About Web Parts
Before we start our journey into SharePoint 2010 Web Parts, let’s take a look at the history of SharePoint and how Web Parts came to be.
Microsoft announced the concept of Web Parts in the middle of 2000, which was before SharePoint existed as a product. It seems like ages ago. The aim of Web Parts was the same then as it is now. At the time, Web Parts was a part of the since long-forgotten Digital Dashboard, an ASP, XML, and VBScript-based portal framework. “In Web Parts, we are providing the building blocks for next-generation digital dashboard solutions...,” wrote Bob Muglia in June 2000, later President of Microsoft’s Server and Tools Business.
When SharePoint Portal Server 2001, called Tahoe, was released, it was based on the Digital Dashboard and used Web Parts to create the portal. This was the first real step towards the SharePoint of today. SharePoint at the time was not based on Microsoft SQL Server but rather on the Microsoft Exchange Web Storage System (WSS) and its focus was on document management rather than portals.