Could SharePoint 2013 be SharePoint 2012?

If you were around back in 2009, and chances are you were, you know that I keep my ears close to the ground on what’s going on with new versions of SharePoint.

However, I’ve also paid close attention to what’s going on with the beta and leaked information revolving around Office 15. It seems that the rumors indicate a 2012 release of Office 15, and that got me thinking: Perhaps that means the next version of SharePoint is in fact SharePoint 2012.

I don’t think so now, however, and let me tell you why.

I know the cycle at Microsoft says it should be three years between a major Office release, but with the state of completion of Windows 8, and with the new Metro interface making an appearance, perhaps Microsoft aims to get Office 15 out as soon as possible, maybe even in 2012.

It wouldn’t make any sense to leave SharePoint behind then. Microsoft would want the Office client suite to take advantage of the latest and greatest, and that leads me to believe that if Office comes out named 2012, then SharePoint will be so too.

Scouring the interwebs for Office leaks tells no story about the name; it’s all called Office 15. Based on that, the only safe thing would be to call it SharePoint 15. However, a name isn’t the product, so let’s examine what we know.

1. SharePoint 2010 came out in May 2010.
2. SharePoint 2010 was a huge deal for Microsoft 12 months before release
(you may even remember the controversy around my SharePoint 2010 Beta series)
3. Even if SharePoint vNext comes out in late 2012, considering it’s already late 2011 now, it is highly unlikely that Microsoft will drop the bomb during SPC11.
4. None of my usual sources of behind-the-scenes information knows anything about SP vNext. Either Microsoft suddenly managed to clamp down every piece of information or there simply isn’t any information there yet.

However, the most compelling argument against the next version of SharePoint being SharePoint 2012 is this: The Office 15 client suite consistently refers to SharePoint 2010 and SharePoint 2013, for example in Visio, where you can create workflows for either SharePoint 2010 or SharePoint 2013. In fact, in Visio, even the next version of SharePoint Designer is called “SharePoint Designer 2013”.

Although it is still possible that SharePoint 2013 comes out in 2012, it will probably still be called SharePoint 2013, just as SharePoint 2007 was released in 2006.