We love our blog here at www.orchidsoft.com/blog, but we realise that because it's on our own website it is very much tied to who we are and what we do as a company. That's a great thing when we're updating people on what we're doing and talking about our latest software developments, but for really informal things like discussion on general intranet issues or sharing interesting articles and links from the net we thought we'd try something different. 

And that something is Intranet Ideas, our brand-new blog on Wordpress. We decided to use a platform such as Wordpress to give our blog a really informal air; we could have created a standalone site and domain for ourselves, but we thought that blending in might encourage comment and discussion from the wider intranet community.

We're not hiding who we are, of course - if you click through to the About Intranet Ideas page we're totally upfront about who we are, and why we've set up the blog: we just want to have a bit more of an informal discussion on intranet matters and contribute our knowledge and expertise to the wider intranet community in a way that's a bit less set in stone.

We'll be cross-publishing between the two blogs where appropriate, but we'll try to have Orchid Software-specific content on here and wider dicsussion on both intranet and general tech talk over on Intranet Ideas. If you have any ideas for either blog we'd love to hear them. We'd also love it if you would take a look and leave a comment for us, so why not go over to Intranet Ideas now and see what you think.

Let’s go back in time for this blog post, all the way to the early years of the 1980s. More mature readers might remember Michael Jackson in his prime, Men at Work, Wham! and Spandau Ballet, while under-40s should just click the links to experience the remarkable music of the time. Power dressing, big hair, shoulder pads, Miami Vice and Madonna also provide valuable reference points for the atmosphere of the time.

The political landscape saw the emergence of the Reagan administration and Margaret Thatcher's Tory government, both politically conservative yet economically liberal movements that provoked strong opposition as well as support. George Orwell’s 'Big Brother' from the classic 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' loomed large, with the relevance of the novel’s titular date only serving to enhance a sense of ‘The Man’ in control against the man in the street.

It was within this politically-charged atmosphere that two young tech companies were making significant steps forward in the world of home computing; emerging software developers Microsoft had signed a deal with the long-established business computing company IBM to use their CP/M operating system in IBM’s new home computers, while Apple Inc. was the young, up-and-coming independent preparing to unleash its own brand-new rival combination of hardware and software upon the world – the Apple Macintosh.

In a stroke of perceptive genius, Apple co-opted the ‘us vs. them’ dynamic of the time and ran with it in their promotional efforts – so much so, that they decided to put a $1.5m budget in the hands of renowned film director Ridley Scott via ad agency Chiat/Day, aiming to make a big splash in just 90 seconds of airtime during Superbowl XVIII.

Apple certainly got their big splash: the broadcast commercial, ‘1984’, was an amalgam of oppressive, Orwellian concepts and imagery that was literally smashed to pieces by the spot’s athletic protagonist: though nameless, the leading character's identity was easily understood through the abstract Macintosh illustration on her vest.

Grey-clad, shaven-headed drone workers filed through feeding tubes into a cinema auditorium to watch a washed-out screen showing their notional leader's latest speech (“…AND WE WILL BURY THEM… …WITH THEIR OWN CONFUSION…” ). Meanwhile, baton-wielding riot police in full body armour chase the rogue sportswoman through the complex into the same arena.

The sledgehammer-wielding heroine, in bright white vest and orange running shorts, bursts into the viewing and sprints up the aisle before hurling her hammer into the cinema screen; the display explodes in a blaze of light and wind that stuns the assembled drones into amazement, before the promotional spiel rolls up and over the visuals: “On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you’ll see why 1984 won’t be like “1984”.”

The impact was immense, and the intentions were clear; the spot is hailed as one of the ad industry's masterpieces, cutting through the clutter to create a lasting impression on a conceptual and emotional level that allied Apple squarely with an independent ideology, completely contrary to any prevailing cultural tone of authority and submission. Light on product information, but heavy on promotional pizzazz, this promo marks the true arrival of Apple’s independent, individual and non-conformist image that Apple devotees still value to this day.

Since that splash, form as much as function has always dictated Apple's approach to products and operations. The Macintosh brought a stylised, smooth product appearance that had been missing from previous offerings as well as competitors’ products, and the company’s dedication to providing style as well as substance has carried through every item and iteration since; the fulfilment of this philosophy began to arrive in the era that started with 1998's iMac G3: since then, the iBook, Mac Book, iPhone and iPad - but most significantly the game-changing iPod - have elevated Apple products to ever more desirable levels of style, often with price tags to match.

Of course, hardware is nothing without software to back it up, and the iPod represented another new paradigm for Apple’s integration of the two elements. The device placed fairly common mp3 player functionality into a beautiful product with a highly usable interface: had the company stopped there, Apple's personal music player would have been a resounding success for those reasons alone. However, the iPod also came with its own music management software, iTunes, which created an exclusive private music library that produced a unified user experience for the device in question, though it made music sharing a trickier process than with other comparable devices.

Equally important, however, was the fact that iTunes also created a brilliant business model by providing a solid repeat revenue stream, trading on the product’s desirability to drive users towards Apple’s online music store for content to play on their new and exciting devices. This model has served Apple extremely well since - so much so, in fact, that each big product since has featured a variation on the same structure, as Apple products subtly move away from the desktop and towards the portable, personalised devices that may well represent the future of computing.

The iPhone was the company’s next huge success, and its iTunes-derived App Store proved equally popular; developers have flocked to submit downloadable apps for everything, from sat nav, cooking, music making and photo editing, to more questionable offerings that you can find for yourself if you're so inclined. However, as with iTunes, Apple asserts an extremely exacting level of control over just about every aspect of its App Store, causing some controversy within the software development community. Apple supporters advocate the stringent regulations as a way of ensuring the integrity of iPhone apps, which helps the company to maintain its levels of product excellence even across third-party applications, but others outside the Apple camp have questioned the wisdom and motivation behind such authoritarian attitudes.

Twenty-five years is a long time, and over quarter of a century has now elapsed since Apple’s bold televisual stance against Orwellian oppression. It is with some degree of irony, then, that Apple now finds itself accused of becoming the very thing that the ‘1984’ slot set it against – in the eyes of some independent developers, Apple has become software development’s Big Brother.

The most high-profile opponent to Apple’s authority is Adobe: its Flash technology has powered a wide variety of content across the web for years now, most notably as the initial driving force behind YouTube’s online media delivery, but Flash is - and has always been - totally banned from the Apple iPhone. Understandably, Adobe wants to be part of the iPhone’s future, and the tension between its own representatives and Apple’s Steve Jobs reached unprecedented levels with the two companies’ rival statements on the Flash/iPhone debate.

As seasoned Jobs watchers would expect, Steve came out fighting to defend Apple’s approach. One notable barb came when Apple took the decision to remove adult content from the App store; Flash video is used by some websites to deliver content of a sexually explicit nature, so Jobs questioned the motives of Flash advocates – and took a shot at Google’s iPhone OS competitor - by saying that “Folks who want porn can buy and [sic] Android phone.”

Job’s opposition to the use of Apple devices to deliver pornography is fairly clear - although the Playboy and Sports Illustrated apps do remain in its App store. However, Flash technology is equally used for content of a non-sexual nature, so the porn argument is surely a side issue in the wider debate. Jobs seemed to confirm this by publishing an open letter on the Apple website, detailing his appreciation of and longstanding relationship with Adobe as a company, but also his opposition to the inclusion of Flash technology that he deems proprietary rather than open.

Jobs readily admits that Apple’s products feature their own proprietary software, but states that his company's intention is to support open standards for the web through HTML5, CSS and Javascript, as well as the catchily-named H.264 video format, pointing out that Youtube runs perfectly on iPhones, iPads and iPods without Flash technology, to counter Adobe's web usability argument.

Such a deliberate level of technical specification has been absent from more recent asides, however, with both sides painting the argument in ever broader and bolder strokes. Faced with Apple taking issue over the word ‘open’, Adobe have thrown their weight behind another egalitarian concept – choice. Accessed via a web page entitled ‘Freedom of Choice’, with the browser title tag ‘Flash and Creative Freedom’ and a big, bold banner stating ‘WE ♥ CHOICE’ in huge letters, Adobe founders Chuck Geschke and John Warnock have published their own open letter entitled ‘Our thoughts on open markets’ to counter Jobs' missive.

Geschke and Warnock state their advocacy of the web’s ‘Openness to innovation. New hardware. New software. New applications. New ideas. They all get their chance.’ They also maintain that ‘No company — no matter how big or how creative — should dictate what you can create, how you create it, or what you can experience on the web’ and maintain that ‘Apple, by taking the opposite approach, has taken a step that could undermine this next chapter of the web’. This is Adobe’s implicit admission that Apple devices will have a dominant say in the future of web access, as much as their belief that Adobe technology should be part of that future too.

Perhaps Geschke and Warnock’s activism about ‘net access for net access’s sake’ is undermined a little by a title that includes the revenue-focused term ‘markets’, indicating a motivation more aligned with ensuring their slice of the mobile web pie, but then Adobe Systems Incorporated is a public company with shareholders just like Apple Inc, so the financial implications of Apple’s stance on Flash could not be ignored without inciting a shareholder revolt at Adobe headquarters.

If Apple’s stringent rules can rock such a major player in the software world, then where does their policy on development leave the ‘Average Joe’ software developer without Adobe's market capitalisation of roughly $18 billion? Such individuals could be the dreamers who go on to become the next Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Larry Page or Sergey Brin of this world: people whose bedroom-based coding adventures could go on to change the computing world to an irreversible extent.

A quick search brings up a whole world of online dissent over the App store’s rules; while Adobe recently raised eyebrows by stating that they ‘♥ Apple’ in the Wall Street Journal, many budding independent iPhone app developers are feeling emotions more akin to unrequited love, or even betrayal by the object of their affections.

One issue provoking such a reaction is the range of apps available for use on your iPhone: unless you want to invalidate your warranty by hacking your handheld device, you can only use apps from the Apple App store on your iPhone. Even the choice to jailbreak - or not to jailbreak - is in itself being pursued by Apple via a series of software updates with the aim of disabling modified devices.

From a developer's perspective, application approval is another obstacle: app developers hoping for their big break in the App Store need to have the whole app complete and ready for review before knowing whether or not they will make it onto the hallowed virtual shelves. That includes design, development, testing and everything else - which is fine if you have the company with the market capitalisation of around $18bn, but not so much if you just think iPhones are really nice devices on which you’d like to run your own software.

Online opposition to App store rules has included the following: apps that duplicate existing products – even browsers like Opera, when the iPhone has Safari - are out, approval times are unpredictable, and there’s no guarantee over availability timescales, meaning that existing apps might be dumped if Apple brings out something similar. If these gripes are accurate, it seems like you’ve got to be pretty sure that your offering is truly distinct before you invest your time in developing that iPhone app you always wanted.

Of course, all of this doesn’t mean that you can’t develop for the iPhone - you just have to abide by Apple’s rules. Similar controversy arose over Apple’s restriction of iPhone support to specific mobile network providers in different countries; while the coverage net has since widened significantly, some level of exclusivity still prevails, illustrating the double-edged sword of Apple’s product development line: very desirable products that are very strictly controlled by the people who make and sell them.

Since smashing through the boundaries set by more established providers in 1984 Apple has gone on to create its own kingdom, pulling up the drawbridge behind itself to a certain extent. The company's exclusivity grates with some people, but others see it as par for the course or even preferable: if Apple develops original product hardware, along with software to make that product usable, why shouldn’t the company define how that hardware is used? Apple produced its own hardware and software combination products in 1984, and the company still produces its own hardware and software combination products in 2010: in that sense, Apple has certainly stayed true to its original vision.

Perhaps Apple could now be defined as a product development company, rather than a hardware or software development company, but was it ever anything else? For a useful comparison, cast your mind back to the early 1980s once again and take look at the company that helped to drive the success of Microsoft, one of Apple’s biggest competitors in the current marketplace: IBM.

Prior to subcontracting its software development to Microsoft and hardware creation to Intel, IBM was the 'establishment' of the technology world against which Apple railed so stylishly – and expensively - in its most famous advert; iprior to the dawn of home computing, IBM relied upon its own technologies for manufacture in a vertically-integrated infrastructure not entirely dissimilar to Apple’s current production model.

IBM implemented a significant change in strategy by taking the decision to subcontract its software and hardware to speed up product release times, and the ramifications of that decision have been pondered over ever since. Imagine IBM encompassing its current market standing, plus those of Microsoft and Intel; it is highly debatable whether or not such a standing could ever have been possible, but perhaps Apple noticed a gap in IBM’s plan, and took full advantage of it.

Preserving the integrity of its own products has made Apple what it is today; having a distinct and well-defined set of development rules, plus a rigorous product development and approval process – drunken bar-room incidents with iPhones prototypes aside – has undeniably worked extremely well, with the style-led iEra taking the tech world by storm since arriving in the late 1990s. However, as the literary masterwork that informed the company’s greatest advertising spot teaches us, too many rules can lead too far down the path towards restricting personal freedom, even in such a rules and regulations-friendly field as software development.

Apple is a long way from being the Thought Police – these are consumer products, after all, and if you don't want one you won't be punished for not buying one - but its App Store rules espouse a restricted approach to development that represents a Room 101 for programmers who appreciate the wealth of opportunity and personal expression that unrestricted technologies provide. Refusing to engage with both bedroom-based and more established developers on their own terms could ultimately prove counterproductive. Apple’s App store rules could drive away the next single-minded, Steve Jobs-style visionary, only for them to return one day with a bigger and better product or technology that defines the next big step in the future of computing - less Winston and Big Brother, more David and Goliath.

However, as the release of the iPhone 4 and the surrounding publicity confirms, Apple is currently the big boy of tech companies, overtaking Microsoft's value in recent figures. The mobile device market looks likely to dictate the future of computing, and the iPhone/iPod/iPad combination gives Apple a huge headstart over the opposition. As long as the company keeps producing great products, Apple will stay in the driving seat -  but you can be sure that Google and Microsoft won't be far behind with their own offerings...

Having recently returned from the UK Techday event in London and having heard about the latest Microsoft technologies first-hand, I have noticed that there seems to be  a slew of misconceptions doing the rounds online about what Silverlight is really about.

Take a quick 5-minute trawl of the net and I guarantee you’ll see at least a couple of these:

• Silverlight is a proprietary, and closed, Microsoft technology
  
• Silverlight only works in IE and Windows
  
• Silverlight is just another “Flash” - how many things do we need to stream multi-media content?
  
• Silverlight is pointless now that we have HTML5

Whether the above results from Microsoft doing a bad job of communicating its goals for Silverlight, or down to preconceived ideas about what Microsoft is looking to achieve on the web, I’d like to explore some of these ideas. I’ll start with the HTML5 issue, as this comparison is quite a popular point of view at the moment.

Firstly, I think that the whole idea off comparing these technologies is like comparing cars and planes: neither of these options is better or worse than the other, and neither can be said to be the overall winner – especially when there is no race to be run. It's more a question of picking what is best for the situation at hand.

Admittedly there is some overlap between the two technologies, mostly in terms of their RIA (Rich Internet Application) offerings. So what exactly is it that they do have in common? Well, both technologies will have support for multi-threading, and the ability to process work in the background; Silverlight does this with BackgroundWorker class, and HTML5 with Web Workers. Both can support native video playback, however both suffer with support for certain codecs only. Arbitrary 2D rendering is possible in both, although Silverlight currently offers more drawing options.

Local caching is an important addition to HTML5, as it allows applications to persist with data whenever they cannot connect to their host due to a loss of internet access. I don’t know how HTML5 applications will perform quota management, but Silverlight allows the end user ultimate control via Isolated Storages Quotas.

HTML5 will apparently support Geo-location via several means; however, most of them (with the exception of GPS) are already available as web services. Silverlight can’t currently communicate with system devices like GPS due to its sandboxed nature, although other methods of geo-location will be supported via web services. Silverlight is, however, able to access local GPS resources on the new Windows Phone 7 devices.

A very important point in this particular comparison, though, is availability - Silverlight is available now, while HTML5 is some years away from being completely finalised. I am aware that the people at Mozilla are adding support in Firefox for some HTML5 features right now, in a draft form. However, companies will be reluctant to put large amounts of development time into features that are subject to change, especially at a time when those features are yet to be standardised, which may lead to usability problems.

Moving on, we come to the Silverlight vs Flash debate: what can Silverlight do to make it stand out? Another misconception is that Silverlight is just another Flash-like media streaming plug-in; well, I actually think that’s doing Flash a disservice to be honest. Whilst we all know about its success in online video playback, Flash is much more than YouTube - it has come a long way over the last 14 years, and is much more of a web-based application platform. You could even say that it is a compliment to Silverlight to compare it to Flash, considering that Silverlight is so new to the scene.

So why the comparison? Perhaps because the recently-released Silverlight 4.0 includes all of the capabilities of Flash, including webcam and microphone support - contrary to what some sites might say. However, Silverlight, at its heart, is a version of the .NET CLR, which means that in Silverlight you can do the vast majority of things, within a browser, that a normal desktop application can do.

I say the vast majority because that ‘sandbox’ approach does get in the way of low level system integration, but to be honest that isn’t often required for most applications. More importantly on this point is that you write Silverlight logic in C#, and using Visual Studio, providing a very capable development environment that is richer than any HTML editor/designer, and easier to write and debug than ActionScript.

The other Flash-related misconception is that Silverlight is only usable on Windows PCs that are running IE. That is not the case for the majority of users - Silverlight is supported on Windows, Mac OS and Linux (via the open source Moonlight project), and also supported in IE, Firefox, Opera, Safari and Chrome. It is true that some combinations don’t have support for the recently-released Silverlight 4.0 yet, but Microsoft state that support should be rolled out across all platforms soon.

So, if Silverlight and Flash are vastly similar in their capabilities, why do we need both? Well, in short, I’m not sure that we do. However, Flash won’t be going anywhere; it is an integral part of our online lives, and I believe it will continue to power the YouTubes of this world for many years to come.

However, Flash has never had mainstream adoption for LOB (Line of Business) and RIA applications. It is great for media- and design-rich sites, but it’s predominantly an additional issue for many others. DHTML, JavaScript and AJAX have dominated the web in recent years when it comes to online applications such as mail and mapping, even when the same things could be done in Flash, most likely taking less time and even looking better in the process.

Why is this? Is it that Flash is a ‘plug-in’? Maybe, but it has near 100% platform penetration, even within the workplace. I believe that the reason has more to do with perception and lack of real developer support, and this is where Silverlight is coming at the internet from a different angle.

Silverlight isn’t here to replace Flash websites and media players, though it may do so to some extent: it’s here to deliver web-based applications with the functionality and familiarity of normal desktop applications. How can Silverlight perform this function better than Flash does? Well, simply because it uses the same technologies and development tools currently used by the people creating traditional desktop applications.

Traditional Windows-based – and some Mac OS-based - application developers may experience a massive learning curve when it comes to creating the same level of application functionality in Flash and ActionScript, while with Silverlight the development knowledge is immediately transferable.

A standard Windows MFC or .NET developer could theoretically turn out a Silverlight application within hours, and a Mac OS developer currently working in C++ could probably do the same within a week. With the rise of WPF in Windows development, it is possible that creating a Silverlight version of an application could one day become as simple as changing a dropdown box in Visual Studio during compiling.

Also, from a business perspective, Microsoft has the unique position of being able to push out the Silverlight runtime via Windows Updates. Companies will be much more likely to allow something from Microsoft to run on their networks, especially if that something is pre-installed with the OS or installed silently as part of their standard update cycle. Some, however, would say that this ability puts Microsoft at an unfair advantage in the adoption cycle, in a similar way to some issues in the past.

To be honest - and to sum up this post - the most important thing to take away is that there will most likely never be a winner in this notional ‘race’, and I don’t think that there needs to be one, either. I believe that there is an equal place for HTML/JavaScript, Flash and Silverlight in the web’s future, and that each of these technologies will be with us for the long-term.

As a software developer, it is better to find out how new technologies work, and discover how you can use them to your advantage, rather than to dismiss them out of hand. Instead of choosing one ‘team’ over another, I believe that the real skill for software developers is picking the right tool for the current job in hand – even when that might be a mix of them all.
 

If you’re one of our customers, chances are that you’ll be sitting there wondering why this is news – after all,

Orchid Software R&D is always an ongoing process, and so we were always looking for smoother, slicker ways to provide intranet – based document conversion for our customers. Following a long and intensive period of research by our technical department into the options available to us, we have come up with a totally new version of our document processing facility.

The new version incorporates all of the functionality that was previously available, and adds in some brand-new benefits for companies who adopt it. Microsoft Office documents are faithully recreated with absolute like-for-like conversion on your intranet, and compatibility has been expanded to include a wider range of documents.

The new functionality is included in the Fileshare, Wiki and Content Manager applications; Powerpoint  presentations (.ppt, .pptx), Visio diagrams (.vsd), Publisher files (.pub),  Excel workbooks (.xls, .xlsx) and newer Word documents (.docx) are all supported, in addition to the previously supported file types – Word (.doc), Rich Text (.rtf), Text (.txt), .HTML and .HTM.

We’ve also redesigned the way the application works as a part of our software; our brand-new server-based approach gives you unrivalled intranet PDF conversion functionality. If you’d like to know more about how to get the new version installed on your intranet, please feel free to give us a call on +44 (0) 191 460 1122, or submit our online contact form and let us know; we’re happy to talk you through it.

The Web has come a long way since Sir Tim Berners-Lee’s 1980s forays into sharing information at CERN; it was during the later years of that decade that HTML was first created, eventually giving Sir Tim and his fellow innovators a way to structure documents and create web pages that would turn out to be the basis for the sites that we browse today – including this one.

Since then, the way we access information on the web has been pushed forward at an increasingly rapid pace by new programming languages, scripts, stylesheets and browsers, to the point where contemporary websites feature innumerable exciting new technologies that the scientists at CERN could only have imagined during their research.

Most people are content simply to enjoy the fruits of the labour that got us here, but for the more technically-minded, there are only so many games of first-person tetris and videos of a goat surfing on a sheep that you can watch before you want to find out a little more about the contenders for the title of ‘Next Big Thing to Revolutionise our Online Environments’. And what a catchy title it is.

Recently, the whole ‘Web 2.0’ concept has well and truly left its mark - or bookmark, or tag - on the web through technologies such as AJAX, and Flash has long since gotten us used to videos of various types on demand, which can be placed on just about any website that needs them. However, one of the beautiful things about the web is that it never stops evolving, and the latest developments to have piqued our interest are notable evolutions of two old favourites – HTML and stylesheets.

HTML5 brings some notable new additions to the old favourite, and may well even usher in the next online era – ‘Web 3.0’, anyone? Video tags are one of the major improvements in HTML5, meaning that video files can be hosted on the site’s server and played directly – which means there’s no need for a Flash plugin anymore. Needless to say, those involved with Flash must be wondering where this leaves them, and we'll soon find out.

However, there is a slight problem. Not with HTML5 itself, but rather with the people who stand to benefit from it most: no-one can agree on the standard format for the video tag. Mozilla, creators of Firefox, is a non-profit organisation, and favours an open-source video file (.ogv) for use as the video tag; Apple, known for their almost obsessive control over the content that can be used with their software and hardware, wanted their proprietary Quicktime format (.mov) to be used.

Google, now a competitor to Mozilla in the browser market, have fallen in behind Apple due to their Google Chrome browser using the same rendering engine as Apples’ Safari. While Firefox is a major player in this area, vying with Internet Explorer for the biggest current browser share, Apple and Google combined is quite a force to be reckoned with in the tech arena so it’s anyone’s guess how things will work out. Google have already started support for HTML5 testing, via which you can view certain YouTube videos using the video tag in place of flash; currently, this only works in Google Chrome, adding more fuel to the browser war fire.

Anyway, on to the other new development to take the Web forward - CSS3. This refers to a new standard of stylesheet which includes a bunch of additions that reduce the need for many of the more attractive elements that are traditionally added to web pages, resulting in decreased page loading times as everything will be rendered by the browser itself; new styles such as drop shadows, rounded corners, alpha opacity, custom fonts and gradients all will be available eventually in the short future without the need of imagery. This should help to propel website design into a new era of functionality, and could well revolutionise online technology as we know it.

However, if you want to enjoy this new wave of awesome web technology, you had better make sure that you’re prepared for it - and that’s bad news for IE6. The trusty old browser that turned up at the start of the millennium is almost nine years old now – an eternity in browser terms - and is showing its age, to the point where it now looks well past the point at which it should have been put out to pasture. It just can’t keep up with the pace of new web technologies, yet it still retains a significant percentage of browser market share.

So why is IE6 still so widely used? Well, since the turn of the millennium, companies have invested heavily in I.T. systems to bring their businesses online, and a large part of this investment took place at a time when IE6 was by far the dominant browser, miles ahead of its nearest competitor; this was a time when cross-browser compatibility wasn’t such a widely-recognised issue, so many organisations are reliant on business systems that are only compatible with IE6, and which would require significant investment to change this. Clearly, there comes a point at which these systems become inadequate to fulfil the purpose for which they were designed, but it’ll take an I.T./I.S. manager with real guts to tell their M.D. that their big investment is on its way out, no matter how old.

The thing is, it’s now 2010, and programmers and web designers are well familiar with IE6’s limits; there are many more browser choices out there, including IE8, Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari and Opera, and even Microsoft themselves advise against using IE6 over their other browsers.

They’re not the only ones, of course, with Google, the French and German governments, and a group of UK-based activists highlighting the browser’s current issues. The World Wide Web is ready to grow far beyond its current confines, and it is important for business systems to grow with the web or risk missing out on the newest, most exciting developments that could bring real business benefits - people said web 2.0-style social media would never work for business, but how wrong they were.

Just to be clear: as a business, there’s no doubt that we still support IE6. Our software works perfectly well with it, and we don’t predict any problems on this front. However, it might be a good idea to have a look at your systems and see if a browser upgrade might bring you more benefits that previously thought; we just want to make sure that you don’t get left behind in the next wave of interesting online innovation. If you’re an IE fan, you’ll be pleased to hear that the forthcoming IE9 is predicted to include full support for HTML5 and CSS3, so bear that in mind if you’re looking to integrate the latest technologies into your business’ online operations.

Whilst browsing through our new website, two things quickly became apparent: firstly, there are so many different reasons why our intranet software is so good, and secondly, maybe it would be beneficial from our point of view if we were to point these reasons out a little more explicitly. Sometimes, just describing our software in terms of features and functionality doesn’t quite cover all of the additional benefits that are associated with Orchidnet, so we have decided to spell them out in a somewhat more illustrative manner.

So, then, we hear you say, what’s so good about Orchidnet? Well, how about the following:
 

• We have more standard applications than any other intranet provider

Our software has sixty separate intranet applications as standard – that’s sixty complete, fully-featured, stand-alone applications that you can launch all at once or roll out over an extended period, helping users to familiarise themselves with your intranet before getting to grips with the more involved end of the functionality at their disposal.

Every installation includes all 60 applications straight out of the box, encompassing everything from online forms with drag-and-drop workflow to online media libraries with audio, video and image support, including its own media player and personalised user accounts. There’s far more than just the selection above, though, so take a look through our standard applications list to find out more.
 

• We offer more features as standard in each of these applications than any other provider

This is something that you need to be clear about when contacting your intranet provider – how do they distinguish between features and applications? We know of some people (naming no names) who will happily tell people that they have X number of applications, when really half of these applications have maybe one or two features at best.

To use an analogy we can all appreciate – buying a box of chocolates - let’s put it like this: someone sells you a box of chocolates, and says it contains loads of different mouth-watering centres that sound really appealing. However, when you get home to eat your chocolates, you find that although there are indeed lots of chocolates, most of them are absolutely tiny, and others have barely any centre at all. You’d be feeling pretty hard done by, right?

Well, Orchidnet is different – even though it has more applications as standard than any other intranet product, every single one of these applications is completely fully-featured. In addition, all of our apps share common Orchidnet frameworks like granular security at a user/application/area level, user-specific access, and a familiar point-and-click interface that all make it easy to use any feature within any Orchidnet application, and all of this from the word ‘go’. Don’t settle for anything less!
 

• We have 30 feature-rich optional applications to choose from

As if 60 standard applications weren’t enough, we have a range of thirty optional intranet applications that includes a Holiday Planner, a Risk Register, a Training Manager, an HR/personnel suite, and much, much more besides – there’s even mobile device access for Orchidnet users on the move. All of our optional applications can be purchased separately, and added to your Orchidnet instance as and when you require them, meaning that you can bolt on brand new intranet functionality at any point to keep your system fresh and engaging for your users.

Click here to have a look through our optional application list, and see if there’s anything you like the look of!
 

• We can develop bespoke intranet functionality or applications for you in no time at all

All Orchidnet applications are built on a common set of frameworks that make it as easy for our developers to build new functionality as it is for our users to be instantly at home using the finished apps. We have always had a two-pronged approach to development – half of our inspiration comes from apps that we know will be of great benefit to Orchidnet as a whole, and the other half comes from working with our customers to find out what applications they need to make their jobs easier.

As soon as we know what our customers want, it’s easy for us to use Orchidnet’s existing frameworks to build new applications that slot straight into our customers’ installations with no fuss at all, to a timescale that suits them perfectly.
 

• More R&D than any other intranet provider

We reinvest a significant proportion of our resources into our intranet research and development; Orchid Software’s R&D programme is an ongoing process that includes application development and both minor and major software version upgrades. As a result, each year we provide on average an additional 2-3 applications, free of charge, to our customer base, as well as significant enhancements to existing applications – one good example of this is our Image Library intranet application now includes video/audio storage and playback, as well as user accounts, and will soon be rechristened Media Library to reflect these changes.

We’re also working on the next big revision of Orchidnet as a whole, bringing new technologies into the picture and providing a clear strategy for Orchidnet’s future progression. We’ll be posting more on this as developments happen.
 

• You can make your own Orchidnet applications

It’s true – we are open to our customers and partners developing their own application functionality for integration into our systems. Working closely with our customers includes helping them to expand their knowledge of Orchidnet, and if they have the technical resource to take on development duties then we’re more than happy to show them the ropes.

Past intranet partnership ventures have produced complete applications that have been successfully integrated into various Orchidnet instances, further enhancing the range of functionality and flexibility that is Orchidnet’s trademark.
 

• We fully synchronise (both ways) with Active Directory

Orchidnet intranets make it easy for you to create user accounts from your existing I.T. systems; the Active Directory Synchronisation application helps you to create user accounts that match your current business setup. The app creates and populates intranet user accounts for every one of your employees, while existing Active Directory processes are also replicated to create an intranet structure that reflects your company setup.

The application also synchronises both ways – changes made in Orchidnet are replicated in your AD environment, and vice versa, with group synchronisation making it easy for technical staff to keep track of intranet users.
 

• We fully synchronise (both ways) with Microsoft Exchange

Orchidnet integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Exchange, allowing you to replicate the appointments, tasks and contacts you create in Exchange within your Orchidnet user account. What’s more our synchronisation goes both ways – so, any appointments, tasks or contacts created in Orchidnet are also shown within your Outlook calendar too. You can also access your emails from Orchidnet via Outlook Web Access functionality.

Using Orchidnet is a great way to provide a bridge between traditional I.T. systems and a cutting-edge intranet environment, helping users to feel at home from the first time they use it.
 

• Orchidnet is incredibly simple to learn and easy to use

Orchidnet’s user interface has been designed specifically to make intranet usage suitable for everyone, from first-time users to experienced techie types. Our point-and-click front end helps users to select content and menu items quickly and easily, while our drop-down menus and folder/subfolder, tree-based hierarchical structure make it easy to find your way around the intranet.

For the more technically-minded users, there is back-end code which can be accessed with the appropriate access rights, giving you an intranet that suits you, whoever you are.
 

• We’re established, proven providers of intranet software

Orchid Software was established in 1994; since then, we have grown steadily year on year, amassing over 15 years’ development experience that helps us to produce the UK’s number 1 intranet product, Orchidnet.
Our close-knit development team has been built up over the years, and is comprised of highly-talented individuals with a flair for computing who know Orchidnet inside out.

Our company is built on solid foundations, and we take a long-term approach to our installations, working with our customers to provide intranets trusted by companies such as Wyeth UK, Sharp and Nissan.
 

• We work with some of the world’s largest companies and most recognised brands

Orchidnet is the intranet of choice for a wide variety of organisations, across a truly diverse range of sectors, with user bases ranging from the tens to the thousands. Companies who have chosen an Orchidnet intranet include Wyeth UK, Nissan, Readers’ Digest, emap, Northern Rock, the Royal Academy of Music, Sharp, Mamas & Papas and Greggs. Over the years we have developed a strong background working in industries such as finance, retail, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, healthcare, education, software, publishing, consulting, logistics, housing and even law enforcement, across public, private and charity sectors.

We can provide suitable references for you whatever your industry or specialisation; just click here to submit our online contact form and ask us more, or call us on (0191) 460 1122.

At Orchid Software, we pride ourselves on giving our customers

As a result, our intranet customers often come to us with a very clear idea of the functionality we have on offer – we’re unrivalled in our app selection – but sometimes people are surprised to learn that we can also provide an impressively wide variety of graphical intranet skins to complement their finely-tuned functionality, courtesy of Michael, our incredibly talented in-house designer.

And our skins aren’t limited to your usual intranet layouts. For those of you with particularly precise marketing departments, we can provide skins that adhere perfectly to your brand guidelines – our Northern Rock intranet skin (below left) is a good example of an Orchidnet intranet skin that represents a closely-implemented extension of a brand identity.

Alternatively, if you’re particularly proud of your website, then we can produce an intranet skin that really reflects your existing online presence, creating a natural, familiar environment for customers as well as prospects (if you opt for extranet access!). This is probably best reflected in our Reader’s Digest intranet skin, though it’s a close call given our wealth of recent skinning experience!

If you’re the creative, outside-the-box type, then don’t worry, because we’re definitely up for the challenge of accommodating your requirements too. Don’t think that you have to stick with a tried-and-tested corporate feel – even if you want an intranet homepage that has a wood-effect background, with portlets that look like menus, plates and coffee cups, we can create that for you – in fact we’ve created that already, for the Reader’s Digest social homepage (above right).

And if you need rich media or web 2.0 functions for your intranet homepage, we can provide you with the skin to match whatever you need, with integrated web apps, feeds, streams and links to and from your favourite sites, and playable content from your own online media library including as many audio, video and image files as you can upload.

If there’s anything you would like to see in your intranet skin, but haven’t seen above, please don’t hesitate to send our contact form in with details of what you require – we’re sure to be able to help you out.

We offer a bespoke intranet skin for each one of our customers as part of the standard installation process, so do keep us in mind if you’re looking for an intranet that will really turn heads, as well as being intuitively design to provide an easily accessible layout – making your intranet both attractive and easy to use will give your employees something that they want to use and something that they instantly feel comfortable using, helping to make sure that usage levels are good from the word go.

Anyway, take a look at some more examples of our Orchidnet intranet skins below - we hope you like them as much as our clients do! And remember - let us know if there's anything you'd like to ask about out skinning service.

Are you on facebook? Chances are that your answer is an emphatic ‘yes’, given that the social networking site has over 350 million active users according to its own statistics. Anyway, whatever the exact number, they can add another one now that we at Orchid Software have our own official Orchidnet facebook page. 

As you can see, our profile is in its infancy at the moment, but we’re getting more content up there at a steady pace. Click on our RSS/Blog tab for a bit of déja vu – the words you have just been reading, along with all of our other blog content for the new site, will be appearing under this heading so if you spend more time on there than on this site it’s a good way to keep up with what we’re doing. There are also tweets from our Twitter account on this tab: if you’re Twittering, like many people are nowadays, you can find us at http://twitter.com/ukintranet or tweet at us by using @ukintranet, but then you knew that already - didn’t you?

Moving on, our Discussions tab will have debate on the latest Orchidnet and Orchid Software developments – become a fan and you can have your say. We’ll be checking back daily to see what people are saying, so if there’s anything you’d like to tell us then please feel free to let us know – please be nice!

With facebook being what it is, we couldn’t have an official page if we didn’t have photos on it, and there are a few up there already on the Photos tab (you guessed that, right?). If for some reason you’re not familiar with the UK’s number 1 intranet, you can see what it’s all about here. We’ll be adding more in future, and maybe even some of Orchid HQ too.

The Info tab is, again, pretty self-explanatory, and just gives you a quick account of what we’re up to with the official page and why we’re up to it. Not much to see here, so let’s move on swiftly to the official Orchidnet facebook Wall, where as well as our tweets we’ll have thoughts, ideas, links, information and much more besides, so make sure you become a fan of Orchidnet on facebook to keep up with the latest bits and bobs.

So, that’s us officially entering the social media arena – about time too, given that we’ve already created a social-media-focused intranet for b2b multiplatform media powerhouse emap – you can read all about it in our customers section or download Vanilla Issue 06 if you want to find out how we did it.

For those of you who didn’t get the email, two things:

1) Sign up now using the Newsletter box on the right-hand bar of this page, or you’ll miss out next time.
2) This is what you missed…

News & developments - ten new clients since last issue, including Reader's Digest, Rexel UK and the Royal Academy of Music, plus all of the latest Orchidnet developments and updates in our Newsbytes, New Developments and The Pipeline.

Featured application - two in fact, with a look through our Learning Bank optional application and a full preview of the Orchidnet CRM application that will supercede Contact Manager in a very short space of time. Make sure you check these out if you're an Orchidnet customer, they're almost indispensable from a training point of view.
 
Featured customer - emap Excellence; we talk to emap's Head of Marketing, previously Head of Internal Communications, to find out all about the company's superb social media-focused intranet, and how it was launched to an incredibly tight timescale. Worth a read for anyone who's interested in social media for business.

Focus Feature - Neglected Knowledge? Useful advice on organising your company's information assets via Orchidnet's Knowledge management facilities, all based on our own recent experiences.

Want a Webtranet? - Webtranets are basically an intranet, website and website CMS all in one; if you're still not sure what that means, read our article in Issue 06 or just look at this beautiful new website at www.orchidsoft.com - it's powered by our own Orchidnet intranet software. In fact, as with all content that we update on this site, this blog post was also written from within our company intranet too; we wouldn't ask our users to create content with apps that we don't use ourselves.

There's also Top Tips, Technobabble, and the Orchidnet Competition – we’ve got another Nintendo DS Lite and Brain Training game if you spot all ten differences. However, you have to be a registered subscriber if you want to enter (and who wouldn’t?), so if you fancy your chances of winning then you can sign up to download Vanilla 06 by clicking here.

Finally, if you missed out and you want to make sure that you’re always in the Orchidnet loop, why not sign up to our new Twitter account at http://twitter.com/ukintranet, or become a fan of Orchidnet on our official Facebook page. We’re going to be putting a lot more content up as our profiles grow, and keep an eye on this blog for an upcoming update on our social networking status.

Well, first of all, apologies for the break in between blog posts! This one has been a while coming, but as I’m sure you can see we have been extra busy this year creating and implementing a brand new website here at www.orchidsoft.com, and we’re absolutely delighted with the end result.

It’s an evolution of the previous version, meaning that we could retain certain elements that we liked and then build on them to make them even better than before. The Orchidnet page has been totally turned upside down (not literally, of course) – SE, PRO, ASP and E2 are gone! But don’t worry, we haven’t packed it all in, we’ve just refined our product down to one perfect, premium version with 60 standard applications, as many optional apps as you like and the ability to host Orchidnet any way you want to – have a look at our Hosting Options and System Requirements pages for more info on this last bit.

And by the way, how nice is our brand-new Orchidnet banner? Clue: the answer is very nice indeed!

The applications section hasn’t escaped the changes either, featuring ten new additions to our standard range, a positive revision of our optional selection, and a whole host of brand-new screenshots and information to help everyone learn more about what makes an Orchidnet intranet. Our revised Orchidnet Overview is very much along the same lines too, including new and updated information to give you a better impression of just what our software can do.

We’ve launched a new one-step Newsletter signup in the right-hand bar of our Homepage, making it easier for you to stay informed about the latest Orchidnet information via regular email newsletters from Orchid Software. And, on the subject of staying informed, Latest News has had a revamp too, with more links, images and context to help you get a feel for what we’ve done with each customer.

Talking of customers, the real story is our fantastic new customers section – featured customer profiles allow you to see what the people who use Orchidnet say about us and our software, with condensed online versions of our Vanilla interviews and downloadable full PDF versions available. The testimonials area has also been updated, and there are also tons of new case studies, including updates on previous versions that allow you to see exactly what we did in each instance, and how it worked for the people who rely on Orchidnet intranets. And there’s another beautiful new banner, too.

The magazine section has also been updated, including our latest issue: Vanilla Issue 06 has two featured applications, with our optional Learning Bank application and the quite brilliant new Orchidnet CRM standard app, just one of the new or improved applications we have brought out this year, along with...

• Weather
• Traffic
• Sponsored Links
• Homepage Manager
• Custom Portlets
• Catering Manager
• Meet the Team
• Media Library
• Batch Mail
• Event Manager

As you can see, the techies have been really busy this year too! Elsewhere in the mag, we have an interview with emap, where their Head of Marketing (previously Head of Internal Communications) tells all about their brilliant social media-focused intranet which we somehow managed to build and bring online in an unbelievably short length of time. There’s also News & developments, advice on Knowledge Management, a ‘How To’ on Sponsored Links, the usual technical advice section and an informative article on what we have decided to term ‘webtranets’.

What is a webtranet? Well, you’re actually looking at one right now: this website is powered by an Orchidnet back-end, the intranet effectively acting as a website CMS, making it easy for non-technical users - like myself - to create articles (our Latest News section) upload files (our Downloads section – more on that next paragraph), and much more besides. Essentially, webtranets are intranet-powered websites, but there’s a lot more to it than that – meaning that you’ll have to read issue 06 and find out!

Actually there is another way you can find out – you can get the webtranets item, as well as a whole range of Whitepapers, Featured Application walkthroughs, ‘How To’ guides and Featured Customer interviews, from the fantastic new Downloads section that replaces our previous Whitepapers section. We’ll be updating this on a regular basis, so keep checking back for more useful information in future. Downloads is part of the wider Resources section, which also features updated information on our Training and Support programmes, as well as brand new FAQs, Presentations and the ROI Request option.

And, just as we refocused our intranet offering on the Orchidnet page, we’ve also streamlined our Partners section – Gold Partner status is our focus for the future of our partnership programme, and you can still get great rewards by referring a friend if you know someone who might qualify for a place.

While you’re on, you might as well take a quick look at our Company section – you can see what it’s like inside Orchid HQ with some cool new photos, and read about who we are, what we do, where we do it and how it gets done; you can even apply to work here if you think you’d like to do what we do too!

Even our Contact Form has had a makeover, so do make use of it: you can request an on-site or online demonstration, sign up to our emails, open days and seminars, get copies of Vanilla, arrange an ROI report or even just let us know what you think of the new site – we’d be delighted to hear from you.

We’ve got so much cool new content on the new site that we can’t quite believe it – the brand new design (thanks very much to our designer!) has allowed us to create the website we always wanted, and the hard work of the technical staff (thanks very much to all of you!) has helped us to get it all online, so we hope that you find it to be even more useful and informative than before. We certainly think it is!

Obviously, being the techie types that we are we were extremely interested to read up on the subject, learn about the technology involved and see how Orchidnet measured up to the new intranet developments. So, it came as something of a surprise when we learnt that this 'new generation' is not quite what it seems...

In a nutshell, the claim was that the new generation of intranets are 'intelligent' – that they somehow actively and independently learn to refine the content presented to each user. Obviously, the advent of true artificial intelligence in the intranet world would be a mind-blowing achievement, so imagine our confusion when we took a closer look into the new technology only to find that Orchidnet had been doing exactly the same thing for years already!

It turns out that this 'intelligence' refers to intranets having the ability to review and archive content automatically, suggesting popular content or alternative items based on keyword searches and usage histories for individual users' accounts. These are without doubt extremely powerful features to have as part of your intranet – but they are also features that we have been proud to include in Orchidnet for a long time now, via the vast majority of our content publishing applications and search engine.

The ability to make best use of corporate and user information is indeed one of the hallmarks of good intranet software, and make no mistake - we are as eager as anyone else to help people understand the power that such technology can bring to your online environment. However, at Orchid Software we would refrain from claiming that something we have offered our customers for a long time now somehow represents a new generation of intranet technology – we pride ourselves on the open, honest relationship we have with our customers and prospects, and we hope that they will always see us that way!

At this point, it may also be worth mentioning something that we've been meaning to clear up for a little while – the difference between features and applications. Sometimes, when our customers are browsing our lists of 50 standard and over 40 optional applications, it gets confusing for our customers when they see intranet offerings that claim to offer over one hundred applications as standard – and then later on to claim to offer the same number of features. As with the generation debate above, we don't want anyone to get mixed up over the issue so let's just set the record straight: features are the single, basic elements of functionality that, when put together, make up larger, more complex and sophisticated applications like Helpdesk, Contact Manager or Classifieds.

In fact, if we take Classifieds as an example, the ability to comment on a user's advertisement is a feature, while Classifieds is the entire application – which is made up of tons of features. That's why at Orchid Software we stick to telling people how many applications we've got – each one of our 90+ applications has a vast number of features, so if we were to count them all and list them on our website we could say that Orchidnet's feature list runs into the thousands! As before, we feel that it is better in the long run to be honest – if our intranet had 90 features it wouldn't be much to shout about, but with over 90 applications we offer a wider range of functionality than any other intranet provider, and we won't try to tell you otherwise!

The business landscape has changed for the foreseeable future, so it is with a sense of genuine appreciation towards our highly-valued customers that we are glad to report extremely strong results for 2008 across a range of operational areas, which stands us in very good stead for the year ahead. 

Early 2008 saw the company relocate from our Newcastle offices on Westgate Road to the brand-new Orchid House premises at The Watermark, Gateshead; the purpose-built business developments in Metro Riverside Park provide us with state-of-the-art facilities, an accessible location and a contemporary setting which are all absolutely perfect for taking our business forward in the years ahead. 

One of the big plus points in using Orchidnet intranet technology has always been the potential to streamline internal communications and deliver real business benefits; the majority of our customers report a positive first-year return on investment, and perhaps it is this potential for concrete financial savings on operational costs that drove 2008's increase in our customer base - during the previous 12 months our client list has grown by 30% in real terms. 

The adaptability of Orchidnet has provided us with new clients across a diverse range of sectors including retail, human resources, business consultancy, freight and logistics, publishing and media, education, technology and finance; this focus on providing value across diverse vertical markets has further expanded Orchidnet's range of functionality so that it can adapt to the requirements of different business sectors out of the box. 

The 2008 client increase included big brands such as Emap, Nisa Today's, Mamas and Papas and Reader's Digest, but Orchid Software would like to say a huge thank you to every single one of our customers both from 2008 and before – we are absolutely delighted to be working with each and every one of you, and every one of our customers helps to make us who we are as a company. 

However, expansion was not by any means limited to our client base alone; 2008 also saw our application base increase in size by over 20%. In addition to new versions of applications including Form, Holiday Planner, Image Library, Batch Mail, Visitors Log, Classifieds and our Content Editor tool, a range of new and innovative Orchidnet applications have been developed, meeting the needs of existing customers as well as providing value for clients we hope to work with in the coming months.

Reception Desk, A-Z Index, Phone Directory, Share Price, Weather Update, Traffic Update, Notes, Login Event Manager, Sponsored Links and Mandatory Read applications are all either currently available or scheduled for upcoming release, and will be added to our standard application base within the next month or two. The addition of these applications will bring the standard Orchidnet offering to 60 applications, each with its own range of highly-functional features - far more than any other intranet provider can currently claim to provide, and our continuous approach to research and development will make sure that Orchidnet stays ahead of the competition both in 2009 and beyond.

Orchid Software's success in 2008 was recognised in December through our inclusion as part of the EContent 100 – the annual list from EContent Magazine which brings together the 100 organisations who have proven to be the most important in the digital content arena, placing us in the same arena as some of the  biggest names in computing, software and content provision.

Our communications activities have also seen significant developments during 2008. Our regular intranet magazine Vanilla saw its fifth issue expand to 36 pages of intranet news, analysis and advice, with an online, email and print subscriber base that is fast approaching 1,000 regular recipients. Of course, this Orchidsoft blog section also launched in mid 2008 to a warm reception; our mix of application news, opinion pieces and tech analysis has proven to be a useful outlet for informal news and updates that keep our customers and site visitors up to date with what's happening at Orchid Software.

Finally, as a reward to our staff for their hard work and a token of our general appreciation, 2008 saw our regular European social events encompass trips to Malaga and Prague, giving everyone a well-earned chance to recharge their batteries and discuss the future direction of the company in relaxing surroundings; maintaining a healthy and supportive working culture has always been paramount at Orchid Software, and it is with this in mind that we look forward to seeing what challenges the coming year may bring for the company.

The gist of the article is that Pew Internet, a not-for-profit U.S.-based 'fact tank' which according to its website is 'nonpartisan and takes no position on policy issues', decided to survey over 1,000 teenagers and the same number of parents to find out the extent to which gaming was part of the first subject group's lives, and consequentially how much the gaming impacted on their 'civic activities and commitments'. The revelation that 97% played computer games was somewhat less surprising than the related discovery that, on the whole, gaming was seen as a primarily social experience, which is in stark contrast to the solitary image of gaming through previous generations.

To be honest, our headline is more than a little simplistic as a summation of both the research that went into the project, as well as the results that came out of it. We might also point out that, like anything in life, too much gaming can definitely be a bad thing - as this poor chap discovered a few years ago, moderation is the key – but it appears that gaming is finally being accepted as a valid social pastime.

It was the change in historical attitudes towards gaming that interested us in particular; it seems logical that this shift is largely due to a diversification of the gaming experience from the solitary, bedroom-and keyboard-based pursuit of previous generations to the interactive, cross-generational group activity that consoles such as the Nintendo Wii allow today.

This diversification has undoubtedly been beneficial in bringing gaming to a wider audience, though perhaps it is also worth considering whether this shift is creating, or even widening, a gap between the people who play games and the people who make gaming possible - that is to say, the programmers.

Of course, we absolutely welcome the social aspect that the 'new' gaming brings – our developers certainly seem to embrace it almost unconditionally – and it may equally be that instead of creating or widening any notional gap, the current generation of gaming will actually create a broader element of social approval towards technological pursuits in general; however, it is the relationship between gaming and computing that is of most interest to those of us who grew up with 'old' gaming and the technologies that went with it.

At Orchid Software we have a number of devoted gamers among our staff, as you might expect, and several of our intranet developers grew up playing and programming in tandem. Gaming provided the first spark of interest that led their inquisitive minds to look at exactly how computing works, thus typing their first few lines of code, and that process ultimately ended up with them becoming the highly-talented programmers they are today.

Passion is the underlying principle here – whilst our intranet development staff boast more academic and technical qualifications than you could shake a stick at, it is clear that they wouldn't be half the programmers they are today if they didn't have that fundamental enthusiasm and aptitude for what they do, and for many of them this was fomented in their formative experiences messing around with game code and basic (or even Basic) computer programs.

Even if they hadn't chosen computing as their career path, the enquiring minds and analytical personalities developed at this stage would surely stand them in good stead for a wide range of careers, and this is really the point of this post – the skills gained through the much-derided 'old' gaming and computing worlds have become invaluable assets in their adult lives, and it remains to be seen whether gaming's move away from this world to present itself as another form of mainstream entertainment like film, music or broadcast media will have a tangible effect on the world of computing and programming itself. 'New' gaming has certainly brought the activity itself into a more acceptable social context, but let's hope the skills more readily associated with 'old' gaming are also retained – and maybe even developed.

To sum up, it's worth remembering that on one hand 'old' gaming had certain benefits that we shouldn't lose sight of - especially from an industry perspective - and we should look to preserve and develop those benefits; on the other hand, it is of at least equal importance to embrace the new and exciting technologies that come with the diversification of the gaming experience, and the contribution to the wider acceptance of technology in people's daily lives that 'new' gaming brings – who knows how this could help the industry in future? Plus, although it's not something that we've ever tried ourselves, surely it would be pretty hard to rock out on Guitar Hero using a ZX Spectrum keyboard...

Whether it's Web 2.0 or Social Shaping (look it up), new ideas and prevailing attitudes need terminology to encapsulate their meaning; though sometimes more effort seems to have been put into creating the buzzword than into the idea it represents, when used correctly these memes can provide handy reference points when debating or discussing the new and emerging concepts and principles affecting the computing community.

The latest example of this sometimes-sagacious semantic shorthand is Cloud Computing; in our previous blog post on Midori - Microsoft's prospective online operating system - we touched on the idea that the future of computing may lie online, representing a sea change away from the client machine-centric approach that has been prevalent up to this point.

This is very much the principle behind the mooted concept of Cloud Computing; both organisations and individual users will move their operating systems and software online rather than storing it on their computers. This allows users to access their information on any device and from any location, and in principle provides great benefits for individuals and businesses alike in terms of 24-7 availability of information. As we mentioned in the Midori post, computing giants such as Google, Amazon and of course Microsoft have all created their own 'Cloud' offerings, and the support of these big names can only lend credibility to the concept itself.

On the other hand, opponents of the latest buzzword point out that the whole idea of Cloud Computing is potentially misleading; like any website or internet-based application, the data used and accessed is ultimately stored somewhere offline, at a real-world physical location on somebody else's servers. The 'Cloud' itself only exists as long as the hardware and software at those physical locations is fully functional, and ultimately Cloud Computing comes down to letting someone else take care of your storage and access needs.

Of course, we at Orchid Software are once again ahead of the curve with regard to online technology, if you accept Cloud Computing as a new concept - the ASP version of our Orchidnet intranet software is a fully-hosted online intranet environment that is accessed using nothing more than a web browser. In essence, Orchidnet ASP is brand-new Cloud Computing in a nutshell, except that we have been providing fully-hosted ASP intranets for almost four years now! That is not to imply that we are in any way opposed to the new buzzword, however – in fact the reverse is true. We fully support what could well turn out to be a revolution in the way people use computers, and we believe that our years of experience stand us in good stead for what the future may bring.

To sum up, we would say that Cloud Computing is certainly an exciting concept, but when replicating that concept in the real world our advice is that reliability is the make-or-break issue here. Putting your personal or corporate data in the hands of another organisation means that you need to sure that you can rely on them to a) store your information securely and b) provide access to that information whenever you need it. We supply the technical resources and storage facilities that enable our ASP customers to access their intranets from any location at any time, and we pride ourselves on the security and reliability of the services that we provide. Our grounding in web-based applications and intranet software has helped us to work out the best way to help organisations adapt to the latest developments in the world of technology, and we would be only too happy to hear from you if you have any questions on the subject.

The latest improvements to our FAQs application provide an excellent illustration of our aims; whilst the previous version was able to match everything that other intranet-based FAQ applications could do, we have decided not to rest on our laurels and go a step further by including a full Content Editor front end, because we know it will make the application even easier to use.

Just like the content editor interfaces used elsewhere in Orchidnet intranets, the new front-end allows users to add hyperlinks, images, tables, anchors, text formatting, bullet points, spellchecking and much more when they create or modify FAQs. As if that wasn't enough, questions are automatically numbered and users can filter question categories by number (1.0, 1.1, 2.0 etc.). 

As ever, if you are an Orchid Software customer and the functionality above is something that you would like to see on your intranet installation then just contact us for an update on how to make this happen. Keep an eye on the blog for other new application additions!

Since then, Bill Gates and his long-time colleague have seen their dreams develop into something closer to reality; decades later, vast numbers of households have access to a desktop computer, with the majority of those desktop computers being PCs – and the vast majority of those PCs are running a version of Microsoft Windows as their operating system. The home and business computing revolution is here to stay, and computer usage is an integral part of daily life for millions of people across the globe.

Computing never stays still, however, and we were barely into the 1990s before another information revolution on a par with the arrival of home and business computing, when CERN took the decision to publicise Sir Tim Berners-Lee's World Wide Web project; this initiative brought together the existing applications and guidelines that would go on to form the basis of the internet as we know it today, and presented them in an accessible and user-friendly format.

Opening up the World Wide Web revolutionised computing; a previously self-contained activity; the only way to transfer data from one computer to another had been through removable media such as 'floppy' disks or tape drives, but the advent of the web browser opened up a whole new world of communication and collaboration for computer users, far beyond the physical constraints of their PC (or Mac).

With the benefit of hindsight, it is now obvious that widespread internet usage signalled the start of a process that continues to free users from their previous dependence on a single machine; the first email accounts showed everyday users that it was possible to store data and communicate entirely online, and various innovative web applications started to show off the almost boundless possibilities that the online world brought with it.

Since then, the web has seen one groundbreaking innovation after another – Google's emergence and eventual search dominance, eBay's transformation of ecommerce, Youtube's video sharing revolution – and the current proliferation of social networking sites have brought us to the point where everyone seems to have a web presence one way or other; it is almost inconceivable that you would buy a computer and decide not to not use it to get online as soon as possible.

Of course, at some point during this whole process we at Orchid Software realised that web-based applications showed us the way that the world was headed; it was that moment of epiphany which eventually resulted in Orchidnet, our intranet software (we've been around since 1994, while Orchidnet has been going since 1996), and we have stayed at the forefront of intranet software development ever since. As a company whose entire focus is on designing and developing web-based applications, we believe that one day all software will be this way, and it seems that 'virtualisation' – the process of shifting software from individual computers to a virtual online environment – is the buzzword for the next generation of software development, with future operating systems apparently no exception.

Microsoft's domination of the PC OS market from the mid-1980's onwards through their Windows software was the fundamental factor behind the company's growth and expansion into the corporate giant it is today, and for many people using Windows is more or less synonymous with using computers. With that in mind, news of the company's Midori research project came as quite a surprise; though its significance has been played down by those at Microsoft as representing nothing more than another avenue of investigation, the project has provoked much discussion within the tech community for one main reason – Midori is an operating system that is mainly online.

It is perhaps best to let those involved with the project explain exactly what it entails - you can read some discussion from Microsoft's own blog community about what Midori represents at http://windowsconnected.com/blogs/matt/archive/2008/07/30/midori-the-true-future-of-cloud-computing.aspx, and The Register has a concise analysis of the proposed technical details at http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/07/30/microsoft_midori_technical_details/. Perusing these two articles should give you a pretty good idea of what the new project currently entails, and what it may (or may not) mean for the future of computing.

Whilst we would be the first to acknowledge that Microsoft is far from the only provider of operating systems - and certainly not the first company to explore web-based operations - the very fact that the manufacturer of the PC-based (and recently also Mac-based via Boot Camp) Windows OS has chosen to explore the world of virtualisation with their Midori research project does seem to suggest that the future of computing could lie in a new era that will take place online.

Computer users are already becoming less and less likely to conduct their online business from the same machine or device; as mentioned above, for a long time now people have been able to check email accounts both on home and at work computers, and technologies like Wi-fi, 3G and HSDPA internet mean that you can now get mail on your laptop in the coffee shop or via your mobile phone during a train journey – the possibilities are many and varied.

Increases in network bandwidth limits and ever-expanding methods of content provision mean that even the traditional world of entertainment has had to face the stark choice of adapting to the new environment or dying – have a look at TV/VOD applications like the BBC iPlayer or 4OD in contrast to the more rigidly-structured traditional TV channels and think about what they owe conceptually to sites like Youtube, or just ask anyone in the music or television industries what has happened to them during the last ten years if you want a blunt indication of the way the new distribution models work.

The business world is no different either – people want everything online, on demand and instantly appearing on their monitor, without them having to install programs and set up software on their desktop computer. Analysts have indicated that the natural conclusion of software's move online is a pared-down operating system for the computers and devices of the future – putting applications online means less need for complex software on the physical machines themselves.

These devices could be so simple that on booting up they would immediately run a web browser straight from the BIOS, with no further operating system needed – you would switch on, see your browser and go straight online to access your applications, spreadsheets, email and everything else. Some hardware manufacturers are already embracing 'instant-on' functionality; the Voodoo Envy - http://blog.laptopmag.com/first-impressions-of-the-voodoo-envys-ios - and Asus Express Gate/'Splashtop' - http://news.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/0,1000000091,39418766,00.htm – show true innovation in this area.

As with the entertainment industry and its own content provision quandary, the business model involved in the production and distribution of computer applications and operating systems will also have to change just to keep up with the new way of operating – and changes are already being seen.

Adobe Photoshop, the graphics editing programme much loved by web designers and amateur image manipulators everywhere, used to be the preserve of those willing to shell out a few hundred pounds to install the CDs provided and enjoy all of the impressive functionality that the software offers. However, that previously-tight licensing model shows signs of changing with the release of Adobe Photoshop Express, an official online Flash-based version of the image editing software.

While Express doesn't perhaps have the depth of functionality of the stand-alone Creative Suite Photoshop versions, and is also subject to various terms of service, this move illustrates the way that even the bigger names in the world of software have come to realise that the future – and to some extent the present too – lies online. A few years ago it would have been completely unrealistic to expect that software like Photoshop could be anything but client-based (i.e. tied to one machine by licensing), but now the looser constraints provided by the online world could force the world of computing to become ever more closely-linked to online activity. Competitors such as Picnik, Snipshot, Flauntr and Pixer.us all provide similar facilities, but the emergence of Adobe's own online version signals the entry of a more established name into this particular area of the online software arena.

This is just more solid evidence that these could be the business models of the future, and it seems that big software companies are becoming ever more aware of this possibility. The popularity of online applications has forced the established software providers to seriously assess the significance of the new web-based options, and as a result there is a rush to investigating that area and avoid being the company that misses a trick in what could well be the future of software distribution. With regard to operating systems in particular, manufacturers need to think long and hard about how virtualisation could affect their business and the software that they produce, and most importantly how this ties in with what people want to do online, because the user is now king and failure to adapt could give competitors a significant headstart in the race for the future of software distribution.

Improvements to network technology such as EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution) have given rise to faster access speeds, and mobile access is only going to become more and more widespread with every technological advance.

With our history in web application development, mobile internet has given us food for thought for some time now; mobile internet is just a step or two away from mobile intranet, so we have been working behind the scenes to investigate just how the two elements could come together, with the aim of allowing our customers to access Orchidnet anywhere, at any time.

We knew from the start that the current limitations of mobile technology mean that the release of a fully-fledged Orchidnet Mobile intranet will be some time yet, but the first steps towards achieving this have already been made by our talented development staff.

We are currently enhancing the Contact Manager and Diary applications so that mobile users are able to search their contact information and diary appointments from anywhere they can get a connection; the new functionality is designed to provide on-the-road sales staff with an indispensable information resource in the palm of their hand to help co-ordinate their daily schedules.

While the new technology is not on general release quite yet, we're always happy to discuss bespoke intranet development with our customers, so if you're using Orchidnet and this sounds like something that interests you then please drop us a line and we'll be happy to talk about it.

The new developments are based on Windows Mobile technology so we have also been keeping an eye on the latest hardware developments in this field, and HTC's newest offerings have caught our eye most recently.

The Touch Diamond - http://www.htc.com/www/product.aspx?id=46278 - has a rather sleek new design that includes an innovative 3D interface – reminiscent of the iPod in certain ways – and it has the potential to be a popular piece of mobile technology.

HTC are also releasing the Touch Pro - http://www.htc.com/www/product.aspx?id=49518 - that keeps the slim design aesthetic but adds a full QWERTY keyboard, which is an impressive addition when you're looking to implement mobile applications – which, of course, we are!

Time will tell how these devices shape up, and of course there are many other contenders out there on the market, but with one eye on mobile intranet applications we'll be sure to keep you up to date with future developments...

The idea behind this latest development was to bring together a diverse range of existing Orchidnet functionality for the aforementioned purpose, and build further on that by using some of our recent innovations to create a single, indispensable resource to help reception staff to keep track of everybody who visits your premises.

The Reception Desk homepage, which you can see in the accompanying screenshot, is the single user interface identified in the first paragraph above, and it contains a range of useful functionality that includes:

• Visitor Log: This area shows a comprehensive intranet-based overview of all visitors who are due to visit, who are currently visiting or who have recently visited the premises. Users can identify the staff member(s) with whom visitor(s) have a scheduled appointment, see details about the visitor(s), and note expected times of arrival, while visitors can also be signed in and out using this part of the Reception Desk. Users can opt for a daily, weekly or custom view of company visits.
• Phone Directory: The Phone Directory provides a database of telephone contact information, through which users can search using keyword or advanced search methods. Users can also bookmark frequently-used contacts and store important contact numbers using this tool.
• Diary: The Diary tab provides users with a seven-day view of the company calendar, and enables them to make and view appointments as necessary from here.
• Visitor Tab: This tab allows the user to search for visitors and add them to meeting groups.
• Notepad: The Notepad section allows users to create simple notes to record items of information (reminders etc.) that can be filtered by time and/or user.
• Quicklinks: This tab allows the user to create handy links to intranet areas from the Reception Desk

At the top of the Reception Desk homepage there is also a navigation bar that provides users with the following links:

• Home: Takes the user to the application homepage
• Diary: This takes the user to the Diary standard application.
• Noticeboard: This takes the user to the noticeboard used in the upcoming Notes standard application – keep an eye on this blog for more information!
• Who's In: This shows all company contacts currently signed in via Reception Desk or Visitor Manager
• Whereabouts: This allows the users to view the whereabouts of selected personnel within the company, and manage the information as necessary.
• Fullscreen: As you might expect, this allows the user to view this intranet application in full screen mode 

All in all, it's quite a comprehensive intranet application, I'm sure you'll agree. Due for release in the very near future, we hope that Reception Desk will help to make the process of tracking visitors and guests a simple and streamlined process; keep an eye on our blog for more information on upcoming release dates.

We are also planning to branch out a little with this blog and present our readers with views and analysis on the wider issues affecting the tech and intranet communities, with a particular focus on those issues that impact on what we're trying to achieve here at Orchid Software. So, watch out for the first in our series of tech posts - coming very soon...

With that in mind, we're always looking to build on the range of functionality offered by the application, and it is imperative that we keep the application at the cutting edge of intranet technology– it really is that important. It will, then, come as no big surprise for you to learn that we have a new version of Form Manager (v2.2) almost ready for release, and that it includes some innovative advances which help to position the application at the vanguard of what's available.

So, what is this new functionality that's on offer? Well, to start with, duplication of forms allows you to create a new form from a previously existing example, and also allows forms to be copied into new areas or groups across your intranet.

Stage Visualisation is a big step forward – the stages of the form can now be managed via a visual drag-and-drop tool, which makes it easier to create and modify stage details, including content, notifications and workflow.

Target Screen Resolutions is exactly what you'd expect it to be – you can choose different widths to display forms at different screen resolutions, and even create A4-sized forms for printing where necessary.

Finally, Delete Form Results is another self-explanatory element – this allows you to clear a form's results so that you can re-use that form without having to create it again.

All of the above are components that we see as important additions to our Form Manager application, as well as to our wider range of intranet software; as with every application, sincere thanks go to our development staff for helping to keep us one step ahead of the competition!

As always, if you want to know more then you can find our details below, and keep checking back for more posts on our intranet application updates.

The specific application that sparked us off was Room and Resource Booker, where integration was our guiding principle during redevelopment. A little-known - but extremely useful - result of our continuous R&D lets you use Room and Resource Booker in tandem with the Asset Manager application to make organising meetings and locating the right equipment a simple, straightforward process.

This means that you can book all of the usual Asset Manager assets – laptops, projectors, whatever you need – while you set up your meeting in Room and Resource Booker, while any clashes with previously booked resources are clearly displayed by the application. Our introduction of automatic email notifications helps users to inform both the meeting's creators and the attendees of bookings, deletions and any other alterations made to an appointment. And as if all that wasn't enough, a catering management facility lets you book refreshments and other goodies using your intranet, and even emails catering staff and asset owners for you to inform them of the items required.

As always, if you want to know more about the functionality above, just drop us a line using the details below; if you are an existing Orchid Software intranet customer who would like to know more about the fully-integrated version of Room and Resource Booker, then your usual technical contact will be able to help you out here.

Keep an eye on our blog for more application updates; if we spot any other underused areas of Orchidnet you'll hear about it here first!

In light of this, IRM is now also the name of an intranet application that we at Orchid Software currently have in development, and which is also ready for release in the near future. To provide a little background information on the application, Orchidnet's IRM application will record, track and respond to three common types of information request - namely Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, Subject Access Requests (SAR / Data protection) and Environmental Information Requests (EIR).

Yes, a few more initialisms for you - I hope you are keeping up...

Essentially, the application will provide an intranet-based workflow/process that:

• Classifies requests with a type (e.g. FOI) and a classification (e.g. Procurement)
• Divides requests into internal actions or sub-requests that can be delegated to named parties
• Sets and tracks both 'hard' deadlines (e.g. 20 day FOI limit) and 'soft' deadlines (set by admin staff) for each request and for any related actions that may have been raised
• Collates a response to each request, delivered in either electronic or print format
• Captures any regulatory exceptions that apply to each response, and choose the level of disclosure
• Produces various reports

From an administrative point of view, the application will include an IRM homepage which will display the status of information requests - this includes showing any requests that require user intervention, and highlighting those requests that may be in danger of passing their deadlines, making request management a far less painful process in general.

So, that's a quick overview of IRM and what it does; if you want to know more then just email us using the contact information below, and keep an eye on this blog for more information about IRM and all other Orchidnet intranet applications – because you'll find it here first.