Microsoft collaboration software is the typical corporate tool of choice, which, by extension, means that the Windows version of Microsoft Office was the office productivity suite of choice. However, a recent update to Microsoft Office 2008 for the Mac now enables Mac users to access both Microsoft SharePoint sites and Office Live Workspace.
While many may consider SharePoint to be not exactly “Mac friendly” just yet, this is definitely a step in the right direction. Read the rest of this entry »
Microsoft earlier this week at CeBIT 2009 rolled out its Online Services feature to 19 new countries (it has been available in the U.S. since November last year). Online Services is part of Microsoft’s “Software + Services” strategy, with cloud-based services complementing local software functionality.
So is Microsoft Online Services a viable option for web workers? As the UK is now included in the list of countries it’s available in, and there is a 30-day free trial, I thought I’d take it for a spin and see.
Online Services offers access to a range of products. The Business Productivity Online Suite is basically a hosted version of Exchange Server, SharePoint Server and Live Meeting, available for a subscription fee of £10 ($14) per user, per month in the UK.
The collaborative features of SharePoint and Live Meeting, in particular, are very good and might be handy for web workers with distributed teams, especially if your team members are used to using Microsoft products. However, the upfront costs of the standalone products — running into the thousands — are hugely off-putting for any small business or independent web worker, so a monthly subscription is attractive.
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Companies big and small are constantly seeking tools to bring their workers closer together. We are a workforce who is spread out geographically. Even if workers are located in the same locale, with today’s matrix organizations, an individual is a part of multiple projects that creates a tug of war for attention and focus. This is where the promise of web-based collaboration becomes apparent.
37Signals’ BaseCamp, covered before, provides a popular web-based product tool, but what if you’re a team or workgroup who is looking for something a little more robust?
Jive Software has released version 2.0 of their Clearspace product. Clearspace differs from other product offerings by focusing their product on the people who will be utilizing the collaboration tool. Unlike Microsoft SharePoint, which focuses on documents, ClearSpace wants to ensure user adoption by adapting many of the Web 2.0 strategies used by FaceBook, MySpace, and other social networking sites into the enterprise environment.
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When it comes to doing business on the web, one of the main issues we face involves sharing files with team mates, stakeholders, and customers. There are tools such as BaseCamp and Box.Net, but if you want an alternative, two products 
from Microsoft might be just what you’re looking for.
Windows Live SkyDrive will allow you have up to 5GB of online storage and Office Live Workspace serves as your personal collaboration space on the web. We’ll elaborate on both both these services.
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Web Workers often face a dilemma when trying to collaborate with co-workers, that is having access to the electronic tools to access and collaborate with team members. Sometimes we’re given great collaboration tools like Microsoft SharePoint or similar enterprise collaboration tools. However these present hurdles, namely working with a corporate IS department who may not be as responsive as we web workers would like them to be.
This is why Google launched Google Apps Team Edition. Google Apps for Your Domain has been around for quite some time, but this set of tools requires someone from your IS department to administer it. Groups inside companies can easily subvert IS involvement by just entering your corporate email address and clicking on a link inside the resulting sign-up email.
Read the rest of this entry »
Microsoft collaboration software is the typical corporate tool of choice, which, by extension, means that the Windows version of Microsoft Office was the office productivity suite of choice. However, a recent update to Microsoft Office 2008 for the Mac now enables Mac users to access both Microsoft SharePoint sites and Office Live Workspace.
Web Work 101: How To Escape The Cubicle
