Microsoft's first knowledge management software will be ready to ship by April but is already being criticised by analysts for being too basic.

The SharePoint Portal server - codenamed Tahoe while under development - will enable users to find, share and publish information from within a company. The server will index content and provide search engine results based on probability algorithms in addition to document management. It will run on Windows 2000.

But analysts said Microsoft's offering is too lightweight for enterprise users and that with the software giant's Yukon development of the SQL Server database - due in the next two years - the new product will soon be redundant.

"SharePoint Portal is just document management based around one Exchange server," said Debra Logan, senior research analyst at Gartner. "It is better than a shared file system, but big deal. Users who may go for this are those who won't buy anything other than Microsoft, but we don't think anyone should rush out and buy it."

Ashim Pal, programme director for analyst Meta Group, said: "It is lightweight document management for the masses. There will be a mass migration to the Yukon back-end store development model which is due in the next 24-36 months, so users should be careful not to over commit to any development around SharePoint. [Customers should] focus on high-impact applications where there is some value in the two-year timeframe."

But Microsoft UK's Gary Tugwell-Smith countered the criticism. "We are providing an interface that leads to corporate information discovery," he said. "It provides a focal point to hold information whether it be an SQL database, an Exchange public folder or a Lotus Notes database. It does not matter."

Pricing has yet to be announced but is expected to be significantly less than the $200 per desktop range of some rivals. The market now awaits Lotus' Raven server.

First published in Computing