Team Collaboration

• Office 200x to SharePoint … New white paper from Microsoft that describes how different versions of Office work with SharePoint 2003/2007. “Although an overview of the integration features of Microsoft Office 2000 versus Microsoft Office XP with Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 is provided, the paper’s focus is on the integration features of the Office 2003 Editions versions the 2007 Office Suites with the 2007 SharePoint Products and Technologies.” Microsoft
• User Innovation in IT … Graham reflects on the difference between “user innnovation” and “manufacturer innovation” in IT services, and the costs to a business off too much uniformity. “Uniformity and control might cap costs, but they also stifle User Innovation. The need to innovate is strong, though, and Users of the service innovate anyway. They innovate outside the boundaries of the control whether that’s through Internet delivered services, or by utilising equipment outside the control of the standardised service (like the PC at home) or by finding loopholes in the control.” Graham Chastney
• Data Leakage with Calendars … Ouch, good warning for us all about being careful with confidential / proprietary data going up onto hosted services such as Google Calendar. “Further searching revealed that quite a few corporate calendars can be found on Google Calendar, yielding such tidbits as the date and time of vendor meetings and names of projects in the works. Dial information could also be seen Tuesday on other calendars for calls on topics such as “Deloitte’s V2 Status Meeting – Updated” and “Compliance Overview.”” ComputerWorld (hat tip, Ed)
• SharePoint as Sleeper … The WSJ reviews how SharePoint is creeping into organizations without the IT Manager/CIO being actively aware of it, due to the availability of a free cut-down version in Windows Server 2003. Once that’s embedded, organizations are paying for more capability in the special server edition of SharePoint. “Included with software the school district had previously bought was something called SharePoint Services, which Miami-Dade used as the first step in creating a system for planning school programs and classes, posting notices, and handling other tasks that require its teachers and students to collaborate. “We kind of unintentionally fell into it,” says Deborah Karcher, executive officer at Miami-Dade’s information-technology group. The school system considered an alternative from International Business Machines Corp., but with the Microsoft software already in place, “it just seemed like a very low risk.”” Wall Street Journal, with analysis and comments at Matt’s InfoWorld Blog
• Lotus Quickr Screencast … A screencast of Lotus Quickr is available for review and download. ELSUA
• SAP’s Harmony … SAP is using a prototype collaborative workspace in combination with its business systems, for linking structured data with the unstructured. “For example, a manager receives an email alert canceling a part order in Outlook. The alert can be saved within SAP via Duet, where the context of the event exists. The application includes a Thought Pad for writing notes, like an inline wiki; Bookshelf for listing documents associated with the event or project; Task Pad for keeping track of tasks; and an Info Panel that for capturing details, creating tags, assigned tasks, sharing with other employees and setting up meetings in a collaboration space.” ZDNet

Mobility

• $2.50 BlackBerry Refund … Cingular Wireless is refunding about $2.50 to each of its business customers affected by the recent RIM BlackBerry outage. InformationWeek

Other Stuff

• Periodic Table of Visualization Methods … Oooo, nice table of different ways of visualizating data, information, concepts, strategies, metaphors and compound ideas. Wow! Visual Literacy (hat tip, Chris)
• How to Save $3,000 a Year … Take your lunch to work rather than buying it; and invest the difference. Zen Habits
• Slow Migration to Vista … Agnitum surveyed its users about their intentions to shift to Microsoft Windows Vista; of 1857 English-speaking users, 70% said they had “no plans to shift to Vista”; the numbers were lower for German-speaking and French-speaking users. Agnitum