The SharePoint Online version in Offce 365 is based on the SharePoint 2010 platform. With the introduction of SharePoint Online 2010 in Office 365 the SharePoint On Premise platform and SharePoint Online platform will basically be on par. However, not all functionality will be supported in Office 365 / SharePoint Online 2010.
An overview:
Sites and Communities:
- SharePoint for Internet Sites (targeted for release in FY12). Supports customisations, site authoring, and WCM workflow and approval.
Content Management:
- Access to customer asset management systems. This limitation disables support for end-to-end eDiscovery scenarios. Targeted for W15.
Search:
- 'Unified' Search results combining online and customer site sources. (Targeted for W15)
- FAST Search which includes features such as thumbnails, previews, contextual search, visual best bets, and deep search refinement. Targeted for W15.
Insights:
- Business Connectivity Services (BCS) which eliminates the ability to access external services. Targeted for release in FY12.
- PerformancePoint Services. Targeted for W15.
- PowerPivot is unable to connect to external services. Targeted for release in FY12.
Composites:
- Sandbox Solutions are targeted at the site collection level.
- Alternatives to higher-end custom solutions (full-trust code) are targeted for FY12 and W15.
Although this might seems as quite a list, SharePoint Online 2010 will enable most organisations to host their entire SharePoint environment in the cloud.