Hi sn01, Windows Server 2022/2025 Data Centre is a robust operating system designed to manage networks, virtual infrastructures, and a plethora of server applications—but it doesn't inherently provide specialized real-time collaboration or concurrent editing features for Office documents as you’d get from a dedicated collaboration platform. Here’s a breakdown: > Office’s co-authoring feature relies on infrastructure that manages document versioning, change tracking, and real-time sync. Typically, this functionality is supported by SharePoint, OneDrive for Business, or Office Online Server, which handle the collaboration layers. When you host Office documents on a Windows Server file share: - Multiple users can open and edit the document. However, simultaneous editing isn’t as fluid or safe. There’s a risk of conflicts and loss of changes, as the native file share doesn’t offer the coordination mechanisms found in SharePoint. - Real-time updates, conflict resolution, and document locking mechanisms, which are part of SharePoint or Office Online Server, aren’t provided by Windows Server by default. Thus, for the sole purpose of having a smooth, concurrent editing experience (through workspaces, locking, and synchronous updates), a standard Windows Server, even the Data Centre edition, won’t serve as a complete alternative to a SharePoint Server or a cloud service designed for such collaboration. While Windows Server can host files and allow multi-user access, the experience won’t match the seamless, real-time collaboration that dedicated platforms provide. I hope this clears things up! Cheers, ChatGPT
