The past week in the enterprise was full of cool little twists and turns. First, Skype released version 5.0 of their platform (complete with a Facebook tab), and then an unconventional take on microblogging hit the scene.
Skype 5.0 for Windows Deepens Facebook Integration
Skype 5.0 is finally here (for Windows, at least) and by the sound of it, the newest version of the platform is right up to speed with social networking. A new tab dedicated entirely to Facebook allows users to Skype call, chat or SMS their friends right from the news feed:
The feed looks almost identical to the way you'd see it if you were logged into your Facebook account, except that below each status update live a couple of buttons for SMS and calling (so long as they've provided their phone number, that is). If the Facebook friend is also a friend on Skype, you’ll be able call them for free. And, you can post status updates that can be synced with your Skype mood message, as well as comment and "like" friends’ updates and wall posts.
There's been a lot of chatter about why Facebook chose Microsoft over Google. More on that here.
Socialcast Reach Puts Enterprise Collaboration in Context
Though microblogging solutions are a dime a dozen these days, Socialcast's newest product, Social Reach, has managed to put a fresh spin on things. Rather than creating a new space for collaboration, Reach brings the conversation into already existing applications, such as SharePoint and Salesforce:
“Reach attains that ‘holy grail’ of in-context collaboration within enterprises that have so much information, they can’t surface it for the greater good when employees really need it,” explained Tim Young, CEO and Founder, Socialcast. “Reach solves the ‘not another application’ problem within corporate work structures by providing a new paradigm where employees can collaborate in context within their existing workflows and applications.”
Perhaps Reach is the next level in enterprise collaboration. Perhaps it isn't. Read more and contribute your two cents here.
Oracle Reaffirms Commitment to OpenOffice.org
And the mini-drama continues. In case you missed it, OpenOffice.org developers broke away from Oracle earlier this month in order to form of LibreOffice (get it?). The brand new-ish, lean and lite product is being supported by many a heavy hitter, including Red Hat, Google, Novell, Free Software Foundation and Canonical, among others.
On the other side of the field, there has been some concern over what would happen to the remaining OpenOffice.org users sticking with Oracle. Thankfully for them, it turns out Oracle plans to stay around for the foreseeable future.
"Oracle’s growing team of developers, QA engineers, and user experience personnel will continue developing, improving, and supporting OpenOffice.org as open source, building on the 7.5 million lines of code already contributed to the community," said team Oracle.
Don't think it's all rainbows and butterflies, though. Word on the 'net is that the he OpenOffice.org council is a bit flustered, as people are moving, or being asked to move, from one camp to the other. According to a recent post on i-Programmer, for example, three of the OpenOffice.org council members have been asked to resign their positions due to a conflict of interest — they are members of the Open Document Foundation.
Microsoft Rebrands BPOS As Office 365, Adds Office Online
Microsoft is attempting to shake things up with an ol' trick: Changing names. The new beta version of its web-based Office services, including SharePoint, Exchange and Lync has been rebranded as Office 365.
The new product offers BPOS along with the new Office services, bringing together Office, SharePoint Online, Exchange Online and Lync in a constantly updated cloud service. Furthermore, Office Live Small Business and [email protected] are getting tossed in the brand overhaul to simplify marketing.
More on that here.
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