Simdesk: The On-Demand Office Suite On-Demand Collaborative Computing and More Gerry Blackwell
On-Demand Collaborative Computing
Simdesk Groups lets you set up groups of other Simdesk users with whom you can share resources. For example, if you want to give a distributed group of co-workers or clients access to documents you're working on, you use the PC-based Simdesk Groups utility to create a group and add the individuals to it. Then you create a new subfolder on your S-Drive and configure it for sharing by using the standard Windows Sharing and Security dialog, which you access by right-clicking the folder icon.
Simdesk adds a new tab to the Windows dialog that shows the groups you set up in the Groups utility. Select the group name and set the sharing permissions — read only, write only, or read and write. Now copy the documents you want to share to the folder. You can do this in Windows Explorer or by copying from an application such as Word. Every member of the group will be able to access the folder and its contents, and it will show up automatically on their S-Drives.
File synchronization makes it possible to maintain a constantly updated folder of your most frequently used files that you can access wherever you go from any Internet-connected and browser-equipped device. You start by copying files from the hard drive on your PC to the Simdesk File Sync folder on the S-Drive.
The File Sync utility places an icon in the Windows taskbar. Configure it by right clicking the icon and selecting Preferences. You can tell it to check the Simdesk server and your PC at regular intervals and automatically synchronize if there are changes or additions to either. You can also set it to limit how much of your S-Drive capacity the File Sync folder uses and warn you when you're reaching that limit so you can delete files you no longer need.
Simdesk PrintShare lets you print to an office printer when you're traveling, or print to a printer that you share with another Simdesk user — from anywhere you have access to the Internet. Start by using the PrintShare utility on your PC to add a printer or printers from among those connected to your PC or local area network. Once you've added a printer, you can make it available to members of any sharing group you've created. Other people (of your choosing) can share printers with you in the same way.
PrintShare offers two ways to print. If you're using the Simdesk Web service, you can print any file on your S-Drive by opening the S-Drive in your browser, selecting the file and clicking the Print button on the main toolbar. A print setup dialog pops up. Select the printer you want to use from the pull-down list — either one of your own or a shared printer — and click the Print button.
If you're using an application such as Word on your desktop or laptop, you can use PrintShare by selecting it from the pull-down list of printers in the Print dialog. You adjust settings as you would with any printer, then click Print. A box pops up listing your PrintShare printers. Select the printer and click Print again.
While Simdesk worked reasonably well in most of our tests, the experience was not without frustrations. The how-to documentation is succinct to a fault, and we sometimes had difficulty understanding basic principles of how the service and applications work.
Technical Support
The download/install procedure for the client software did not inspire confidence. It uses a non-standard interface that we can only guess is a work in progress. Button labels appear to be unformatted descriptors typed in by programmers — e.g. BUTTON_WELCOME, MSG_TO_FINISH_MUST_RESTART. Both downloads and installation also seemed painfully slow.
Printing using PrintShare from the Simdesk Web service initially didn't work. Simdesk technical support encountered the same problem after we described it, but had no immediate explanation. The problem resolved itself after we installed Simdesk PersonalOffice, although according to the tech support agent we spoke to, this made little sense. On one occasion, the FileSync utility malfunctioned, crashing Windows Explorer.
These are not fatal flaws, and you may not even experience them. For any small business that needs the collaborative, online, on-demand computing functions and is also in the market for basic mail, personal information management, and document creation applications, Simdesk is a great deal. Anyone already using Microsoft Office who still wants the online, on-demand functionality may want to wait and check out Microsoft Office Live, a similar offering, before deciding. Office Live is currently in limited beta release.
Based in London, Canada, Gerry Blackwell has been writing about information technology and telecommunications for a variety of print and online publications since the 1980s. Just for fun, he also authors features and columns on digital photography for Here's How, a spiffy Canadian consumer technology magazine.
