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Mr Gates himself was once moved to declare Mr Ozzie "one of the top five programmers in the universe" and revealed that he and Mr Ballmer had wanted for more than a decade to persuade him to join Microsoft.

I've always found Groove to be an intriguing product, though I've never been in a position to actually use it. But it seems to have less and less visibility since being acquired. (Notice that the Australian article never mentions Groove, other than a couple of references to the company that created it.) Which is hardly suprising: it's a direct competitor for Outlook. It'll probably disappear as a separate product in the next few years. Hopefully, some of Groove's GUI designers will get assigned to Outlook and impose some sanity on that monstrosity.

http://www.groove.net/ is what you need. Supported by Microsoft too.

Groove (MS) already does this, although updating conflicts do limit it's utility when many people are saving at the same time.
http://www.groove.net/index.cfm/pagename/hp_forms? home=hp-data

Sounds like Groove -- which is not free, and it hogs resources. Maybe we should switch to that one at the office.

A better solution IMO is something like WASTE or one of the other darknet apps, where nothing is automatically copied unless you choose to download it, and everything is encrypted. FolderShare appears to use SSL, but I don't think I would trust Microsoft to not monitor all that traffic.

I have used Groove which is part of Office
12 & I really love it.

Groove is a document sharing system. Microsoft acquired Groove in April 2005.

If you are going to be a Windows desktop shop then you might want to consider Groove http://www.groove.net/ for your groupware.

For our organization Groove has done what we needed and provided a nice side effect in that important files are automatically "backed up" if they are in a shared workspace. Since we work from laptops the off-line usage has also been an important feature.

Groove was already integrated with Office and Project. Now that they have been bought by Microsoft I expect that integration to deepen.

A quick list of features is available at http://groove.net/index.cfm/pagename/VO_Compare/

To ask my own question here: does anyone know of an OSS alternative to Groove? Anything like it at all?

If you are going to be a Windows desktop shop then you might want to consider Groove http://www.groove.net/ for your groupware.

For our organization Groove has done what we needed and provided a nice side effect in that important files are automatically "backed up" if they are in a shared workspace. Since we work from laptops the off-line usage has also been an important feature.

Groove was already integrated with Office and Project. Now that they have been bought by Microsoft I expect that integration to deepen.

A quick list of features is available at http://groove.net/index.cfm/pagename/VO_Compare/

To ask my own question here: does anyone know of an OSS alternative to Groove? Anything like it at all?

I can testify to that. I recently worked with a company to integrate with their Groove.net based solution, a peer to peer environment for document exchange and synchronization. However, when we prepared to present our work, I was told explicitly and repeatedly NEVER to use the phrase 'peer to peer'. Given that we were trying to use our resulting solution to sell the overall package, I found it quite disturbing that such steps were necessary.

The court could've labeled P2P as being promoted for "infringement", and then all items that can be classified as P2P would be considered criminal

I think this would upset Microsoft. They know own groove, a "collaboration tools" for work teams disconnected from their corporate network. Uses P2P inside the work team. I'm sure they could also share mp3s with it ;)

With Screenshots

Groove Corporate File Sharing Software. Here is a Case Study that involved the navy.

Groove Corporate File Sharing Software. Here is a Case Study that involved the navy.

Grouper is doing nothing new. You can download http://groove.net/ and start using automatically Magic folders automatically. Many people (usually on company instranet) finds this kind of folder sync extremly useful. But whats more important is data sync - which means your data like caleder info, bookmarks, notes etc gets sync. That has way too much potential. For example any app can use this automatically replicated sistributed database rather then relieng on central database server. Thats way beyond usual file sharing. Eventually everything is data and every storage system is somekind of database - so you can see where this is going. If you stretch your imagination little more further, this kind of data P2P effectively allows you to build your own distributed browsable website as "shared space". So your machine becomes a "server" distributing not just files and HTMLs but also event calenders, tiny notes, receipie book and so on. And the content on your machine (which has now becaome "server") is replicated across many mores to distribute the load. A current webserver as we undrstand is just the special case of access-to-everyone non-replicated content distributer. A machine participating in data P2P is far more general case and can be easily customized to emulate "web server". I've worked on heavy duty project implementing data P2P for two years and am pretyy convienced this is the next big thing on the horizon. Microsoft is already developing Windows P2P layer http://microsoft.com/p2p/ and would be available on Longhorn. Think outside the file P2P - there is whole new world! PS: I'll be bloging more about this topic on my blog http://www.shitalshah.com/blog/. Stay tuned.

I've used Groove for quite some time to facilitate distributed development. It allows you to share files, discussions, etc.. from a single client. For source control, hosting a CVS server wouldn't be hard on any hosting service that allows a shell account.

Don't know much about Ray Ozzie's Groove, but it sure does sound like P2P. If so, it is interesting to note that the US govt is a customer . . . http://www.groove.net/default.cfm?pagename=Custome rList

Microsoft made a $51 million investment in Groove. See: Groove's FAQ and Microsoft's press release

Until this "strategic partnership" I was following groove, hoping they would take a multiplatform aproach.

I don't know how succesful they are, but being Microsoft only and having close ties to US "Homeland security" is not a very good way to expand their worldwide marketshare.

Anyway, there's still waste (I just noticed it has resurfaced)

According to BusinessWeek, "secure" P2P is offered by the following (some use encryption):

Direct Connect
http://www.neo-modus.com/
http://dcplusplus.sourceforge.net/

Waste
http://waste.sourceforge.net/

Freenet
http://freenet.sourceforge.net/
http://jtcfrost.sourceforge.net/

invisibleNET (aka invisibleIRC)
http://www.invisiblenet.net/

BadBlue (commercial product)
http://www.badblue.com

Groove Networks (commercial product)
http://www.groove.net

Not sure of their licensing right now but Groove Networks seemed to have a damn good solution years ago.

Besides, ps-s-s, it's a secret, but the company will be acquired by MSFT some time this year.

I have some similar needs plus several more and I am looking at Groove. It seems to do almost everything I need but it is a bit of a resource hog and there is apparently no reminder feature (a popup window to say "You have a meeting in five minutes", for example). Has anyone here got any experience with it?

Also, has anyone tried the Groove-compatible project management tool from TeamDirection?.

-ololiuhqui

only being semi-sarcastic

With software that can do long distance meetings, and share files and photos, it would be a great business tool for brainstorming sessions, project planning, etc.

Guess which Microsoft partner just got screwed?

I guess Groove will soon end up like FrontPage at best and Corel at worst.

150+ posts and no one's mentioned Groove? Do you people live in a frigin' vacuum?

Groove is a company founded by Ray Ozzie, the creator of Lotus Notes. The Groove Workspace is a hyper-secure P2P application made for business and government use. It has several "tools" that you can use within the application like chat, file-sharing, calendaring, custom forms, etc. All communication between the P2P clients is encrypted as well as the files themselves. Once you import a file into Groove to be shared, it's encrypted automatically.

The general theory behind the application is that you can't rely on the wires to be secure, ever. So all the data and communication between peers is encrypted automatically without any user intervention needed.

The reason you should think this app is cool is because it's an easy way to set up super-secure filesharing between peers whether on a local network or across the internet. It's not open file sharing like Gnutella, but it's more like having a virtual secure file server just for you and the peers you invite into your workspace.

The reason you should hate this app is because not only is Groove in bed with Microsoft (M$ has invested millions and only runs on Windows) but this app is also being used by the new Office of Information Awareness, i.e. Big Brother.

-Russ

You come up with an idea, but only work on it in your head. And it is related to your employment, who should own it?

You should own it.

Of course, if it is directly related to the project you're currently working on, then you'd better make use of your idea by implementing it for your current employer. But that's not because the idea is owned by the employer -- it's because if you don't make use of your idea, you won't be able to complete your project. And completing the project is your job.

If the company owns all ideas that you have while working for them, you can never safely start an independent business. People don't sit in their office and then, one day, decide that they have no ideas whatsoever but should quit their job, go home and try getting ideas. How it actually works is that while you're at work, you have an idea that is not directly related to your current task, or you're not satisfied with your payment or your company's management or something like that. And then you decide "I can do better than this," and start your own business.

It even used to be the case that you could not just start a new business with something related to your previous job. You could even do almost exactly the same thing. Think about people who invented a groupware solution, then decided that they could do better, and invented another groupware solution.

What if, while working for your company, you have a great idea, tell your employer about it and they believe the idea won't work? Don't tell me this doesn't happen, it happens all the time. So you decide to quit and start your own business. One or two years later, your business is a big success. Should it be possible for your previous employer to claim ownership over your business because you developed the idea for them?

I hope not. It would mean you take the risk, they take the profit -- without any investments. Capitalism, huh?

I don't know whether you have a source code respository but we manage all our documentation using a combination of our perforce which runs on our linux and windows boxes and having accepted pracices for the use of collaboration tools such as groove and webloggers.
All useful information is stored in a respository and may be accessed from our intranet website. We're investigating using XML to categorise our knowledge base. We do some work on knowledge management so technically the group I work for should be good at this and our current processes seem to work well. Don't underestimate the need to have formal documents emphasising that knowledge is your most important resource and outlining how everyone should achieve it's management.

I think it depends. Sure, I agree that the educational value "educational games" is quite doubtful. On the other hand, if your young kids are spending time doing stuff like logo or Mindstorms then you probably don't want to stop them from doing so. Since they're already playing with Lego, introducing them to mindstorms might turn out great.

Alltogether I agree with the article though. Schools teaching "how to use the internet" is a joke. And I think stuff like office, online collaboration using things like , etc. are better taught at a later age.

Microsoft not only implements P2P, they bought a large stake in a prominent P2P company

From the article:
Microsoft took a $51 million stake in P2P pin-up Groove Networks, the company started by Lotus Notes creator Ray Ozzie, last year

They're merely using what they bought, possibly in an attempt to give high school and college kids (and older audiophiles and porn freaks) a reason to persuade(harass) their parents into upgrading.

Ray Ozzie, the inventor of Lotus Notes is the head of the Groove P2P product mentioned in the article. And it's a very interesting product at that (try it!).

I seriously doubt that this is anything more than a very casual marketing thing... Please don't use Ray Ozzie's creations in the same context as the Evil Empire, it pains me physically !!!

Thanks.

Groove Networks is a P2P company that is all about providing secure exchange of information. They are aimed primarily at businesses. Ray Ozzie of Lotus Notes fame founded the company. Check out their web site http://www.groove.net.

There are quite a few useful whiteboard type tools already. This would get the best of both worlds in that you wouldn't be foistering a pre-packaged solution on the scientists but you would be working with a robust, open platform that would be available both on site and off site.

James
Nothing to do with Groove

There is an excellent p2p project sharing client for windows at groove.net from the people that did lotus notes. Sadly right now there is no linux client but the tech on display is pretty nice, it looks like a lot of it is in java so who knows maybe one day we'll see a linux client.

Groove has this capability. However, I am not sure what operating systems it is available for.

--

It also plans to allow users to use distributed computing, and group file sharing (similar to Napster/Scour, but for any files)

This program has enormous potential, I hope everyone will check it out.

http://www.groove.net

Ignoring the obvious stuff about hax0red antivirus updates...

Groove looks pretty cool. First the bad news: Right now it's Windows-only, the protocols are undocumented, and there may be patents involved. But the good news is that these guys seem to have a good attitude. They're definitely in it for the long haul, actually thinking their design through (unlike Napster, Gnutella, etc.), and putting in security that would make a cypherpunk proud. And they're promising to release protocol docs so that other apps can interoperate with it.

This interview at the O'Reilly Network seems to have some interesting technical bits.