CourseForum Technologies recently announced new versions of its collaborative workspace offerings, ProjectForum 4.1 (intended for work and project teams), and CourseForum 4.1 (a tailored version of ProjectForum for e-learning endeavours).

There are some definite things to like about ProjectForum and CourseForum:

• Both products run on a variety of operating systems, thus not tying the project or learning group to a specific vendor. Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Solaris and FreeBSD are supported, and the product can be installed on a standard desktop if required (eg, for supporting a small group, or trialing the software).



• The products generate RSS feeds of any new data items appearing in the workspaces. This means that group members can leave the notification of new things to their RSS reader, rather than having to manually check in for new items.


• The pricing is based on the number of groups setting up a collaborative workspace.

  For ProjectForum, a single group pays US$229, whereas five groups pay US$569.

  There is also an Enterprise Licensing option based on a pay-per-user model, and this starts at US$1000 for 150 registered users. If this was installed on a Mac OS X Server, where there are no user CALs due (unlike a Microsoft Windows Server), the overall package is highly affordable.

  CourseForum is priced at a lower level, and there are various pricing options as well as a student / campus licensing plan.

There are some limitations in the two editions:

• There is no offline capability. You have to be connected to the Internet to get access. If team members are normally in the office or have wirelessly-equipped laptops when out this may not be a problem in reality, but it is something to be aware of. Although it is a different model, Groove Virtual Office 3.0 offers offline capability, as does Lotus Quickplace.


• Neither product displays the presence of other project or course members in the workspace, and thus directly support instant messaging conversations within the workspace. Presence is a key enabler of group work in a collaborative workspace, and being able to hold a quick conversation with someone via IM is a neat social touch. Whilst definitely not a perfect product overall, Windows SharePoint Services integrates both of these capabilities very nicely, assuming of course that the additional supporting infrastructure from Microsoft is in place.

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