What if you could run the equivalent of Lotus' Notes using nothing more than a good web server, a database engine, and some web browsers? Well, RadNet's WebShare Designer is trying hard to fulfill that mission, although it doesn't quite measure up to a full Notes-killer. However, if you have a small workgroup and want to experiment with it, you might give it a try.
WebShare Designer can either be downloaded from the web (at 13+ megabytes, you might want a fast connection), or a sample CD can be ordered from RadNet for $25. Both versions are good for at least 45 days, at which point you'll need to buy a key to keep either running. Almost everything you need to get an application started comes included on the CD ROM -- the web server software (a Spyglass Mosaic variation), a database engine (Sybase SQL Anywhere), and administrative applications that allow you to design your own discussions, using the eight provided templates. Missing however is any printed documentation -- that is unfortunate, because developing WebShare applications will take someone firmly planted in both the world of HTML and SQL, and a printed manual would be a useful guide.
The real advantage of WebShare is with these templates, which include both an unmoderated and a moderated discussion group, a contacts manager, a newsletter, and a calendar application. All of this is written in a combination of HTML commands, with a heady sprinkling of server-side includes and database access statements as well. You can modify all of this at the touch of a few keystrokes, and therein lies both the power and the pain of the product. It is powerful, in that just about anything you can do with a web form you can create here as a WebShare application. Want your discussions to be ordered differently, or display a new logo, or change the wording on one screen? All it takes is knowing where in the application that this code resides, which even for a non-programmer like me was fairly easy. However, figuring out the relationships among the various database variables, the include variables, and the actual .HTM files themselves will take more work -- and quite easy to mess up if you don't know what you are doing. If you don't trust yourself, or just want to use the canned templates as is, then you don't need the Designer edition and can get by on just the Server product.
One problem I had was figuring out how to setup my security system: WebShare has plenty of different security models to choose from, and here again it would benefit from something in print. For example, you can enter usernames and passwords into its own security system via the administration interface, or you can make use of NT's own native usernames.
I was able to get a discussion server up and running in about an hour -- and most of that time was spent copying the software from the CD. The installation program takes care of putting together the various pieces, including the web server, the SQL database engine, the Designer interface (used for developing applications), the templates and the ODBC drivers. If you buy the Designer edition, you get a three-user Server version: you'll need to add more users by also purchasing the full Server edition. I ran WebShare on a 486/50 with 32 megabytes of RAM running NT Server 3.5.1 and wasn't thrilled about the performance: logging into to WebShare would take up to 15 or 20 seconds to complete on my small network. You might want a faster machine for this, and certainly more RAM if you can afford it. It didn't run on beta 2 of NT v4.0, however representatives from RadNet assured me that this will be fixed by the time NT ships.
All in all, this is a product worth watching, but I wouldn't yet trust it to run large discussions with hundreds of users across the enterprise. But if you have a more modest group of folks that have Internet connections and web browsers, this might be one way to get them to communicate with each other.
WebShare Designer and Server, both version 1.0 RadNet Cambridge, MASS 617 577 9422 fax: 617 577 9377 http://www.radnet.com price: Server $1495 (per server), Designer $695 (per developer's edition) until Aug 18, afterwards: Server $2195, Designer $995, (Designer includes a three-user Server version) Platform: Windows NT 3.51 (Intel)