Let's talk business

Offline access to public and shared folders

We've had a lot of requests for the ability to access public folders and shared folders while working offline in Outlook when using Softalk Share Server.

Look out for the next version of Softalk Share Server (v1.3.2), coming soon, which will allow you to do exactly that, regardless of whether Outlook is configured with a default Softalk Share Server store, or a public folders only store.

Thes means, for instance, you can access a colleague's mail folder while offline, something that you can't do in Exchange.

If you've not yet discovered Softalk Share Server and you want to share Outlook folders, take a look at the Softalk Share Server product page. It gives you full native sharing of personal and public Outlook folders, without the cost and complexity of an Exchange Server.

Long-dead ORDB starts producing false positives

If you are still using ORDB as an anti-spam service you need to take action now. As of noon on March 25^th 2008, the long dead ORDB anti-spam service started returning false positives as a way to get sleeping users to remove the ORDB query from their spam filters. For more information, see http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/25/2124224&from=rss.

Softalk Organizer in beta

Softalk Organizer 2.0 is now in beta and can be downloaded from here. Alternatively, why not try out Softalk Organizer online at http://www.softalkltd.com/organizer. Just enter the username guest with no password.

When we release the final version 2.0 of Softalk Organizer, it will work seamlessly with Softalk Share Server. This means that you will have access to your live Outlook data from within Softalk Organizer.

For example, if you send an email or add an appointment or change a contact from within Softalk Organizer, the change will instantly show up in Outlook, and vice versa. This includes any changes you make to colleagues folders or public folders that you have access to.

Beta testers wanted for new Exchange Alternative Product

Having spent the last 12 months developing a great alternative solution to the collaboration features of Exchange Server, we are now making available the first beta release of Softalk Share Server for anyone that would like to try out the new product.

Softalk Share Server provides native support for Microsoft Outlook enabling folder sharing in a very similar way to Exchange Server. There is no synchronization involved. Any changes made to someone's calendar, for example, will show up immediately for someone who has been granted access to that person's calendar.

Softalk Share Server will work with all versions of Outlook from Outlook 2000 through to Outlook 2007.

You can download Softalk Share Server beta 1 from http://www.softalkltd.com/products/download_form.asp?product=sss. Once you have entered your details into the download form you will be taken to an area from which you can download the product. We recommend that you first download the Reviewers guide. This explains what Softalk Share Server is, how to install it, how to configure it and what is missing from the beta version that will appear in the final version.

Softalk Share Server works with all versions of Outlook from Outlook 2000 through to Outlook 2007. The majority of the testing has been performed with Outlook 2003 and so we are looking for feedback on all the other versions, as well as Outlook 2003.

We have provided you with a web page to give us feedback as and when you find it during your testing. The feedback URL is http://www.softalkltd.com/support/sssfeedback.asp. Please feel free to submit this form to us whenever you find a problem with the software or whenever you have any general feedback or suggestions on the product.

Softalk Organizer 1.5 and WorkgroupShare 2.1.4

Softalk Organizer 1.5 and WorkgroupShare 2.1.4 are both now available for download from our website.

Major changes are:

• Now fully compatible with Internet Explorer v7 and Mozilla Firefox
• Spellchecker
• Significant performance improvements

For full details please see the Softalk Organizer release notes or download it here. See the WorkgroupShare 2.1.4 release notes here or download it here. There is also a new how to for upgrading WorkgroupShare.

Technorati tags: Softalk, WorkgroupShare, Softalk Organizer

Top ten fastest growing software company

The blog has been a bit quiet recently because we're all so busy preparing for an exciting new product launch. The tech team are burning the midnight oil to get the coding finished, while I'm working away behind the scenes to get ready to let customers and prospects know all about it.

In the midst of all this we were delighted to find out that the 2006 Deloitte Technology Fast 50 has ranked Softalk as the eight fastest growing software company in the UK and the 35th fastest growing technology company overall.

You can see the official news release in our media center.

 

Technorati tags: fast50, fast 50, Deloitte, technology, software, UK

OfficeTalk 4.5.1 now out

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:

• Softalk Media Center
• PRX Release
• PR Newswire (to follow shortly)

And a more traditional version here:

• SourceWire
• Softalk Media Center

 

Technorati tags: Softalk, OfficeTalk, collaboration, social media release, news, software, small business, SME, SMB, PRX Builder

Softalk in the news

If you subscribe to the RSS feed you might not have noticed that we've got the decorators in at Let's talk business. We're not finished yet, but the first thing you should notice is we've added a Softalk In the News section in the right sidebar.

It's actually an RSS feed of Del.icio.us bookmarks. If you spot any Softalk coverage that isn't listed then please let us know. You can see the full list here.

VNU covers WorkgroupMail

VNUnet journalist Clement James has written a news story about the release of WorkgroupMail 8.1 to "take on Microsoft in the SME space."

UPDATE: In PC Magazine

tags: WorkgroupMail, email, messaging, email+server, small+business, SMB, SME

WorkgroupMail 8.1 out now

Just a quick note to let you know that the latest version of our small and medium size business / organization email server WorkgroupMail 8.1 is now out. You can check out the news release here. And if you like it please don't forget to Digg it to help us spread the word. Thanks.

tags: WorkgroupMail, email