EXTRANET NEWS * Week of
Editors: Joel Orr, N'omi Orr, Stephen Orr
1. ZAPLET APPMAIL: AN INTRIGUING ALTERNATIVE
2. THE LIST
3. TIDBITS
4. QUOTE OF THE WEEK
1. ZAPLET APPMAIL: AN INTRIGUING ALTERNATIVE
Joel Orr
The skinny: Uses email to share server-based information. Makes it easy to develop forms based on business processes. Another approach to collaboration. http://www.zaplet.com
More detail: If you think about it, you will realize that email is THE "killer app" of all time--the most widely used computer application that ties people together. For most people, it's the first app they open in the morning, the last they close at night. Friends have confessed to me that they can't resist checking their email if they get up to feed the baby or use the bathroom in the middle of the night.
Extranets, on the other hand, take coaxing to use. People are constantly having to be reminded to check the extranet or the intranet. A reasonably successful survivor of the dotcom implosion is BackWeb (http://www.backweb.com), whose whole business purpose is to get people to the shared info.
That's why most successful extranets have email notification; some even support responses, so that you can let the system know you got the message.
But Zaplet Appmail goes several steps further. It lets you create powerful forms that get sent by email. Their site shows a simple example: A contract that needs multiple approvals in a few hours.
It also demonstrates a more complex use: Starting a project, with assigning tasks, reporting on progress, and more.
It's as if the pages of the extranet are mailed out to those who need to see them, and they are able to respond within email.
The product works with or without Outlook, Notes, or other mail systems. There is no plug-in or application to download.
Zaplet Appmail seems to compete favorably with Groove (http://www.groove.net) for some applications. It is thoroughly open and modular, completely buzzword-compliant and -compatible (J2EE, XML, LDAP, etc.); and the vendor is actively seeking partners who will build on the powerful modules.
The application building process is point-and-click;--no programming; no IT resources.
Our take: The uphill battle experienced by purveyors of portals, intranets, and extranets makes me think that Zaplet really has something. The selling proposition is a rarity in the Internet Age: Find out what people ALREADY do, and help them do it better. Thumbs up!
2. THE LIST
Total companies: 252 (see who's on The List at http://www.extranetnews.com)
ADDED:
* WTS Infocetera - An incredibly powerful "donationware" portal construction set;
* Zaplet Appmail - see description above.
3. TIDBITS
* Tririga acquires Peregrine's FacilityCenter product line. Details: http://www.tririga.com. Commentary: http://www.cadwire.net
* EXTRANETS III -
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* Interested in blogs and blogging? John Hiler has compiled a wonderful annotated survey of available software. Read it at http://www.microcontentnews.com/articles/blogware.htm
* A good feature comparison table of blogging tools can be found at http://www.urldir.com/bt/
* MPS User Conference 2002: Connecting with Customers
will be held September 18-20, in
* Personalize CADwire as a newsletter! CADwire has up-to-the-minute nuggets of well-organized news, press releases, and commentary from Joel and his associates in Cyon Research Corporation. http://www.cadwire.net is the place to go to find out what is going on in the world of engineering and architecture automation. And now you can have it customized to your taste, and emailed direct to you!
4. QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"I have often regretted my speech; never my silence."
- Xenocrates