A collaborative tool to check out
 
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If you work in a team, the ability to chat online can be helpful sometimes when deadlines approach. Of course, there's ICQ and even IRC. Another tool worth looking into, partly because of its ease of set-up, partly because of its file-transfer abilities, is Hotline.
In a single interface, Hotline provides the ability to chat with a single person or group and post "news" bulletins for other group members. And it has a file-transfer system that looks and works a lot like a graphical FTP client, but which the company claims is faster because it uses its own, speeded-up, protocol.
The software consists of a client and server, as you might expect. Both clients and servers run on Macintosh and Win 95/NT desktops (the Windows versions are still beta). Pricing starts at $29.95 for the client and $69.95 for the server. A $99.95 tool called Tracker lets you password protect the server to create private groups and file areas. Volume discounts are available.
Adam Gaffin is editor of Network World Fusion. You can reach him at agaffin@nww.com.
Hotline site (download eval copies)
Collaborative catchall:
Intranets are migrating from document libraries to platforms for collaborative applications, and that means new challenges for IT managers. IntraNet, 2/23/98.
