New Release of MindTouch Wiki Draws Praise for Easy Integration

MindTouch is hoping to capture the top spot as a collaborative wiki platform with a new release of Deki, the "Kilen Woods" version. Its not-so-secret weapon against top competitor MediaWiki: integration with Salesforce.com, SugarCRM, LinkedIn, GoogleEarth and other big-name offerings.

eWEEK reports that MindTouch hopes to target Microsoft systems integrators who want to "enhance user value." To achieve that, the new release of Deki includes a slew of adapters for Salesforce.com, MySQL database, Microsoft's SQL Server, Microsoft Access and Microsoft ADO.NET -- all of which can be accessed by business users through an easy-to-use wiki interface without coding. As I read the article, this means wiki users can create their own dashboards, workflows, reports and -- yes -- mashups to access data from CRM, ERP, databases and legacy systems.

You gotta admit, that's impressive. eWEEK's Clint Boulton summed up the significance this way:

"Many companies enable similar mashups. Few do it in a collaborative wiki environment and even fewer offer products that are crafted so that business users with little to no technical know-how can create the mashups after a site administrator registers the apps."

DaniWeb blogger Lisa Hoover put it this way:

"As one vendor after another develops the 'perfect' solution for helping companies access an ever-increasing amount of data, it's great to see a product that ties all the information together in one place. Now, why didn't I think of that?"

My favorite thing about this story, though, is how MindTouch developed this user-friendly, smart product. Aaron Fulkerson, cofounder and CEO of MindTouch, told TechNewsWorld that MindTouch learned customers were tinkering with Deki and finding ways to integrate this data outside the platform. Quoth Fulkerson:

"We took what they were doing and bundled it in the release."

How very Web 2.0 of you!

MindTouch demoed the Deki Kilen Woods version at this year's OSCON, and is expected to release it later this month, according to the press release.

MindTouch's Deki made headlines in May when Mozilla's developers began using version 8.05 to manage Web content.

Right now, MindTouch executives say they're focused on gaining wiki market share. The eWEEK article reports that MindTouch nets around 2,000-3,000 downloads a day, compared to MediaWiki's 15,000 downloads per day.

But long term, Boulton theorized MindTouch may nab Microsoft's attention, since Deki's capabilities would nicely supplement SharePoint Server.