Before Christmas I went along to the Interwoven UK conference and saw a sneak peak of WorkSite v8.5 which is due for release this year. As we weren’t asked to sign a non disclosure agreement I thought I’d jot down some high level notes on some of the proposed new features that I think are great reasons to look at this upgrade.
Enhanced offline ability : There are some great additions here to the OffSite product. Bringing in seamless on to offline switching, background sync, granular selection of content and a new architecture to improve performance.
In fact my only gripe is with the current licencing model for OffSite. Surely it should really now form part of the FileSite licence (as should Email Management), these are core to the product functioning as you’d expect.
Multibyte support: unfortunately not unicode yet, but it’s better than now. This is for the key description, comments etc fields. (Limitation is the need to have the characters on the same codepages, so unfortunately if you’ve multiple offices whose native language falls on different codepages this may not be what you’re after).
Indexing: there is a start to leverage the new indexers introduced in 8.3. This includes full text indexing of workspaces (meta data and descriptions). I can see two benefits here; the first it removes some load off SQL which can only be a good thing and second they’re providing a Quick Workspace Search bar, and thus as the meta data is indexed it can find matters in a much more “Google like” way.
Email Management: Server side filing! Anything that takes the load off the desktop is a good thing, should increase performance of large email drag and drops! There are plenty of enhancements to the email management (send and file) piece which should improve things no end. For example, suggestive filing based on filing history and delegated filing (great for secretaries or should that be for fee earners?)
From the latest email I received from Interwoven the release dates are as follows:
Limited Release
Phase I
Core Components with Limited Platform Certifications March 2009
Phase II
Web with Limited Platform Certifications May 2009
General Availability
Phase III
Core Components with Additional Platform Certifications June 2009
Phase IV
Desktop & Web Language Releases August 2009
Phase V
Tools & Other Miscellaneous Components September 2009
Hi Jason,
I’ve today been trying to get some clarity on release dates for Worksite 8.5. After giving up trying to get any useful information from the Autonomy/Interwoven websites (is it just me, or are they just geared to marketing rather than thinking about supporting existing customers too?*) I gave up and resorted to ‘googling’ and came upon your blog – which has already proven to be an interesting read, though so far I’ve only been able to sample a few items.
I work as an IT project manager for a large industrial company (not a Law Firm) that has a correspondingly large Legal division. The Legal division has been managing all its documents in Worksite (8.2), Worksite Web and Filesite for a couple of years and we (in IT) are thinking it’s about time to make the move to 8.5 – both for reasons of new capability, and so we don’t get out of support. I was therefore interested in your 7/Jan/09 item in which you wrote of release dates for 8.5 – four phases culminating in Sept 09. (It’s primarily that information I was trying to get from the ‘official’ websites). I also saw your other blog items, and feedback to those items, about the release of 8.4; it seems some people have it installed and are happy with it?
Although I’ve got 20+ years of IT experience, because of my lack of detailed knowledge on Worksite/Filesite, I’m not able to actually contribute, at this stage. Instead, I’m trying to build a case, and potential degree of effort/timeline, for upgrading from 8.2 and so wonder if you’d be able to point me to any materials that might tell me more about the latest on 8.5 availability and how the various phases of deployment might be used alongside our 8.2 installation. In particular, because of what I’m told was the *major* hassle for us in deploying the Filesite client upon our first outing I’m exploring the idea of getting the 8.5 backend/server install done and bedded down (presumably with 8.5 Worksite Web) and then worrying about the client – on the basis/hope the 8.2 client will be backward compatible with 8.5 on the server. My general ‘googling’ for material/experiences on 8.5 results in pretty slim pickings so I’m wondering if Autonomy/Interwoven are stuck at the “it’s coming soon” stage and we’d be better off going for 8.4 (though I don’t know if it contains all the offline synchronisation we like the sound of in 8.5).
I’m sorry to say I’m currently ‘hiding’ behind a free mail account as my Company urges us to be careful about these things (and of course there’s the old ‘spam’ problem too). But just so you know a little bit more about me, I’m based just outside London and, as mentioned, I’m an IT project manager. I’d be very grateful if you’re ablt to make a few comments to me based upon your experience or, as I say, point me elsewhere.
Kind Regards,
Nic
PS. I see you’re a cricket fan and understandably pleased with the result. I too am still bemused as to why England didn’t force the follow-on, but of course now it will be seen as the right decision! And no more Lords jinx.
*My organisation does have a support signon (that ‘belongs’ to the offshore support team) but I’m told even they can’t find the release availability details on there – hence me getting involved in the search. I’m also trying to get in touch with our support representative.
Hi Jason
Not sure if you are a Notes user, but if you are, there’s some good news due to be released any day now about the 8.5 client for Lotus Notes. I can’t go into details, but feel free to drop me a line if you’d like an informal discussion 😉