Software for a Virtual Office? 50
Omega1045 asks: "I am working on a team that will soon be merging with another group of developers a thousand miles away, plus we already have remote people. Having been in this position at a previous job, I have used applications like IM, NetMeeting, email and a lot of phone calls to keep people in touch. Even with these things, there is still a lot missing in making sure we have good communication between members of the team. In my previous experience, we spent too much time on simple tasks like making sure everyone had the same copy of a file, the same update project schedule, etc. What tools would you recommend for a team working in Windows development? What experiences, good and bad, have you had with 'virtual office' applications. I am currently testing Groove Virtual Office which I spotted on Slashdot, earlier. Does Slashdot have recommendations for free software, or moderately priced commercial software, that might fig the bill?"
Re:Oh dear...I can see it now... (Score:2)
Let the flame war commence!
The first person that says "install linux!" gets hacked.''
Fair enough, but this is the sort of stuff that Unix is good for and Windows struggles with. I don't consider myself a Linux zealot, but I never fail to point out better solutions when I see them. And I'll laugh when people run into problems they would have avoided had they followed my advice. That doesn't apply to this case, though.
By the way, I r
GForge is good stuff (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm not affiliated with GForge Group, although I was a committer on GForge for a while.
GoToMeeting (Score:2)
https://www.gotomeeting.com/ [gotomeeting.com]
rsync? (Score:1)
Re:rsync? (Score:2)
VPN routers, Wikis, and file servers (Score:3, Interesting)
The previous reply to use rsync is a good idea if you want to automatically keep (force) everyone to the save versions of files and such.
We haven't used anything like GForge, though we do not have a lot of remote development going on (a few engineers cross country, the rest on the same coast.) Adding another email system (for example) on top of wahtever the corporate email system provides is a waste and senselessly duplicative. Similarly integrating our RCS into another larger system didn't make sense.
Subversion? (Score:5, Informative)
That sounds like nothing a version control system couldn't take care of. I don't know about other systems, but I have good experiences with Subversion [tigris.org], and I am told there are Windows clients for it.
Re:Subversion? (Score:3, Interesting)
Also centralized file repositories would help. A place where certain people could put files for others to read and get.
This really sounds like a poorly managed workplace.
Re:Subversion? (Score:3, Informative)
http://www.tortoisecvs.org/ [tortoisecvs.org]
http://tortoisesvn.tigris.org/ [tigris.org]
Re:Subversion? (Score:2)
Re:Subversion? (Score:2)
Re:Subversion? (Score:3, Interesting)
I also use viewcvs to make the repository visible through a browser, but you're probably doing that too already.
http://viewcvs.sourceforge.net/ [sourceforge.net]
Re:Subversion? (Score:1)
We've had good results using Sharepoint [microsoft.com] (hey, you said you were using Microsoft products) to track documents, schedules, tasks, todo lists, etc. It's not as robust as a full source control system like Subversion, but it works well for management stuff (bonus: it's all web-based, so you don't need a local client or enlistment). For binary files like Word or Project files, you really need a method of locking the file. SVN and CVS are really geared towards concurrent changes in text files that are mergeabl
Re:Subversion? (Score:2)
Re:Subversion? (Score:1)
We use Subversion (see http://subversion.tigris.org/ [tigris.org]) with srvany (see http://www.iopus.com/guides/srvany.htm [iopus.com]) at work on a Windows server and TortoiseSVN (http://tortoisesvn.tigris.org/ [tigris.org]) on the clients and it works very well for code *and* documents. I would use SVN version 1.2 as it handles binary files better by being able to lock files.
We find "svn:ignore" useful (http://svnbook.red-bean.com/en/1.1/svn-book.html# svn-ch-7-sect-2.3.3 [red-bean.com])
And "svn:needs-lock" (http://svnbook.red-bean.com/nightly/en/s [red-bean.com]
Have you looked into Sharepoint? (Score:2)
More Info on Sharepoint (Score:2, Interesting)
There are only a few caveats that can potentially be a show-stoppers:
Re:More Info on Sharepoint (Score:1, Informative)
1. Make sure to exclude the path to your other web applications, in the sharepoint administration
2. Look at this article for web.config modifications that will allow sharepoint and
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb; en-us;837376 [microsoft.com]
Wikis (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Wikis (Score:2, Informative)
Re: Wikis (Score:1)
Same sort of thing can be done via email, of course, but a wiki gives you versioning and ready historical access. Folks who were not involved in the original discussions can come in later and review the evolution of the desig
Say no more! (Score:1, Informative)
Sorry, MS is not a supported platform for this solution. MS did try their own solution but it fell way short with Share Point. Share Point blows chunks and sucks balls at the same time!
Re:Say no more! (Score:1)
It has some limitations, like the fact that it is web.
With the combination of iFolder 3.0, it can make something good.
Also, Novell has no solution for a collaborative file services. Something that can handle multiple copies of the same document, for example.
Also, there is no access for other type of access, like wap or stuff like this.
Virtual office is a low cost solution for companies who already have some Netware or OES linux servers.
Docushare (Score:3, Informative)
Calendandering, versioning, chats & forumns, plus its a EDM (Electronic Document Manager), this coupled with e-mail, IM and a decent CVS, should keep you up to date.
Groove Office is supposed to be pretty good as well, but I haven't used it much, just Docushare. Plus I love Docushare because you can have a Linux(or better yet FreeBSD!) Front-End to a MS-SQL server.
Re:Docushare (Score:2)
be religiously cross-platform (Score:2, Informative)
I work in a company of some 3000 people. The biggest issues we have with the "glue-ware" applications, which are used to keep everybody on the same page, come when the glue-ware requires a specific web browser to work, or is a binary that only works on one type of machine.
Now that the IT managers have got enough complaints, we are moving away from this. But the number of times I had to seek out a Windows machine, just to file a trip expense report, was not even funny.
A small server can save sanity - The open ten step (Score:2, Offtopic)
1) Install a second NIC or connect the modem directly to the server. Connection to th
Make time to actually meet the "other" dev team (Score:3, Insightful)
If you don't do this, then you'll always be two development teams - "us" and "them".
Some advice that you may not like (Score:1, Informative)
Use CVS! it's free and beats a lot of commercial software with
My sympathies (Score:2)
and while we're at it (Score:2)
GVO & Skype (Score:1)
We use two workspaces for each customer, one internal & one external t
I agree with some, Wiki would be best (Score:1)
I just... (Score:2)
Everyone must be able to VPN into the central office. Cisco, OpenVPN, whatever. But everyone must be able to connect.
For keeping code sync'd:
CVS or svn. We used CVS because we all know it. Also it was in place already, but terribly underused and mismanaged.
For tracking bugs and issues:
Bugzilla. There are others. There was one in place there, already, but v
You're way ahead already w/Groove Virtual Office (Score:1)
If you have non-technical folks on your team, however, very few of these tools will be welcomed. They're just too low-level for ordinary people.
You mentioned that you've looked at Groove Virtual Office. That actually puts you way ahead already. One thing many people don't realize is that Groove's folder sync feature is often the onl
basecamp (Score:2)
There is a free trial, so there is no reason not to kick the tires on this.
VNC (Score:1)
Others can see anything you see on your screen.
Great for discussions and troubleshooting.
Free.
We use Central Desktop (Score:1)
Still missing something... (Score:1)
I'll start by saying I've been working remotely for a long time. 4 years as part of a team in a remote office and another year working from home. I work for a reasonably large software company (~3000 employees).
The communicaiton tools we use now that i am working from home have been mostly mentioned in previous posts: