Web-based work

This post was updated at 10:12 AM PT to correct the spelling of Joost CEO Mike Volpi"s name. Could a browser-based version of its peer-to-peer software save Joost, the heavily hyped video start-up founded by the creators of Skype and Kazaa? Portfolio"s Kevin Maney wrote a lengthy profile of the once-hot company, and buried inside is a juicy tidbit about a future development: "This year, viewers will be able to watch Joost videos in a browser window," the profile read. Right now, Joost requires a software download, which critics have said is one of its prime setbacks when just about every other online video start-up is browser-based. ***

Regular readers of this blog know that I don't believe that Google Apps is a viable alternative to Microsoft's Office. While Microsoft is not releasing a completely online version of its Office on Tuesday, it is releasing Office Live Workspace, an online-collaboration tool for Office that works in cooperation with the desktop application suite. Workspace enables users to view documents online, even if their computer doesn't have Office installed. However, if they want to make edits, they have to download it and make changes in the appropriate Office application. ***

Zoho Creator, the suite’s application-creation and sharing tool, now has a mobile version. Zoho has been pretty good and quick to extend the majority of its suite’s solutions for mobile access, and now Creator isn’t the one that’s left behind. This swiftness is an especially important trend for Zoho as it continues to battle Google on the web-based application front, and now the mobile front as well. Zoho has generally been able to beat Google to the punch when it comes to some of its more recent releases for various applications, like spreadsheets. And with Google becoming more aggressive with its plans for its mobile offerings, especially a possible ***

SEATTLE--In another clear sign that Microsoft sees the threat posed by its traditional business moving online, the company is readying a rival to Google's Documents and Spreadsheets. The software maker is announcing Office Live Workspace, a free online tool for viewing, sharing and storing--but not editing--Office documents online. (Its existing Office Live efforts will be rebranded as Office Live Small Business.) It's not quite ready--starting Monday customers will be able to put in their name to be part of a beta testing program expected to begin later this year. Still, the effort is a recognition that ***

Network gear maker agrees to buy Latigent, a privately held company that sells Web-based business software focusing on customer call centers. The story "Cisco to buy call center software company" published September 27, 2007 at 10:03 AM is no longer available on CNET News.com. Content from Reuters expires after 30 days. ***

With some Australian Aboriginal languages facing extinction, the Arwarbukarl Cultural Resource Association (ACRA) has adopted Microsoft SharePoint and Access to help its work to preserve one indigenous dialect. Based on Access, ACRA has created its own program--Miromaa, which means "saved" in Awabakal--to store data and research on the Awabakal language. ACRA also is using SharePoint Server 2007 to share its work with other Aboriginal groups to help the spread and restoration of the language. According to ACRA, the system can help archive "all evidences of language including, text, audio, images and video" as Word documents and spreadsheets. ***

It’s being said that Adobe may be entering the realm of office applications. This is something Adobe hasn’t done, and to many, it may seem like the wrong direction to go in. Seems like everyone is moving towards web-based applications, right? Well, Adobe, as we all know, has its new AIR product, which lets you build web applications that also work on the desktop. This offers offline access and online integration. The competitive advantage for Adobe is that it has an edge over both software-based companies like Microsoft, as well as Ajax web-based apps like Google docs and Zoho. As Adobe is also offering a platform for the creation of applications with AIR, this gives Adobe a leading advantage as well. ***

Salesforce.com on Monday is expected to announce a way move data between different applications using its online development platform. At the company's first developer conference, executives will introduce Salesforce SOA, an extension to its Apex programming language that allows developers to integrate different applications via Web services protocols. Salesforce will host and run the custom-written integration code. People can already write mashups that run within a browser, such as an application that displays customer information from Salesforce's sales application on a Web mapping service. ***

update E-mail software company Zimbra on Sunday released an early version of Zimbra Desktop, Web e-mail software that will run online and offline. The company has built an open-source, Web-based alternative to existing mail servers and clients such as Microsoft Exchange and Outlook. Zimbra uses Ajax, a Web development technique that runs across browsers and operating systems. ***

So Adobe made a huge revelation today, saying it plans to launch a web-based version of Photoshop within six months. The free, ad-supported site will compete with PXN8, Fauxto, Picture2Life, Picnik, Preloadr, Snipshot (formerly Pixoh) and other online photo apps covered here in the past. ***

Some digital publishers are complaining that the new Microsoft Outlook rolls back design standards by half a decade. The 2007 edition of Outlook, the most popular e-mail client for big businesses, ditches Internet Explorer"s technology for that of Word 2007 to display HTML messages. Same message, different Outlook(Credit: Campaign Monitor) The result? In your Outlook 2007 in-box, background images may not appear within dressed-up HTML messages. Forget about filling out certain forms. Animated GIF images won"t play, and a red X will mark the spot where a Flash movie would be. ALT tags, which describe pictures and help blind people to "see" them, won"t work either. And ***

Google is very smart about mobile devices. On a PDA or cell phone, the Google search experience has been, for quite a while, very different than it is on a full-size screen. Google even parses Web pages it links to and tries to repackage them in a mobile-friendly way. (To force the Google mobile version, go to www.google.com/m.) Gmail, though, has not been a great experience on mobile devices. But on Thursday Google released a mobile Java Gmail application for cell phones that makes using your Gmail account much easier [news story]. The new app--which will be preloaded onto some new Sprint phones, or available for download for anyone else who has a Java-capable phone ***

IBM's Lotus division has introduced the latest updates to its desktop messaging and collaboration server software. With Notes 7 and Domino 7, released Wednesday, IBM is offering new collaboration features as well as tools for building new applications--and targeting an area of the business software market that's heating up. Big Blue said that it's added more than 100 new features to the Notes client software, many of which are aimed specifically at managing large amounts of data coming into an inbox. IBM said much of its work was aimed at improving the underlying server software that controls the performance of Notes. ***

Microsoft unveiled plans on Tuesday to introduce a Web-based version of its Communicator enterprise messaging software in order to offer customers increased flexibility in accessing the company's collaboration and communications tools. Speaking at the Collaborative Technologies Conference in New York, Anoop Gupta, corporate vice president of Microsoft's Real-Time Collaboration Group, detailed the company's plans to introduce a beta version of the product in mid-July. Dubbed Microsoft Office Communicator Web Access, the software aims to help provide customers with an additional option for accessing the software giant's corporate IM system. The company plans to introduce the latest desktop version of Communicator, labeled Microsoft Office Communicator 2005, sometime before the end of June, and has already begun manufacturing the product. ***

news analysis With its $3.4 billion acquisition of Macromedia, Adobe Systems is buying into a crucial battle to shape the next generation of Web application development. Adobe, which built its name on the Portable Document Format, or PDF, for printable digital documents, has long struggled to make an impact in the purely digital realm where Macromedia has its roots. Now, with Macromedia's Flash animation and application development software in its portfolio, Adobe has positioned itself as a primary competitor against Microsoft on the one hand and open standards on the other in building new platforms for Web applications. ***

update SAN FRANCISCO--Salesforce.com introduced the latest update to its hosted customer relationship management package on Tuesday, with a focus on increasing customization and integration capabilities throughout its applications. The San Francisco-based applications service provider said the new release, Salesforce.com Winter '05, will go live Nov. 15, becoming immediately available to all of the company's existing subscribers. Salesforce sells monthly licenses for its Web-based customer relationship management (CRM) applications, which businesses use to help manage operations such as sales force and marketing automation. ***

New version of MSN Messenger works over the Web without software being installed on a user's PC. The story "Microsoft tests Web-based messenger" published August 7, 2004 at 7:51 AM is no longer available on CNET News.com. Content from Reuters expires after 30 days. ***

IBM next week plans to detail new software and services meant to better position the company to take advantage of modern computing system designs, CNET News.com has learned. The company is set to make an announcement Wednesday about services-oriented architecture, an IBM representative said. The announcement will focus on new products for its WebSphere line of Java server software and on services from IBM's Global Services consulting division, according to sources. A ***

Groove Networks plans to begin testing on Monday a new version of its software that aims to help mobile workers collaborate on projects and ties the company closer to Microsoft. Groove version 3, which is expected to be finalized this summer, introduces enhancements to the user interface and overall performance, adding tools to make it easier for employees to share information with co-workers and business partners, the company said. "We're finding a lot of pent-up demand for software that can work across firewalls and in bandwidth-constrained environments," said Andrew Mahon, director of strategic marketing at Beverly, Mass.-based Groove. In addition, the company has built into its software an add-on to Microsoft's Windows Explorer, the operating system's file-browsing application, so that people can view and share documents and communicate using instant messaging. ***

Lotus Development on Tuesday debuted iNotes Web Access, a program that allows people to use a common Web browser to access e-mail and collaboration applications running on Lotus Domino and Notes server software. The new software is targeted at the people IDC estimates will access 30 million mailboxes by Web browser in 2003. In addition to providing a complementary access option for current consumers of the company's messaging software, Notes, iNotes Web Access provides access to e-mail and other messaging tools for people, such as bank tellers, airline pilots and retail workers, who may not need a full-scale messaging application. ***