To SPS2003 : WSS Workspaces are SPS2001 Document Libraries on steriods
I've never consciously taken steriods. I am not responsible for what I may have ingested unconsciously. You gotta trust your homies, after all. But to me Windows Sharepoint Services workspaces are like Sharepoint Portal Server 2001 Document Libraries on steriods. Initially I viewed WSS doc libraries as SPS2001 Document Library-Lite. No lengthy popup menu options to check-in or publish the item, no separate document profile--er, property--dialog box, no profile information on a Details Window view, etc.
But then we had to replicate the s-e-c-u-r-i-t-y of SPS2001 document libraries, where at any point in the SPS2001 folder hierarchy we could add a group from Active Directory. WSS doc libraries ask, “what is Active Directory?“ So we ended up creating workspaces at the different tiers where we could change user settings, and document libraries under those.
So if before we had a DEPARTMENT directory, say, and an IT subdirectory, in SPS2001 we simply set the perms on IT different from DEPARTMENT and all was jake. In WSS we created an IT workspace, with its SPS2001 top subdirectories as individual WSS doc libraries, which is, of course, where the steriods kick in. Now the IT homies not only have a folder and its subfolders to call their own, but a workspace. Announcements, discussions, links, scheduling, weather, and news at 11:00. We're not pushing this feature initially upon migrating our SPS2001-based intranet to WSS, but maybe some of the users will get it and discover the value in their WSS workspaces on their own.