Windows Server® 2012 Unleashed

SharePoint Origins

In 2001, Microsoft released SharePoint Portal Server 2001. The intent was to provide a customizable portal environment focused on collaboration, document management, and knowledge sharing. The product carried the “digital dashboard” web part technology a step further to provide an out-of-the-box solution. SharePoint Portal Server 2001 was the product that could link together the team-based websites that were springing up. SharePoint Team Services was a separate product that offered a subset of features of the “Portal” product.

Then, in the 2003 version of the SharePoint products, Microsoft developed and rebranded the products as Windows SharePoint Services, which served as the engine for the team collaboration environment. ...