OK you're now using Softalk Share Server to share your Outlook folders across the team, but what other Outlook add-ins and utilities do you find useful? I've just come across a great, free one via Lifehacker. Outlook on the Desktop pins your Outlook calendar on your desktop as a semi-transparent layer. It's not just the calendar as you can also set it to display tasks, contacts, inbox or notes.
Today we've released OfficeTalk 4.5.1. You can download it from the main Softalk website. Probably the most significant thing about it is that it now has a free single user license. Just download the 30 day trial and it reverts to a single user at the end of the period.
However, we're sure that most people that work in a team will want to register and stick with it 
.
If you don't know about OfficeTalk it's an alternative to Outlook, ACT! or Goldmine. Its biggest benefit is that it has actually been designed to help small and medium size organizations to collaborate and work together as a team. It provides shared calendars, task lists, contacts, email and project management. OfficeTalk's other big benefit is that it handles contacts properly by associating them with a company or organization. This makes it really easy to update records and you can see at a glance the history and pending activity.
Softalk's PR company (well actually that's me) has also experimented with issuing a 'social media release' about it. This is a new way of doing news releases or press releases and was pioneered by Shift Communications, a technology PR firm with offices in Boston and California. Softalk and BMA PR are one of the first to use this format and the beta of a new tool called PRX Builder, created by Shannon Whitley.
You can take a look at the release here:
And a more traditional version here:
The world of instant messaging is changing but I do wonder if the big players have really "got it". First I see that Microsoft has released Windows Live Messenger. Then Stowe Boyd reports that Yahoo has some interesting ideas in the pipeline for its Messenger. Both sound really good and tempt me to try them.
Except for one major stumbling block - they still don't talk to each other. I currently use Trillian and Skype. My IM contacts are spread across AOL, MSN, Yahoo and Skype (I don't think I know anyone who still uses Google Talk). Trillian means I only need to run the one client. I also run Skype because I use SkypeIn to give me a London and New York phone number.
Text messaging (SMS) never took off until the mobile operators saw sense and allowed inter-network messages. IM can't become a viable business communications tool until the three (four if you include Skype) big players grow up and make it simple to connect with anyone on any IM network/client.
The one feature of OfficeTalk that we never use anymore is Notify. Years ago when I first stated using OfficeTalk it was one of my favourite features but for us it has long since been replaced with IM.
Microsoft has new debuted its Windows Live Local maps and aerial photos for the UK. The aerial maps are good enough but the Bird's Eye views are stunning. Only 17 locations in the UK so far and I'm not sure why these ones are featured - Bangor, Nottingham, Cambridge, Swindon and Crockenhill (in Kent) are some of those featured.
One neat feature is that you can create your own collections of locations and share them via a permalink on your website, blog or email or using Messenger.
Thanks to Steve Lombardi from Pass the Poi for creating and sharing the list via Bird's Eye Tourist.
He also has a list of US locations.
WARNING: If you're busy this can waste a lot of time!
As I type there are just 16 days to go before the World Cup kicks off. I was going to create a file that you could download to put all the matches into Outlook or OfficeTalk for you.
But then I found the WorldCupKickOff site which lets you customise the download by selecting your team or group and your timezone to download a vCalendar file that imports into Outlook.
Afraid I can't figure out how to get it into OfficeTalk as you need a CSV file and I'm just a humble PR consultant so it's beyond my technical ability to convert from .vcs to .csv. If anyone knows how then please post in the comments.
On the OfficeTalk forum there is a post by "an all-time supporter and former distributor" that creates an OfficeTalk wishlist. I thought that this was worth 'promoting' to the blog. Use the comments to let us know what's on your wishlist.
Webrunner's wish list was:
My wish list is:
What's on your OfficeTalk wish list?
Some of the whole Web 2.0 thing is great - the social media/networking part.. A lot of simply sucks. The fundamental flaw for me is assuming that people will want to or are able to do everything online.
It might work for the geeks and techno early adopters but out in the real world it ain't going to happen anytime soon. This Techcrunch post about 14Dayz helped highlight it for me. $99 for an online time tracking app! Why would I pay that much for something I can use only some of the time?
Most of us don't live in a world where you have constant internet access. Wifi hotspots still only cover a tiny part of the world and cost far too much.
It's the same for a lot of these cool looking Web 2.0 apps such as Writely, 30boxes and voo2do. If they only work when you are online then they don't work! I want to be able to work when I'm in the park, on a train, in a cafe or at a meeting.
What does work are desktop apps that can be synchronized over the net. It's great to be able to access my calendar, to-do lists, contacts, email, documents etc on the net from any PC but it's more important to be able to work where I want, when I want, on what I want.
For most people in most places web-based apps won't do that for many years to come. The future for me is web-aware desktop (and palmtop) apps.
NOTE: These are my personal views and not necessarily the views of Softalk.
If you've had a frusting experience with Microsoft Exchange then this might be tempting? Have a go at NetDisaster. Thanks to Dennis Howlett.
Cisco has just published some interesting research (PDF news release) into the IT buying habits of small businesses in the UK. The two biggest complaints were:
The most popular way of conducting research was using magazines and journals (57%). Other popular ways include seeking advice from peers in other companies and external business consultants (both 38%). Surprisingly 13% make their decisions based on 'gut feeling', this was most common amongst smaller companies and start-ups (averaging five staff) where 21% selected IT by using 'gut feeling'.
Despite the difficulties experienced in selecting technology it does prove to be worth it for most businesses. The two main benefits are improved customer service (77%) and improved productivity (76%).
It's worth noting that the research was amongst businesses employing between 10-250 employees. The research also showed that most businesses couldn't justify employing an IT/network manager until they reached about 75 employees. That means that IT management in small businesses is usually left to the business owner (17%), managing director (15%) or finance department (12%).
The US Supreme Court might be just about to tell us exactly what a small business is. Hat-tip to The Entrepreneurial Mind for pointing to this story from Inc.
Of course it still won't make any difference to the big IT vendors who will still continue to try and sell small and medium sized companies cut-down or restricted versions of thier bloated-enterprise offerings.
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