Collaboration: May 2010 Archives

Content Circles released the latest version of its flagship product, also called Content Circles, with a new pricing model. Content Circles pricing now starts at under $5 per month, or $50 per year. To drive adoption, all new Content Circles members also receive a free 30-day trial of the system. Inspired by the idea that anyone should be able to join a workgroup to collaborate on content, Content Circles’ approach allows anyone to participate in a collaborative workgroup for free. Content Circles revenue model is designed around workgroup leaders. While anyone can join a workgroup (Circle), view and contribute content to that workgroup for free, the creation of new workgroups requires a paid license. Content Circles requires no new hardware, no IT support, and no new data center requirements. Using the best elements of the Cloud and Peer-to-Peer technologies. By moving files through Content Circles, customers also reduce the burden on email systems, while maintaining a high-level of security. The new pricing model for Content Circles is effective immediately. http://www.contentcircles.com/

Microsoft has announced it will be releasing a new version of Office Mobile. Like regular Office 2010, many new features are collaboration oriented. The Office Mobile suite will be available in June through Microsoft's Windows Marketplace for Mobile. It will run on phones based on Microsoft's Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system. Formatting details such as tables and charts will now show up on the mobile documents, so they look similar to the full-sized originals. Microsoft also updated the clipboard in Office Mobile to make copying and pasting text faster. Phones equipped with Office Mobile 2010 will also be able to multi-task as presentation aids. During a PowerPoint presentation, they can be connected to computers via Bluetooth and used to advance slides. A feature called Conversation View has been implemented to manage inboxes by grouping related messages so conversations can be flagged or deleted. Microsoft says it has improved support for touch gestures including drags and flicks. Office Mobile 2010 will work on devices that lack touch screens, but with limited functionality. Non-Windows phones won't have direct access to the new Office Mobile features, but will be able to view Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents through a mobile browser-based viewer. In a few months, Office Mobile 2010 will be updated for compatibility with Microsoft's forthcoming Windows Phone 7 operating system. http://www.microsoft.com