Nov14Written by:slhilbert
11/14/2008 12:45 PM 
People are constantly asking if they should use Dotnetnuke or Sharepoint or why use one or the other. The answer is complicated. I decided to post my thoughts and experiences using, coding and managing for both.
I have managed both DNN and Sharepoint intranet and internet sites in a corporate enviroment, so I have experiences in both worlds.
First let's start with the annoucement of Dotnetnuke Professional and what information we know about it. I have been at OpenForce all week and have heard the buzz and I have posted a few entries on my blog with my understanding and my guesses as to what is going to happen with Dotnetnuke Professional.
Sharepoint as an intranet solution makes a lot of sense for a Microsoft centric community that will actually utilize the the work flow, versioning, etc of Sharepoint. Far too often Sharepoint turns into nothing more than a $40K network drive to store files.
Dotnetnuke is certainly making headway in support a "toned down" feature set that Sharepoint provides. While versioning and Work Flow aren't apart of the core product yet there was plenty discussion about it coming. When? Who knows? However, DNN does have Active Directory integration and can do a lot of things that most Intranet sites need and want.
Using Sharepoint as an Internet facing site, in my opinion (based on Sharepoint 2003) is a disaster. On an Internet site you want to control every aspect of what is presented to the user. Sharepoint will let you get close, but there are always those things you can't control and therefore have to live with.
Where as with Dotnetnuke it is easy to get exactly the product you want because you are in complete control over everything.
Cost alone is a huge advantage to Dotnetnuke. A module in Dotnetnuke that has the same functionality as a Web Part in Sharepoint will cost most likely 1/10 of the price of the Web Part.
In the end the requirements should drive your decision. However, I find it hard to ever justify a Sharepoint solution based on cost and headache of actually getting it to do what you want.
If you have a question regarding the Dotnetnuke vs. Sharepoint issue please post a comment and I will respond in the comments below.
7 comment(s) so far...
Re: Dotnetnuke vs. Sharepoint, why or why not?
I would say that for any internet facing site use Dotnetnuke for the control. For any intranet site use Sharepoint since that what it feels like it was built for. By Joakim Eriksson on
11/15/2008 8:11 AM
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Re: Dotnetnuke vs. Sharepoint, why or why not?
Well, but can DNN keep up with the pace of the .NET development? They are already disconnected in the area of localization (slow, home brewed) and skinning. And when you look at http://www.dotnetnuke.com/Products/Development/Roadmap/tabid/616/Default.aspx they do not care much what their "customers" want.
(mk)
By Matthias on
11/16/2008 2:54 AM
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Re: Dotnetnuke vs. Sharepoint, why or why not?
Matthias,
DNN is supported by Dotnetnuke Corporation, so they actually have full time developers working on it all the time. I would say that DNN is very ahead in Skinning and localization. Nearly everything can be localized and the skinning engine is top notch. Now, is there still a little more localization to do? Yes. Are the skins Compliant to standards yet, no. So there is work to be done, but they already have done a great job getting to here.
DNN is so flexible that DNN customers want very different things from DNN. Some of these things are quick and easy, while others will require massive rewrite to the base of DNN. Looking at the roadmap right now I see that people are requesting versioning and workflow, compliant skins, better searching, etc....
The great news is that DNN is actively working on these things and I suspect we will see them coming out soon, perhaps end of 2nd Q 2009. But, better then that there are third party modules and skins that you can buy right now that can do all of those things. So if you needed workflow, you can have it and have been able to have it for years with a third party vendor.
Stuart By Stuart on
11/16/2008 12:10 PM
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Re: Dotnetnuke vs. Sharepoint, why or why not?
Hi Stuart,
maybe this is one of the keys of the DNN success. Many people spread the word because they see an opportunity in selling add-ons and support :-) Well, i think that is not a bad thing, because i want that DNN survives for some time.
My point is that they should follow closely the .NET standards and do not invent their own stuff. Or insist in using their own stuff even when the .NET framework went another way.
(mk)
By Matthias on
11/17/2008 3:26 AM
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Re: Dotnetnuke vs. Sharepoint, why or why not?
Can you give an example of when DNN "Invented their own stuff" or "went another way". I think you will find that Dotnetnuke has been done in a way as to really utilize the .Net standards.
Stuart By Matthias on
11/17/2008 7:26 AM
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Re: Dotnetnuke vs. Sharepoint, why or why not?
Yes, e.g. Localization. I hope this will be fixed.
http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/brandonhaynes/2008/10/29/a-second-look-enabling-aspnet-20-localization-in-a-dotnetnuke-application-2/
I'm running out of time. Maybe another day more. I still have to look closer at DNN5.
(mk)
By Matthias on
11/17/2008 9:57 AM
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Re: Dotnetnuke vs. Sharepoint, why or why not?
Could you take a look at the source code of that page, please? Maybe you can find what is wrong with the structure or something? The blog’s content is Dutch (look it rapid4me.com/?q=Dutch ), but the HTML page structure is English.
By masse on
5/5/2009 3:06 AM
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