Month: May 2016

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SP2013 vs SP2016 RTM – Diff at assembly level

Here is the latest diff on the SP2016 vs SP2013 code base.  From here you can explore what were some of the more deeper changes in the code.  Biggest changes:

  • All legacy Office Web Apps dlls are now removed
  • Previously I mentioned that silverlight dlls looked to be removed, they are in fact still around
  • Similarly, all the Ceres Search Flow resource dlls are still around
  • Same as last post – All Education dlls are finally removed
  • Still have dependencies on some 3rd party installed dlls:
    • Reporting Services 10.0+
    • Windows Azure Storage
    • Microsoft.Azure.GraphClient.FirstClient – still have no idea where to get this one
    • NewtonSoft.Json 6.0 – used in Search
    • System.Web.Http 5.2.2.0 – used in Search
    • Microsoft.Data (5.3 and 5.6) – seems some dlls have old 5.3 references that have not been updated
  • ChicagoIntegration is gone from RTM – *LOL* [:D]
  • All new Ceres Push API code now exists:
    • Microsoft.Ceres.ContentEngine.ContentPush
    • Microsoft.Ceres.ContentEngine.Operators.ContentPush
    • Microsoft.Ceres.ContentEngine.Processing.ContentPush
    • Microsoft.ContentPushFlow
    • Microsoft.ContentPushHybridFlow
  • New Ceres Flows (for more information on what flows are – see my other post):
    • Microsoft.ContentPushFlow
    • Microsoft.ContentPushHybridFlow
    • Microsoft.ConversationalLatencyFlow
    • Microsoft.CrawlerPropertyReportingSubFlow
    • Microsoft.CrawlerSecurityInsertHybridSubFlow
    • Microsoft.DataLossPreventionSubFlow
    • Microsoft.DeleteTenantFromIndexSystemFlow
    • Microsoft.DocumentPreviewMetadataFeederFlow
    • Microsoft.ExplorerFlow
    • Microsoft.GraphSearchProviderFlow
    • Microsoft.IndexingSubFlow
    • Microsoft.PeopleSuggestionDictionaryDeploymentFlow
      Microsoft.PropertyRetrievalSearchFlow
      Microsoft.QueryCompletionPeopleOutputFlow
      Microsoft.QueryCompletionPersonalizedQueryLogsOutputFlow
      Microsoft.QueryCompletionPreFetchOutputFlow
      Microsoft.QueryCompletionQueryLogsInputFlow
      Microsoft.QueryCompletionQueryLogsOutputFlow
      Microsoft.QuerySuggestionsQueryLogsFlow
      Microsoft.SearchAnalyticsBuzzFeederFlow
      Microsoft.SearchAnalyticsBuzzImportFlow
      Microsoft.SearchAnalyticsBuzzInputFlow
      Microsoft.SearchAnalyticsBuzzOutputFlow
      Microsoft.SearchAnalyticsExternalContentMapFlow
      Microsoft.SearchAnalyticsExternalContentPushFlow
      Microsoft.SearchAnalyticsFollowsImportFlow
      Microsoft.SearchAnalyticsFollowsInputFlow
      Microsoft.SearchAnalyticsGraphIndexFeederFlow
      Microsoft.SearchAnalyticsInFeedInputFlow
      Microsoft.SearchAnalyticsTagsImportFlow
      Microsoft.SearchAnalyticsTagsInputFlow
    • Microsoft.SignalStoreInputFlow
    • Microsoft.UsageAnalyticsImportFlow
  • OfficeGraph API exists:
    • Microsoft.Ceres.External.ContentApi.GraphExtensions
    • Microsoft.Ceres.SearchCore.GraphModel
    • Microsoft.Ceres.SearchCore.GraphQueryModel
    • Microsoft.Ceres.SearchCore.GraphSeedingModel
    • Microsoft.Ceres.SearchCore.GraphServer.Managed
    • Microsoft.Ceres.SearchCore.GraphStatusModel
    • Microsoft.Ceres.SearchCore.Indexes.GraphServerIndex
  • Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Directory
    • CSOM for the new UserProfile sync stuff
  • Interesting new dll – Microsoft.Office.BigData.DataLoader.*
    • Have no idea what this is, but it looks interesting…
  • New compliance assemblies:
    • Microsoft.Office.CompliancePolicy.Platform

This supplements the following blog posts:

    Enjoy!
    Chris 

    Posted on

    Videos – K2 vs Nintex – Want to know the real difference between the two? Here ya go!

    Now that I have access to just about every 3rd party ISV software for SharePoint (K2, Nintex, VisualSP, ConceptSearch, Ephesoft, KnowledgeLake, etc, etc, etc), I have been able to install and configure all of them. And in most cases, I have automated the install of all of them (more on that in a later blog post after our new site goes live).  Due to this ISV software exposure, I was asked by some individuals to do a K2 vs Nintex comparison video.  Well, it takes more than just one video to really show the differences between the two.  So, here are a set of videos that you can review to see what the real differences are.  This is the list of videos that I will be posting in the next few days:

    FYI: If you need Nintex Training or Nintex Subscription pricing, let me know! 

    • Headsup Install ( Videos : K2 vs Nintex)
      • Winner – Nintex
      • Why?
        • Nintex install takes around 10 minutes total for all components
        • Nintex install is simple .NET installer that adds solutions to your farm (and with Nintex Live, two windows services)
        • Nintex doesn't need a license key to install and configure
        • K2 install takes over an hour, and in many cases, up to 3 to get install properly
        • K2 requires a license to install it
        • K2 install has multiple components, each requiring much more time to install than the respective Nintex parts
    • Headsup ConfigurationAdmin UI (Videos – K2 vs Nintex)
      • Winner – Nintex
      • Why?
        • Nintex is SharePoint feature based – simply activate the features – all changes are inherited – no real updating of anything
        • Nintex is integrated into SharePoint Central Administration
        • Nintex has its own category of links, all of which are simple and easy to maneuver around
        • K2 requires you to leave SharePoint to configure anything admin
          related.  You can always put a link to the K2 admin UI in Central Admin,
          but you still have to leave SharePoint to get to it
        • The K2 admin UI is a bit slow and its not very intuitive.
        • K2 utilizes the App Model, this means extra work to deploy the app across web application boundaries (multiple app catalogs), and you have to "add" the app to each web you want to use it on
        • You must also ensure that you can connect to the K2 server for the app to function properly (mean properly setting up the SSL bindings on the K2 server).
        • K2 app updates mean you have to redeploy the app to each web (no easy automation available for this unless you are an old school SharePoint person)
    • Headsup Designer(s) (Videos – K2 vs Nintex)
      • Winner – Tie
        • Nintex has a very simple web based Designer for both workflows and forms.  It is integrated into the browser, no separate applications, all via a rich web client.
        • K2 has many ways to design "processes" aka workflows.  You can do it via the browser, or you can do it via Designer tools like K2 Studio, Visual Studio or a web based designer.
        • K2 is a bit more complex to work with and understand the various UIs versus the simple-ness of Nintex
    • Headsup Site and List Workflow (Videos – K2 vs Nintex)
      • Winner – Tie
      • Why
        • TODO
    • Headsup Actions (Videos – K2 vs Nintex)
      • Winner Nintex
      • Why
        • TODO
    • Headsup Forms (Videos – K2 vs Nintex)
      • Winner Nintex
      • Why?
        • TODO
    • Headsup Extensability (Videos – K2 vs Nintex)
      • Winner – Nintex
      • Why
        • TODO
    • Headsup O365 versions (Videos – K2 vs Nintex)
      • Winner – Nintex
      • Why?
        • Nintex just works.  Period.  Install the O365 Workflow and Forms apps, your up and running with a 30 day trial.  Easy.  After the trial, call your Nintex Partner (ACS of course) and we can get you activated same day.  Easy.
        • K2 takes a very complicated process of working with them to setup a backend tenant tied to your O365 tenant.  You must also be given the AppIt app to install into your app catalog in order to use it (it is not in the SharePoint store).
        • K2 also requires that you continue to use it or the OAuth token will expire and the system won't be able to talk back to your O365 instance.  You'll get a ton of emails notifying you of this until you click the link to refresh it.

    Overall, I prefer Nintex over K2.  I'll get flak for that statement (but most of my friends have left K2 for various reasons I'm not at liberty to share at this point so maybe not).  Some will say, but have you seen the extensibliliy and architecture of K2 behind the scenes?  I'll simply say yes, but customers don't care about that.  They want something that is easy to install, easy to get started with and productive out of the box.  Nintex does that perfectly.

    Enjoy,
    Chris