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SAN DIEGO-Open-source collaboration platform maker MindTouch has unveiled Wik.is, a free version of its Deki Wiki hosted online for enterprise workgroups that could put a crimp in Google’s plans for its free Sites application.
The wiki specialist, based here, is also now supporting Microsoft’s Silverlight, Microsoft ADO.NET Data Services and Windows Live services to improve usability for enterprise wiki users and mashup makers, MindTouch CEO Aaron Fulkerson told eWEEK March 3 at the Graphing Social Patterns West 2008 show here.
Wik.is includes a REST API that exposes the platform’s functionality, automatic data aggregation tools, and mashup capabilities to more than 100 services from Microsoft, Google, Yahoo and other vendors with enterprise applications and databases. The new mashup code generator lets end users point and click to create composite applications and data mashups.
Site registration at Wik.is takes seconds, allowing users to quickly create a Deki Wiki site for authoring and sharing content. This service is targeted at enterprise workgroups that need to share information.
Wik.is is free with 100MB of storage, unlimited users, unlimited pages and unlimited access to the API. Fulkerson said MindTouch is offering a Pro upgrade for $99 a year, including 10GB of storage.
Facing Google Sites
In a sea of wiki rivals that includes Socialtext, Atlassian and Confluence, MindTouch is quietly gaining traction by word of mouth, averaging 2,000 downloads per day. Sixty percent of its distribution is through SourceForge.net.
Fulkerson attributes the success to having strong grassroots support coupled with Deki Wiki, a distributed application platform with a wiki interface he says is more robust than the aforementioned “point” solution providers.
He also likes his company’s chances versus Google’s Sites wiki application, which was released Feb. 28 after a year-and-a-half rewrite and metamorphosis of the JotSpot code.
Getting closer with Microsoft is another way to stick it to Google. Deki Wiki, built on Microsoft’s C#, includes new support for Microsoft ADO.NET Data Services. This means users can embed and visualize data from any data source either online or behind their firewall.
“You can query data from databases and mash them up into a Google Maps or Google Charts,” Fulkerson said.
Finally, the refreshed Deki Wiki now supports presence and instant messaging from Microsoft’s new Windows Live Messenger library.
MindTouch doesn’t charge for Deki Wiki outright. The company makes its money by offering two different classes of product support for system administrators, helping them with backups and upgrades, and developer support.
Eventually, Fulkerson said it will provide enterprise modules that companies can tack on to boost the productivity of the platform.