Belgian-based U2U training consultant, and Microsoft MVP, Patrick Tisseghem, has specialised in Microsoft's SharePoint Server since its version 1.0 days. As the author of Inside Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Inside MOSS 2007, he's positioned himself as the go-to man for all things SharePoint, and is now bringing his vast knowledge to Australia for a series of classes to show .NET developers how to leverage the upcoming Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and build better Web applications.

Before he arrives in Australia to host his five day Building SharePoint Solutions Master Class as part of Readify's next Industrial Strength Series, Tisseghem took some time out to share his thoughts on SharePoint 2007 and its future involvement in the development of Web 3.0 with Mitchell Bingemann.

Why do you like working with SharePoint what has kept you developing on it?

I have a background in applied informatics combined with knowledge management and psychology. Although I have delivered numerous .NET development classes at U2U, I don't consider myself as a hard-core developer in the sense that I enjoy discussions about the language aspects within the .NET world.

I like to build solutions that immediately have an effect on people and that's the cool thing about SharePoint. Using my .NET development skills combined with common sense, a feeling for how information workers and business users like to be supported in the real world and an interest in collaboration and document management, I keep on discovering every day that SharePoint delivers a rich and powerful platform to achieve all of this.

Where do you see the web evolving over the next couple years and what role does Microsoft have to play? More specifically, how do you see SharePoint contributing to the evolution of Web 3.0?

Talking to Microsoft people, it is clear to me that SharePoint will definitely play a major role in the new wave of Web technologies (both Web 2.0 and Web 3.0). SharePoint sites and portals are collections of services, rather than just UI containers for self-service UI components, and therefore contain or will contain the needed APIs to integrate all of these technologies, delivering richer and smarter user experiences in the browsers.

The evolution towards a more intelligent navigation (be it through browsers or smart applications) on the Web will lead to smarter information workers and as a consequence smarter and more agile businesses.

Can you highlight some of the new developments being made in SharePoint? Where does its future lie?

The future of SharePoint lies in being an enabler or a provisioning engine for the building blocks making up an enterprise solution. I am very convinced that the product teams in Redmond will continue to improve the platform, building more APIs to expose the internal architecture and services so that developers can start using these.