Companies depend upon collaboration. It is the framework that allows the people that make up the machine to work together as a cohesive whole. But collaboration tools are all over the place when it comes to scope, scale, and specifications.

So which tool is the right tool for your business? This is a very tricky question that, of course, depends upon the assessment of need versus budget. However, if your need is great and your budget is low, you still have plenty of options, including the open source collaboration tool, OpenGoo, which is an “easy to use, open source Web office.” This description is spot on, but doesn’t alert the administrator how easy OpenGoo is to install and run.

Specifications

Who’s it for?

OpenGoo is for any size company looking for a solid collaboration suite that can be served up in-house, without breaking the bank. OpenGoo offers all of the features of most any collaboration tool (and then some), so you won’t have to try to add on any tools once installation is complete.

What problem does it solve?

OpenGoo solves the often complicated issue of document collaboration and does so reliably and cost-effectively. OpenGoo also circumvents overly complex installation processes that many collaboration tools have; the OpenGoo installation can be completed in less than 30 minutes.

Standout features

  • Simple installation
  • User-friendly GUI
  • Text documents
  • Spreadsheets (to be implemented in upcoming release)
  • Presentations
  • Tasks lists
  • Email
  • Calendars
  • Web links
  • Contacts
  • Document checkout/checkin
  • Purchase-able support plans

What’s wrong?

As of this writing the spreadsheets tool is not available. This will be resolved as of the next release. Another issue is that the only format supported for documents created within OpenGoo is html. The only way around this is to create the document, download it, change the format, and upload the document. But only html documents can be edited within the document editing tool. All other document formats must be checked out and downloaded.

Competitive products

Bottom line for business

If you are looking for a reliable, cost-effective, collaboration tool, for any size business, look no further than OpenGoo. Not only is it amazingly simple to use, it is simple to install and administer.

User rating

Have you encountered or used the OpenGoo collaboration suite? If so, what do you think? Rate your experience and compare the results to what other TechRepublic members think. Give your own personal review in the TechRepublic Community Forums or let us know if you think we left anything out in our review.

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The OpenGoo main page

Upon installation you will be greeted with this page. You can delete this page by simply clicking the link near the bottom.

Document creation

This is where documents are created. One of the few pitfalls of OpenGoo shows up here in that you can only save in .html format.

Document workspace

OpenGoo allows you to upload nearly any time (and amount) of documents so that they can be used in a collaborative environment.

Creating events

When creating events you can even attach (link) files to this event.

New workspace

With OpenGoo you can create new workspaces to represent teams, jobs, clients, etc.

Presentation tool

Although the presentation tool is much more simple than what MS Office and OpenOffice have to offer, it does its job and does it well.

Tasks panel