November 19, 2007

FEATURE EDITORIAL

Introducing… Collaboration Newswire

Welcome to the inaugual edition of Collaboration Newswire, a new bi-monthly publication provided to you by TechPoint Media Publications, the same publishers of Messaging News www.messagingnews.com magazine and Messaging Newswire News & Trends e-newsletter.

Collaboration is a wide term that looks at the tools and technologies that people use when they work together on projects, specific outcomes and task forces. Collaboration can include the technologies of messaging, but the reverse can't correctly be claimed. Hence a new collaboration focused newsletter. The goal of this newsletter is to inform IT executives about the possibilities and pitfalls of collaboration environments.

Areas of Focus

What can you expect to read in future editions of the Collaboration Newswire? Some of the canonical areas of focus include:

• The development of collaborative applications. Ensuring that work in this area is done right is vital to long-term success.
• The new wave of 2.0 tools for collaboration in organizations, such as blogs, wikis, social bookmarking and the like. We want to keep you up-to-date with what's happening in this area, so you can make intelligent decisions about collaborative approaches in your work world.
• How to make effective usage of collaboration tools. We are focused on things that make a difference for businesses and people, not merely the latest gadgets.
• Implications of a shift toward collaboration for an increasingly distributed and mobile workforce. We want to help you make decisions that will propel your organization to greater success.

Format

There will be two main sections in the bi-weekly Collaboration Newswire: an editorial highlighting a recent noteworthy event or development, and a news section with the two to three most significant items of the previous week's announcements.

With that context and our strategic ethos outlined, we welcome you once again to the inaugural edition of Collaboration Newswire, and trust that you will find this service helpful in your work in the weeks and months ahead. Please let us know how we are doing and how we can improve.

Your correspondent,
Michael Sampson

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

Microsoft Sync Framework

Microsoft released the first test build of its forthcoming Sync Framework, for offline Web services. "Based on descriptions posted by Microsoft to its download site, the new framework will enable collaboration and offline capabilities for any application. It will roam and share information from "any data store, over any protocol, and over any network configuration," according to the company. Microsoft has built, and is making available to interested testers, a reusable provider for synchronizing the contents of file system directories on PCs and removable media, such as USB thumb drives, according to the website." If they get it right, this is a really big deal. ZDNet

Enterprise Hosting for Atlassian

Atlassian announced Enterprise Hosting options for Confluence and JIRA. "You might be asking yourself, what does Enterprise Hosting give me that isn't already included in Confluence Hosted? The answer is enterprise-level control. Confluence Hosted is perfect for smaller organizations who want to use the world's greatest wiki and who don't need additional customization. However, some customers require things like integration with their internal applications, custom plugins, or simply outgrow what they're using and need something more." Atlassian

EditGrid for Excel

EditGrid announced the beta of EditGrid Excel Plus. "EditGrid Excel Plus is a plugin for Microsoft Excel that brings the power of EditGrid to your desktop. Your Excel spreadsheets can now access EditGrid's versatile feature set and real-time data capabilities." Key features: real-time linked spreadsheets, publishing of data from Excel to EditGrid, and more. Available immediately. EditGrid

We welcome your ideas and your news for Collaboration Newswire's News & Trends in Collaboration. Let us know what you think by sending your comments to editorial@messagingnews.com. Written or compiled by Michael Sampson. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

For marketing information on this newsletter or other Messaging News products contact jvictor@messagingnews.com.