Groove inclusion in Office 2007 Suites - Marketing

[Martin D]

As a long time supporter of Groove I wanted to say how sorry I am that the
decision has been taken to restrict the inclusion of Groove as only part of
the 'Enterprise' and 'Ulitmate' editions of Office 2007. I believe this is a
major marketing error and Microsoft have missed a real trick here. Why? Let
me try and explain ...

The purchase of 'Enterprise' and 'Ulitmate' editions is likely to be
restricted to major corporate organisations and other larger organisations.
Many of these already have sophisticated collaboration facilities and are
unlikely to use Groove significantly. Yet others have very strict
information security policies (and/or information management cultures) that
will preclude (or discourage) the use of informal collaboration tools such as
Groove. Thus the take up and use of Groove will I believe be limited.

The real potential for Groove lies in small group, cross organisation, and
informal collaboration. Groove has the exciting potential to open up
completely new ways of sharing information and working collaboratively. To
exploit this potential I believe MS should look to change the positioning of
Groove to be included in the 'Student' and 'Standard' versions of Office
2007. By doing so (and supported by an educational/information programme on
the potential benefits of progressive information collaboration enabled by
Groove) MS would open up a broad new market and increase the demand for
people to use Office 2007.

I hope these views will be of interest. Perhaps, even that they may be read
by someone at MS! Please let's not pass up this opportunity to bring the
exciting and novel benefits enabled by Groove to a broader audience.

btw - what happened to all those forums that were located at www.groove.net
that encapsulate so much good knowledge and wisdom about Groove and its use?

Keep on Groov'in!

 

[c1sbc]

You are spot on on many accounts. Packaging Groove with Office Small Business
Ed and Small Business Server would do well as well.

SBC

 

[Martin D]

Yes, you're right - Groove has significant potential in small businesses and
organisation. I should have said "Groove should be included in all Office
editions including 'Student' and 'Standard'".

If MS are not happy to bundle Groove as part of all editions then they
should at least make it available for separate purhcase/licencing. Why not
use the ePurchasing licence management system that Groove had already
established?

 

[Mark Smith]

Hi Martin, SB

Back in the early days it was thought that Groove /would/ appeal to the
small business market. This turned out to be wrong - small businesses stayed
away despite a lot of very +ve press about the value of Groove to them.

Why this was the case, I've never been to fully understand. Maybe, even
though the early pricing of Groove was /very/ cheap for what you got, the
competition ("do nothing") was even cheaper. The benefits of improved
communication and team effectiveness apparently passed un-noticed.

Martin - Right now, there's a /fantastic/ deal for small business users with
the Office Live Groove offering. This is a managed Groove account for $79 a
year. You have to install the trial from
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/officelive/FX101945661033.aspx and then buy
your licenses from there.

 

[Martin D]

Mark,

Many thanks for your interesting response ...

Back in the early days it was thought that Groove /would/ appeal to the
small business market. This turned out to be wrong - small businesses stayed
away despite a lot of very +ve press about the value of Groove to them.

Why this was the case, I've never been to fully understand. Maybe, even
though the early pricing of Groove was /very/ cheap for what you got, the
competition ("do nothing") was even cheaper. The benefits of improved
communication and team effectiveness apparently passed un-noticed.

I believe the problem is that the 'e-mail' mindset is so powerful that
people don't understand the concept, or the benefits, of a shared space as
against sending point-2-point e-mails.

Martin - Right now, there's a /fantastic/ deal for small business users with
the Office Live Groove offering. This is a managed Groove account for $79 a
year. You have to install the trial from
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/officelive/FX101945661033.aspx and then buy
your licenses from there.

Thanks for this. I wasn't aware this was possible. I have a set of Groove
licences I issue/revoke for individual projects. I will certainly
investigate this option. Do you think this is something MS will maintain
(promote) or is it just an 'introductory offer' to help people experience
Groove?

 

[c1sbc]

the SMB market has always been one of my 'targets' (biz wise).
Yes - I was quite suprised that Groove didn't take off in it back then (~3
years) but this market has changed considerably now.
I hope Groove's marketing efforts goes out to this market a lot
differently. Albeit, there may be a conflict here of the two MSFT products -
Groove & Office Live..
we'll wait and see..

SBC

 

[Marco Polo]

I want to by 20 licenses immediately for Groove file sharing. I will pay a
premium. A corporate upgrade to "Enterprise" or "Ultimate" is far beyond my
control, and will not happen anytime soon. Can anybody sell me these
licenses, or is that impossible? Responses appreciated.

 

[Groove Support @ Schultz IT Solutions]

Hi, Marco Polo,

you should be able to buy Groove as a Stand alone product from (almost) any
decent dealer. If you still have problems obtaining it, simply call us (or
order the required number of products straight in our own web shop
(http://www.schultz.ch/shop )

Regards
Ruediger Schultz