SharePoint Foundation 2010 : What’s in a Name (and New!)

For all you out there wondering what SharePoint Foundation 2010 means,

it’s the new name for Windows Sharepoint Services

But now we are talking about Sharepoint Foundation 2010, what is new ?
[This documentation is preliminary and is subject to change. source: Microsoft]

• Alerts Enhancements : Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 expands the alerts framework to enable users to have alerts sent as Short Message Service (SMS) messages to their mobile devices.
•  Business Connectivity Services : Business Connectivity Services (formerly named the Business Data Catalog) provides read/write access to external data from line-of-business (LOB) systems, Web services, databases, and other external systems within Microsoft SharePoint 2010. SharePoint 2010 has product features that can use external data directly, both online and offline. Developers can gain access to a rich set of features and rapidly build solutions using familiar tools such as Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 and Microsoft SharePoint Designer 2010. Microsoft Business Connectivity Services (BCS) enhances SharePoint application capabilities and their UI through features, services, and tools. These enhanced capabilities and UI streamline development of solutions with deep integration of external data and services. Power users, developers, and business unit IT professionals can integrate assets from external systems and enable interaction with the external data through many types of applications. The Business Connectivity Services feature set enables rapid development and deployment of scalable and security-rich solutions.
• Client Object Model : Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 introduces three new client APIs for interacting with SharePoint sites: from a .NET managed application (Microsoft® .NET Framework 3.5 or later), from a Silverlight application (Microsoft® Silverlight™ 2.0), or from ECMAScript (JavaScript, JScript) that executes in the browser. These new APIs provide access to a subset of the types and members that are contained in the Microsoft.SharePoint namespace of the server-side object model.
• Events Improvements : Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 supports multiple new events, including on-create events for lists and Web sites and support for synchronous after events. Many of the new events are available in both synchronous and asynchronous modes. SharePoint Foundation offers a more approachable events infrastructure that is easier to program against than earlier versions.
• Microsoft Synch Framework : The Microsoft Synch Framework in SharePoint Foundation is a comprehensive and unified synchronization architecture that provides data-agnostic and bidirectional capabilities to developers. Because it was designed to provide cross-application synchronization, implementing the Microsoft Synch Framework allows other Microsoft and third-party applications to synch more easily with SharePoint Foundation 2010 deployments.
• Mobile Device Development Enhancements : Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 greatly expands access from mobile devices to SharePoint Foundation pages, lists, and functionality.
• Query Enhancements : Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 includes several new ways to query and filter data.
• Ribbon : The Ribbon offers new functionality in the Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 user interface. The Ribbon serves as the primary command surface that you can use to interact with objects inside of SharePoint Foundation. In earlier product versions, commands were accessed across multiple surfaces and located in varying menus. With the introduction of the Ribbon, commands are grouped in a logical manner through the use of tabs and groups, making them easy to find. You can also extend the functionality of the Ribbon to include your own custom functions.
• Sandboxed Solutions : A sandboxed solution is a new concept in Microsoft SharePoint Foundation that allows site collection users to upload their own custom code solutions. A sandboxed solution uses a subset of the Microsoft.SharePoint namespace. These objects are marked in the object model to show their availability in a sandboxed solution. All sandboxed solutions are stored in a solution gallery. In addition, there are facilities provided to help server farm administrators monitor and validate solutions that have been uploaded to these galleries. Performance can be monitored by measuring CPU execution time, memory consumption, and database query time. You can also monitor other aspects of operation including abnormal termination, critical exceptions, unhandled exceptions, and data marshaling size.
• Service Application Framework : The Service Application Framework provides a platform that allows developers to build scalable middle-tier applications that are hosted in Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 and that provide data or processing resources to other SharePoint features. The Service Application Framework enables services to be shared between computers on a server farm; it also helps load balance and manage services in SharePoint. The Service Application Framework provides over 20 services that are built into the core product. For example, SharePoint Search is implemented by Service Application Framework. The Service Application Framework is an API provided by back-end application servers and consumed by front-end Web servers.The Service Application Framework replaces the Shared Services Provider in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.
• Silverlight Integration and the Fluid Application Model : In Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, you could host a Microsoft Silverlight application in a Web Part. Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 goes beyond by providing a built-in, extensible, Silverlight Web Part specifically designed to host Silverlight applications. Closely related to the new Web Part is the Fluid Application Model (FAM) that enables secure, cross-domain, integration between external applications and SharePoint Foundation deployments.
• UI Improvements : The user interface (UI) in Microsoft SharePoint Foundation has been upgraded significantly. This includes the introduction of the Ribbon, a revamped master page, and new cascading style sheets (CSS). Each of these enhancements creates a more consistent experience for users across pages and makes it easier to work with objects inside SharePoint Foundation.
• Windows PowerShell for SharePoint : Windows PowerShell™ command-line interface is a new command-line tool and supporting scripting language from Microsoft that complements Cmd.exe in the Windows administration context. In the SharePoint administration context, Windows PowerShell supersedes the Stsadm.exe administration tool. Moving forward, you should use Windows PowerShell scripting technology to develop any new command-line scripts in SharePoint Foundation 2010.
• Workflow Improvements : In Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, the Windows Workflow Foundation provided a highly extensible workflow model to the SharePoint platform. Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 continues to build upon the functionality available in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and improves and expands your options so that you can build rich workflows that can accommodate even more complex business scenarios. This topic presents the new features that are available for workflows in SharePoint Foundation 2010.

Just so you all know

eric