bob@teamate.UUCP (bob) (05/29/91)
(if you already received this please ignore, some did not
get it)..Bob
Groupware - Connecting for Productivity
by Bob Baskerville
Copyright 1991 Bob Baskerville
If writing about it will make it so, then Groupware is certain
to be a big success!
Ever since the word was first used in the popular press
sometime in '86 or '87, Groupware has been a major
buzzword of the late 80's and now the beginning of the
90's. Finally, some of the talk is about real products.
Groupware is a term used for any software that makes it easier
for a group to perform a shared activity.
There are obviously many applications where groups work
together. UNIX is Groupware, the United Airlines reservation
system is Groupware, a multiuser telemarketing system is
Groupware, electronic mail is Groupware.
The biggest Groupware system is the INTERNET and various related
and associated networks and communications systems. INTERNET is
a collection of interconnected networks and systems that spans
the globe. On one associated computer bulletin board called
USENET, (UUCP) over 20 Megabytes of mail and articles are posted
every day. There are over 2000 newsgroups (discussion topics)
available and you can add your comments to most of them or send
mail directly to the author of an article. INTERNET is
supported by the organizations that make up the network and used
primarily by the scientific and academic communities. The
bulletin board is, however, accessible by the public as long as
a connection to an existing user is available.
To give you some idea of the diversity of discussions going on
on the INTERNET, the following are just a few of the newsgroups:
alt.activism Activities for activists.
alt.fan.monty-python Electronic fan club for those wacky Brits.
alt.fishing Fishing as a hobby and sport.
alt.fractals Fractals in math, graphics and art.
alt.sys.sun Technical discussion of Sun Products
aus.aviation Planes, gliders, flying [Australian]
aus.jobs Jobs in Australia
ca.driving California freeways and backroads
chi.weather Chicago area weather
comp.arch Computer architecture
comp.compilers Compiler construction
comp.groupware Hardware & software for facilitating group
interaction.
The INTERNET began in the seventies.
So we see that Groupware has been around for a long time. Why
the sudden surge of interest?
It seems to be a characteristic of humans to seek more and
faster ways to communicate. When we had covered wagons, we
wanted railroads, then the telegraph, the telephone, airplanes,
supersonic planes, satellites and then fiber optics. We are
driven by this desire to connect and communicate.
Groupware is a direct outgrowth of this passion to connect. We
can move more data faster over longer distances than ever before
but we are having trouble handling the communication challenges
that this much data, this fast, brings.
Here comes Groupware...
Even though Groupware applications really began with ARPANET and
wide area mail systems, the small computer explosion, first
separately and then interconnected on LANS, caused Groupware to
be taken seriously.
Electronic mail vendors recognized the potential for selling
mail software and built businesses. Recently Microsoft and
Lotus both recognized the importance of the electronic mail
business and acquired the two market leaders.
The project undertaken by Lotus, beginning in 1984, which
resulted in their Notes product, is the most ambitious Groupware
project undertaken to date. Unfortunately, they picked OS/2 and
not UNIX as one of their primary operating environments. Even
so, the large investment in development and marketing has
resulted in significant sales.
Large Hardware Companies
The big hardware companies have also recognized that moving more
data faster can mean selling more hardware so they are
enthusiastic about Groupware: IBM with Office-Vision, AT&T with
Rhapsody, NCR's Cooperation, HP's New Wave Office and Digital's
All in One - Phase II.
As is usually the case, the market focus for these companies is
very broad so their offerings include significant hardware as
well as the Groupware basics of mail, calendar-activity
scheduling and word processing.
Historically these companies (with the exception of AT&T and
more recently NCR and HP) have offered closed solutions. This
is all changing and all are moving towards more open
interconnections; but there is still heavy proprietary
hardware in their offerings.
Workstation Companies
The workstation companies, which include Sun, DEC, IBM and HP,
have the platforms to host a truly superior Groupware offering.
Workstations are ideal for Groupware because they are
interconnected with high speed networks and have the processing
power and operating system to handle multimedia information.
More importantly, however, workstations have historically been
used by interconnected workgroups. What do workgroups do when
they are interconnected? Work on group activities. Software
developers are missing a terrific opportunity by not providing
more Groupware software for this market.
Mid-Sized Groupware Suppliers
Mid-sized Groupware suppliers include Lotus with their Notes
product for MS DOS and OS/2, Word Perfect Office from Word
Perfect Corporation and the mail interconnection products from
Soft*Switch. I chose these three because they show that the
motivation and strategies for moving into Groupware can vary
significantly.
Lotus spent heavily to build their product, Notes, but has
discovered that marketing Groupware is very different from
selling spreadsheets. First, the market doesn't know what
Groupware is, so you can't just advertise features, you have to
educate the buyers; second, Groupware is a group decision, that
means a long sales cycle; thirdly, a product with as many
features as Notes cannot be supported by the local computer
store so a different distribution strategy is necessary. Notes
will be successful but as usual the pioneers pay for early
success.
Word Perfect is following a more conservative strategy by
leveraging their already strong position in word processing with
a gradual incorporation of Groupware functions. In addition,
Word Perfect is available for both UNIX and MS DOS which
broadens their market appeal.
The third middle-sized company started in Groupware with the
concept of translating from one standard for word processing
information into another. The market, however wouldn't pay
enough for the solution to this problem so Soft*Switch moved to
a strategy of interconnecting mail systems of all types. The
proliferation of the number of different types of mail systems
(even within a single company) has provided a fertile market for
Soft*Switch.
Small Emerging Groupware Companies
The most practical ideas and products usually come from small
companies. They don't have the resources to waste, so focus on
a limited market and succeed or fail based on the selection of
their niche market. These three companies have Groupware
products focused on a single Groupware function:
Phase II Software has an excellent UNIX product, Clockwise, for
group task management and scheduling. The Clockwise product
solves one problem, scheduling people and activities, and does
it well.
MMB Development Corporation, our company, has been selling
TEAMate UNIX Bulletin Board software since 1985 to organizations
that need shared files and information management. TEAMate
solves the problem of groups sharing information and does it
simply and cost effectively via wide area or local networks.
ForComment from Access Technology was released in 1987. This is
an interesting product that supports group document creation and
revision. The group members working on the document can be
connected to a local area network or the documents can be
circulated on floppy disk.
These companies have all focused on one part of the Groupware
market and succeeded.
What should Groupware do and how should it work?
As you would expect, there are as many answers to this question
as there are software designers designing Groupware.
My opinion is that the reason any group activity works is that
the members of the group operate with some set of formal or
informal rules. Groupware must be flexible so that it can
conform to the rules of the group but it must not force the
group into operating in a way which is not productive. A good
example of this is the USENET bulletin board. On the network,
as far as the software goes, about the only thing that is
standardized is the format of the data. The software used on
each system can be, and in many cases is, different. How then
can this huge network function? USENET works because the rules
of conduct for using the network are standardized and the group
participants follow the rules. When they don't, they are
publicly criticized.
Every product should be as easy to use as possible but we must
remember that people are still a heck of a lot smarter than
computers, and don't mind learning to use new tools if it helps
them to achieve better results.
Groupware designers must realize that Groupware software doesn't
have to do "anything"; only make it easier for the group to
carry out its activities more effectively.
The Future and the Past
Driven by higher bandwidth communications and increasing
workstation capabilities, multimedia will become an integral
part of Groupware and the distinctions between communications
systems and computer systems will continue to blur.
The challenge for software developers remains to design software
that is unobtrusive but flexible so that the group participants
can use it in a way that is comfortable.
The challenge for software marketers is to clearly explain the
functions and benefits of Groupware in a way that the buyers can
understand.
The creator of the best communications product ever developed
received his patent in 1876. If we can even come close to the
effectiveness and ease of use of the product patented by
Alexander Graham Bell, the electric telephone; we will have
achieved success in the design of Groupware.
--
MMB Development Corporation, 904 Manhattan Ave, Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
"The TEAMate UNIX BBS for SUN, DEC, IBM, AT&T, HP and INTEL"
VOICE: (213) 318-1322 or bob@teamate.uunet.uu.net