MindTouch announced that its MindTouch Deki commercial wiki software has received the VMware Certified Virtual Appliance certification. With this designation, MindTouch Deki is deemed compatible with VMware’s entire product line, including VMware Player, VMware Workstation, VMware Server and VMware ESX. MindTouch Deki is a business wiki that installs in minutes, giving corporate workgroups the ability to share information and collaborate almost instantly and securely on their own networks. It is a complete pre-installed, pre-configured application and operating system that runs on any Windows or Linux machine. From small departments to large enterprises, MindTouch Deki runs atop the VMware Player or any product from VMware. It also enables content portability whereby users can move both the wiki application and its content from machine to machine, even to removable storage devices up to 100 Gigabytes. MindTouch Deki is free for the first five users and is designed for on-demand scalability. The free license does not include software updates and fixes, support or certain advanced features, such as Outlook Connector. A full product license (for five users) starts at $995. http://www.mindtouch.com
Month: March 2007 (Page 4 of 5)
MIT, Wharton, Pearson, and Shared Insights have developed a very interesting project. They have set up a wiki allowing a community of people to write a business book that will be published by Pearson in the fall. The overall premise is that communities can augment or even replace certain traditional business efforts. Marketing has emerged as the leading area for such efforts. I wrote a short section on the power of word of mouth in service marketing. The preliminary results will be shared at the Community 2.0 conference next week in Las Vegas.
SpringCM announced the availability of SpringCM Version 3.7 which incorporates more integrated collaboration, meeting, routing and transfer capabilities. Users access SpringCM through a Web interface, and use the system to automate work order and invoicing processes, improve access to data and documents, and streamline workflow. The new features in SpringCM Version 3.7 include the following, and are available to current subscribers at no additional cost: Web Publishing Tools – Direct access to public folders enhances Web publishing capabilities; Addressable Fax & E-Mail Folders – Policies and rules associated with the folders allow for the direct submission and processing of incoming documents, such as invoices, expense reports, credentialing documents and contracts; Roles and Permissions – New permissions and metadata capabilities provide more flexibility and security in controlling who has authority to access documents and when; WebDAV Support – Technology enables dragging and dropping of documents to transfer them to specific locations; Web Services for Workflow – Web services provide integrated access to workflow system information; Editing Enhancements – New tools enable quick document markup and editing capabilities. The new version of SpringCM is available now. http://www.springcm.com/
SearchBlox Software, Inc. has released SearchBlox Content Search Software Version 4.0 with replication support and a completely re-designed AJAX-based Admin Console. The new release also supports hit highlighting of search terms in HTML and PDF documents. The replication feature, available in SearchBlox ENTERPRISE Edition, keeps search indexes in multiple instances of SearchBlox synchronized. Using the new replication feature, search applications can be deployed using multiple instances of SearchBlox. The new release also features a new AJAX-based Admin Console which makes the management of SearchBlox Content Search Software more interactive. The new UI hides the complexities of managing the built-in HTTP, File system and RSS crawlers and makes the software accessible to novice users. SearchBlox is 100% Java and uses the open source Apache Lucene search API. SearchBlox supports indexing and searching of content in 37 languages and can be deployed on any platform that supports Java. It been tested on Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, UNIX, IBM AIX, Solaris, HP-UX, and z/OS operating systems. SearchBlox can be deployed as a J2EE Web Component to all major J2EE Application Servers including BEA Weblogic, JBoss, IBM Websphere, Oracle OAS, JRun and Apache Tomcat. It is also available as a standalone server for Windows, Mac OS X and Unix/Linux platforms. The SearchBlox Free Edition is available free of charge and can index up to 1000 documents. The software can be downloaded from http://www.searchblox.com/.
I recently spoke about language needs with a person who works in a multinational company. She mentioned that although English was the official corporate language, and all employees in different countries spoke it, issues arose when non-native speakers communicated with each other. The problem was not with special terminology, which everyone knew well, but rather with an incorrect tone of the message.
My native Finnish is a good example of a language which is quite different from e.g. Latin languages. We use a lot of the passive tone, and rather straightforward sentences, with little or no flourishes. When “translated” literally e.g. into English, the message can sound curt or commanding, due to lack of words like “please”, “I would like to…” etc. A Finn could happily say “I want a steak” in a restaurant, without thinking that it sounds different from “Could I have a steak, please”. On the other hand, a Finn would find a typical US user manual with its extremely exact instructions almost offensive to his or her intelligence.
A translator or an interpreter knows such cultural differences and takes them into account. But an increasing number of people communicates daily with each other in a non-native language. (All the worse when the communication is done mainly via email, where short sentences, typos and too many recipients on the cc: line add to the problem!) Knowing the special terminology is essential, but not enough. This also means that companies need to think about testing the language skills of their employees, and about giving them language and cultural training. After all, a satisfied customer would expect to hear not just the right words, but the right message.
CrownPeak announced its CrownPeak for Interactive Agencies Program. The program helps agencies provide customized and unique Web site management solutions without the overhead, time constraints and worry about technological limitations. CrownPeak Partner agencies can now outsource a complete Web site management platform, or work directly in the CrownPeak CMS to integrate their custom solutions. The agency program allows qualified, participating agencies to do as much or as little of the CMS implementation, development or support as they are comfortable with. This also allows them to earn additional revenue from both the services side and the software side as a CrownPeak reseller. The CrownPeak for Interactive Agencies Program offers the following three tiers of involvement: CrownPeak Partner Agency – Agencies simply sell CrownPeak to customers or introduce CrownPeak to opportunities. CrownPeak takes care of all implementation and support; CrownPeak Enabled Agency – Agencies enable their teams to implement and support CrownPeak’s software solutions for their customers. Agencies get special pricing, training and specialized support; CrownPeak Certified Agency – All CrownPeak partners can become CrownPeak Certified for either just design and strategy or full implementation of the software. CrownPeak Certified Agencies receive direct leads from CrownPeak’s sales team. The new program provides CrownPeak Enabled Agencies with a free instance of CrownPeak Software to use for demonstrations and/or for the agency’s own Web site management. CrownPeak will also provide developer training, sales materials and a dedicated CrownPeak Partner Representative to qualified agencies. In return, and in order to stay qualified, CrownPeak asks partner agencies to bring at least one new customer to CrownPeak CMS per year. http://www.crownpeak.com
Day Software (SWX:DAYN)(OTC:DYIHY) announced their latest repository connector that are compliant with the Content Repository for Java Technology API standard (JSR 170) is for Microsoft SharePoint. The Microsoft SharePoint connector is part of Day’s Content Integration family of products that enable enterprises to access and manage all organizational content through a standardized API. This technology allows the implementation of content access, synchronization and consolidation even if the content resides in data stores that do not provide a JCR compliant API. http://www.day.com
