
Overview of the new SharePoint – modern team sites, pages, web parts and applications by Chris O’Brian – “Team sites and publishing sites get the biggest update I’ve seen in years, and pages and web parts work differently – there’s a new web part framework based on JavaScript. These updates will come first to SharePoint Online but eventually to on-premises SharePoint too. You might have seen the “Future of SharePoint” announcements on May 4 2016 – in this post I want to go over the new things and add some thoughts, having been fortunate enough to be looking at this stuff for a while now.”
Thoughts About The Future of SharePoint by Michael Sampson – stating: “I liked what I heard today, but overall I’d say the event would have been better called “the catchup of SharePoint” rather than “the future of SharePoint” (clearly I’d never get a job in marketing). It’s nice to know SharePoint has a future, and it was good to see what’s coming, but a lot of what was profiled addressed long-standing issues with SharePoint, rather than announcing revolutionary innovations to drive the offering forward as one component of the much greater picture that is Office 365.”
With New Enhancements, Microsoft Partners Declare SharePoint Is Roaring Back – All the SharePoint enhancements Microsoft is unveiling on Wednesday effectively mean that the platform is back as a substantial business opportunity for the Microsoft ecosystem, partners say.