Engage Your Community - Presentation Notes

Introduction

Mike Riversdale
Owner of the on-line collaboration consultancy business, MiramarMike.co.nz
The picture is the one I use on the web taken by my son and chosen by the Webstock team ... suitably "hip and trendy and 2.0"
I introduce, educate about and grow the introduction of "Web 2.0" within organisations

(more at About Mike)

Hands up who uses Microsoft Office on a daily basis
What do you use it for (word processing, spreadsheets, email, calendaring and possibly presentations?)
I am not here to tell you that you are wrong
This is not an anti-Microsoft Office preso
In fact, if you're using MS Office right now I urge you to keep doing it
I am here to give you options and remove the thinking that it can ONLY be MS Office
When you come to upgrade/pay money then I hope you remember this preso and question the status quo

So, what are the options ...

A complete Microsoft Office suite of functionality + more
Can us your Google or Yahoo! accounts to login
Zoho Month on my blog; follow along to see just how good/comprehensive it is
Personal view - they are stuck between Microsoft and Google, a tough place to be :-)

But that's the web, maybe the web (or "cloud computing" isn't for you)
Open Source - describe
OpenOffice is "maintained" by Sun but has a large and active community of geeks working for you
Can read/write MS Office files
But hey, let's make MS Office use the major standard, ODF :-)
NO licensing costs

What about all the other applications you might use in your day-to-day work life ... there are alternatives to those as well

Firstly, check out the LARGE list at Wikipedia: Comparison of office suites
Jive - collaboration
Yuuguu - on-line meetings.conferences
Liferay - portal
GIMP - image editing
Thunderbird - email client
Sunbird - calendar
Scribus - desktop publishing
Inkscape - drawing
Avidemux - video editing
TurboChash - accounting
And for those really wanting to move away from a pay-for-licensed environment check out Ubuntu - complete and free operating system
(which comes with OpenOffice - everything you want in one free operating system)

But back to the Web ... where we'll all end up eventually. What else is there for the day-to-day business user?

Firstly, how do you get to the Web, via the browser and again there are alternatives to the Microsoft Internet Explorer
The most famous and, IMHO, usable/extensible is called Firefox
However, breaking news, Google has just released it's own open source browser called Chrome ... we all watch that space!
Once you're on the web, then what - we'll here's a few options that might not be free but offer "freedom" of location and use of your IT resources
Oh, and one of the best things about web services is you get the very latest version without having to do anything ... log in and there it is!
Xero - accounting
PlanHQ - business planning
MindMeister - brain storming, mind maps
Vyew - on-line 'workspaces'

Crickey, where is all this going - so many options with new ones appearing day-by-day!
A little glimpse into the future.

From data and applications tightly knitted together on the PC we are moving towards a world of:
Applications available one whatever device you like
Data in one place and made available, securely, how and when you want it
Example:

Your challenge is NOT to keep up with all this - who can?
Your challenge is to question the status quo and get the best for your own organisation
And know that you are not alone - this conference is aimed at connecting you to those that can help