WriteWith is a simple new collaborative writing platform that is sort of a hybrid of a blog and a wiki. It provides the simple WYSIWYG interface bloggers are accustomed to with the added bonus of versioning, which will be familiar to wiki users.
It also comes with some other potentially neat features.From TechCrunch:
Making a document begins by starting right in the editor, or uploading a document to the site (.doc, .txt, .rtf, Open Office). Once a document is started, you can invite other people to see and edit it by email without their needing to create an account. When you go to a document page you’ll see the latest version, a list of previous versions, a message board, and task assignments. Everyone invited to edit and view a document has the equal ability to edit a document, assign tasks to each other, and post messages to the board.
but see this criticism of WriteWith
http://www.uncov.com/2007/4/12/writewith-everybody-point-and-laugh
They are saying it essentially isn't any better than Writely, and the wysiwyg editor isn't that great.
WriteWith
I've been experimenting with this tool a bit, and must admit that it has much room to grow. The basic idea is great--it's basically trying to clone Google Docs but carry over the chat window you get with Google Spreadsheets (why it's not in both, I don't know). However, the students who tested it complained that WriteWith was awkward to work with when documents got too long. I didn't quite catch the details on that, though. Probably the biggest pain is that you must constantly click "update" to see the changes made by your collaborators.
I was very impressed with moonedit when I saw it demonstrated at Mankato, but no one else seems to know about it. It made sync. collaborative writing a breeze, with real-time updating and different colors for the participants' text. I've yet to see something like it.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Check out Barton's gaming blog at Armchair Arcade.