saamwerk will work with most browsers although Internet Explorer 7 and Internet Explorer 8 (32 bit versions only, 64 bit support is currently very limited) are recommended since functionality will be reduced in other browsers. For more information on what limitations exist on other browsers, see this page from Microsoft.

The main issue at hand is that browsers have developed to be an extension of the operating system and thus have extremely tight integration with the operating system. Google is going to the same route with Google Chrome which at this stage is just a browser, but in time will develop into a full operating system.

 

Most versions of Microsoft Office will work with saamwerk although Office 2010 Professional Plus (available on Volume Licensing only) is recommended. Functionality decreases as the version gets older. Minimum requirement would actually be Office 2007 – any suite.

The main reason for recommending Office 2010 Professional Plus is that it includes SharePoint Workspace which is an extremely powerful tool in order to have offline access to documents and data.

 

SharePoint 2010 is quite a powerful and easy to use system, but still is a fairly complex system. A lot of lists are thus available for specific use on your site. You should at least take note of the following libraries:

1. Site Pages
   A library to store all the web pages on your site. As you get used to the saamwerk functionality you will inevitably start to create more and more web pages instead of documents or emails. The files to store these web pages are stored in the Site Pages-library.
   
2. Site Assets
   Site Assets are those digital files you have in your site that should be available to everyone. For instance, the photo that you included in one of your web pages were actually uploaded from your PC and stored in the Site Assets-library.

A. Your documents and your data will always be yours. saamwerk will in certain instances access your workspace for support reasons, but never will take over ownership of your data. The same way you trust a bank with your money and only transact via their systems, the same way you entrust saamwerk with your information and only transact via saamwerk.

Interesting background information

In a speech to commemorate the centennial of MIT’s existence in 1960, John McCarthy suggested that “computation may someday be organized as a public utility” such as water and electricity. This idea was very popular in the 1960’s but faded in the 1970’s when it became clear that the hardware and software of the time was just not powerful enough to support such an information utility.The idea resurfaced since 2000 with concepts such as Application Service Provider (ASP) and Software as a Service (SaaS). With the emergence of the internet, specifically broadband internet, and stronger hardware and software solutions, the dream that John expressed 50 years ago is currently exploding into reality.

 

In short: Cloud Computing is internet based development and use of computer technology with the Cloud as a metaphor for the internet. It is a form of computing where resources are provided as a service over the internet to users who need not have the knowledge, expertise or control over the technology infrastructure that supports them.

In saamwerk we remind ourselves regularly that “if you need milk, don’t buy or build and then maintain a whole dairy”…