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October 09, 2006

Comments

Marc Orchant

Hi Andreas. Just a point of clarification about Foldera. We're happy to show the application to people, we're just not ready for a general release. So far this year, we've been at eTech, CTC, Future of Web Apps and will be at both Office 2.0 and Web 2.0 showing how Foldera addresses organization and collaboration in a way we think is unlike anything available today.

We will be broadening our beta test community significantly later this year with a significant milestone release and look forward to a general release to the public that we hope to have ready after we've tested the improvements we've been making based on our testers' feedback.

I'm sorry you won't be able to join those of us at the conference but I will make sure you are on our list of interested bloggers and will let you know when we have a release that is ready for public review.

To your closing point - we're in complete agreement. What people are looking for Office 2.0 to deliver is not a web-based clone of what's already available on their desktop or laptop. They want a new approach to work - both personal and collaborative - that takes advantage of the strenghts of a public network and a variety of devices to deliver a level of portability, mobility, and collaboration.

I'll be moderating a panel at the conference discussing the role that APIs and feeds play in this emerging space. I have a terrific group of panelists to work with and I hope the discussion will be both engaging and fruitful. One of the things that drew us to sponsor and participate in this event is the organizer's intent to generate consensus and a shared vision of how participants in this industry can make the use of multiple tools as easy and meaningful for the people and organizations that adopt them.

Patrik

you write:
"There are also some that have very nicely designed websites with lots of great buzzwords, but never really tell you what they actually do (example: System One)."
Well, you made me wonder. So I went over to System One, clicked around, watched their Screencast - and kind of understood, what they are up to after less than 5 minutes. kind of a clever "ajax-y enterprise knowledge management system / groupware", I guess.
So I don't get, why you think they don't tell, what they do?!?! Just wondering.

Andreas Goeldi

Patrik,

Well, two things:

- I'm not sure the screencast was there when I wrote this, at least I can't remember one. Might be a recent addition, or maybe I just missed it the first time. Anyway, I personally think screencasts are a terrible way to communicate the basics of your product. I might be ready to watch a five minute screencast if I'm really interested, but not to simply find out what the product really is about.

-System One's website uses way too much marketing bullshit lingo. Just read the very first sentence: "System One provides a holistic strategy perspective that enables organizations to be more successful, adaptive and flexible in today's ever-changing market environment full of fragmentation and increasing commodities."
Huh? Probably about 98% of tech companies could use this sentence, it says nothing at all. I don't think a vendor should waste people's time with this kind of empty lingo.

Just to be clear: I have nothing at all against System One or their product. They just make it much too hard to find out more about their offerings. As a contrast, just look at SocialText's homepage (the products seem to be somewhat similar). You just need to read very little text, and at least you get an idea if this product is for you.

Patrik

Ok, I agree! Thanks for the clarifications.

Nicolo Totti

article about collaboration tools, very cool

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