We're currently considering SharePoint for our internal intranet expanding out later to use some of the neat project and team features in there.
It isn't cheap... I've got the huge comparison spreadsheet and for us, the standard CAL is probably okay for everything apart from search.
When using the publishing site (which is the key part we want to use), the bulk of the content is held in the "Pages" document library (i.e. in a SQL database). I assume (all a bit new to this) that the search that comes with free WSS v3 system cannot search SharePoint sites. Mainly because on the comparison document is says that "Enterprise content sources ... SharePoint sites ..." is standard or enterprise.
For our 100 users, SP2007 server & 100 standard CALs is about $14k (£8.5k). Microsoft Search Server 2008 is an additional $14.5k which I find very hard to justify.
So the question is as in the title. Can the free 2008 Express version search SharePoint sites, specifically the contents used for pages in the Publishing CMS system?
Cheers, Rob.
PS. Does every user need a CAL or only editors?