Hopefully this will help you decide between when (and most importantly, how) to use SharePoint and when to use traditional file shares, for storing your files. A completely different conversation and should also be thought about, is the use of SharePoint versus document management systems like documentum or document locator. I never believe that there is a universal solution. A good solution depends on the problem it solves. There is always a very good reason to use SharePoint, file shares or a document management system depending on what business problem you are looking to solve. The only thing is, do your thinking & planning ahead of time – understand the problem or problems before deciding on the solution.