Expert Availability

Topic Last Modified: 2008-08-06

This topic provides information about how the different technologies compare with regard to Expert Availability.

Technology	How available are experts for this technology?
Active Directory Services Interfaces (ADSI)	ADSI is a reasonably well-known technology, with abundant Microsoft and third-party information available.
Collaboration Data Objects for Windows 2000 (CDOSYS)	Even beginning developers can easily use CDOSYS, and many Microsoft and third-party Web sites and communities are available.
CDOSYS SMTP/NNTP Event Sinks	Even beginning developers can easily use CDOSYS SMTP/NNTP event sinks, and many Microsoft and third-party Web sites and communities are available.
Collaboration Data Objects for Exchange 2000 Server (CDOEX)	Most developers should have little or no trouble using CDOEX. Microsoft and several third-party Web sites provide community discussions to help CDOEX developers.
Collaboration Data Objects for Exchange Management (CDOEXM)	While only moderate development skills are necessary to use CDOEXM, understanding the Exchange and Active Directory topology can require significant study.
Collaboration Data Objects for Exchange Workflow (CDOWF)	Relatively few people would be considered experts at programming CDOWF; finding already-trained experts might be difficult.
Exchange OLE DB Provider (ExOLEDB)	It is relatively easy to find experts who know ADO and SQL well. It may be a bit more difficult to find people who are already familiar with the particulars of the full-text search query language.
Exchange Store Event Sinks	Developers who have significant previous experience with Exchange store events are uncommon.
Exchange Web Forms	Finding developers capable of successfully creating Exchange Web forms should not be difficult. However, finding developers who have first-hand experience with all the tasks involved in creating, registering, and maintaining Exchange Web forms might be more difficult.
Exchange Web Services	Finding developers who have created Web service client applications should not be difficult. Because Exchange Web Services are new, it will be more difficult to find application developers who are familiar with developing Exchange Web Service clients.
HTTP/Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV)	Finding developers who have created networked applications or who have experience using networking protocols, should not be very difficult. For developers who have that type of experience, using WebDAV to access Exchange data should not pose significant problems.
WebDAV Notifications	Finding developers who have created networked applications, or who have experience using networking protocols, should not be very difficult. For developers who have that type of experience, using WebDAV to access Exchange data should not pose significant problems.
Incremental Change Synchronization (ICS)	Expert MAPI programmers can be difficult to find, and learning the technology can take a significant amount of time. In addition to the Microsoft communities, a relatively small number of high-quality third-party Web sites provide helpful MAPI development information. It may be very difficult to find developers who have any significant direct experience with ICS.
Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)	LDAP and ADSI is a reasonably well-known technology. Abundant Microsoft and third-party information is available.
Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI)	Expert MAPI programmers can be difficult to find, and learning the technology can take a significant amount of time. In addition to the Microsoft communities, a relatively small number of high-quality third-party Web sites provide helpful MAPI development information.
Outlook Object Model (OOM)	Developers who can successfully develop applications by using OOM should be relatively easy to find. OOM is intended for smaller scripts and macros, so developers who can use OOM will not be able to create complex standalone applications.
Outlook Web Access	Microsoft Outlook Web Access customization and component reuse is not supported by Microsoft.
Exchange Rules	Although it may be difficult to find developers who have direct experience with Exchange rules, most developers should be able to use the technology.
SMTP Event Sinks	Developers who have significant previous experience with SMTP event sinks are uncommon. It can be difficult to learn how to use SMTP event sinks.
Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) providers for Exchange	Finding developers who can effectively program applications that use the Exchange WMI providers should be relatively easy.
Exchange Backup and Restore API	Finding developers who have previously programmed applications by using the Exchange Backup and Restore API might be difficult. Because of the nature of the Backup and Restore API, programmers with experience creating high-reliability software are preferred.
Exchange writer for the Windows Volume Shadow Copy Service	Finding developers who can effectively program VSS applications should not be difficult. Although relatively few developers have used VSS previously, the level of information and support from hardware vendors and Microsoft should enable most programmers to work with VSS. Because of the nature of the Backup and Restore API, programmers with experience creating high-reliability software are preferred.