MCMS Roadmap and Future

Via https://blogs.msdn.com/arpans/archive/2005/12/30/508244.aspx

This is a very interesting read from Arpan Shah, Product Manager for MCMS at Microsoft. He talks about the future of MCMS and its alignment with the SharePoint product.

"...we are building CMS functionality on top of Wndows SharePoint Services (WSS) "v3". CMS and SPS, along with a lot of other great functionality, will be one integrated set of technologies built on top of WSS "v3". The Office Server investments built on top of WSS "v3" are codenamed Office "12" SharePoint Servers..."

Arpan examines the different experiences for different CMS 2002 roles in the Office "12" timeframe for End-User/Subscribers, Content Contributor, Template Designer and IT Professionals

He also discusses some of the new features, such as a more complete API and enhanced Workflow. The workflow functionality will be built on top of Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) for which WSS "v3" is the host. Enterprise Search will also be integrated with the CMS functionality in Office "12" and greater support for multilingual content will be in the base product.

Being built on top of WSS "v3" means that CMS will be able to access a rich set of feature. Several example are Single Item Security, Recycle Bin, RSS, Page Layouts ("template") can have workflow and Web Parts.

In the mean time, if you are a CMS 2002 customer today, Arphan suggest that you take a look at the Reusability Whitepaper as well as his posting on start getting ready for Office "12". You should also contact your account manager/Microsoft representitive for more information on the futures of CMS.