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Softalk Share Server beta going well

Softalk Share Server, our latest Exchange alternative product for sharing Outlook folders, has now been in beta for about four weeks and testing seems to be going very well.

The remaining piece of functionality to add is a comprehensive backup and restore mechanism. This will allow administators to make both full and incremental backups of the data store and then subsequently restore data down to the user or folder level. This is something that Exchange Server simply cannot do. If any data in the Exchange data store is lost or corrupted there is no alternative but to perform a full restore of the entire store from backup. Surprising really, that a product used by so many organizations is so light in this area of functionality.

We're still keen to hear from anyone that is interested to evaluate the beta version of Softalk Share Server. For more information and to download the beta, please go to http://www.softalkltd.com/products/softalkshareserver/beta.asp. All things going well, we're planning a release candidate by the end of April 2007.

SmallBizPod blog has new writers

Alex Bellinger's SmallBizPod podcast about UK small business is always worth a listen. It also has a companion small business blog at SmallBizPod, which should start to get even better as Guy Clapperton and David Tebbutt have both just joined the writing team. Guy is an excellent freelance writer, mainly on small business, technology and Dr Who. David Tebbutt is a veteran IT journalist who is always worth a read.

Beta testers wanted for new Exchange Alternative Product

Having spent the last 12 months developing a great alternative solution to the collaboration features of Exchange Server, we are now making available the first beta release of Softalk Share Server for anyone that would like to try out the new product.

Softalk Share Server provides native support for Microsoft Outlook enabling folder sharing in a very similar way to Exchange Server. There is no synchronization involved. Any changes made to someone's calendar, for example, will show up immediately for someone who has been granted access to that person's calendar.

Softalk Share Server will work with all versions of Outlook from Outlook 2000 through to Outlook 2007.

You can download Softalk Share Server beta 1 from http://www.softalkltd.com/products/download_form.asp?product=sss. Once you have entered your details into the download form you will be taken to an area from which you can download the product. We recommend that you first download the Reviewers guide. This explains what Softalk Share Server is, how to install it, how to configure it and what is missing from the beta version that will appear in the final version.

Softalk Share Server works with all versions of Outlook from Outlook 2000 through to Outlook 2007. The majority of the testing has been performed with Outlook 2003 and so we are looking for feedback on all the other versions, as well as Outlook 2003.

We have provided you with a web page to give us feedback as and when you find it during your testing. The feedback URL is http://www.softalkltd.com/support/sssfeedback.asp. Please feel free to submit this form to us whenever you find a problem with the software or whenever you have any general feedback or suggestions on the product.

Softalk Organizer 1.5 and WorkgroupShare 2.1.4

Softalk Organizer 1.5 and WorkgroupShare 2.1.4 are both now available for download from our website.

Major changes are:

• Now fully compatible with Internet Explorer v7 and Mozilla Firefox
• Spellchecker
• Significant performance improvements

For full details please see the Softalk Organizer release notes or download it here. See the WorkgroupShare 2.1.4 release notes here or download it here. There is also a new how to for upgrading WorkgroupShare.

Technorati tags: Softalk, WorkgroupShare, Softalk Organizer

UK small businesses set to boost IT budgets

Silicon.com's Gemma Simpson reports that UK small businesses will increase their IT budgets by 10.7 per cent in 2007. The top priority will be better ulitisation and analysis of their data.

This is obviously good news for Softalk, as all we do is software for small and medium size businesses. Very soon we'll be announcing a new product that makes it even easier for SMBs to use their data by sharing it more effectively.

If anyone has seen some similar figures from the US we'd be interested in hearing about them. Let us know in the comments. Thanks in advance.

Technorati tags: SME, SMB, software, business, small business, Silicon.com

Urgent need to amend your email signatures

On January 1 the new UK Companies Regulations came into force. The regulations apply to all UK limited companies and limited partnerships with websites and that use e-mail to communicate with customers.

The regulations mean that every UK company now has to list its company registration number, VAT number, place of registration and registered office address in legible characters on its website. The regulation even says that this information must also appear in e-mails and online order forms.

This has always been a requirement on business letterheads but has now been extended to cover websites, electronic order forms and electronic documents including email. Some of this was already implied in the 2002 E-commerce Regulations Act, but this new legislation clarifies it.

Directors of companies that fail to comply face a fine.

You can read the full details of the regulation here (warning - written in legal jargon).

The regulation is as a result of a European law, the First Company Law Amendment Directive, which had to be implemented by the end of 2006. This probably means that companies in all other EU member countries have to do the same thing, although sometimes countries miss the deadlines for implementing EU law.

Later we'll post some quick updates about how to ensure your email signatures are compliant if you are using WorkgroupMail, OfficeTalk or MailDisclaimer.

 

Technorati tags: small business, SME, SMB, OMB, email

Top ten fastest growing software company

The blog has been a bit quiet recently because we're all so busy preparing for an exciting new product launch. The tech team are burning the midnight oil to get the coding finished, while I'm working away behind the scenes to get ready to let customers and prospects know all about it.

In the midst of all this we were delighted to find out that the 2006 Deloitte Technology Fast 50 has ranked Softalk as the eight fastest growing software company in the UK and the 35th fastest growing technology company overall.

You can see the official news release in our media center.

 

Technorati tags: fast50, fast 50, Deloitte, technology, software, UK

Reseller Seminar 2006

We'll be hosting our first ever reseller seminar on November 23rd 2006 in Maidenhead. We'll be giving our resellers a "first looks" at an exciting new product that we'll be launching early in the new year.

We'll also be providing product overviews and live demonstrations of our existing products and discussing the advantages and benefits of the Softalk product range.

If you are a Softalk reseller and you want to come along, please contact Wayne Jones at wayne.jones@softalkltd.com and he'll do his best to fit you in. 

20 tips to survive the workplace

Guy Browning provides 20 tips to surviving life in the workplace including biodegradable email.

Disclaimer: follow his advice at your own peril

 

Technorati tags: email, workplace, The Guardian, work, office

OfficeTalk 4.5.1 now out

Today we've released OfficeTalk 4.5.1. You can download it from the main Softalk website. Probably the most significant thing about it is that it now has a free single user license. Just download the 30 day trial and it reverts to a single user at the end of the period.

However, we're sure that most people that work in a team will want to register and stick with it .

If you don't know about OfficeTalk it's an alternative to Outlook, ACT! or Goldmine. Its biggest benefit is that it has actually been designed to help small and medium size organizations to collaborate and work together as a team. It provides shared calendars, task lists, contacts, email and project management. OfficeTalk's other big benefit is that it handles contacts properly by associating them with a company or organization. This makes it really easy to update records and you can see at a glance the history and pending activity. 

Softalk's PR company (well actually that's me) has also experimented with issuing a 'social media release' about it. This is a new way of doing news releases or press releases and was pioneered by Shift Communications, a technology PR firm with offices in Boston and California. Softalk and BMA PR are one of the first to use this format and the beta of a new tool called PRX Builder, created by Shannon Whitley.

You can take a look at the release here:

• Softalk Media Center
• PRX Release
• PR Newswire (to follow shortly)

And a more traditional version here:

• SourceWire
• Softalk Media Center

 

Technorati tags: Softalk, OfficeTalk, collaboration, social media release, news, software, small business, SME, SMB, PRX Builder