Virtual office

Definition

Virtual office can be

• an idea (the way one uses on-line services and/or office applications on the road)
• a collection of on-line tools
• an integrated service offered through the internet (including mobile devices).
• remote interfaces to desktop applications on a computer.

Related concepts:

There is some crossover with so-called webtops. These are also called web 2.0 start pages (520 hits), Ajax homepages (59'800 hits) WebOS (3'270'000 hits) web desktop (276,000 hits) or a webtop (3,350,000 hits). (Google hits, 15:35, 26 April 2007 (MEST)). However, for some experts, there may be subtle differences between these. E.g. a desktop that aggregates mainly social software applications may not exactly be the same as the ones that do it for office applications.

• social software, sinc many of its components are inherently that.

Components

Dave (dwebb68) web 2.0 List

This list favors definition of "virtual office" as "virtual office 2.0", i.e. a mix of social software and web 2.0 interactivity (Ajax)

Cut/pasted from Carpe Noctum (dwebb68), retrieved 15:35, 26 April 2007 (MEST) (with a few modifications)

Bookmarks

del.icio.us, BlinkList, BlogMarks, Blue Dot, Clipmarks, Cogenz, ConnectBeam, Diigo, Furl, Google Bookmarks, listal, LookLater, ma.gnolia, Netvouz, Raw Sugar, Simpy, Spurl, Yahoo! My Web, zurpy.

Calendar

Google Calendar, 30 Boxes, CalendarHub, Epointment, HipCal, Jotlet, Kiko, Planzo, Scrybe, Spongecell, TimeBridge, Trumba, vivapop.

Contacts

LinkedIn, OpenBC, Plaxo, Plugoo.

CRM

SugarCRM, Relenta CRM, Salesboom, Salesforce.com.

Database

Dabble DB, Caspio Bridge, eUnifyDB, Google Base, Lazybase, MyOwnDB, QuickBase, Zoho Creator.

Desktop

Google Homepage, Clic!Dev, Computadora, Desktoptwo, eskobo, eyeOS, Favoor, HomePortals, NetVibes, Nowsy, ORCA Desktop, Pageflakes, Protopage, Windows Live, YouOS, YourMinis, Zimbio, XIN

Email

Gmail, Hotmail, Mailroom, Simdesk, Webmail.us, Yahoo! Mail, Zimbra Collaboration Suite.

Feed Reader

Google Reader, Bloglines, FeedLounge, Feeds 2.0, NewsAlloy, NewsGator, Newshutch, Rojo, Wizag.

Operating System

Zoho Virtual Office, Firestoker, goowy, Joyent, Nsite.

Presentation

Zoho Show, AJAX-S, Empressr, fliptrack, gOFFICE Presentations, Preezo, S5, Scooch, Slide, Slideshare, Spresent, ThinkFree Show, Thumbstacks.

Spreadsheets

Zoho Sheet, ajaxXLS, EditGrid, gOFFICE Spreadsheets, Google Spreadsheets, iRows, Num Sum, Sheester, ThinkFree Calc, wikiCalc.

Weblog

WordPress, Blogger, Blogtronix, TypePad.

Word Processor

oho Writer, ajaxWrite, gOFFICE Word Processing, iNetWord, RallyPoint, ThinkFree Write, Writeboard, Writely.

Calculator

Google Calculator, Calcoolate, Instacalc.

Drawing

Gliffy, ajaxSketch, Cumulate Draw, Imagination Cubed, LiThA-Paint.

Fax

eFax, InterFax, TrustFax, and more.

File Sender

YouSendIt, Approver.com, DropLoad, DropSend, Krunch, MailBigFile, Gigafile.

Group Manager

CollectiveX, AirSet, BlueTie, Central Desktop, eloops.com, Foldera, GroupLoop, GroupSharp, HiveLive, TeamWork Live, Todoz, WebEx WebOffice.

Notepad

Gmail, Fleck, Google Notebook, Helipad, Magnoto, Posticky.com, shortText.com, SnapBits, SNIPPit, StickyTag, stikkit, Workspace, Wridea.

Photo Editing

PXN8, Phixr, Pixer, Snipshot, and more.

Photo Manager

Flickr, 23, AllYouCanUpload, Riya, SmugMug, Zenfolio, Zoto.

Clipboard

cl1p

Command Prompt

YubNub, JS/UIX.

Desktop Publishing

gOFFICE Desktop Publishing

Development Tool

Ning, Coghead, Dapper, Mashery, Morfik, Pingdom.

Document Manager

EchoSign, Alfresco, Blinksale, FreshBooks, Koral, ShareMethods.

Expense Tracker

foonance, billQ, ClearCheckbook, Mvelopes, OneStatement.

Feed Processor

Feed Digest, FeedBlitz, FeedBurner, Feeds2Be, SocialMail, Spanning Salesforce, Teleflip.

File Manager

fluxiom, Backpack, Box.net, Omnidrive, Openomy, Streamload, Strongspace, Xmail Hard Drive.

File Server

S3

Form Designer

Wufoo, FormLogix, FormSpring, Icebrrg, jotForm, Sidewalk, Sidewalk, The Form Assembly.

Instant Messenger

Meebo, Campfire, eBuddy.com, Gabbly, JumpChat, Kool IM, Lingr, Mabber, MSN Web Messenger, Wablet.

Mind Mapper

Mayomi

Music Player

MP3tunes, ajaxTunes, Jinzora, last.fm, Pandora, Streampad.

Outliner

iOutliner, iJot, Listigator, ListPool, Nelements, SproutLiner.

Personal Organizer

Zoho Planner, Athyrium, MyTicklerFile, SynapseLife, Tracks, TracksLife, voo2do.

Polls

Zoho Polls, dPolls, PollGenius, PollPub.com, QuestionForm.

Printer

Kinko's, Big Blue Saw, Lulu.

Project

Zoho Project, 1time, Basecamp, Confluence, Devshop, DreamTeam, ProjectPipe, ProWorkflow, ProWorkflow.com, Side Job Track, teamwork.

Scanner

scanR, Mytago.

Sound Mixer

RAZZ Mixer

Task Manager

Ta-da Lists, Bla-bla List, e2doList, iPrioritize, Joe's Goals, Orchestrate, Remember The Milk, Rough Underbelly, TaskFreak!, TaskTHIS, tasktoy, Toodledo, Tudu Lists, Wallnote.

Time Tracking

Tick, 14Dayz, Beeplet, Harvest, minutes in a minute, SlimTimer, Time Tracker, Time59, Toggl.

Utilities

Timeline, emurse, FiveRuns, MyOpenID, Naymz, simplifid, Zamzar.

Video Editing

Jumpcut, eyespot.

Voicemail

SpinVox, Aptela, GotVoice, Odeo.

Web Conferencing

Vyew, Webex, GoToMeeting

Web Publishing

Google Pages, Blockstar, Freewebs, Office Live, SiteKreator, Socialtext, Synthasite, Weebly, Weebly, Wetpaint.

In education

Some propaganda in favor

• it's free
• doesn't need any administration
• teachers don't have to bother with adminstrative red tape

Against

• Can you trust these services to stay alive ?

References

• Molina, Pablo G. and the 2006 EDUCAUSE Evolving Technologies Committee, Pioneering New Territory and Technologies, EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 41, no. 5 (September/October 2006): 112-35 HTML/PDF

• http://slashdot.org/articles/06/04/24/1031204.shtml