Microsoft Groove

Microsoft Groove (with Microsoft Groove Server) allows teams to easily and independently collaborate within and across organisational boundaries.  Users can work offline or online without sacrificing security.  This helps knowledge workers, such as consultants who often need to work securely and online at client sites.

Microsoft Groove's provides a shared workspace to allow files to be shared. Users can create workspaces, add documents, and invite other Groove members to a workspace. A user that responds to an invitation is made an active member of that workspace. Each member has a privately editable copy of the workspace. Users interact and collaborate in the common workspace which is a private virtual location. All changes are tracked by Groove Server, sent to all members and all copies of the workspace are synchronised via a peer-to-peer network. Data is encrypted on disk with 192-bit AES encryption as well as over the network.

While can work offline with their document and data changes queued for synchronisation once a connection is made to the Groove Server. When multiple users edit a single document while offline, changes may conflict and multiple versions will be shown until an editor decides which changes will become final.

With built-in presence awareness, alerts, and unread marks, Groove informs you of who's working on what, when, without having to ask.  By using Office Communicator you can collaborate onscreen and work together on projects regardless of corporate network boundaries.

Microsoft Groove integrates with SharePoint allowing the user to work offline with SharePoint content.