Just got an email from JotSpot/Google notifying users that all wiki sites will be upgraded to version 2.9 in the coming week. According to the email, the upgrade adds support from Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 2, fixes some RSS issues and adds RSS feeds for some of [Read more]

Just had a conversation with Joe Kraus, JotSpot’s co-Founder and CEO. We discussed today’s acquisition announcement, and here’s what Joe had to say. Google was attracted to JotSpot because the JotSpot wiki fits [Read more]

Just heard a bit of news directly from JotSpot that they have officially closed a deal to be acquired by Google. A busy fall for Google with the recent YouTube acquisition and now the acquisition of JotSpot. As with the Writely acquisition earlier this year, new account creation has been temporarily suspended while they move to the Google architecture, but you can sign up to be notified when registration reopens. JotSpot has posted a Frequently Asked Questions page, and co-founder Joe Kraus writes more about the deal on the Google Blog. This certainly adds one more element to Google’s collaborative office strategy.

Just heard from Robin Stoecker over at JotSpot that the company is releasing new applications to extend the number of uses for your JotSpot Wiki. JotSpot has consistently produced a very solid product, and these applications show just how flexible the wiki can be. [Read more]

Recently, I talked with Joe Kraus, co-Founder and CEO of JotSpot. We discussed how the company started and where it’s going, the evolution of the wiki for more specialized applications, and JotSpot’s new enterprise tool, JotSpot Wiki Server.

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JotSpot has released version 2.0 of their web-hosted wiki with a host of new features, including:

• Page types – wikis have traditionally been confined to web document collaboration, and users of wikis have had to rely on other software to share spreadsheets, calendars, and files. But in this release, JotSpot is introducing a groundbreaking concept we call page types.
• When you create a wiki page, you can actually choose from several page types, including web pages, spreadsheets, calendars, photo galleries, and file cabinets.
• Configurable look & feel – JotSpot now makes it easy for you to change color schemes and upload your own logo.
• Improved sidebar navigation – many of our customers wanted easier ways to organize links, so we’ve improved the left sidebar to support global links and Outlook-style tabs for JotSpot applications.
• Improved user permissions – each wiki page now has configurable permissions that make it easy to share the page with select users or even the public.

JotSpot has done an impressive job improving an already well-designed and easy-to-use wiki. Click here to set up a JotSpot wiki site, and try out the new features.

Yesterday, in my post about JotSpot Wiki Server, I commented in a gently critical way about their lack of pricing information on the new product, and I’m pleased that only a few hours after the post was published I received an email from Perry Mizota, VP of the On-Premise Business at JotSpot and the person responsible for JotSpot Wiki Server. Perry emailed to say that JotSpot was only keeping information under wraps while the product is in beta, and would release more details once JotSpot Wiki Server is a widely available product. He also mentioned that more detailed information, including pricing plans, is available to beta participants. It’s nice to see a company so responsive and interested in maintaining good relationships, because it’s ultimately good for everyone – thanks Perry!

JotSpot is getting into the enterprise market, it appears, with the release of JotSpot Wiki Server. In beta, it allows JotSpot wiki to be hosted locally by an organization, although they don’t give any details on whether it could be hooked into an existing account/permissions structure like LDAP or Active Directory. According to the site, pricing starts at just over $100/month for 25 users with a 12-month commitment required, and a discount is mentioned for beta testers.

Compared with the other enterprise players, JotSpot’s information on pricing and the kind of compatibility features needed in an enterprise tool are somewhat vague. Atlassian has a “Licensing and Pricing” page (can’t get clearer than that!) which shows exactly what their software will cost, including the costs for academic users. This one is often overlooked by many software companies, and academic users are left calling a sales person to see what discount they might get. SocialText also has a page clearly detailing price per number of users. John Nolen has posted extensively on his blog about open vs. closed companies and I think JotSpot is leaning toward the closed side on this one, at least for pricing.