The year of SharePoint 2013?

2013 is now firmly upon us. As the holidays become a distant memory, and our thoughts turn to getting back into shape in the New Year, what kind of condition is SharePoint 2013 in? What does 2013 hold for it?

Well, the latest version of Microsoft's flagship enterprise product is now out of beta, and will soon be in the hands of anyone who wants to get it. We’ve seen a few changes since the “technical preview” was first unveiled in July last year, but it has been a very stable and well run beta program.

It is end users who face the biggest changes in 2013. The UI of SharePoint is radical departure from that of SharePoint 2010. While it is in line with Microsoft's other “2013” releases (Windows, Office) there is certainly a degree of retraining and education that needs to take place before users feel comfortable. Is the UI better than SharePoint 2010? I’m not so sure it’s better as such; some issues are resolved but new ones have slipped in to take their place (e.g. When is an app a list, and vice versa).

Overall SharePoint 2013 is an exciting proposition for many. 2013 should see the first major rollouts, and should see developers getting to grips with the new functionality. It should also see the first service pack, and probably lots of new Yammer related features.

So yes, 2013 will be the year of SharePoint, and there are exciting times ahead. It might just take a little longer, and into 2014, before everyone (users and developers alike) feel the same way about 2013 as they do currently the much trusted SharePoint 2010.