Google adds collaboration tools to Apps platform

The search giant resurrected Jotspot on Thursday, relaunching the company's technology in a new Google Apps application called 'Sites.'

Sites would allow users to create collaboration areas quickly and easily. Within them, users can include videos, calendars, presentations, and attachments. The information is then presented in a wiki-like interface.

Google says that anyone can create pages in Sites, even those who may not have experience in HTML. The application would be available in the Team, Standard, Premier, and Education editions of Google Apps.

"Creating a team web site has always been too complicated, requiring dedicated hardware and software as well as programming skills," enterprise chief Dave Girouard said. "We are literally adding an edit button to the web."

The sites platform draws significant portions of its code base from Jotspot, which Google acquired late in 2006. While some may see the platform as too basic, analysts say it may catch on among those who don't have the time or money to set up collaboration systems through Microsoft's SharePoint or IBM's Lotus Notes.

Among the first to use site will be the Washington, DC government, Zodiac Interactive, and UNC Greensboro, Google said.