.

Talking of comparisons, I came across a very cool tool on NetworkWorld for comparing collaborative software. Some of them we have covered (HyperOffice), some I frankly haven’t heard of. Perhaps you might want to do some comparing…

Usually we’d say yawn to a new “SharePoint Killer”, but when Google says it, you have to take notice. Ever since Google’s new offering, Google Sites, was launched late in Feb, talk of it spelling the beginning of the end for SharePoint has been making the rounds. Reviews range from the skeptical, to the cheeky, to the hate filled, to the supportive.

Google Apps, Google’s truly online office suite ties in with this new product. “Truly online” has a downside – it isn’t available offline. In my opinion, more than anything, moving away from SharePoint will require a mental leap – to be comfortable working on and sharing information without the familiar whiff of MS products - MS Word, Excel et al. It wont happen anytime soon.

So how do smaller businesses collaborate, considering the huge SharePoint cost burden? Hosted Sharepoint alternatives like HyperOffice & Apptix seem the best bet for now.

I thought I would get in on the buzz created by the much anticipated public beta release of Microsoft’s Office Live Workspace on 4^th March. Most people see this solution as MS’s answer to Google Docs, so the comparison is obvious - Office Live Workspace vs Google Docs. The verdict is almost universal – thumbs up Google Docs.

What is it?

Office Live Workspace is basically an online document storage & sharing system. “People organize documents and projects online and work on them from almost any computer” as MS describes it. "Almost" any computer is right, because it works best with Internet Explorer, and some issues have been reported with Mac. "Almost" every computer also implies - no mobile access. (Google Docs allows mobile access)

What is a “workspace”?

Workspaces are basically predefined templates, where you can upload and share files. You can choose from “Class Workspace,” “Household Workspace,” “Job Search Workspace” etc. You can have multiple workspaces within your main workspace.

Features

Features offered are versioning, notifications, multiple file drag & drop upload. Online editing is not allowed. "Editing" opens documents on your local system, so you need to have MS Office installed of course, and changes are later saved. This is one up for Google Docs, which lets multiple users edit documents in real time right from the web browser, hence less conditionality and more flexibility.

Permissions are allowed, but only at the workspace level. Deep permissions down to the document are not allowed. Also you cannot create folders or subfolders within a workspace.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it’s an easy to use but a very basic and simple solution with limited functionality. Does it deserve the tag of “SharePoint Alternative”? Certainly not! Companies have many more collaboration needs than just document sharing, like live conferencing, task management, address books, calendars, and sophisticated access permissions - for which additional solutions will have to be purchased. This speaks for integrated collaboration suites like HyperOffice & Zimbra.