Windows Meeting Space rocks!

As many of you know who communicate with me on a semi-regular basis, I have been SWAMPED for the last few months. With the move into the new office and the new hires, it's been difficult to find any time to talk tech, never mind blog.

But I really wanted to spend a moment to unearth a GEM in Vista that I think MOST people don't even know exists. And that is Windows Meeting Space.

Taken directly from Microsoft's website on the matter, Windows Meeting Space enables face-to-face collaboration among small groups of Windows Vista users - virtually anytime, anywhere. Useful for both business and personal purposes, this tool enables you to share work on computer-based projects with other people more easily and comfortably.

And they're right. It's what I wish LiveMeeting or GotoMeeting did for small business.

I can't stress how useful this tool is for us in our office. We have a shared board room that can easily get double booked, making it difficult to collaborate around a single HDTV monitor or projector. Windows Meeting Space lets us comfortably get that benefit without having to leave our desks.

In our office, my team sits together in an open "bullpen" design where we can see and hear each other rather well. It's just not convenient to try to jam everyone around a single desk to see a laptop screen, and we have to go to the boardroom if we want to sit and talk about stuff on screen, or when we have to demo something to the team.

Well, that was the case until we stumbled upon Windows Meeting Space. This thing rocks. You simply start it up, and the "People Around You" feature of Vista finds everybody. Someone creates a meeting, and you can then take turns sharing desktops, taking control and distributing documents and handouts just like you would expect from an online collaboration tool. But this thing is LIGHTENING fast. There are times someone wants to show me something and within 60 seconds I am looking at their screen while they show me something. It's actually faster than walking across the room.

So if your office is running Vista, try out this FREE tool that is part of your system. If you aren't running Vista and have a need for such a collaboration tool, maybe this is the pivot point to get you to upgrade. Yet another productivity enhancement tool that we get with thanks to Vista.

Great job Microsoft. I love saving time and increasing the productivity around the office. That affects my bottom line, and I appreciate that value.

Lest we forget.

Let us never forget the ultimate sacrifice made so we could live free.

Chimo.