Today Microsoft has made available an IT Preview of SharePoint Server 2016. Head over to the Microsoft website to download the ISO.
After playing with the IT Preview for a few hours, here are my initial thoughts:
- SharePoint 2016 feels like a much more minor upgrade than 2013 did from 2010. The UI and overall feel of the product is very much like SharePoint 2013.
- There is much more emphasis on the cloud offerings, such as OneDrive and hybrid scenarios.
- SharePoint 2016 is backward compatible with BOTH SharePoint 2013 and SharePoint 2010 solutions.
While there are many other minor enhancements to the product, I think the biggest thing here is that solutions from SharePoint 2010 and SharePoint 2013 just seem to work. This should provide a simpler upgrade and migration experience for existing implementations.
More to come later…
