Collaborative Working

friznit · Post by **friznit** » January 7th, 2009, 16:33

I said WORKING, you dirty cunts

Is it possible to get something that easily lets a 3 or 4 people edit a Microsoft Office document (ppt, doc or xls) simultaneously, same as Google docs lets you but with MS products?

I have a file server, so sharing the docs is already covered, but if one person has it open already everyone else gets Read Only access. I need everyone to have Write access at the same time. It's be useful if this also came with video/voice conf etc in the same package.

Sharepoint Portal Server seems a bit overkill and I'm not sure it'd do what I want anyway.

I'm thinking MSN Live, although that is horribly clogged with gayness and adverts. Google is ok, but won't play with MS Office because they want you to use Googledocs.

Anything else out there that you know of?

Stoat · Post by **Stoat** » January 7th, 2009, 16:48

Microsoft have Live Office, I think. I haven't used it though.

Post by **FatherJack** » January 7th, 2009, 16:53

Adobe talked about doing one, Adobe Share, but Office Live Workspace(http://workspace.officelive.com/LearnMore) is the cut-down, free version of Sharepoint.

Not sure any of them allow simultaneous writing though, how would it resolve two people editing the same bit? Usually someone would 'check out' a document, work on it, then check it back in.

What you're after is perhaps less document sharing, but more a discussion tool with whiteboarding features - so you 'discuss' the document at the same time, and everyone sees the edits as they happen. That just needs a connection, not a special server all can see.

Post by **HereComesPete** » January 7th, 2009, 16:53

Urm, can't you create a document and then share it so multiple people can access/edit it at the same time? I thought that came with office? I work from shared docs all the time when I actually go to work and I can't remember the precise steps but I recall it being quite simple to let everyone have access. Is that live office?

/not very helpful.

Killavodka · Post by **Killavodka** » January 7th, 2009, 17:01

HereComesPete wrote:(Asks more questions than he answered)

Baliame · Post by **Baliame** » January 7th, 2009, 19:26

Killavodka wrote:(Captain Obvious for the rescue)

spoodie · Post by **spoodie** » January 7th, 2009, 19:45

spoodie wrote:(I love lamp)

Post by **ProfHawking** » January 7th, 2009, 23:00

I love lamp wrote:What's a hypotenuse?

Hehulk · Post by **Hehulk** » January 7th, 2009, 23:57

ProfHawking wrote:(Tangents occuring, right here, right now)

Post by **deject** » January 8th, 2009, 0:02

Hehulk wrote:(Cosines occuring, right here, right now)

Anhamgrimmar · Post by **Anhamgrimmar** » January 8th, 2009, 2:09

deject wrote: SOCATOA up in this bizitch

Fear · Post by **Fear** » January 8th, 2009, 2:40

<s>SOCATOA</s> SOHCAHTOA

/pedant

Post by **deject** » January 8th, 2009, 3:11

Fear wrote:<s>SOCATOA</s> SOHCAHTOA

/pedant

you may be pedantic, but you are quite right.

Post by **ProfHawking** » January 8th, 2009, 10:16

ok back on topic. ive just been using google docs, i can confirm it allows more than one user to edit a file at once. i dont know how. i suspect google pixies and magic

friznit · Post by **friznit** » January 8th, 2009, 10:50

ProfHawking wrote:ok back on topic. ive just been using google docs, i can confirm it allows more than one user to edit a file at once. i dont know how. i suspect google pixies and magic

Hurrah, full circle thread! That is indeed what I want to achieve, but with MS Office docs.

What FJ said...

FJ wrote:What you're after is perhaps less document sharing, but more a discussion tool with whiteboarding features - so you 'discuss' the document at the same time, and everyone sees the edits as they happen. That just needs a connection, not a special server all can see.

...is exactly what I'm after.

Going to check out Office Live Workspace. Ta!