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Microsoft Groove is a WINNER! |
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Tuesday, 25 September 2007 |
I don't know why it's taken me this long to try out the new Microsoft Groove 2007 but I'm happy I did. It is a very lean but full-featured collaboration software that bridges many simple functions together to give you an awesome productivity solution.
Microsoft Office Groove 2007 comes with the higher priced versions of Microsoft Office 2007 and can also be purchased as a stand-alone. In short, it allows multiple people from ANYWHERE to share a numerous workspaces over the internet.
Right out of the box, the workspace comes with file-sharing, discussion, ticketing, sketchpad, notepad, forms, and many other traditional and creative methods to store data. The real magic is that the data is simultaneously synchronized all over the web to all the other individuals that are working in the workspace. This allows you to have a centrally managed data-space that allows everyone to stay up-to-date with the latest changes by all members within minutes, not days.
Groove offers many advantages and solutions to old problems. It cuts down on communication problems and data-redundancy. Imagine writing a book with 5 friends and having to pass attachments around and emailing each other back and forth to see each other's changes. You'd waste time emailing, confuse yourself with all the different versions of changes, and people wouldn't be able to work until someone else had inputted something. With Groove, you can edit and all work on the project at the same time and see the changes simultaneously. If you hadn't logged in for days, Groove will also notify of changes you haven't looked at yet. Groove also keeps the data in one place and keeps one copy of everything so that there's no mistaking about what is the most up to date.
Microsoft Groove is also very easy to use which is something many other collaboration tools have not be able to accomplish yet. Groove is easy to install, setup, invite other users to your workspace, secure, and features a very short learning curve. It's about as hard as learning how to use PAINT, NOTEPAD, and a FORUM. Groove 2007 also integrates very well with Microsoft Office 2007 so it's very nice to have something that works with everything else you have. It's only a matter of time before everyone discovers that Microsoft Groove has been the answer to their prayers. It really is THAT GOOD. If it makes you feel any better, I'd like to add that Groove was a product that was ACQUIRED by Microsoft and NOT created by Microsoft. I highly recommend anybody that collaborates with another person on a project to give Groove a try. It's addictive and gets work done so much faster and easier.
To be fair, there ARE many other alternatives to Groove. One that comes to mind is Collanos. Of course, it is not the same but it IS free and open-source and has pros and cons that can make it worth more or less than Groove.
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