Free Software Linux

Skype has released a new version of a VoIP client for the Apple Macintosh platform that adds some new and unique features. Version 2.8, which was released in beta, adds two major new features including the ability to share your screen with other Skype users and access Boingo's global hotspot network on a per-minute basis.   The Skype user community was surprised by the new, unique features to the Mac client. In the past, the Mac client has lagged behind the more widely used Windows client in fuctionality. 

More good things are coming from old partnerships, the latest being a global strategic alliance between Ricoh Americas Corporation and the ever-popular IBM, spearheaded by Ricoh's new offering - Document Security and Management Services.

The folks at Clearwell Systems, whose platform works to streamline the eDiscovery process, have looked into their crystal ball and have offered a few predictions for the new year. Among them, trends that respond to financial and legal stresses as well as a need for more collaboration. The most compelling of their predictions lay within the realm of compliance and technology.  

Away from this blog, I've been putting a lot of energy into how best to work with social software in larger organizations (Enterprise 2.0) behind the firewall.  My professional attention has been shifting away from using Web content management systems, social publishing systems, and other collaboration tools on the Internet.  I really think the next big advancements and challenges for web technologies will not be on the World Wide Web, but the less explored intranet ran by medium and larger size organizations.

Understandably, we've been a little wary in our evaluations of iDatix here at CMSWire. In February when we first reviewed them, we mentioned their lack of brand recognition as a contrast to the 451 Group's claim that iDatix had market disruption potential. Then in July, we questioned whether or not their iLink technology would be enough to garner global attention.

Andrew Conry-Murray has written a good article in InformationWeek about the integration of collaboration software with enterprise content management.  The article is titled, A New Approach To Collaboration And Enterprise Content Management. The article focuses specifically on Microsoft's Sharepoint and Alfresco's Share being utilized with or sometimes replacing the traditional ECM products.

Andrew Conry-Murray has written a good article in InformationWeek about the integration of collaboration software with enterprise content management.  The article is titled, A New Approach To Collaboration And Enterprise Content Management. The article focuses specifically on Microsoft's Sharepoint and Alfresco's Share being utilized with or sometimes replacing the traditional ECM products.

Groupwise 8 is now available via Novell. The release aims to boosts personal productivity with a customizable dashboard that allows users to interact with traditional and Web 2.0. tools, from e-mail to blogs. It also provides a flexible and reliable tool on a platform that is able to run on multiple servers and clients -- including Windows, Linux, Mac and the Web.

MindTouch really wants you to use their Deki open source collaboration solution. So much so that they have created several new connectors to get content out of other vendor solutions more easily -- and at a discount. Add to that a new Desktop Suite for getting content into Deki and there's more reasons to take a closer look at this solution.

Even for The Register, not a very long article but it does ask some important questions.  The article, Welcome to the world of collaboration by stealth, suggests via questions that collaboration is bigger than the IT department. Because it involves software, probably the IT department's. But is IT equipped for the task? And does it want the responsibility? Collaboration is a human process, in essence, so surely the buck stops somewhere else - even if IT provides a number of enabling tools.

What do you get when you mix a provider that specializes in search engine optimization and a Web-based service that monitors search engine rankings? The recently partnered ClearGauge and ZoomRank would say a top-notch and innovative SEO measure.

As someone who has been writing about the commons for many years, I am still amazed when new ones pop up. Here's another:

Mainsoft continues to bridge the divide between Java and .Net. Today they announced the Beta release of Mainsoft Document Collaboration for Rational Jazz, SharePoint Edition.

The November 17, 2008 print edition of InformationWeek has an excellent article regarding the inroads Open Source Software is making into the enterprise.  Drupal and Alfresco are featured as the CMSs that are making serious inroads in the enterprise arena.  As a matter of fact, the Drupal logo is the centerpiece of the print editon's cover graphic. The link below is to an extract of the CMS portion of the article. To get comprehensive view of the article as a whole, try and get a look a the print edition if you can. Complete Story

Claromentis has recently made all Linux users much happier by releasing a collaboration and information management platform for Linux. It includes the brand new Project Manager application, content and document management, as well as process management using e-forms.