ASP.NET vs SharePoint

[azrysyarry]

Hello guys,

My name is Azry Syarry and I am an Analyst Programmer for an IT company here in Malaysia. I just got this job and I am going to be given the responsibility of handling some projects. However, I do have to make some decisions first about this upcoming project that the company going to do. The first this is that we are having some thoughts and debate about which platform we should choose, ASP.NET or SharePoint.

Could someone please tell me the "real" difference between these two. I have read numerous blogs, articles, and websites about the discussion but somehow there are a lot more that I need to know before I present the idea to the company.

Clearly I am still a newbie in this field. lol

Thanks in advance. Your help and guidance is highly appreciated.

Azry Syarry

[dickersonka]

What are your needs for a website?

ASP.NET and Sharepoint are completely different ballgames.

If you are just needing a website, or programmability built in to a website I would suggest asp.net.

If you need a CMS system, many users, ability to change content from users, many companies or sites integrating together, then go with sharepoint. Some parts of sharepoint are free, yet others will cost quite the pretty penny. Its a bit harder to work on as well than your classic site, but just depends on what your needs are.

What does this first project entail?

[azrysyarry]

the first project is about a cms. the need of the website is to replace the current system with a total online application that caters to all users, be it internal and external. It will also act as central information and communication medium.

i know that it is possible to use asp.net on top of the sharepoint platform. but we're thinking, why should we buy the license for sharepoint if we end up just using minimal parts of of the platform?

and we want the system to be a standalone. Meaning that the users could run the system without having to buy/install too many things. they would just need a browser.

and from what i've read in certain blogs or articles, some pro-asp.net programmers and developers are saying that sharepoint progress is decreasing. how so? as far as im concern, microsoft are always improving their softwares and all.

[dickersonka]

sharepoint server is free, microsoft office sharepoint server is not free, its basically for all these additionial feature sets you will have to pay to get

look at the features you need and see if sharepoint services will work for you, or if you do need the full blown moss

you can write webparts for the free version and incorporate probably most of what you are looking for

and if you are looking for totally free, check out dotnetnuke

[azrysyarry]

with all the the abundance of integration capabilities, and features offered by sharepoint, what does asp.net have in comparison to sharepoint? what are the advantages of using asp.net compared to sharepoint?

Can a sharepoint based website stand alone for itself without having the need for users to install sharepoint? I'm still quite blur about this issue actually.

and...why should we pay for the license of sharepoint, if we might end up not really using sharepoint's features when we could just do the programming ourselves instead? could it brings us other advantages if we have sharepoint platform as the base?

[dickersonka]

asp.net definitely offers ease of programming ability and sharepoint can offer almost the same, just much harder to integrate with your classic programming model

users do not install sharepoint, the only sharepoint piece is the server that runs it, think of sharepoint as something that uses asp.net, sql server, and iis together that exhibits to the user just a regular webpage or a cms system, the users don't necessarily see any different

to see if you need to pay for the license look at microsoft's site on it, i'm not necessarily sure of what you need

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepointtechnology/FX101758691033.aspx?ofcresset=1

sharepoint does offer pretty good stability, there are a lot of quirks along the way as you integrate it, but once it gets up and going it is pretty solid

other advantages i don't necessarily know, but if you are wanting a cms through sharepoint, definitely much easier to go with it than write your own, the bad aspect is you just can't create an aspx page and expect it to work as intended or deploy through your normal means

through my experience, go with sharepoint if it fits the solution and you are looking for a cms, if you are looking for a website just with minimal cms then create your own

[ChandanSah]

can we use sqlserver with sharepoint pages ?

[Chytra.S]

Hi,
SQL server is a must for MOSS to work. Without configuring SQL server you cant create SharePoint sites or pages.

[zubairn]

hi Azry,

I am wondering if you managed to conclude this debate, weigh the pros and cons and what was your final decision? Right now i have bothered by exactly the same question.

I am looking for any quantitative criteria (there are many qualitative or theoratical ones that everyone is saying) that makes sharepoint (moss) a more feasible web-site development platform than asp .net

The cost of development in sharepoint (consultant time & effort) seems to be around 5x as compared to web-site development on asp .net

Still we may go for sharepoint if there are quantifiable benefits that are not offered by asp .net.

Would greatly appreciate your feedback.

thanks

with all the the abundance of integration capabilities, and features offered by sharepoint, what does asp.net have in comparison to sharepoint? what are the advantages of using asp.net compared to sharepoint?

Can a sharepoint based website stand alone for itself without having the need for users to install sharepoint? I'm still quite blur about this issue actually.

and...why should we pay for the license of sharepoint, if we might end up not really using sharepoint's features when we could just do the programming ourselves instead? could it brings us other advantages if we have sharepoint platform as the base?