Weekly Office 2.0 Roundup
Monday, January 8th 2007 | Ismael Ghalimi
Next Monday, I will start a new weekly series of articles on Office 2.0, each covering one family of applications among the 48 that are currently tracked by the Office 2.0 Database. This will serve as an opportunity for me to complete the database incrementally, and for you to either participate in this collective effort, or to identify the set of applications that will best suit your needs. Here is how this new series will come together.
First, I will follow the order used by My Office 2.0 Setup to pick one family each week, starting with applications that are used everyday, following with applications that are used frequently, then finishing with applications that are only used occasionally. According to this process, the first family to be covered will be Bookmarks, followed by Calendar, and Contacts. Since we will start the series on the third week of January, this little game should take us all the way until the end of the year.
Second, I will try to make this effort as much collaborative as possible, asking for help each and every week for the article to be published the week after. Among other things, I will need help for completing the database, either by submitting new applications, or by providing additional information regarding applications that are already in it. For new submissions, as well as updates, please use this form, courtesy of Wufoo. If you do, your name will be added to the list of contributors who have helped build the database so far.
Third, I will create additional criteria for each family of applications. For example, entries into the Bookmarks family will indicate whether thumbnail previews are available for websites, and whether all bookmarks are public, as is the case for Linkrool for example. Suggestions for family-specific criteria is also part of the contributions I would like to receive from you, and the best way to come up with meaningful ones is to ask yourself why you really like one tool versus another.
Fourth, I will try to provide multiple ways of ranking applications. The higher the rank, the more popular the application, and the more likely it is to survive. And let’s face it, out of the 344 applications currently listed in the Office 2.0 Database (27 in the Bookmarks family alone), less than half are likely to make it to 2008. Unfortunately, there is no scientific way of ranking such applications, for most providers do not disclose the number of registered users, or whether they are profitable or not. As a result, I will use a combination of indicators: the rank on Alexa, the Google PageRank, and the number of votes received by readers, through polls that will be conducted during the week prior to publishing. For the later, I am currently looking for a good online polling service that could be embedded through a JavaScript badge within pages of this blog, and that cannot be easily hijacked by these annoying voting bots. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to drop me a line.
So here we are. We have a week to come up with meaningful evaluation criteria, set a polling service up, and complete the database for the Bookmarks family, with logos and all. I am eagerly looking forward to your input.
Entry filed under: Office 2.0
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[…] Original post by Ismael Ghalimi and posted by Mark Bean […]
Rank on Alexa: this is a good idea, but a bit imperfect for Office 2.0. Alexa does not count any HTTPS pages, and many Office 2.0 applications — at least the ones selling to corporations — run almost 100% SSL. For example at EchoSign, only our marketing landing pages are non-HTTPS.
But it should work decently for more social categories.
Jason,
I agree with you, Alexa has only limited value, but I could not find anything better. Combined with Google PageRank and user votes, we should get closer to something that people can use as an indicator, even though it will remain far from perfect.
Best regards
-Ismael
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Hi,
Great site, I just stumbled upon it and have enjoyed reading the analysis and comments. Of course, I’m a little surprised you don’t cover our product. We offer a group collaboration suite that includes shared contacts, calendars, to do lists, files, blogs, and web bookmarks, all for free. We also offer mobile clients for Java and Brew enabled phones that have a small monthly fee. Our service is being used by businesses of just about every size, from real estate offices to Fortune 1000 companies. Please check it out, and I’d be happy to answer any questions about our service. I will also add an entry on our product to the Office 2.0 Database.
-Brian
Brian,
Your product is actually covered here. Please use this form to provide any missing information. Also, we will cover Airset as part of the Group Manager Roundup, to be published in seven weeks.
Best regards
-Ismael
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