SOFTWARE
The Gist: Intuitive App Lets Teams Collaborate Without Missing A Beat
Free
What's compelling about the reggae song "Luv Me, Luv Me" from How Stella Got Her Groove Back is its addictive beat. It does just what a good groove should do: break down people's inhibitions so they can express themselves. I don't know if Lotus Notes pioneer Ray Ozzie is a reggae fan, but his latest software riff, Groove, should lead to some great jam sessions.
Most "collaborative" apps I've tried are a drain because they impose logic-based procedures onto what should be an intuitive experience. But the preview version of Groove is a kick: You download it for free at www.groove.net, sans IT help, and you get a virtual space in which to share ideas, comments, photos, drawings, tools, files, and other components. Idiot-proof voice communication means you're not typing constantly, and shared sketch capabilities put everyone on the same drawing board.
I tried it out with several coworkers, getting them to operate in a typical collaborative situation - a virtual project room, complete with shared files, task list, outline, and calendar. We prompted one another with voice commands, and when I scrawled, "Can you see this?" on the drawing pad, a collaborator in another city immediately scribbled back, "Yes!" Groove is great for small and spontaneous project collaborations where users don't care to spend the time or money on a heavy-duty platform. And since it runs peer-to-peer rather than client-server, no one has to administrate. The company behind the tool, Groove Networks, hopes it will become as widely used as a browser, supporting the ad hoc, organic process of innovation. After distributing the basic version gratis, it plans to sell add-ons and enterprise installations.
As promising as Groove looks, it needs some minor improvements. The Start screen looks smart but can be confusing - what's the difference between a Discussion and a Conversation, and why do both appear outside a Project? The voice communication feature is killer, but hearing your boss's baritone jump out of your computer without warning might prove unnerving; the current interface doesn't clearly show your logon/logoff status. My group of users also had trouble understanding how or where their work was saved, and worried about security. If Groove can address these points and stick to its vision, it should have no trouble filling its dance card.
Groove Networks: +1 (978) 720 2000, www.groovenetworks.com.
STREET CRED
Red Alert 2
Terapin CD Video Recorder
The Handbook of Online Marketing Research
Groove
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-P1
Xypoint Nomad
Schock 40 with CBTF
ReadMe
Music
Diamond Mako
Eiland, by Stefan van Dinther and Tobias Schalken
The Art of Innovation, by Tom Kelley
Just Outta Beta
Untitled: Darkness
Mac OS X
Contributors
