Until recently, my favourite application, certainly based on usage, was Outlook. Well, Outlook combined with my PocketPC. After some 20 years in the industry, there simply isnt't another integrated email, calendar, task, and contact application that comes close to Outlook. Now of course with OWA (Outlook Web Access) and Small Business Server, I can access both my home and work email anywhere in a very rich and robust manner.

 

Just on a year ago, I discovered OneNote, and for some time that has reigned supreme. I've never been a paper person, and the abilty to capture notes as in a paper notebook, but organise them, search across them, and share them, very unlike a paper notebook, won me over. Finally Outlook's domination in my technical musings was overthrown. OneNote had won my heart. I found myself using it for work and personal notes, sharing these with relevant people in those various sphere's in my life. Using the application for video storyboarding, studying and research, and even my daily management tasks.

 

But then in the last couple of months, some of the consultants in my team convinced me to fire up Groove 2007, and once again I find software that just simply enables me. So many areas of my life - worship, professional speaking, confidential work collaboration. Groove allows me to collaborate with work colleagues, clients, and personal colleagues - through firewalls, without needing VPN's or special security features, without a dedicated web server, even without being always online.

 

A Groove workspace has a collaborative calendar, discussion forum, chat client, file storage space, issues log, and a host of other tools, right out of the box. It is simple to setup a workspace, and the ability to invite people outside your domain (company, family, church etc) without needing special login rights is fantastic. It really allows you to work as you do work, across boundaries. It integrates into communicator. And the finale is the ability to work on a document on a disconnected computer. As soon as you connect again, the file synchonises, immediately, with all the other users in the workspace. No need to email, no need to maintain multiple copies for version control, no need to keep checking with a central server, and checking documents in or out. Just all work on the document in your own time, at your own location.

 

Brilliant!! Like Beer in a bottle!!

 

My favourite enabling application. Check it out!!