At MindTouch we have been pioneering the concept of Collaborative Networking for some time. At the Boston Enterprise 2.0 conference in June we announced our first packaged Collaborative Network solution. This is the Collaborative Enterprise Intranet. MindTouch offers a webinar of this new solution. The webinar is popular because it provides a thorough outline of the benefits of the solution and allows audience members to ask questions of our solution experts. While I encourage you to attend the Intranet webinar to receive a comprehensive definition of this valuable new solution I am pleased to share the following demo videos. These videos are sliced directly from the webinar and highlight some key product capabilities.

Intro: MindTouch Collaborative Intranets
This video introduces the concept of Intranet Collaborative Networking. It slips into hyperbole at times, but it is very useful in understanding the concept and value from a high level.

Chapter 1: Capture, Edit & Share Content
If you have never seen MindTouch it is important to watch this video in order to understand how easy it is to use the product.

Chapter 2: Situational Applications, Workflows & Dashboards

Chapter 3: Managing Projects and Tasks

Chapter 4: Desktop Tools, Deliverables & Reporting

If you want to test drive MindTouch I encourage you to download MindTouch 2009 or MindTouch Core. While neither of these will give you the full capabilities of the Collaborative Intranet you will have an opportunity to benefit from the product's basic features  and be able to create your own dashboards, workflows and reports. Again, I also encourage you to register for a webinar or reach out to a product representative +1 (619) 795.8459.

What were the main reasons for choosing MindTouch?

1. Open Source
2. Ease of use
3. Extensible / Ease of Integration

How did you hear about MindTouch

1. 32% Search engine
2. 17% Word of mouth (friend, co-worker, twitter)
3. 10.19% Blogs/Forums
   …
   2% Advertisement  (2nd to last)

This is one of the most fascinating bits of information I gleaned from the survey. MindTouch is spread almost entirely by word of mouth. One could argue blogs and forums are a form of word of mouth too, which would put the total word of mouth at 28%. Another option was news articles and this ranked fourth. This obviously is relevant and must be attributed to MindTouch having an open source strategy and because we have been successful in creating a culture of engagement with our users and customers. I write about this more in another blog post.

Which of the following best describes how you use MindTouch? (multi-select)

1. 47% Knowledge Base/Documentation
2. 30% Intranet
3. 21% Extranet/Community site
4. 20% DMS
5. 17% Project Management

Top Development Languages (multi-select)

1. 42% Web Languages: HTML, CSS, Javascript
2. 30% PHP
3. 28% Java
4. 19% C# or other .NET technologies

First I think the fact that “web languages” is the top most commonly used speaks volumes about the capability of MindTouch to be a RAD platform for IT/non-programmers. Given MindTouch is developed in C# on .NET (or Mono) the fact C# or other .NET technology only ranks fourth is obviously very interesting. It is a testament to the technology agnosticism of MindTouch. While we did not survey this, I can report 80%+ of MindTouch paying customers run on Linux. The remaining < 20% is running on Microsoft Windows. Again, a testament to the platform agnosticism of MindTouch. However, Windows server is the fastest growing customer server operating system. This attributed to the new Microsoft Installer.

Top read publications of MindTouch respondents

1. CNET 25%
2. Slashdot 22.24%
3. Wired 20.52%
4. Engadget 19.4%
5. CNN 19.22%

This last question about publications isn’t particularly pertinent, but I find it interesting. Some of the more celebrated technology media sites are suspiciously absent.

Finally, the last question of the survey was an open-ended question eliciting suggestions and feedback. An impressive 23% of respondents took the time to provide input. These were overwhelmingly positive and encouraging and included mostly “congratulations on growth and great product”, “way to go”, “keep up the great work”, “excellent support”, “excellent customer relations”, “GREAT SOFTWARE/PRODUCT/stuff”, “you are great” and general “thank you”s. No. Thank you all.