
Introducing Documize: Upload Word Documents, Get Back a Wiki (Open Source) - HarveyKandola
http://www.documize.com/
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davidy123
Is this really a "wiki" or is it an online document editor? It's easy to
create the basics of a "wiki," and while reliably importing documents into a
wiki isn't easy, it's just a starting point. The important features of a
Wikipedia (Mediawiki) are an emphasis on links within the site, the ability to
view changes across the site, changes on one page, and to see how a page was
composed in clean markup, the clean markup also preventing behind the scenes
jumbly messes of "structure." Missing any of these points loses a vital aspect
of wikis. The category structure and templates are also important features,
supporting what in Wikipedia's case is a strong support community that can go
well beyond what a formulated menu structure can offer. (Mediawiki has
emphatically refused to implement any kind of fine grained access model, this
is one area other wikis have advantages.)

But now people expect more, they don't want to be forced to use markup and
they want to simultaneously edit documents in a rich editor, in a social
setting where its easy to find and connect with other contributors. This is
the current focus of Wikipedia and while other efforts have their own
strengths, not connecting finely to Wikipedia's developments is, to me anyway,
missing the greatest element of development.

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HarveyKandola
It's online document editing with approvals, diffs, etc.

The funny thing is regular business users think of it as a wiki. Me and you
know different!

Think of the business folks at Wells Fargo or any other larger enterprise.
They will upload 100's if if not 1000's of documents. Now they can link
between documents or just work on each document as they do.

Wiki is a word we think doesn't fit -- but we keep running into it.

The joy of start-ups: too much uncertainty!

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davidy123
Thanks for the clarification. I wonder if the word "wiki" might not work
against you though. In my experience people's idea of a wiki is fixed on
something from a decade ago. They often react with outright revulsion to the
word (though granted most terms in our field such as "portal" and "CMS" have
also been abused). But there have been so many examples of "wikis" that turn
into woolly messes or are too technical for 'ordinary' uses to want to commit
to so fail in their goal of being open for anyone. Without the traction of a
Wikipedia style site I would think you might be better off using another word.

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HarveyKandola
Agreed. Just looking for that word!

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HarveyKandola
Documize co-founder here. Would love some initial feedback on our new startup,
Documize.

Documize is targeting enterprises who have mountains of Word documents full of
intel and know-how that people struggle to find and maintain. Running a couple
of pilots at the moment.

Dual licensing approach supporting open source and commercial. Public beta
coming soon. Expect freemium/paid plans (SaaS) and commercial support plans
(on premise).

Tech stack: Go, Angular, MySQL (Windows, Linux, OSX)

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walterbell
> mountains of Word documents

Is it one wiki per doc, or does it try to cross-link docs into a single wiki?

> Dual licensing approach supporting open source and commercial.

Could you share a bit more about your vision? Dual-licensing is often used
with dev tools, how would it work with a SaaS offering?

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HarveyKandola
You can upload all your documents and work/share them individually. Then
linking between becomes easier because they are not just Word files sitting on
disc.

For SaaS:

\- freemium plan for 1 user \- paid plans based upon number of users

On-premise:

\- download and install core product \- enterprise features like AD auth,
redacting, workflows are paid for

We plan to put the core product source code onto Github so anyone can have
their on hosted "wiki".

Hope this makes sense.

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walterbell
Cool demo video. At first it sounded like gibberish, then words started coming
into focus, by the end I was amazed at the density of information being
communicated.

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kylecordes
In terms of information density, it is pretty slick. Listening to it on a
less-than-great set of laptop speakers in a not-quiet environment, it was
nearly impossible to make our the words.

My advice: you are innovating in the speaking/presentation style, and that is
pretty slick; if you care about it, bring it to the forefront by lowering the
music level by half. If you don't care about the voice enough to put it far in
front of the music, put the words on the screen so people can just mute it and
read.

~~~
HarveyKandola
Thanks for the feedback!

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gurisingh
The start is always one the most difficult part. So congrats for getting at
this stage.

I like the idea and just signed up for the beta!

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saarc
Congratulations, love the idea of converting my docs to wiki. The rap video is
awesome!

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33522v
A perfect tool, this is great!

