The Tuesday, May 13th meeting of the Rocky Mountain Internet Users
Group (RMIUG) will discuss "The Power of Collaboration Software"

It has been suggested that Metcalfe's Law - the notion that as more
people use something, its value increases exponentially - applies
directly to collaborative software. Consider how invaluable some of
the Internet's systems such as email, calendaring, text chat, wikis,
would be if only you used them to their full potential.

Email, arguably the Internet's "original" collaborative application,
is one of the best examples of Metcalfe's Law. Through a simple
interface, you have the ability to connect and collaborate with,
literally, millions of people regardless of physical place and/or
time. While this has enabled collaboration that would have otherwise
not existed, it is clear that email has its detriments including
(taken from "The Bad in Email (or Why We need Collaboration Software)":
• Email is silo'ed, trapping information into personalized,
unsharable, unsearchable vacuums
• Email is not a secure means of communication
• Email is not a document manager
• Email communications don't effectively communicate priority
Deficiencies in email and other earlier attempts at electronic
collaboration have given rise to a massive growth of collaborative
software: applications that enable multiple users to work together
relatively seamlessly. Applications such as Lotus Notes andBaseCamp
enable countless users to share documents and communicate in a very
open and structured way that not only benefits the individual users,
but the organization as a whole.

Microsoft, in particular, has been growing phenomenally in the area of
collaborative software. Besides hiring Ray Ozzie (inventor of Lotus
Notes) as itsCTO, its Sharepoint product has seen massive growth
recently. In March, Bill Gates noted that Sharepoint licenses have
exceeded 100 million surpassing sales of $1 billion and has called
Sharepoint the fastest growing software in Microsoft's history.

At the next RMIUG, we will discuss Collaborative Software and its
growth with a focus on Microsoft's Sharepoint product. To help us
understand this product, we will bring in the following local expert:
Mark Richtermeyer (mrichtermeyer@...) is President and
CEO of the Spitfire Group, a professional consultancy specializing in
helping clients achieve alignment between business objectives and
technology initiatives. Mark leads the team, ensuring excellence in
client delivery and operational efficiency at every level. Mark has
over 15 years of leadership experience in enterprise consulting with
Hitachi Consulting,iXL and Managed Business Solutions, Mark is firmly
placed at the top of his field.

Links:
http://www.spitfiregroup.com
http://blog.centraldesktop.com/comments.php?y=06&m=05&entry=entry060501-194015
(The Bad In Email (or Why We Need Collaboration Software)

The meeting is Tuesday, May 13th from 7:00 - 9:00 pm (with optional
6:30 pm start for refreshments and informal networking). The meeting
will be held at The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) at
1850 Table Mesa Drive in Boulder. To get to NCAR from the Boulder
Turnpike (US 36) or Broadway (US 93), take Table Mesa Drive west
towards the mountains for approximately 2.5 miles into the
foothills.NCAR is at the top of the hill. For door-to-door driving
directions, go to MapQuest (http://www.mapquest.com/), click on
Driving Directions, enter your starting address, NCAR's address, and
voila! Park in the NCAR lot, go in the main door, and ask the guard to
point you to meeting, which is held in the main auditorium, right off
the lobby. The meeting is free and open to the public, but we may pass
the hat to help defray expenses.

Our meeting location seats about 120 people. That is usually enough
room to accommodate all attendees, but it's impossible for us to
predict how many people will show up for any given meeting. Seating is
always on a first-come, first serve basis, and in the event of more
attendees than seats, we won't be able to admit additional people into
the auditorium after all seats are filled.

Thanks to our three sponsors who help make RMIUG meetings happen:
---------------------------------------------------------------
MicroStaff (www.microstaff.com) which provides Creative and Technical
talent for Web, Interactive Media, Marketing Communications and
Software Development projects, is the sponsor of food and beverages
for RMIUG meetings.
ONEWARE (http://www.ONEWARE.com) -- a Colorado-based software company
that provides semi-custom web-based applications, sponsors the RMIUG
meeting minutes.
Copy Diva (http://www.copydiva.com) which provides marketing project
management, marketing communications consulting, and web content
development is the AV sponsor for RMIUG.

Consultants and companies are invited to bring Internet-related
Product information, brochures, and business cards which will be
displayed on an information table.

There are email mailing lists set up for this group. To subscribe or
unsubscribe, see http://www.rmiug.org/maillist.html. You can also
reach the RMIUG "Executive" Committee at rmiug-comm@.... Our web
site is at http://www.rmiug.org/


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Please note that RMIUG is hosted at NCAR and we are their guests. NCAR
has security regulations in effect that we must follow in order to use
the facility. If any RMIUG attendee is unwilling to follow these
simple regulations, I would ask that he or she not attend and instead
read the minutes after the meeting.

Here are the NCAR security policies that must be followed:

1. No weapons.
2. Must sign in at front desk and provide name.
3. Cooperate with security folks including providing ID if requested.
4. We are guests of NCAR so cooperation and courtesy are expected when
dealing with NCAR staff.

If there are any questions or concerns with this policy, please
contact me directly.
Thanks, Josh Zapin (josh@...).
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