Sharepoint MVP’s – Preaching to the Already Converted

Today’s MVP Summit sessions included one that had Groove and Sharepoint people in the same room. Now really this shouldn’t be a reason for concern but there still lies a perception that made me shake my head and maybe want to shake a few people but as a martial artist we are taught to use self control and I did but it wasn’t easy.
I have great respect for those MVP’s (I have done MOSS solutions) but I sat in a training for Groove synchronization with MOSS. It works! It’s what makes the dynamic collaboration scenario that Grooves provides the right solution when that collaboration includes members in or out of your domain members. Only the person designated will be able to sync documents back to the company’s MOSS.
Further to this it must be noted that many of those that worked in the enterprise space were considering installing a 3rd party product when Groove is part of the Office 2007 enterprise suite. I had to ask myself how this is beneficial to the client and client’s must ask themselves why that would be a good investment to them especially since I have actually used the two together and they work, right out of the box.
I do not blame the Sharepoint MVP community. It is a matter of education. You cannot be expected to “know it all” and Microsoft is adding new products (in fact I heard today of a new company they acquired that does even better search for Sharepoint) It’s not easy to keep up so why don’t we encourage new groups like Groove to make themselves known to their potential partners and we need to the support of Microsoft to reach some of these individual communities .
There is a phenomenal opportunity for far better solutions for all client types combining MOSS and Groove, so since the client’s satisfaction and the pride of the work we do being our ultimate goal then this subject needs to be taken to the next level.