Microsoft's product has the most user-friendly interface of the products we tested. It's clean and configurable, but it falls short on document collaboration and workspace features. WSS supports only a Windows 2003 Server environment, but if you have that, it's available as a free download.
WSS makes it easy to manage a default team Web site and create other sites by department or function. We created a number of sites for our editorial departments--such as Sneak Previews and Workshops. With one click, a wizard gave us options for creating new sites. After adding a title and description, we identified a URL for a Web folder to access content. WSS supports WebDAV to synchronize content offline, like the products from Open Text, Stellent and Vignette do. We selected a site from a number of templates designed for team collaboration, meetings and decisions.
WSS doesn't include workflow functionality; you'll need a third-party tool or a custom solution. Also, WSS cannot process e-mail for workspaces.
Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 2.0. Microsoft Corp., (800) 426-9400, (425) 882-8080. www.microsoft.com
Livelink comes up short on features and functionality, but it does provide workspace functionality and an easy-to-use workflow at a moderate price. Like Vignette's product, it requires a great deal of user training.
