OStatic

Open source collaboration software vendor MindTouch announced today that its widely-used enterprise collaboration platform is now available in the cloud. This is great news for businesses who want a service comparable to Microsoft SharePoint, but don't want the headaches of proprietary software or the hassles of a lengthy installation process.

If you're a regular reader of OStatic, then you know this move is one of series of releases MindTouch has launched to drive the future of collaborative networks. Following the creation of the MindTouch Creative Knowledge Base and the MindTouch Collaborative Intranet, a move to the cloud was the next logical step.

The folks at open source collaboration platform MindTouch conducted a poll recently to get a sense of who open source executives think are the most influential people in the industry. More than 50 execs were polled from Europe and North America and no one was allowed to vote for anyone in their own company. The results were ranked according to the effect each nominee has on the open source industry, and some of the winners may surprise you.

Imagine a business putting its prized product documentation online, and inviting customers, partners, or anyone who happens by to drop to collaborate on it, then just hope for the best. Such a model may work in the FOSS community but, realistically, that lack of control isn't right for every product or company. In fact, corporate transparency requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may outright forbid it in some situations. Allowing outsiders to drop into a corporate intranet unaccompanied is preposterous, but building an impenetrable moat around the company isn't the answer either.

Enterprise collaboration software vendor MindTouch added a Collaborative Knowledge Base to its list of offerings this week. It's designed for businesses to let customers and partners access corporate documentation without turning over the keys to the entire store. MindTouch's latest idea combines the ability for people outside a company to collaborate on projects with the security businesses need to maintain order and control.

Enterprise collaboration software vendor MindTouch continues its march to take over corporate intranets with this week's release of MindTouch 2009. In addition to assorted improvements and upgrades, the new version also adds three useful features that offer an extra layer of functionality to MindTouch-powered sites.

The inclusion of collaborative video capabilities lets project team members publish video right to MindTouch sites where multiple users can collaborate on and edit them. The new content staging and application packaging features make it easy to collaborate on mashups and application development, then compress the files for distribution to other MindTouch deployments.

In a guest post earlier this month, Aaron Fulkerson, co-founder and CEO of MindTouch, outlined why he believes that businesses do themselves a disservice by relying on existing social networking tools to boost productivity among employees and foster communication with customers. In reality, it only allows for one-dimensional superficial dialogue that serves very little purpose in the long run, and does nothing for overall workflow.

These days it's common for each team within a company to have its own blog, collaborate on inter-departmental projects via wiki, and plan meetings over email. In the meantime, files, databases, ERP, CRM, and other data are typically spread out all over the place. Companies communicate with customers through social networks, while employees communicate with each other via group chat. Each method works well on its own but [s]ocial software is not solving business problems, writes Fulkerson. In fact, these applications only serve to treat symptoms of the problems businesses face.

Penguins are everywhere in the open source community. Linux users display them as avatars, software vendors incorporate them into logos, and live ones even turn up at industry events. Open source collaboration software vendor MindTouch has come up with a way to recognize people's love for the adorable feathered fowl and do something to help protect its population along the way.

Every MindTouch Deki Open Source user that upgrades to either Commercial version (Standard or Enterprise) will have a donation made on their behalf to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to save an endangered emperor penguin.

Open source collaboration platform vendor, MindTouch, announced a partnership this week with SaaS integration company SnapLogic to deliver Deki for CRM to customers who want to enhance the capabilities of customer relationship management (CRM) software like Salesforce.com and SugarCRM.