SharePoint Review

I will beg to differ on the issue of password management. While it is true that establishing users and passwords is a fairly simple and straightforward proposition, the "art" of the solution lies in the capabilities provided to the individual users once passwords are established. Not all users are created equally, and accordingly they should not have access to the same capabilities or content. Setting up an individual users capabilities, on a per page (or on a file by file) basis can be tricky and it is easy to inadvertently grant the wrong level of access to a user. While, admittedly, this is not a user issue, it is a user access issue. Additionally (and at least on earlier versions - do not know if this has been addressed in newer releases) new users added to existing user groups (for example the departmental employee list) may not automatically receive authorization to access pages and will have to be added manually.

I disagree with several points. One, many other options provide integration with LDAP, OAUTH, etc systems. So for many, this is a non-issue. Two, while it might be accessible from anywhere in the world, you fail to note that some functionality is only available to people using Internet Explorer. No other CMS that I know of has such a constraint. Three, saying that "if you're on Active Directory, there are no real competitors" needs more explanation. If it's about password management, I've already discounted that argument.

Correct on both accounts. Every software solution has pros and cons. Fortunately with SharePoint 2013, there are far more pros than cons.

The only functionality I am aware of that needs IE is the server farm SSL security administration, which is a seldom touched highly administrative function; of course IE is the only browser that supports ActiveX so I maybe missing something. I would actually argue that there is improved user functionality in some instances for Firefox over IE, such as the ability to resize text areas.

Regarding the LDAP integration, I have come across people that consider password synchronization to be integration; for me it's SSO and nothing less. To this end there are certainly many systems out there that achieve seamless SSO using SPNEGO Kerberos running off LDAP, but for Claims authentication (SharePoint default) it's a different matter. At best you may be able to use something like PicketLink, Once again, if you're talking Office 365 then it's O-Auth and that's much easier to integrate. Taking this a step further, SharePoint automatically manages password changes for service accounts and provides social functionality such as dynamic organization charts and badging based on AD properties.

I would certainly look at other options, but the bar is set pretty high by SharePoint if you are using Microsoft Office file formats on an Active Directory Network. Also, times change: once upon a time (5+ years ago?) Microsoft held back on browser support, workflow scalability and other features for perceived commercial reasons. SharePoint and Linux - as every decent product should - adapt and grow over time and are nothing like the versions on 10 years ago. What other CMS allows editing DOCX and XLXS in my phone's web browser? Only OX and SharePoint can do that.