Novell issues GroupWise 8 beta

Software giant Novell overnight launched an open beta, or testing, version of its GroupWise collaboration software, saying the software would combine traditional collaboration functionality with updated Web 2.0-style additions.

The Novell GroupWise 8 beta can be downloaded freely, and will run on Windows, Macintosh and Linux. Additions to the software included the ability to utilise wikis, blogs and RSS feeds, the company said in a statement.

"A 'mash-up' style personal productivity dashboard allows users to customise their workspace, providing a comprehensive, single overview of the folders, e-mails, appointments, tasks, collaboration and Web tools that matter most to them," Novell said.

"The new contact management features help users track, manage and develop business relationships."

Kent Erickson, senior vice president and general manager of Novell's workgroup solutions arm, said organisations were looking for collaboration tools that kept their employees focused on moving business forward, and their systems running smoothly, without increasing their costs.

While most large Australian organisations have embraced Microsoft's Exchange/Outlook suite in preference to GroupWise or IBM's Lotus/Domino alternatives, there are holdouts, with some NSW government agencies particularly still remaining GroupWise users.