Introduction:
Although the two products have similarities, and Telerik addresses more and more SharePoint features with each new release, in our opinion there are still two different purposes:
Sitefinity is designed for content management of a public site
SharePoint is designed for enterprise-wide document management and intranet web page collaboration.
We have various projects where we are very involved in both products, so we stay updated on both products.
Sitefinity is a great product with a great future; Telerik continues to improve the product with a keen eye to improve the product to address the most important aspects of content management.
SharePoint is a large and cumbersome product that is too expensive due to its functionality and its biggest flaw. Our attitude towards SharePoint Services Toronto is just to stay on the surface with a configured implementation without customization. As we tried to customize the product, we quickly discovered that it is difficult, if not impossible, to manage (for example, custom forms with InfoPath will stop and restart the entire Sharepoint service because a DLL update is introduced). There are some very good features that are hard to beat and that is why we use them, but we strongly warn our customers about the dangers of customization.
Can Sitefinity be used for document management and collaboration?
Yes, you can, but the larger the implementation, the more robust the case for SharePoint features that Sitefinity does not currently have (for example, custom lists, spreadsheet data entry, sites embedded in sites, the ability to save a template to a site hierarchy that includes data for easy reuse and the detailed backup plan that allows the restoration of a single document).
Will Sitefinity continue to challenge Microsoft until the tide turns?
I’m sure Telerik can and will stand up to Microsoft SharePoint. If you look at Telerik’s product line, they have consistently implemented a better visual tool than Microsoft, even when it’s Microsoft’s own design (eg RADControls, Sitefinity, Web UI Test, etc.).
Can Sitefinity do that in the near future?
No, I think not. Telerik takes the time to get Sitefinity v4.0 right and address its current core customer base – site content management. This is where they need to focus and develop. With their excellent visualization skills, can and can add features that compete directly with SharePoint.
Which SharePoint feature do I want to see in Sitefinity?
Let me copy HTML content, including images, and paste it into a content block where the copied images are automatically handled within Sitefinity. Then a quick check C for copying and a check V to paste and the content is done. I do not want to have to store each graphic or image individually on my desktop, then upload them to a Sitefinity image library and then create a reference for each one within the textual content at each strategic location.
Sitefinity is sold to customers because the time they save by managing content within Sitefinity has an ROI of a few days. A CMS package breaks the barrier of creating new content or updating existing content. One can log in and go to a suitable content module to add the specific content without worrying about the page layout and uniform structure of the website, it is already done for them.
However, if you want to incorporate existing content (e.g. HTML with images), there can be a significant effort to ‘rebuild’ the content when images are formatted to content … the barrier is still quite high.
So what’s the difference between Sitefinity and SharePoint?
SharePoint Services Toronto
Surrounding:
Sitefinity: public, Sharepoint: private
Libraries:
Sitefinity: yes, SharePoint: yes
Workflow:
Sitefinity: Light, SharePoint: Light with GUI
Image library:
Sitefinity: better, SharePoint: good
Blogs:
Sitefinity: yes, SharePoint: yes
Wikier:
Sitefinity: good, SharePoint: better with clips and paste images
Newsletters:
Sitefinity: weak, SharePoint: no
User administration:
Sitefinity: yes, SharePoint: yes
Role management:
Sitefinity: yes, SharePoint: yes
Permits:
Sitefinity: yes, SharePoint: yes
Form Manager:
Sitefinity – Complete with v4, SharePoint – Hard
Page design:
Sitefinity – Let, SharePoint – Complex
Custom lists:
Sitefinity: No, SharePoint: Yes
