Free SharePoint?
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We're currently using WSS 3.0 (it was setup before I started working for this company; over 5 years ago). The specific version of SharePoint that we're using is v12.0.0.4518, and our SQL version is 2008 (v10.2.4000.0). The server that this is running on is a domain controller, and it's configured so all of our staff can access it from outside the network (https://intranet.lakeimaging.com).
We would like to decommission the physical host that this is all currently running on, so we've been looking into options to migrate our SharePoint data to either the cloud or to another host in-house.
If upper management doesn't approve us to go with SharePoint in the cloud, I wanna be prepared to migrate this in-house, so I'm trying to find out more info about my options.
As you can imagine, one of the hot comments that has come up from management is: "Well, So-and-so setup our current SharePoint for free, so we should be able to either use the same version we're using right now, or we could go with a newer free version". Without knowing any details, I tried to tell them "Even if we go with a newer free version, I'm not sure we would be allowed to let our 250+ users access it without some sort of licensing compliance". Can someone confirm if this is true or not?
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The free version of Sharepoint is gone.
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Sharepoint Foundation is free. Though i think 2013 is the last version of that. Not sure about SP 2016.
YOu can still download 2013 foundation -
@momurda said in Free SharePoint?:
Sharepoint Foundation is free. Though i think 2013 is the last version of that. Not sure about SP 2016.
YOu can still download 2013 foundationIt's fully gone now.
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Sharepoint Foundation 2013 was the last "free" version of Sharepoint. Although it had some major limitations associated with it. You can still download it here.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=42039
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@scottalanmiller That's really great. Now my boss wont ask me to make a SP server if i tell him itll cost thousands of dollars. And i will be happy.
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@momurda said in Free SharePoint?:
@scottalanmiller That's really great. Now my boss wont ask me to make a SP server if i tell him itll cost thousands of dollars. And i will be happy.
He'll start asking you about Alfresco instead.
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@coliver said in Free SharePoint?:
Sharepoint Foundation 2013 was the last "free" version of Sharepoint. Although it had some major limitations associated with it. You can still download it here.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=42039
The free versions always did. Did they get worse?
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@momurda said in Free SharePoint?:
@scottalanmiller That's really great. Now my boss wont ask me to make a SP server if i tell him itll cost thousands of dollars. And i will be happy.
Yup, the last, highly limited free version was FOUR years ago. At this point, even that one is old enough that it sounds like a bad idea for a new deployment.
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@coliver said in Free SharePoint?:
@momurda said in Free SharePoint?:
@scottalanmiller That's really great. Now my boss wont ask me to make a SP server if i tell him itll cost thousands of dollars. And i will be happy.
He'll start asking you about Alfresco instead.
Way better
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@scottalanmiller said in Free SharePoint?:
@coliver said in Free SharePoint?:
Sharepoint Foundation 2013 was the last "free" version of Sharepoint. Although it had some major limitations associated with it. You can still download it here.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=42039
The free versions always did. Did they get worse?
Nope still the same stringent limitations just wanted to make mention of it.
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@coliver said in Free SharePoint?:
@scottalanmiller said in Free SharePoint?:
@coliver said in Free SharePoint?:
Sharepoint Foundation 2013 was the last "free" version of Sharepoint. Although it had some major limitations associated with it. You can still download it here.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=42039
The free versions always did. Did they get worse?
Nope still the same stringent limitations just wanted to make mention of it.
LOL, okay. Is there a user limit? I don't think that there ever was.
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@scottalanmiller said in Free SharePoint?:
@coliver said in Free SharePoint?:
@scottalanmiller said in Free SharePoint?:
@coliver said in Free SharePoint?:
Sharepoint Foundation 2013 was the last "free" version of Sharepoint. Although it had some major limitations associated with it. You can still download it here.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=42039
The free versions always did. Did they get worse?
Nope still the same stringent limitations just wanted to make mention of it.
LOL, okay. Is there a user limit? I don't think that there ever was.
No, no user limits. But there a limits on pretty much every feature of Sharepoint. Even searching gets hit.
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I wonder if this would work as a replacement?
https://www.bitrix24.com/prices/We could roll with the free version, but our users couldn't access it externally. Their versions that support external access though are only $99/month.
I'm a little leery about going down an alternate road though for fear that the staff will freak out from such a drastic change (although the alternative of not having SharePoint at all could be just as freaky, lol).
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@Shuey Look at Alfresco. https://www.alfresco.com/
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@coliver said in Free SharePoint?:
@Shuey Look at Alfresco. https://www.alfresco.com/
That's pretty much the standard answer.
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@scottalanmiller said in Free SharePoint?:
@momurda said in Free SharePoint?:
@scottalanmiller That's really great. Now my boss wont ask me to make a SP server if i tell him itll cost thousands of dollars. And i will be happy.
Yup, the last, highly limited free version was FOUR years ago. At this point, even that one is old enough that it sounds like a bad idea for a new deployment.
That's not that old. I don't think it deserves writing in upper case
It's under mainstream support until 2018. I'd be more concerned about still using SQL Server 2008 with it. Now that is old, and expensive to upgrade.We're using 2013 Foundation. I've never ran into limitations that bother me, it's a great product. We are moving to Sharepoint Online in the next 12 months though. If you're used to free, and you don't use O365 already, the $60 per user per year may sting a bit, especially if you don't really need the extra features versus Foundation and you already have SQL Server on-premise.
I imagine that migrating a 250+ user Sharepoint server to Alfresco is a massive project. Good luck.
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@Carnival-Boy said in Free SharePoint?:
@scottalanmiller said in Free SharePoint?:
@momurda said in Free SharePoint?:
@scottalanmiller That's really great. Now my boss wont ask me to make a SP server if i tell him itll cost thousands of dollars. And i will be happy.
Yup, the last, highly limited free version was FOUR years ago. At this point, even that one is old enough that it sounds like a bad idea for a new deployment.
That's not that old. I don't think it deserves writing in upper case
It's under mainstream support until 2018. I'd be more concerned about still using SQL Server 2008 with it. Now that is old, and expensive to upgrade.We're using 2013 Foundation. I've never ran into limitations that bother me, it's a great product. We are moving to Sharepoint Online in the next 12 months though. If you're used to free, and you don't use O365 already, the $60 per user per year may sting a bit, especially if you don't really need the extra features versus Foundation and you already have SQL Server on-premise.
I imagine that migrating a 250+ user Sharepoint server to Alfresco is a massive project. Good luck.
Using something with six months of support left is.... questionable. Deploying something new that will be out of support before you are done installing it though.....
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Using 2013 still today with a plan to update seems just fine. Rolling it out now seems crazy. No support from day one. Dead product with no future. That'll be a major problem very quickly.
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I'm not recommending it. Depends on the OP's circumstances. But you could probably get the whole thing, installed, migrated and live in a couple of hours (he says, having never actually done it). Sure, there's a massive element of kicking the can down the road by sticking with free Sharepoint, but sometimes kicking the can down the road is a good idea. Only sometimes though!
