Cheap Microsoft Office Groove 2007

Over All Rating Reviews :

After struggling with shared folders, Intraspect, FTP and file synchronization, I've come to the conclusion that Groove is simply a better idea. It works best when you have a group of users who need to interact frequently around a set of topics. Groove workspaces make it easy to share files, to hold threaded discussions, to manage task lists and calendars, and to chat with colleagues in the same workspace.

The technology is peer-to-peer - that means there's a copy of everything on the machines of every user invited to participate in a workspace. This has many advantages - automatic backups, and the ability to work offline are two of the most important to me.

When I started working with Groove (beta), I was in the UK, with a colleague in Bangalore and one in San Jose (CA). We were all able to stay in sync without sending documents by e-mail. Groove is intelligent in that it automatically synchronizes files using an encrypted link.

Because of the peer-to-peer nature of the system, you do need to be online at the same time as your colleague in order to sync. The Groove server may eliminate this requirement - I haven't used it.

Groove appears to be secure, but I am no expert in that - Microsoft has lots of information on the subject.

Another great use for Groove is when you have multi-vendor projects - for example using an agency to do graphic design. You can use Groove to communicate securely through your firewalls. The communications are limited to the content of your Groove workspaces, so it's not intrinsically a risk.

However, from a corporate perspective, there is a risk. Groove makes it easy to invite "outsiders" to access potentially private corporate information. This means that a malicious user could transfer information to a third party in ways that may be difficult for their employer to detect. Of course there are many ways to do that, but this will probably be a concern to some IT organizations.

In summary, Groove has encouraged open and frequent communication across three continents, and has allowed effective sharing and backup of key documents without cluttering our e-mail. Five stars!

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