Readers of this blog no that I am no fan of Microsoft.  However, I am actually kind of excited about the official launch of SharePoint 2010 today.

Previous versions of SharePoint were okay...actually, they were pretty limited, extremely clunky, and revealed Microsoft's blatant desire to give the finger to everyone not on "approved" (read Microsoft-developed) platforms.

Well, 2010 reverses alot of this.  The architecture has been reworked, so sites in SharePoint actually bear some resemblence to web standards.  User interfaces have been SERIOUSLY upgraded so that managing content is more enjoyable and less like oral surgery.

But perhaps the coolest part of 2010 is that there is truly deep interaction with the full suite of Office products.  From Word, to SQL Server, to Visual Studio, it seems that every single Office app has really meaningful hooks into the core of what SharePoint does.  What does this mean?  Well, Office is now no longer something you have on your crappy work PC...with SharePoint 2010, it's the power of the Office Suite available anywhere you might be.