collaborator

Vyew's Web collaboration goodness goes 3.0

This week Vyew released version 3 of its browser-based collaboration tool. Freshly added are really useful things for online meetings like a push-to-talk VoIP system and Webcam support to take some of the chatter away from text and the corresponding telephone-based conference call. More importantly, there's now an API, meaning others can develop special applications that run within the service, expanding what Vyew's own developers are able to create.

One of those new applications is a built-in poll creator, where you can set up something for a vote and have others in the meeting choose which of the options they want. For something like a 10-person meeting this is a far better solution than clogging up the conference call or chat box with extra clamor.

There's also a new status menu where you can interrupt a meeting without actually interrupting it with a virtual "slow down" or applause message that will pop up for the presenter to see. You can use the same status message to tell other people you're temporarily away.

The smartest addition of version 3 is actually one of the most subtle. Users can now leave little text or voice notes on documents that sit both on the document and on the side. You can toggle which view you'd like to see, but either way it performs like some of the asynchronous collaboration tools we've seen like ConceptShare and ProofHQ. Others can then come back to the hosted documents and both see and leave their own feedback.

The company is pitching this as an alternative to sending attachments around the office, or to a client, and to a certain degree it's great for that, although missing is the option to view a timeline of revisions, which is where similar tools shine.

I still think Vyew is one of the simplest screen-sharing tools out there. The fact that it only requires you to have Java installed on your machine to make that happen is a much smarter way to go about compatibility than requiring a special proprietary plug-in or download. Vyew's Todd Lane goes over some of the new features in a YouTube video, which I've embedded after the break. You can also go make your own room and play around with them by clicking here.… Read more

Wiggio finally gives us accessible group collaboration

After TechCrunch50 last week, you may have thought you had seen the best new Web 2.0 collaboration companies. In fact, it is not Tingz or Popego that's taking home that title, it's Wiggio. Launching into public beta today, Wiggio describes itself very simply, "Wiggio makes it easy to work in groups."

The entire concept of the site is based around making it simple for users to dive in and start using all of the features that they have to offer. If a feature seems too complicated for everyone to understand and use, it is not … Read more

Bowling alone with the web

Despite some not-so-obvious arguments ("Media that's targeted at you but doesn't include you may not be worth sitting still for"), the transcript for a recent Clay Shirky speech reveals some highly intriguing thoughts. The basic gist is that society's collective crises of togetherness give way to more productive management of such crises. We learn how to cope with rising complexity, in short.

Shirky argues that gin was society's early response to the Industrial Revolution ("I can't deal with this, I'd better drink"), and that modern society's response to modernization (More people entering the workforce, etc.) is the sitcom ("I can't deal with this, I'd better watch TV"). I don't know that he's pinpointed the correct "outlet" on our frustrations, but it makes sense that it would take time for societies to effectively channel abundance.

Chris Anderson comments on Shirky's speech, suggesting that "it takes a generation or two to figure out how to properly use some resource that used to be scarce but is now abundant. In this case that resource is time...." Anderson believes we've found our way beyond the TV to "fill [our time] more productively, and to greater satisfaction."

I'm not so sure. In fact, I think the opposite is happening, at least in my life. I've already commented once on my addiction to the web. Unfortunately, my kids are learning the same addictions from me and from my wife.… Read more

Computing from the bottom up

Time was when most enterprise software came in the front door as part of a formal, signed-off-at-the-highest levels procurement process. Or it got written in-house as part of an equally formal, multi-year development plan. Or some combination of the two. You didn't expect that expensive packaged software you bought to just work out of the box did you?

Lots of software still gets purchased and developed that way of course. However, the truly striking story of the past decade is how so many of the tools and other software that we take for granted today are essentially bottoms-up phenomena. … Read more

Cisco to acquire PostPath for $215 million

Cisco Systems announced Wednesday plans to acquire e-mail and calendaring software maker PostPath in a $215 million deal.

The acquisition, which is scheduled to close by the end of October, is designed to bolster Cisco's collaboration portfolio by including PostPath's Linux-based e-mail and calendaring software with Cisco's "software as a service" platform.

Cisco's collaborative platform includes instant messaging, voice, video, data, document management, and Web 2.0 applications. PostPath will be folded into Cisco's Collaboration Software Group.

"The acquisition of PostPath complements our strategy to develop an integrated collaboration platform designed for … Read more

ProofHQ puts collaborative editing in your browser, blog

Launching in public beta on Tuesday is ProofHQ, a new entrant to the world of Web collaboration tools. The service is focused mostly on design work, but has been set up to handle nearly every kind of document and illustration format under the sun.

Like Conceptshare, a tool we've raved about in the past, ProofHQ is entirely Web-based, and designed to make collaborating on projects of all magnitudes something that happens outside of your e-mail in-box.

On Monday co-founder and CEO Mat Atkinson took me through the entire process of proofing something among multiple parties. What makes it a … Read more

Infectious disease surveillance system goes open source

I reported earlier on the Collaborative Software Initiative's important work with the State of Utah on an infectious disease surveillance system. This week CSI and the State of Utah announced that the system has been open sourced as the Trisano Project:

TriSano is an open source, citizen-focused infectious disease surveillance system that allows local, state and federal entities to collaborate for the good of public health. With TriSano, the Collaborative Software Initiative provides a forum in which subject matter experts (i.e., doctors, nurses and epidemiologists) and software developers work together to facilitate the cre-ation of citizen-centric public health … Read more

Lightening up collaboration

One of the interesting threads within this year's O'Reilly Open Source Conference (OSCON) was a variety of collaboration tools and platforms aimed at what might be called "mid-weight" collaboration. Which is to say, collaboration that is something more than mailing lists or user forums but something less than the code repositories that primarily target a core group of developers.

Here's the basic issue. Some popular projects, such as the Linux kernel, have a pretty broad range of contributors. However, many other projects--even successful ones--are the product of a much more constrained group of people. With … Read more

Cisco invests in the future despite economic pressures

There's no doubt the battered economy is affecting technology bellwether Cisco Systems, but the company is looking to the future with plans for big investments across its portfolio in "adjacent markets."

On Tuesday, Cisco reported that earnings for its fourth fiscal quarter 2008 were up 4.4 percent to $2.0 billion on revenue that climbed 9.9 percent to $10.36 billion. The results were in line with analyst expectations, but were a far cry from the company's results during some of its best quarters when the economy was strong and healthy.

As for the … Read more