Shared Spaces ... the Collaboration Advisor

Quick Links, Feb 26

Vendor Moves

• "Try Good" ... Good Technology has a new advertising campaign focused on RIM customers that are feeling exposed. Includes the offer of a 45 day free trial of GoodLink. Good Technology



• Court on RIM vs. NTP Doesn't Rule ... Judge Spencer heard final arguments in RIM vs. NTP, but didn't rule immediately on the need for an injunction. He chided both parties for not settling out of court. NTP asked for an immediate injunction with a 30-day grace period, and a $126 million fine for damages for past infringement. BusinessWeek Online, ComputerWorld, SearchMobileComputing, USA Today


• USPTO Rules Against NTP ... The US Patent and Trademark Office rejected the three final patents at the heart of RIM vs. NTP. It is now up to NTP to appeal. RIM


• Good Money ... Good Technology announced that it raised an additional $20 million in a fourth round of venture capital financing. The money will be used for ongoing product expansion. San Jose Business Journal


• Microsoft Origami ... Video of a possible mobile device forthcoming from Microsoft. If it's valid, put my name on the list! Looks very helpful. Kevin 2.0


• OCS is Out ... The State of Wisconsin cancelled its $2.6 million contract for Oracle Collaboration Suite. It is seeking a refund of $2 million from the contract firm. WBAY

Quick Links, Feb 23

Big day for RIM tomorrow!

Positions

• 30 Boxes Web Calendar ... Richard comments on the 30 Boxes Web calendar from 83degrees.com. Overall: he likes what he sees. Read/WriteWeb

Vendor Moves

• Sant TeamWorks ... The Sant Corporation released Sant TeamWorks, a web-based application for sales and bid management. Provides a project workspace for managing document projects related to proposals, RFPs, and other sales documents. Integrates with the wider Sant Suite. Yahoo


• Nokia Communicator for RIM Customers ... Nokia will be releasing its Communicator 9300 in the US during March 2006. It is aiming for the same market space as RIM does with the BlackBerry. RED Herring


• USPTO Rejects NTP Patent ... The US Patent and Trademark Office issued a final rejection for one of the five patents in the NTP vs. RIM case. NTP can appeal. InfoWorld, CIO, Charlotte Observer


• SharePoint Training Course ... The Learning Tree released a new 4-day training course on Microsoft SharePoint. Covers (a) implementation, (b) creating and managing sites, (c) Web parts, (d) interfacing with Microsoft Office applications, and (e) SharePoint Portal Server. tmcnet.com

Thoughts on Sponsored Research, Feb 23

Earlier this week, Foldera, Inc. released a sponsored white paper (PDF) I wrote under commission for them (see press release). Mike sent me this note today in reference to the paper:

Sorry, couldn't resist chiming in on this one. You obviously know your stuff and I can certainly understand that a guy needs a payday now and again, but the Foldera piece seemed to be more a paid cheer-leading assignment than an objective overview of a "new" service. I say "new" because it isn't, not in concept, interface or functionality, all they offer and more has been around for a while...seems more like a PR and financial engineering exercise cloaked in Web 2.0 guise if you ask me. If this sounds like sour grapes...it is, I am getting a little tired of these "new" services claiming "never before" and "AJAX" enabled...and, oh yeah...my favourite, "coming soon" under beta. Whatever.

As I said in my response to Mike, I appreciated him taking the time to share his thoughts and views on what I'd written and about Foldera and the industry in general. Since others are likely to have the same reaction, I wanted to share my view on accepting sponsored research and white paper projects. My rules for doing so are:

1. The paper has to align with my previously published research views. If I've previously written "X" about a product or category in an independent Shared Spaces paper, I can't turn around and write "Y" merely because it is a sponsored white paper. For example, when EMC commissioned me to write a comparative white paper of eRoom and SharePoint, it was easy to do so because of previous publications that I authored that were entirely consistent with the final report to EMC. In the same way, the Foldera white paper reflects clear alignment with my published work on collaboration software clients, the need for collaborative workspace products to make life easier, not more difficult, for the end user, and some of the items in the 7 Pillars series about dashboarding and consolidation across spaces.


2. The paper has to help my ultimate customer ... the organizational decision maker. The purpose of Shared Spaces ... the core reason why I do what I do ... is to help organizations select, deploy and roll-out collaboration tools to drive productivity, process compliance, efficiency and effectiveness. If the proposed white paper project helps with those, I'll take it. If not, I'll steer clear. As I say to my organizational consulting clients, I truly don't care which vendor wins in the market ... what I'm 100% passionate about is that the organization makes the right choice in light of their requirements.


3. There needs to be some substance to the product, and not a "just done this week" thing. Foldera has been in development since 2001. I've spoken with Richard Lusk, the CEO, on-and-off for the past 18 months. I spent a day in Huntington Beach with Richard and his team in early December. So, sure, while Foldera is playing off the current hype around "Web 2.0", the product is more mature and has a well-thought out lineage that pre-dates the hype.


4. The conclusion and recommendation has to be consistent with the facts. Once you've read the white paper, you'll note that my recommendation is "if you fit the profile, try it out". Not, "drop everything you're doing and only do work via Foldera for the next 10 years". As an independent analyst, I would have no credibility to say the latter, unless the facts were extremely strong. You'll note, too, that there is no mention of the enterprise market in the paper. That market has different needs and requirements, and as a hosted / outsourced service, Foldera will find it more difficult to play there. If they deliver an onsite solution, it gets a bit easier. Time will tell.

My four points may make no difference to Mike's reading of my white paper, or his reaction thereof, but "dem da facts".

Happy to discuss further ...

Quick Links, Feb 22

Positions

• Mike on Blogging and KM ... Mike Riversdale, a KM specialist the Christchurch City Council (down here in New Zealand) spoke yesterday (at the NZKM Seminar in Christchurch) about the role of blogs in knowledge management. Key take-aways that aren't necessarily in Mike's notes: (1) blogging expands knowledge because it forces the author to learn, to explore, and to re-evaluate their positions based on feedback/comments; (2) the Christchurch City Council is introducing blogging technology within its walls, but is shying away from the "blog" name ... the preference being to make the technology invisible to the process/business area; and (3) the internal blogging pilot is a possible precursor to a much wider use of externally-facing blogs for community engagement. Mike's Blog


• Overview of Collaboration Market ... A review of the market opportunity for collaboration software, along with some thoughts on current status of vendors. ComputerWeekly

Vendor Moves

• AOL and WebEx ... AOL and WebEx have partnered for an enterprise instant messaging offering. The combined offering will feature online conferencing, collaboration, desktop sharing, and other services, and will be offered in two flavors (Pro and Enterprise). Pricing not yet announced. InformationWeek, ComputerWorld, ENN and CRN. Irwin Lazar has some thoughts.


• CMiC I/O Project Management at Granger ... Granger Construction Company's use of CMiC's I/O enterprise and project management collaboration software will be showcased at a conference on March 20. Specifically, the use of mobile and wireless devices to update the project status will be discussed. prnewswire.com


• TeamDirection Says "Yes" to Groove 2007 ... Groove 3.x came in three flavors, the most pricey being the "Project Edition" which bundled project management software from third-party TeamDirection. Groove 2007 will not offer a "Project Edition", but TeamDirection confirmed that it will continue to offer project productivity tools for the new edition, and also will continue to support existing customers. TeamDirection


• Gordano and Teligent ... Gordano announced an agreement with Teligent AB of Sweden, a solutions provider to carriers and service providers, for the use of Gordano's Messaging Suite for Internet messaging infrastructure and applications. A wireless carrier in Southeast Asia is almost ready to go live with the combined offering. Gordano

Other Industry Happenings

• ODPM Migrates from Novell to Microsoft ... The UK Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is migrating from Novell GroupWise to Microsoft Exchange Server. ComputerWeekly

Quick Links, Feb 20

Positions

• Steven on Choosing Team Collaboration Offerings ... Steven from Novell analyzes the team-based collaboration software market, and proposes a categorization schema. CollaborationLoop


• CIOs Preparing for BlackBerry Shutdown ... Some CIOs have contingency plans in place should the RIM BlackBerry service be closed down. The court will decide this Friday. SearchCIO, Nashville Business Journal. At the 3GSM congress last week, RIM showed some delegates its new BlackBerry for high-speed 3G networks. Unstrung

Vendor Moves

• WebEx for MindManager ... Mindjet is planning a WebEx add-in for MindManager, and is seeking beta testers. Mindjet Blog


• TimeBridge is Hiring ... TimeBridge, a cross-organizational calendaring and scheduling startup, is hiring for a Product Manager and Marketing Manager / Director.


• Let'sPowwow ... Yugma released Let'sPowwow, an online group collaboration service. Enables team members to view and/or edit a document simultaneously from any location, across Windows, Mac and Linux desktops. Free for up to 11 participants. Available immediately. PRWeb

Other Industry Happenings

• Introduction to CalDAV ... Review of the history of calendaring and scheduling, and the reasons that the CalDAV standard is under development. NewsForge

Quick Links, Feb 16

Positions

• Dealing with Email ... A number of good posts about dealing with email effectively. See 6 types of email and how to deal with it (punkey.com), 8 steps to a successful and empty Inbox after your vacation (punkey.com), and Keeping Your In-Box "Real" (davidco.com).

Vendor Moves

• ShareFile ... ShareFile offers a way of distributing large files to others. An email notification is sent, with a link back to the file stored on a Web server. Free 30 day trial, then monthly fees. ShareFile, with coverage at SmallBusinessComputing.com


• Expert Systems Acquires Taskport, Becomes Foldera ... Expert Systems, Inc. acquired Taskport, Inc., a developer of web-based collaboration software. The combined entity was renamed Foldera, Inc. Yahoo Finance

2007 Microsoft Office, Feb 16 2006

Microsoft branded Office "12" as "2007 Microsoft Office" and released more details about included products, packaging, and pricing of the updated system to be available at the end of this year. Microsoft's stated intention is to "increase individual impact, simplify collaboration, streamline business processes and content management, and improve business insight".

Here's my tentative reaction.

On Groove
Groove 2007, an updated edition of Groove Virtual Office 3.x, is only included in Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007, the top-of-the-line package (which includes 10 separate products and a number of other capabilities). It can, however, be purchased separately. If Microsoft wanted to make Groove pervasive throughout the ranks of information workers, it should have included Groove in every package.

In order for Groove to work, enterprises must deploy the new Microsoft Office Groove Server 2007 for synchronization of Groove data, or subscribe to Office Groove Enterprise Services. For smaller organizations, Office Live Groove is a per-user subscription service which includes the client and a publicly-hosted relay service, at US$79 per user per year. This is a change from Groove's previous pricing approach of paying up-front for the client and getting the relay service at no charge.

Finally, Microsoft said that customers of Groove Virtual Office 3.x will not be forced to upgrade. The current service and support contract will remain in place (see groove.net). That's cool.

On Product Overlap
Three of the 10 products in Office Enterprise 2007 are related to communication and collaboration tasks: Outlook 2007 (email, calendar, offline synchronization with SharePoint), Communicator (presence, instant messaging, voice over IP), and Groove (shared workspaces, synchronization with SharePoint). Two of the products include electronic forms capabilities ... InfoPath 2007 and Groove 2007.

The vast majority of people will not need this top-of-the-line offering ... the overlap and apparent duplication of functionality will make this an exceedingly complex package to get one's head around, to use effectively within a group, and to use consistently for appropriate information management. I think Microsoft needs to fundamentally re-organize its individual products; just throwing more stuff into the box isn't going to make it any easier for individuals and teams to improve productivity and effectiveness. Simplify! Simplify! Simplify!

On Collaboration Complexity
Building a collaboration infrastructure using Microsoft technologies will require a plethora of servers to be deployed and managed. This represents a lot of specialized IT resource, numerous interlocked decision and upgrade points, and the need for very tight coordination across different products. I hope it works! The servers are:

• Office SharePoint Server 2007. Delivers portal services, content management, business insight, and business process capabilities (workflow?). Windows SharePoint Services will still be delivered from Windows Server.


• Office Project Server 2007. For project management. Covers the management of ad-hoc and complex projects.


• Office Project Portfolio Server 2007. For the management and governance of portfolios of projects. Enables prioritization of project investments in light of all options and opportunities.


• Office Forms Server 2007. For electronic forms management. User interaction is via a Web browser.


• Exchange Server 2007. For email, calendaring, and wireless messaging.


• Office Groove Server 2007. For synchronization between Groove spaces. Combines Groove Enterprise Management Server, Enterprise Relay Server, and Enterprise Data Bridge into an apparently single product. I say apparently because (a) there will still be three separately installable server components ... Office Groove Server 2007 Manager, Office Groove Server 2007 Relay, and Office Groove Server 2007 Data Bridge, and (b) each component is licensed separately.


• Office Live Communications Server. For presence, instant messaging, and federation with other organizations.

Ye gads!

I'll sign up for the beta. It will be interesting to watch this play out.

More Reading
Microsoft's Press Release
2007 Microsoft Office System Packaging
2007 Microsoft Office System Pricing
Microsoft Office Groove 2007: Frequently Asked Questions
Microsoft features software by Mass. firm in new Office, Boston.com
Butler Group: Microsoft Office is Dead, Long Live Networked Office, Tekrati
Office 2007 to Feature New Workflow and Collaboration Tools, InformationWeek

When Email Loses Its Power of Attention, Feb 16 2006

Email can be an effective channel of communication when both parties are willing to use it, are willing to respond promptly, and don't let email messages die in the inbox. What do you do when people you communicate with do not respond to your messages ... your requests are ignored, it seems like they don't care, and the effectiveness of your communication diminishes because anything you send disappears into an apparent black hole at their end. In short, what do you do when email loses its power to grab the attention of people with whom you need to communicate?

Regaining Attention
Here are three ideas to regain the attention of others:

1. Talk with them about it. Call them on the phone, or even better, meet with them over coffee or lunch. Talk with them about how they are handling the communicating tasks of their role, and if there is anything that you can do to make it easier for them. Speak with them about what you think you need in return from them ... that you will need a response within 4 hours, or 8 hours, or the next day, or whenever. But be clear what your expectations are, and then be willing to hear about their expectations, requirements, and constraints. If email is to work, there needs to be a meeting of the minds toward a common approach for reasonableness, responsiveness, and appropriateness.


2. Switch to a new channel of communication. Stop sending email messages that require an immediate reaction or response. If you absolutely need a response from someone else about an issue you are facing in your work processes, email isn't the right tool. Call them on the phone, or on their cell phone. If your organization has instant messaging, start an instant messaging chat and ask that way. If they are external to your organization, use a public instant messaging service or the IM capability in Skype. In short, if you are facing a decision point that requires immediate feedback from others, don't trust the discussion to email.


3. Change how you communicate with significant others. If there are a handful of people that you deal with on a continual basis, from whom you need to secure feedback and input, consider stopping the use of email. If you need to regularly catch up with this group of people, coordinate around next actions, and discuss key decision points, call a daily 15 minute stand-up meeting or stand-up teleconference instead. Everyone in the group agrees to meet in person or by phone for no more than 15 minutes at a set time each day, say 8am. Each person gets to outline what they are working on, to ask for feedback on key points, and to establish delivery expectations for the subsequent day. Others can immediately provide feedback, double check on action point delegation, and ensure alignment and consistency. This one change to your communicating processes will make a significant difference to productivity, communication effectiveness, and clarity of action.

Email may lose its power of attention, but you still need to gain the attention of others. You can do so by setting joint expectations, switching to other means of communication, or changing your communications approach altogether.

What About You?
What strategies and tactics have you followed when email loses it power of attention?

Quick Links, Feb 15

New Blogs

• Gary Slinger Thoughts ... Gary writes about open source, email, BlackBerry, and other technology. Gary has a good post on implementing David Allen's GTD with a BlackBerry Gary Slinger

Positions

• Rod is "BlackBerried" ... Rod got his new BlackBerry 7730 earlier this week, and it just works. The final sentence in Rod's announcement: "I tried to stay loyal, but they finally got me". My interpretation / translation: "In an attempt to show loyalty to Microsoft and give a good impression of product usability to customers (since I was a Microsoft business partner), I paid thousands and thousands of dollars in order to get a Windows-powered device that would enable me to get push-based email while out-and-about. That loyalty cost me severely, however, and Microsoft still hasn't got it right. I should have listened to my heart and not my head, purchased what really worked from day one, and just got on with running my business". I wonder how many other Microsoft partners feel the same way? RIM needs to read Rod's tale. Rod Drury


• Collaborate vs. Compete ... Jeffrey reflects on a recent Wall Street Journal article on managerial styles, specifically competitive vs. collaborative. Thinking Faster

Vendor Moves

• Palm OS 6 is Dead ... Access, the company that purchased PalmSource, announced at 3GSM that its Access Linux Platform will replace Palm OS 6. Few details were disclosed. Access hopes to release the new OS to developers before the end of 2006. MobHappy


• Microsoft Office Live in Beta ... Microsoft announced the public beta of its Office Live hosted services. Target market is small and medium-sized businesses. Office Live is offered in three packages: Basics (free, five email accounts, domain name, Web site, and reporting tools), Collaboration (for fee, based on Windows SharePoint Services) and Essentials (for fee, 50 email accounts, FrontPage support, and more). Beta available immediately. PC World, ComputerWorld, Microsoft Office Live


• Liquid Machines Document Control 6.0 for Microsoft Windows RMS ... Liquid Machines updated Version 6.0 of its Document Control application, a digital rights management add-on for Windows Rights Management Services. MarketWire


• Small Business People Love WebEx WebOffice ... SmallBusinessComputing.com announced that WebEx WebOffice (which was acquired from Intranets.com) was voted "Product of the Year" in the Collaboration category. prnewswire


• Forrester on Interwoven ... Forrester Research called Interwoven WorkSite the "Best Kept Secret in Document Management" in a recent report. Comment: It is hard to tell whether this was sponsored research or not ... Interwoven


• BlackBerry Ain't Going Anywhere! ... RIM's Co-CEO said that RIM's BlackBerry service will stay up and running "no matter what happens" with the patent infringment suit with NTP. Balsillie reiterated that the workaround is ready to go. Arizona Republic

Other Industry Happenings

• OCS Problems at US Department of Administration ... The US Department of Administration is reviewing whether it will continue with Oracle Collaboration Suite and recommend it to other agenices, or write-off its $2.6 million investment. The DOA previously ran a Microsoft based system, but the upgrade cost to Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 was estimated at $12.3 million. Wisconsin State Journal, The Capital Times


• Data-Centric PDA Shipments in 2005 ... Gartner reports on data-centric PDA shipments for 2005: total shipment of 14.9 million PDAs. Share: RIM BlackBerry (21.4%), Palm (18.6%), and HP (15%). InformationWeek

Quick Links, Feb 14

Vendor Moves

• Foldera Series B Round ... Foldera, a provider of web-based team collaboration and organization software, announced the successful conclusion to its Series B stock offering. The Series B round brings total monies raised to $13 million. The Foldera service is currently available in beta. Yahoo


• Followap and Vodafone ... Followap announced that it is powering the federated interconnectivity between Vodafone Instant Messaging services. Vodafone is using the Followap iFollow Interconnect Platform. Followap


• Federated Mobile Instant Messaging Service ... Vodafone, Orange, Telefonica Moviles, SFR, Bouygues, China Mobile, Bharti Tele-Ventures and others announced plans for a worldwide federated instant messaging service between their respective wireless networks. The carriers want to drive the sales of data minutes. International Herald Tribune, ComputerWorld


• Central Desktop Free Version ... Central Desktop announced the release of a free edition of its web-based project management and team collaboration software. Aimed at small business teams, the free edition supports up to 5 members, 25 MB of data storage, and 2 workspaces. Available immediately. Central Desktop


• Scalix 10 ... Scalix announced Version 10 of Scalix, its namesake email and calendaring server for enterprises running Linux. New features: high availability support (99.999% reliability), iCal for cross-platform calendaring interoperability, and enhancements to its rich email clients, among others. Available immediately. Scalix, with discussion at CRN


• BlackBerry Booted ... Darbys, a full-service solicitors firm in the United Kingdom, has replaced its BlackBerry deployment with a GoodLink one from Good Technology. Key driver: a desire to standardize on HP Pocket PC devices. Cellular News


• Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile ... Microsoft announced that its Mobile client for Office Live Communications Server 2005 will be available by mid April 2006. Works on Windows Mobile-based devices, supporting instant messaging, presence, and voice over IP. Microsoft


• MAPI Lab E-mail Follow-Up 1.7.1 ... MAPI Lab released Version 1.7.1 of E-mail Follow-up, an add-on tool for Microsoft Outlook to enhance Outlook's native follow-up and reminder capabilities. Adds two new buttons to the new mail screen, to enable the user to set follow-up details and reminders. Available immediately. MAPI Lab, with coverage at SearchExchange


• SEVEN Workgroup Edition ... SEVEN Networks released a Workgroup Edition of its push-based wireless email server. Works for up to 25 users, providing wireless access to email, calendar, attachments, and contacts against multiple email servers and from multiple mobile device types. Available immediately. SEVEN


• RIM's Not Scared ... RIM is apparently unfazed by the wireless email feeding frenzy going on. It sees itself having an ongoing competitive advantage in the space. Reuters. Its shares, however, dropped 2% after Microsoft made its wireless email announcements on Monday at 3GSM. MarketWatch


• Alfresco Network 1.2 ... Alfresco released Version 1.2 of the Alfresco Network, an open source enterprise content management solution. New features: enhanced administration, team collaboration capabilities, new search tools, and new platform support, among others. Available immediately. CCN Matthews


• Funambol on Push Email ... Funambol released the beta version of Version 3.0 of its push-based email server, which supports Exchange, Domino, IMAP and POP3 servers. Uses SyncML to synchronize data between devices and servers. Funambol is open source software. ComputerWorld