Comments for DocVerse: Microsoft Office Sharing and Collaboration (+Invites)

DocVerse: Microsoft Office Sharing and Collaboration (+Invites)

2009-02-12T14:24:31Z

Two former Microsoft employees, Shan Sinha, a former Microsoft SharePoint and SQL Server strategist, and Alex DeNeui, also a SQL strategist, are attempting to do what (so far) Microsoft has not: compete head-on with Google Docs by transforming Microsoft Office into online collaboration suite. To do so, they've launched a company called DocVerse, an early-stage startup that aims to simply document sharing and collaboration.

]]> What's DocVerse?

DocVerse currently consists of a 1 MB Office 2007 plug-in that gives Microsoft's desktop software new collaboration and synchronization abilities. Once installed, every time you hit the "save" button in Office, a web version stored online is automatically updated, too. The web version also comes with a link you can share.

If that part sounds a lot like what's already available in Microsoft's Live Workspace, that's because it is. Like DocVerse, Live Workspace users can also install a plugin into Office that keeps files between computer and web in sync.

However, the key difference between DocVerse and any of Microsoft's current offerings is the service's online collaboration abilities. With DocVerse, a group editing feature lets multiple users edit one copy of the same document without having to check it out, then check it back in.

To begin using the software, you can share a document with others using either the URL provided or by entering in the email addresses of those you want to share with. As changes are made, they're synced back to the online version of the document. The DocVerse software then uses a confliction resolution system to deal with any potential conflicts between the updates. As the edits continue, DocVerse automatically creates new versions of the document while saving the older versions in case you need to revert back.

DocVerse users will also see their changes categorized in an in-file "News Feed" which appears in the sidebar of any open document. For users without Office, feedback can be given about the shared files straight from their web browser.

At launch time, the plug-in works with Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 only, but support for Word and Excel 2007 will roll out later this spring as will support for Office 2003. DocVerse is Windows-only.

Some Questions

Microsoft announced the upcoming Microsoft Office Web applications at their Professional Developers Conference in October. With these web applications, due in the next version of Office (Office 14), users will be able to create, edit, and collaborate on Office documents through the browser (IE, Firefox, or Safari). Despite some initial rumors, Office Web Applications will not require Silverlight to run and they'll even work on the iPhone via the Safari browser.

That obviously made us wonder - how will DocVerse compete with Microsoft's own offering? Says DocVerse CEO Shan Shina, the key will be backward compatibility. Where the official Microsoft Office Web Applications will focus only on the latest and greatest version of Office (he presumes - no one really knows), DocVerse will aim to be compatible with Office 2003, 2007, and the upcoming Office 14. Given that 35-40 percent of the market still runs Office 2003 and 15-20 percent runs 2007, he imagines it will be a while before everyone upgrades to Office 14 - web apps or not.

While capitalizing on the "good enough" trend, the company will also focus on how they can best complement the newer Office 14 when it becomes available. In other words, no matter what Microsoft throws out there, DocVerse plans to provide the missing features.

Try it! (Invites)

To learn more about how DocVerse works, Web Worker Daily has a great hands-on review. Our readers can try DocVerse for themselves by clicking here: http://www.docverse.com?ic=RWW. There are only 200 invites available, so that link is first come, first serve.

Disclosure: Sarah Perez also writes for Microsoft's Channel 10.

Comment from Anika Malone on 2009-02-12

2009-02-12T14:57:59Z

For my work, we finish everything in A4 size. This is the made reason Google, Zoho aren't useful to me. I tried ThinkFree. I like ThinkFree, but the fact is the software is ridiculously slow. I'd had to add an extra hour to my work time just for saving.

So my question: Will DocVerse, like the other sites, restrict you to an 8.5 x 11 layout or will there be more features?

Comment from Roger on 2009-02-12

2009-02-12T15:20:46Z

This is a great idea, in fact I have created something very similar and I started off with just Word 2007 and Excel 2007 with intentions of moving to Powerpoint.

http://www.livelydocs.com

Comment from Bob Thomson on 2009-02-12

2009-02-12T15:47:58Z

If you want the commenting functionality with no need to actually edit the Powerpoint then colaab supports uploading Powerpoint presentations for review:

http://www.colaab.com

As it's all web based it doesn't require the end user to install anything or have Powerpoint installed on their machine.

Thanks,

Bob

--
http://colaab.com
http://blog.stormideas.com
twitter: movingforwards

Comment from Alex DeNeui on 2009-02-12

2009-02-12T17:35:29Z

Anika -

We support whatever page layouts that the native Office apps support. A4 page layouts should work fine.

alex

Comment from Shan Sinha on 2009-02-12

2009-02-12T20:12:45Z

@Anika- once we release our support for Word, you will be able to keep using Word however you like and get all of the collaboration functionality. We plan to release support for Word later this Spring! Please sign up on our waiting list or sign up for our product already, so that we can be sure to let you know when we ship it!

@Bob- It looks like you've built a very interesting product at Colaab. Just as a clarification, only the person who created the document has to have our product installed. They can share the document from right within Office (WITHOUT having to upload it explicitly). And everyone else can give feedback and make comments on the document through their browser, without needing to download anything.

In fact, they can even download and edit the document if they like and to have all their edits automatically merged, simply reply to the email they received about the document shared to them. No plugin necessary!

When both people DO have the plugin installed, life is extremely good!

Cheers
Shan

Comment from Christopher Ross on 2009-02-13

2009-02-13T15:06:38Z

Years ago I heard a statement that Office accounted for an immense portion of Microsoft's business (70%+) I don't know if it's true but if it is, I'd like to see how the improved products from companies like Google and Apple are affecting their bottom line. Hopefully new technologies like this will help keep Office a 'must have' application.

Comment from Jon Lim on 2009-02-13

2009-02-13T18:57:10Z

I've never really had problems with synchronizing documents and what not, especially since Google Docs does it rather well, and Microsoft Office is just the offline intermediary for me.

My biggest problem was that if people were changing things simultaneously, it didn't matter if the other versions were automatically updated, it would update the version that saved first, erasing all your progress.

Can be rather frustrating!

And I still can't share entire folders on any online document collaboration tool.

Jon
http://www.jonlim.ca

Comment from Shan Sinha on 2009-02-13

2009-02-13T23:31:33Z

@Christopher Ross

It's no where near 70%. Microsoft has over 10 products with $1B of revenue or more, with Windows and Office being the largest. Office accounts for about $17B of Microsoft's $65B of revenue or roughly 25%.

The truth is that Google Apps has had an infinitessimal impact on Office revenue. Have a look at this data:

http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/web_services_browser/rip_the_web_20_office_suite.html

That said, we do believe that people will be able to get more out of their existing investments in Office with applications like ours.

@Jon- I'd encourage you to try out our product as someone who is using Office and Google Docs. Our product would let you avoid having to constantly upload and export documents from Google Docs, but still give you the same flexibility to allow multiple people to edit the document.