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SharePoint 2013 will integrate Yammer, provide platform around the online version
November 14, 2012 | Author: Michael Stromann
At the SharePoint Conference 2012 Microsoft revealed some new facts about the upcoming SharePoint 2013. But nothing specific has been announced - just few promises. The exact release date is also still unknown. Microsoft's corporate vice president of the Office Division Kris Koenigsbauer promises a launch during the first fiscal quarter of 2013, which falls between October 1, 2012 and December 31, 2012. Now about the Yammer. As expected, Microsoft will integrate this social intranet service (acquired in June) into SharePoint. The integration will be done via Yammer Web Parts and Yammer Open Graph. Got it? And soon (Microsoft says) SharePoint will become a system "powered by Yammer". Ok, let's look what is the real sense of integration between SharePoint and Yammer.
The fact is that SharePoint 2013 has already own social intranet module. Look at the screenshot above - it's SharePoint 2013 without Yammer. It's social module may lack some features that are in Yammer, but it provieds enough social function for most users.
The main purpose of Yammer acquisition - was not buying the software engine or the development team, but a) the Yammer's customer client (85% of the Fortune 500 companies), b) removing the strong competitor, c) the reputation of social vendor. So now Microsoft just needs to connect brands Yammer and SharePoint and gradually transfer the Yammer users to SharePoint. So, we shouldn't expect any revolutional product from Yammer-SharePoint integration. They'll write "powered by Yammer" in the bottom - and that will be enough.
What are the other interesting news about SharePoint 2013? First, Microsoft promised that it will (some day) allow developers to create add-ons for the online version of SharePoint, just as it works for the local version. Creating an online platform with an app store was super-promising affair a couple of years ago. Salesforce did it. But now it's may be too late for Microsoft.
Second, Microsoft promised to provide full mobile support for SharePoint. In addition to Windows Phone app, SharePoint will be (some day) accessible from Windows 8 tablets (Metro), iPhone and Android.
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