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
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