Into The Groove?
Chris Rue has a stinging appraisal of Groove over at the funcave.
"Groove has to be the worst software I’ve ever used in my life. [it] has the most idiotic user interface seen since cc:Mail. [...] To top it off, [...] this thing totally sucks at handling the group part of collaboration. Which is the only part of collaboration that makes it collaborative, to be quite honest."
Ouch! Let 'em have it, Chris! I do actually think Groove does some useful stuff, at least for me, it does. However, what really spoiled the party for me was the fact that Microsoft couldn't even be bothered to finish it properly (Folder sharing doesn't work on 64-bit systems, which means one of the neatest things Groove did - synchronising my IE favourites and other files across all my PCs - doesn't work). Microsoft even failed to address that issue in Service Pack 1 of Office 2007.
I do agree with Chris that Groove has a long way to go, but we should know by now, Microsoft never seems to get anything right on the first attempt. Meanwhile, there are a few things that Groove does do really well that I can't think of an alternative solution for. The fact is, Groove Networks was acquired by Microsoft and Groove is currently a bit of a square peg in a round hole within the Office System. Lets hope that, once Microsoft figures out how Groove fits into their collaboration strategy, they will make a better stab at it in Office "14". If Microsoft wants us to "Get into the groove" then It's a case of "boy, you've got to prove your love to me". Am I showing my age now? Never mind, Chris P will appreciate that.