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Archive-name: comp-groupware-faq/products-editors
Posting-Frequency: semi-monthly Last-modified: 1995.6.20 Version: 1.2 Copyright: 1995 (C) David S. Stodolsky, PhD See reader questions & answers on this topic! - Help others by sharing your knowledge From: kochm@Informatik.TU-Muenchen.DE (Michael Koch) Newsgroups: comp.groupware Subject: WWW version of multi-user editor and co-authoring systems list Date: 13 Apr 1995 08:16:14 GMT As there is a big interest in a collection about projects and products in the context of multi-user editors and co-authoring systems I converted the list I posted some months ago to some HTML pages. http://www11.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/cscw/multiusereditor.html The list uses the unOfficial Yellow Pages of CSCW to store the project descriptions and the CSCW bibliography to store bibliographic information about the references mentioned in the descriptions. With the YP-scripts, the project descriptions can be edited and annotated. If you know a multiuser editor or a research group that is working on that topic an is not mentioned in my list, than please send me an info (kochm@informatik.tu-muenchen.de). Additions, comments and corrections are also welcome and will be integrated. -- Michael Koch +49 89 450552-33 kochm@informatik.tu-muenchen.de Institut fuer Informatik, Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Germany Lehrstuhl fuer Verteilte Anwendungen, Professor Schlichter http://www11.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/local/persons/koch.html List of multiuser editors / co-authoring systems ------------------------------------------------ From: kochm@Informatik.TU-Muenchen.DE (Michael Koch) Newsgroups: comp.groupware Subject: Multiuser editor list (long) Date: 18 Jul 1994 07:34:23 GMT by Michael Koch (ed.) first draft july 1994 I'm working on a distributed multiuser editor / co-authoring system in the context of distributed systems and computer supported work (CSCW). As one basis for my PhD thesis I collected information on existing multiuser editors. >From my last question in the Usenet-Newsgroup comp.groupware I learned, that such a list may be of interest for some other groups around the world. So I spend a little extra work to make this list available. There are many different definitions of what a multiuser editor is and there are different types of editors even if you agree on one definition. I looked for programs that match the following points: - programs that support their users in jointly generating and editing a document (that may be a linear or hierarchical text, a hypertext, a graphic or any other medium) - the programs should have a possibility to store the data and to continue editing later The sources of information have been several papers, technical reports, internal reports, surveys and books (always refer-ed). Most of the description text is pure cut/paste of some of the main ideas from the publications. It may be redundant or unpolished. That's because I didn't try to write a book, just a information list. Corrections or more precise descriptions are welcome. !! !! This list is a first draft version !! !! If you know a multiuser editor or a research group that !! is working on that topic an is not mentioned in my list, !! than please send me an info (kochm@informatik.tu-muenchen.de). !! Additions, comments and corrections are also welcome and will !! be integrated in the next versions. !! Contents: --------- 1. alphabetically ordered list of system names 2. list of research groups 3. descriptions of programs/projects 4. bibliography ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1. list of system/program names The attributes in parenthesis indicate if it is a editor for synchronous sessions or asynchronous sessions, what medium types can be edited and how the storage of the document is handled (central, replicated, cache) Alliance (async, structured text, central) Aspects (sync, text, graphic) CAR (async, text, central) CaveDraw (sync, graphic) CES (async, text, replicated) CoAUTHOR (async, multimedia) CoDraft (sync, graphic ,replicated) CollaborWriter (async, text, central)) CoMEdiA (sync, async, hypermedia, central) Contexts (async, hypermedia, central) ConversionBoard (sync, graphic, replicated) DistEdit (sync, async, text, replicated) EHTS (async, hypertext, central-cache) Ensemble (sync, graphic) ForComment (sync, text) GroupDesign (sync, graphic, replicated) GroupDraw (sync, graphic, replicated) GroupIE (sync, async, text, graphic, replicated) GroupSketch (sync, graphic, replicated) GroupWriter (async, text) GROVE (sync, text, replicated) Instant Update (sync, (async), text) Iris (sync, async, hierarchical text, replicated) KMS (hypermedia, central) MACE (sync, async, text, central-cache) Mercury () MESSIE (async, text, central) Mjolner-project (async, sync, text, central) MultimETH (sync, text) Neptune (hypertext, central) PREP (async, text) Quilt (async, text, central) SASE (sync, text) SASSE (sync, text) SEPIA (sync, async, hypertext, central) Shared Books (async, text, central) ShrEdit (sync, text, central) Vopex-2KM-Sun (sync, text, central) ----------------------------------------------------------------- 2. list of research groups United States - Brown University IRIS (Meyrowitz) -> Intermedia - Carnegie Mellon University (Neuwirth) -> PREP - Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation, Austin (Ellis) -> GROVE - MIT Cambridge (Greif) -> CES - University of Florida (Newman-Wolfe, Pelimuhandiram) -> MACE (Newman-Wolfe, Pelimuhandiram) -> Emsemble - University of Michigan (Dourish) -> ShrEdit (Knister) -> DistEdit - Bell (Fish, Leland) -> Quilt - Xerox -> Shared books Australia - Toronto University (Baecker) -> SASE, SASSE Canada - University of Calgary (Malcom, Gaines) -> GroupWriter (Greenberg, Roseman, Webster, Bohnet) -> GroupDraw, GroupSketch Denmark - University of Aalborg (Wiil) -> EHTS France - Universite de Paris-Sud (Karsenty, Beaudouin-Lafon) -> GroupDesign - INRIA-IMAG (Decouchant, Quint) -> Alliance Germany - Frauenhofer Institut fuer Computergrafik, Darmstadt (Santos, Tritsch, Hornung) -> CoMEdia - Gesellschaft fuer Mathematik und Datenverarbeitung - IPSI (Haake) -> SEPIA (Haake) -> CoVer - Universitaet Erlangen-Nuernberg (Kirsche) -> CoDraft - Universitaet Freiburg (Hahn) -> CoAUTHOR - Universitaet Karlsruhe (Ruedebusch) -> GroupIE - Universitaet Muenchen (Borghoff, Koch) -> Iris Sweden - Lund University (Minoer, Magnusson) -> Mjolner-project Switzerland - ETH Zuerich (Lubich) -> MultimETH United Kingdom - Aston University, Birmingham (McAlpine) -> CollaborWriter - Dundee Institute of Technology (Jones) -> MILO - University College London (Baydere, Sasse) -> CAR (Sasse) -> MESSIE ----------------------------------------------------------------- 3. program/project descriptions: - Alliance INRIA-IMAG France (Dominique Decouchant and Vincent Quint) [Decouchant1994] An asynchronous multiuser editor that is based on the single-user editor Grif [Quint1986]. Collaborative editing of structured documents; fully replicated application with central document storage (Sun NFS) Supports roles; different roles for parts of the document; according to the roles the document is automatically divided into variable-size fragments, which are the sharing units; multiple readers but only on writer/manger role per fragment Notification about changes after a fragment is written back - Aspects (Apple) commercial (available since 1990) info from group.tech@applelink.apple.com Synchronous group writing, drawing and painting. Mainly tightly coupled cooperation with the 'view-with-others' option. If this option is disabled then loosely coupled cooperation is possible. Floor control options: free for all, taking turns and turn taking mediated by moderator. - CAR [Baydere1993] University College London, Angela Sasse Collaborative multiuser editor based on a central NFS filestore. Use of SCCS in the filestore for locking and version and configuration management. Each section has a manager. The manager is responsible for the version control when a section was freshly created, and put the first version under SCCS control before releasing it for comments. No special support for comment, just a policy: Comments are text additions to the document so that they stand out from the original text. No text should be deleted, comment with text: 'last text should be deleted/replaced'. Commenters keep modification history on top of the file up to date (by hand!), email authors that a comment has been made to their section Policy that only author changes his section. Use of video conferences to talk about comments or suggested modifications. - CaveDraw [Lu1991] Synchronous collaboration in local distributed teams for the generation of text/graphic documents. Semi-transparent drawing layers and drawing cursors with different colors for the basic coordination. Every user has his own drawing color. The distribution of the own drawing layer or the import of the layers of other users is configurable. - CES [Greif1986] MIT Cambridge Asynchronous means of interaction on replicated structured text documents. Structure is fully replicated, contents are stored by author. Coordination with the help of 'tickle locks' (explicit locks that are released automatically after some time). Access rights for document structure and contents. Based on Argus, a development an runtime support tool for distributed applications [Liskov1983]. - CoAUTHOR [Hahn1991] Co-authoring system for hypermedia documents. Prototype that provides a real-time environment for multiple authors who wish to collaborate on the production of hypermedia documents, such as technical manuals, surgeon reports, etc. CoAuthor documents have recorded design history. Developed as part of Multiworks a ESPRIT-II Technology Integration Project. - CoDraft Universitaet Erlangen-Nuernberg [Kirsche1993] [Kirsche1993a] Multiuser Object-graphic editor; fully replicated application; fully replicated document storage. Every instance has to be in contact with all others and inform them about modifications and receive such informations from the other instances. Synchronization by locks. Session-Join only if invited by a member of the session. Global-view is possible (whole drawing area with working areas of users marked) - CollaborWriter Aston University, Birmingham [McAlpine1994] Built around a writing model presented by Sharples and Pemperton. SGML to define how a document could be structured; logical document structure as essential to the coordination of the collaborative process Concurrency control with versioning based on an oo-database with long transactions - CoMEdiA (cooperative hyperMedia Editing Architecture) Frauenhofer Institut fuer Computergrafik, Darmstadt [Santos1994] [Hornung1991] Documents with a hypermedia structure; create new node and link it into document. Every node in one file. Central storage of files on one or more server; time-stamp-ordering for synchronization. Locks on parts of the document and lock on the cursor position. The lock for the cursor position enables a very tight cooperation. Private and public annotations (graphic or text), telepointer, multi-cursors, follow co-author, roles (chairperson, author, commenter, reader); on-line voice communication (conferences) - Contexts Tektronix, Inc [Delisle1987] Multi-user hypertext system. Extension to a system called Neptune, allowing users their own private views or contexts of the hypertext database, and may make modifications within this view. When alterations are completed, they can be released to other project team members by merging the users private view (context) with the shared master view. Supports document versioning: integrating modifications in view is only done if no conflicts (e.g. branches) occured, display of differences is possible - ConversionBoard, SimpleDraw, NormadicDraw, ... Bellcore, USA [Brinck1993] Fully synchronous oo graphic editors realized on the basis of single user applications with the help of the Rendezvous toolkit. Do actions locally and distribute them. Synchronization with floor control. No means to display modifications of other users in a special way. UNDO. - DistEdit [Knister1990] [Knister1993] Toolkit to build cooperative multiuser editors. Supports the re-implementation and the modification of existing single-user editors. Uses the ISIS communication toolkit for reliable ordered communication. Fully replicated document storage. Version 1 [Knister1990] provides primitives for inserting and deleting of strings, for the propagation of the cursor position and for the transfer of the floor. Only one user has the floor for the whole file and can modify the text; the others can watch the actions of that master-user or read anywhere in the text. A user can request the floor; the floor is transfered if the floorholder agrees. Version 2 [Knister1993] changes the floor concept; now there are implicit and explicit locks (tickle locks); Lock-Step-Mode to change text very tightly coupled. All operations are still based on the insertion and deletion of strings; a simple transaction mechanism is added; UNDO - EHTS (Emacs HyperText System) University of Aalborg, Denmark [Wiil1991] [Wiil1992] [Wiil1993] Multiuser hypertext system consisting of a text editor and a graphical browser. Text editor is the Emacs editor with additional libraries. Central storage of the document in 'HyperBase', a active multiuser database for hypertext systems in C++; client-server model, support for collaboration among users by providing event (notification) mechanism and fine grained lock mechanism Caches at clients; use of notifications from server to invalidate cache. - Ensemble [NewmanWolfe1992] Object graphic editor; part of the conference system DCS - ForComment Multi-user asynchronous editor. Supports circulation comments, and revisions of documents. Separates the authors from the others who have commented the paper. - GroupDesign Laboratoire de Recherche en Informatique, Univ de Paris-Sud [Karsenty1992] Real-time multi-user drawing tool (close to GROVE) features to compensate the lack of group memory: history, age (display of the time since the last modification with a color) and identification (display of user who created object with a color), time-relaxed WYSIWIS (privacy while working), audio echo, realized with different modi: synchronization view (localization mode), identification mode, Fully replicated document storage; Synchronization by high-level asynchronous protocol: distribute events, use logical clock to timestamp events, list of received events, if received event then undo all events with more recent timestamp, do event and redo the events - GroupDraw University of Calgary [Greenberg1992] Multiuser object graphic editor; WYSIWIS with scrolling and access rights (private objects that cannot be seen by the other users) Locks (can be granted by the object owner(=creator): so the state of an object can only be received from the owner; the granularity of locks is a handle (one object can have several handles, e.g. a line has two); - GroupIE (Group Interaction Environment) [Ruedebusch1993] [Ruedebusch1991b] [Ruedebusch1991a] Integration of a multiuser editor, a conferencing tool and a email system; implement in Smalltalk-80; fully distributed/replicated; supports text, graphic, video objects and compound objects OO graphical multiuser editor with integrated email functionality. Distribution with distributed Smalltalk; remote method call based on proxy concept. Parameters of cooperation (granularity, notifications, ...) are scalable. - GroupSketch University of Calgary [Greenberg1992] Synchron, implicit interaction on common text/graphic documents in local distributed groups. Users may execute every action, there is no synchronization/coordination. No concurrency control, all events are distributed to all other users; multiple active cursors that show user names and current action (draw, delete, ...); Central registration daemon that handles newcommers. - GroupWriter Knowledge Science Institute, Univ. of Calgary [Malcolm1991] Notion: should contain all the features of existing commercial wordprocessing systems. full versioning facilities, being able to maintain multiple versions, reproduce older versions and compare different versions; complexities can be hidden by the user interface Using a commercial wordprocessing engine as its core element Text editor; storage granularity is a paragraph; linear text structure; versioning for paragraphs and for the structure; possibility to choose between alternative paragraphs (versions) or to merge alternative paragraphs (with help of the system). The existence of different alternatives is indicated by marks in the editor window. Annotations are indicated in the same way. - GROVE Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation Austin, TX [Ellis1989] [Ellis1990] * text (mainly short document, outlines) * very tight coupled cooperation (two users editing the same word ...); propagation of actions by character, WYSIWIS (strict and relaxed) * text is fully replicated * special concurrency control method; ordering and transformation of events * access rights, different views possible - Instant Update On Technology (for Macintosh) (info in MacUser Jan 92) Sister product of Meeting Maker. Timestamp paragraphs and sorts changes different users have done to the same document. A push on the 'update-button' updates other users changes to the document. Users may edit off-line. The users get a message if the 'master-document' is changed. - Iris Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Michael Koch [Borghoff1993a] [Borghoff1993b] Iris is distributed multiuser multimedia editor. It handles hierarchical structured documents. The handling of the medium contents is separated from the storage of the structure. The storage is fully replicated (in the moment only realized for the structure, text contents and graphic contents). Synchronization is handled with locks. Concurrency control is based on a voting scheme. In the future a optimistic versioning scheme will be applied. - KMS [Akscyn1988] Hypermedia system, single logical database (physically distributed across network): master server; optimistic concurrency control: does not guarantee that one is able to save changes after editing! Linear version thread for the individual frames and framesets - MACE (Mother of All Concurrent Editors) [NewmanWolfe1991] Computer and Information Sciences Department, University of Florida Text editor; tightly coupled, synchronous cooperation and loosely coupled, asynchronous cooperation is supported. Synchronization with explicit locks of any size (no pre-defined granularity). Multi-level server architecture; concurrency control by central server - MESSIE [Sasse1993] University College London, Cambridge University MESSIE is a environment for collaborative editing, that supports the collaborative creation of larger documents by teams of geographically distributed authors, that work on heterogeneous systems. Shared filestore via Email; all authors may read all files in the filestore and may add comments. Requirements: system should be simple to install, maintain and port; storage overhead for the documents should be kept to a minimum; it should be possible to manage documents remotely as well as locally; Policy-free collaboration; not everybody has synchronous connection or possibility to work remotely on another machine Implementation by the integration of existing tools: shared filestore, electronic mail, version control tool - Mjolner-project [Minoer1993],[Magnusson1993] Lund University, Sweden Semi-(a)synchronous collaborative editing for hierarchical structured documents; attempt to integrate synchronous and asynchronous editing. Based on the Mjolner project (oo software development environment) concurrency control by fine grained versioning awareness: 1 evolution graph; 2 presentation of active diffs (shows differences between revisions or alternatives of the document) - MultimETH ETH Z"urich [Lubich1990] Allows small distributed workgroups to jointly edit multimedia documents and to conduct an audio conference at the same time. The prototype system is based on OSI upper layer protocols and runs over a variety of networks including TCP/IP... Part of a conference system; chairman, who chooses access control policy in conference: none (social protocols on audio channel), access control by tokens, invite by chairman Documents are hierarchical structured (ODA), hierarchical locks of sub-trees; access writes on sub-trees - Neptune Tektronix, Inc [Delisle1986] Distributed multiuser hypertext system (storage for CAD systems); central server; transactions capability for complete version histories at the granularity of 'writes' from a text editor; it is possible to see any version of a hyperdocument - PREP (work in preparation editor) Carnegie Mellon University [Neuwirth1990] [Neuwirth1992] Same goals as Quilt: support of asynchronous implicit interaction by change of text documents and annotation. Basic coordination by access rights. - Quilt [Fish1988] [Leland1988] Quilt supports asynchronous, implicit interaction on text documents; different types of annotations (private note, public comment); asynchronous messages to selected partners; Basic coordination by the access rights, roles; common database for the documents; Realized on the basis of standard software: Orion database, X-Windows, Xt Quilt hybrid of a multi-user hypermedia, computer-conferencing and multimedia electronic mail system. people have different roles in the production of a document. centralized database system. document structure consists of a basic tree (consisting of base document with n annotations), comment text or voice (private comments, public comments, directed messages), system and user log (system log: system messages like 'edited section 2.2 for 2 hours; 15 of 45 paragraphs changed', user log: messages by user) - SASE - SASSE Toronto University [Baecker1993] Prototype system for collaborative synchronous writing. Designed to support both focused and independent work. Assumes that people will communicate via telephone or an AV connection. text modifications immediately appear on all text windows. telepointers are provided. users are provided continuous feedback of other collaborators working locations in the document with color coded scroll bar for each user, indicating the current locations of collaborators. The text is locked at the users text selection level. This means that it is possible for collaborators to work within the same line of text. SASSE: support for brainstorming, outlining, reviewing. views provides information about who the collaborators are, where in the document they are working, and what they are doing. An annotation mechanism have been added to allow authors to exchange notes and comments. A version mechanism shows which part of the document where changed by whom. Non-optimistic locking of regions - SEPIA GMD-IPSI [Haake1992] Supports synchr. and asynchr. collaborative creation of hyperdocuments such as manuals, articles, proposals etc. Provides several different activity spaces, which could be seen as task-specific browsers. The users interact with four activity space browsers dedicated to the tasks of the content generation and structuring, planning, arguing and writing. The basic objects in SEPIA are atomic nodes, composite nodes and labeled links. Multiple browsers on the screen displays different composite nodes. The state of an object is signaled by using colors. Used in collaboration SEPIA supports three different modes of collaborative writing (individual work, loosely coupled and tightly coupled mode) and a smooth transition between them. WYSIWIS in tightly coupled mode. Hypertext authoring system consisting of various activity spaces used for structuring, planning, arguing and writing documents under a rhetorical perspective. three modes of collaboration: individual work, loosely coupled mode and tightly coupled mode. smooth transition between these modes of collaboration with automatic node locking and 'author awareness' when somebody is in the same node for loosely coupled work; shared views, telepointing, audio-visual connection for tightly coupled work. current CSCW systems do not support different collaboration models at the same tome, nor do they allow for parallel work on a shared information base or alternative states of a shared information base. -> individual work, loosely-coupled work, tightly coupled work transitions between the modes are triggered by the authors navigational actions or by explicit conference requests CoVer, a contextual version server (hypermedia version server, realized as extension to cooperative hypermedia server CHS) represents versioned objects by so called multi-state objects (mobs) mobs hold history of a single object, tasks store history of a group of objects. CoVer offers task oriented version support - Shared Books Xerox [Lewis1988] 'publication management' system based on the Xerox ViewPoint document processing system. Container for different documents (or parts of documents). These can be accessed by several users at the same time; explicit locking per sub object; simple revision control; collaborative editing of one object is not possible; - ShrEdit University of Michigan [Baecker1993] [Dourish1992a] Co-authoring system for Macintosh. WYSIWIS editor. Multiple users may edit the same file. can be used with MacWrite, MacDraw and MacPaint. Similar to 'Aspects' but locks on the character level. Each collaborator has an identical view of the document the group is working on (WYSIWIS). To enter text, you select an insert point and type normally. Your input is automatically sent to the server if you are idle for a specified time period. If you place your cursor at a point someone else has selected, you are locked out until that person finishes. The status window shows who is currently editing and who is tracking (i.e watching what someone else types as it is being typed). users with sufficient memory can run two ShrEDIT sessions under Apples multitasking system, enabling them to maintain seperate planning and text documents. A local word processor could run as a third task for private notes. Interaction parameters such as the number of seconds of idle time before new text is sent to the server can be set by the users. Synchronous group writing system which allows for the fine grained editing of text. no prescribed structure for collaborative work, relying on the authors to form some method of working together. private and shared (public) views, track another authors actions locks shared windows at the level of text selections. no telepointers. "find" other users; "track" other users lack of structure minimal system constraint: synchronous shared editing tool designed for use in face-to-face design meetings. users can work simultaneously in any part of the document, although insertion points are locked, so that no two insertion points can be co-located. - Vopex-2KM-Sun Shared Editor on a single screen (two mice, two keyboards ...) ----------------------------------------------------------------- 4. See bibliography-editors FAQ ================================================================== David S. Stodolsky Euromath Center University of Copenhagen david@euromath.dk Tel.: +45 38 33 03 30 Fax: +45 38 33 88 80. (C) User Contributions:
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