MetBlogger - Information Technology in Education

Time for Online Collaboration

With Acrobat, Writely, or Office Groove

By: Eric Durrand 

The concept of a document has been transformed in the past two decades. From printed information that changed very rarely, and was stored at a specific places in care of a specific person, documents have now become media-rich, easily changed and duplicated, and most important of all: shareable.

Document creation and managements suites, together with the advent of broadband internet have brought a wealth of possibilities to our everyday common documents. You can now publish them online in minutes, send them anywhere in seconds, get feedback from co-workers, track changes, and even debate and collaborate in real time online!

Three document management and collaboration solutions, each special in its own right, offer you the possibility to do more with your documents.

Adobe Acrobat 8.0, launched September 18^th, is a powerful document creation and sharing environment. It offers you the ability to easily create PDF documents from virtually any application. PDF documents look the same on every platform, version, and device, and can include interactive elements such as movies, or forms that can be filled out online. The suite includes some very interesting collaboration tools for schools: users around the world can quickly add sticky notes, marker highlights, bookmarks, stamps (such as Classified, or Feedback Wanted), and even colorful “pencil” marks. They can track each other comments, reply, and engage in discussion about the document, viewable from the document itself.

The new version includes some powerful tools that allow colleagues to not only collaborate online in real time, but to actually hold a video conference meeting “around” the document, discussing the changes as they’re being made. This is an effective way to discuss grading, decide on policy papers, class materials, schedules, etc. It’s also a great way to provide forms for download and printing, class sources, even assignment papers.

 

Writely.com, recently purchased by Google and released as a free service to the public, is an altogether different approach to online collaboration. Writely is web-based, which means anyone with a browser can access it, HTML based – which means that you can publish them online in seconds, and simple – which means you need not bother with dozens of functions that you will never use, but also cannot create as complex and media-rich documents as in Word, Acrobat, or other document creation tools.

Writely, however, is extremely powerful in its own way. It automatically tracks versions of documents, allowing you to go back and compare any two versions from any time in the past. It allows you to invite collaborators and see the changes they make in real time. It has a powerful search engine and tagging system that allows you to find a document out of hundreds in seconds, and it has a powerful backup and automatic save program that virtually insures that your information will not be lost.

 

Microsoft Office 2007 Groove is a unique collaboration tool recently released in BETA mode, and which will be included in the Office 2007 suite. The suite allows multiple teams to create “working spaces” and share the tools they need for a specific project. Tools include file sharing, project management, live meetings management including video conferencing and voice, forum discussions, a whiteboard tool, and more.

Groove works using a regular internet connection, saving the files on each of the individual PCs rather than on a central server, and pushing the changes made to the information since the last connection to each user when he logs in. Users can create an unlimited number of work spaces, each centered around a team, project, or task. Groove also allows you to see who’s working on what at any point, and chat with co-workers using a built in messenger.

 

Whether you’re using a free online tool, or an expensive document management suite, opening up to the idea of live online collaboration will liberate your documents from their bonds of time and space, and allow them to grow organically based on users comments, client feedback, and changing needs. Document management and collaboration tools offer a great way of taking important information out of people’s minds, and into a shared repository of tips, comments, interpretations, and positions. Are you ready to collaborate online?

Ready for Windows Vista?

Will the New Operating System Change PCs As We Know Them?

By: Eric Durrand 

After five years in development and two names, Microsoft had finally released a preview version, First Release Candidate version of Windows Vista (used to be: Longhorn). Windows Vista RC1 reveals an almost complete makeover of the Windows operating system, which promises to change the way teachers and students work with their PCs, when the final version is made public, early 2007.

The first rumors of “Longhorn”; a three-dimensional, easily searchable, media rich operating system were floating around the Microsoft sphere since 2001, even before the launch of the current Microsoft Windows XP. Set originally to be launched by 2003, the system is now 5 years in development, which gave Microsoft plenty of time to develop a series of transforming technologies that make the new system truly different from what PC users are accustomed to. 

But does the new system deliver what it promises?

A look at Windows Vista RC1 reveals many new and interesting features, which may have an impact on how businesses, specifically small offices, work with their PCs:

· Internet Explorer 7 – The new browser will ship with many new features. Many, liked tabbed browsing, RSS news aggregator, improved security features, are an attempt to catch up with the competitions (namely Firefox). Others, including improved printing capabilities, a slicker design, and high-end graphical capabilities, seem brand new.

· Search Your Computer – Windows Vista allows you to search all the files and folders on your computer, using a super-fast built-in search engine, a feature that Mac OS users have had for a long time already. Now in Windows too, if you forget where you saved a document, you can find it in a snap, as long as you remember some word that appeared in it, or some part of the filename. Windows allows you to save keywords for every file – including images and videos, allowing you to find them faster as well.

· Better Information Security – The information security in Windows Vista had seen a major overhaul, with the new Windows Security Center defending against viruses, spyware, and other potentially harmful software. It also provides parental control over web sites and documents, better management of multiple users on a single system, and a new version of Windows Firewall to defend against hackers.

· Built-In Backup and Restore – Windows Vista comes with integrated “backup and restore” management. The new Windows Backup can backup specific files or the entire computer, to help make sure that you never have to lose your important files and information.

· Improved Fax Handling – The new Windows Vista treats faxes just like e-mails, allowing you to quickly organize, review, save, and reply directly from your PC. New enhancements offer more complete document handling and communications capability, integrated with improved scanning capability—which supports one-click scanning of documents from locally connected scanners, network-connected scanners, and multifunction print/scan/fax devices.

· New Visualizing Tools – The new graphic user interface of Windows Vista is called Aero, and it brings a wealth of stunning graphical effects to your desktop. From 3D windows to glass-like menus, the new Vista looks more like Apple’s MacOS than ever before. The system also includes visual tools that will help users visualize information, and developers make richer web sites and applications.

· Windows Meeting Space – A great new feature for businesses, Windows Meeting Space uses Wi-Fi wireless networking, to connect up to 10 people sitting in the same conference room or office. It allows you to "project" your desktop or application to other participants or to any Windows Vista compliant Network Projector, share a file with a group in a common work area, and jointly edit the file. Even if a network connection is not available, you can collaborate with others, using an ad-hoc mode.

· Better Handling of Proprietary Formats – Many proprietary formats, including CAD files, can now be converted into a universal 3D object format that anyone with Windows Vista would be able to view. This solves the problem of many businesses in sharing engineering information, plans, and maps.

With the official launch planned for early 2007, Microsoft has already revealed the suggested retail prices for Windows Vista: $399 for Windows Vista Ultimate, $299 for Windows Vista Business, $239 for Windows Vista Home Premium, and $199 for Windows Vista Home Basic. Upgrades are also available: To Windows Vista from XP are $259 for Windows Vista Ultimate, $199 for Windows Vista Home Premium, and $99 for Windows Vista Home Basic.

Who should upgrade? This question is especially complex, because the price of the operating system may be compounded by the price of new hardware required. The newer models will generally support Windows Vista, though even they might require a better graphics card, or additional memory. Luckily – Microsoft made the evaluation easy, by providing the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor, a free software tool that checks all your hardware and lists the necessary adjustments or upgrades you might need to make.

For now, upgrades should probably be reserved for cases where the benefit is very concrete: Managers who need to be more productive in meetings, engineers who need better sharing and design features, and information workers who need a better way to store, locate, and backup their information.

What is recommended, however, is to keep Windows Vista in mind. In your purchase of PCs for the business, you should probably ask for a “Windows Vista Capable” PC, and if buying a Microsoft operating system very shortly before the launch, ask about a free-upgrade to Windows Vista.

While critics and cynics may deny the importance of the new operating system, warning customers not to expect too much of Microsoft, who has a reputation for unstable and sometimes buggy products – the new operating system shows a solid promise of new and useful features, better security, and improved usability design. As the most popular operating system for PCs, a new version of Windows is bound to have a huge impact on the way we work, play, and learn.