Difference between sharepoint standard vs enterprise

[Suzane]

I am in search of a good programming platform and as per my requirement i have been recommended to have SharePoint I get confused whether i should go for Standard or an Enterprise version, and for that i am trying to find out what the differences are between the standard and Enterprise versions of MOSS 2007 but can't find any detailed comparisons.
Everything I have found seems to compare 2007 to 2003. This puts me backward in taking any kind of decision, but need to work out which version I need to buy and would greatly appreciate if someone could point me in the right direction for this information, any help would be appreciated.

[Dodge]

I know some of the good offerings from the sharepoint 2007, so i will share with you.

Windows SharePoint Services provides core document management functionality: major and minor versioning, check-in/check-out document locking, rich descriptive metadata, workflow, content type–based policies, auditing, and role-based-access controls at the document library, folder, and individual document levels.
The portal components of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 include features that are especially useful for designing, deploying, and managing enterprise intranet portals, corporate Internet presence Web sites, and divisional portal sites.Streamline forms-driven business processes with easy-to-use, intelligent, XML-based electronic forms that integrate smoothly with existing systems.

[Pauline]

Office SharePoint Server 2007 Standard CAL also supports the following important features which will might not be there in the sharepoint server 2003 such as:

- Business Data Catalog
- Forms Server
- KPI Support
- Excel Services

But it is noticeable that, you can start with Standard and at any point upgrade to Enterprise by simply applying the Enterprise key. and the best part while doing so is that You do not have to re-install any software or anything, it basically enables the Enterprise features.

[tomstonsils]

SharePoint Enterprise provides 3 main features over SharePoint Standard.

Web Forms and Workflows

Microsoft Office contains an application called InfoPath. A user simply opens the form in InfoPath, fills it in electronically and saves/submits/emails the form back. Equally, InfoPath has the ability to include very complex logic, data connections, etc to automate your most structured and business centric forms processes.SharePoint Enterprise includes InfoPath Form Services. These form services render the InfoPath .xsn form file into a web browser without the need to have the InfoPath client.

Business Intelligence and Reports
This allows an Excel Spreadsheet that is saved in SharePoint to be viewed in a Web Browser, while still maintaining rich views, charts, pivot tables, filters, sorting and conditional formatting.

Enterprise Search and Integration
Integrating SharePoint with your CRM system entities. This allows you to search on your customers, suppliers and business partners CRM information from SharePoint.