With the next SharePoint Version (referred to as vNext up to now, it is going to be v14 it seems) getting closer, it is a good time to post my personal wish list of new features.  So here goes in no particular order:

·        Cleaner Page Rendering so that pages render faster, in more browsers and coding for MOSS is easier.

·        More “Polished” look for lists and especially for the forms that are produced automatically by the Workflow engine. It would make them a worthy offering for more solutions if f.e. silver light was utilized.

·        More flexibility in List functionality (it seems MS are working on something as was mentioned briefly by Bill Gates here http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/exec/billg/speeches/2008/03-03SharePoint2008.mspx)

·        Better offline support, especially for mail archiving solutions but for simple document lists as well. Microsoft should get a lesson from the excellent Colligo addon on this.

·        Mobile client support, mobile browsers must be supported with a limited view of libraries at least. I would even be fine with a native Windows Mobile client, it is better than nothing.

·        Out of the box PDF support, yes I know it easy enough right now, but should be there by default!

·        Groove integration, just to get rid of the annoyance to explain to customers why on earth this is not already implemented <

·        More themes and master pages available out of the box.

·        Full site-collection backup/restore/migrate functionality (preferably with an UI) on a farm level. Really required for large scale installations or scenarios with different development and production systems.

·        Column (metadata) security filtering, it would be nice to be able to define which columns a specific security level can view.

·        Dynamic Update of related fields when a field changes in the form, for forms that are produced automatically by the Workflow engine.

·        Permissions on views, a real must have.

·        More customization possibilities for Search and search results, available without coding.

The big pain point of BI seems sure to be resolved now that a large segment of PerformancePoint will be integrated in SharePoint’s Enterprise version but this is a completely different rant!