Introduction

This website presents the reader with a comparison between Sharepoint and the Sharepoint Alternative O3Spaces based on different reports of independent organizations. Among these organizations are the Dutch organization for innovation in ICT, SURFNET , federal German government represented by KBST. Their reports and all other resources are listed in the resources section. The comparison is based on the use of both Sharepoint and Sharepoint Alternative O3Spaces for document centric collaboration. A table with the results of this comparison can be found in this section.

Comparison of functionalities of O3Spaces Workplace and Sharepoint

One of the primary aims of O3Spaces is ‘ease of use’ for the end-user. It fills the gap in the triangle e-mail server, office suite and document management environment for office environments, independent of the office, mail and calendering solutions that might be in place. Support for different Office suites, OS and Browsers
O3Spaces delivers a Sharepoint Alternative that is compatible with a range of Office Suites (OpenOffice.org, StarOffice and Microsoft Office) and e-mail clients (Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird and Zimbra ZCS 5.0). Furthermore O3Spaces emphasizes the importance of cross platform compatibility by supporting MS Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. The same goes for web browsers. O3Spaces Workplace works with Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari. Sharepoint in turn follows a “Microsoft centric” strategy for all supported software. Although Sharepoint can be used in the browser,
full functionality is only available if the user uses Microsoft products for all associated programs (OS, Office suites and browser).

Integration with your Desktop

One of the most striking advantages the O3Spaces Sharepoint Alternative has over its Microsoft counterpart is the Workplace Assistant which enables you to stay in touch with your Workspaces and Team members at any time without opening a browser.

The Workplace Assistant consists of two components:
1. A plug-in in the Office Package (of your choice) that links the functionality of the Workspace to the functionality of the Office package
2. A Java program that makes the online workspaces approachable as a directory on your computer.

The Office plug-ins enable collaboration on documents online, directly from your Office suite, which brings advantages like: less errors in version control, easy access from your desktop, publish documents to your Workplace and more. Although Sharepoint lacks the desktop integration O3spaces offers, direct collaboration from a Windows based computer using the latest MS Office software is possible. Both systems also offer ‘Windows Explorer’ integration, using WebDAV.

Application of the products

O3Spaces Workplace was tested along with Sharepoint in an education environment.

Setting up an environment

In O3Spaces Workplace setting up a new project environment takes only a minute, as desired the interface and functionality can be adjusted to suit a specific need with little additional effort. This ease of setting up a project or team environment is the result of preconfigured environment templates and building blocks. In Sharepoint setting up an environment also is relatively simple because you can also make use of templates to choose from. One drawback is the overkill of information you get during the set-up which makes it somewhat less easy to set up than O3Spaces Workplace.

Inviting and controlling members

To invite potential members in O3Spaces Workplace a name and e-mail are all that is needed. Invited members will get an e-mail with a link to activate their account and choose their language etcetera. Sharepoint works more or less the same although it also has a function to retrieve your password without contacting an administrator which O3Spaces Workplace only provides as option.

Presenting documents to large groups

O3Spaces Workplace takes a different approach to present information to a public that is not part of the Workplace environment. Documents stored in the Workplace repository can be accessed from portals and internet sites through easy to use ‘file links’. O3spaces does not open its Workplace interface as ‘public site’. In some situations Sharepoint delivers some advantages because in Sharepoint it is readily possible to make public sub-pages of different form (document libraries, wikipages). These sites are all accessible by an URL. This makes it possibly more suited for a broad, open public, but with obvious administration challenges in the long term.

Accept project documentation in the environment

Uploading a document, creating directories, moving documents and deleting them is all quite simple and efficient in O3Spaces Workplace. Uploading a document in Workplace for instance only takes 1 click (with drag & drop) to 3 clicks at most. Sharepoint works quite similar although it works a little bit less efficient. To use the example before this:

Uploading a document takes at best 5 clicks.Uploading a document, creating directories, moving documents and deleting them is all quite simple and efficient in O3Spaces Workplace. Uploading a document in Workplace for instance only takes 1 click (with drag & drop) to 3 clicks at most. Sharepoint works quite similar although it works a little bit less efficient. To use the example before this: Uploading a document takes at best 5 clicks.

Collaborating on documents

Working together on documents in O3Spaces Workplace also suits casual, less advanced users. Functionalities like “locking”, version control and adding comments are all easy to use. A drawback in this could be that version control does not offer branching. Sharepoint in turn delivers the same functionalities but version control is only possible for Microsoft Office Documents. Additionally, it delivers advanced options like ‘workflows’ and ‘manage copies’ that may be a bridge too far for most users. O3Spaces already announced that they will also deliver ‘workflows’ in one of the next versions of Sharepoint Alternative Workplace.

Keeping the project Calendar up to date

Adding items to the Calendar in O3Spaces Workplaces is quite simple with overviews per day, week, month and year. It is relatively compact with much functionality and the administrator can determine in detail which fields to show to present the information in the best possible way. Sharepoint also comes with an excellent Calendar in two forms: a web-part and an individual page. The first is less adjustable compared to the individual Calender page that delivers overviews in the same way as the Calender in the Workplace does.

Administration of a Workspace

Administration of a Workspace in O3Spaces Workplace is straightforward. The options are mainly concerned with the roles that are attributed to the project participants. The average Space supervisor will not have any problems using it. Compared to this, the tuning features in Sharepoint are very extensive. This can offer advantages to an advanced supervisor but for an average supervisor it will be hard to get to the bottom of it.

Archiving a space

O3Spaces Workplace doesn’t deliver an explicit archiving functionality but nevertheless archiving is possible in several ways. For instance by setting a Workspace or even Unit ‘Inactive’. Deletion of an environment and associated users is only possible via the administration environment (Studio).

Concluding

Sharepoint has more, less usable functionalities, can be more widely employable but with a ‘price tag’ concerning purchase, deployment, administration and use. For the end user O3Spaces Workplace offers a more intuitive and more efficient collaboration environment. Sharepoint locks its users into Microsoft on all levels, server and client, OS and Office for years to come. O3Spaces Workplace embraces open standards, is application and platform independent which makes it an Open Sharepoint Alternative. O3Spaces Workplace is a fast moving, nimble and extendable product both wit a proven track record and high potential. For a table with the differences please visit the Comparison section.

More options

O3Spaces is extendable with Enterprise Solution Packs. O3Spaces Enterprise Solution Packs are add-on Workplace modules. The Enterprise Solution Packs target specific document management and document processing domains. All O3Spaces Solution Packs work together seamlessly and can be activated independently. The available Solution Packs are Scanning & Digitization, E-mail Archiving, Template Management & Document Generation and Rule-based Document Processing. 

Try O3Spaces Workplace

A free community edition (without support) of O3Spaces Workplace is available for download on the O3Spaces community website. Visit http://community.o3spaces.com and download a preconfigured deployment of O3Spaces Workplace. Minor registration steps needed. Visit http://www.o3spaces.org for more information, screens, demos, functions & and prices.