I've been using a cool product for the last few months that I'm finding indispensable when working with friends and business colleagues. We're able to swap files and pictures without limit; coordinate schedules; chat by voice, instant message, or e-mail; and bounce ideas back and forth.

The product is called Groove Virtual Office. Just about the only thing I don't like about it is it's been lumped into the "collaboration tool" category, an incredibly dull and pricey class of products that's been slow to catch on. But before you start to doze off, read on.

Get Virtually Together

Collaboration tools--with version tracking and file sharing--have been around for years. What prompted me to look at them was that I needed to share files and edit documents with a dozen people while writing my book PC Annoyances. I'd have to pick up the tab and didn't want to pay a small fortune for a collaboration program. Microsoft's SharePoint, for instance, costs $1000 for five users. (Settle down, I'm not going to ask you to try it.)

But Groove Virtual Office isn't outrageously expensive, and it does an amazingly good job.

First things first: I think you'll have a better feel for what a collaboration tool does, and get a better sense of Groove, by checking out "Get More Work Out of Your Day," my Home Office print column for the December issue.

Some of you may not be familiar with collaboration tools. They let groups of practically any size work together by making it easy to share ideas and move files back and forth. In one sense, they're souped-up file sharing programs; but many of these tools have a myriad of other super-helpful features.

For example, say you have to create and modify a Microsoft Word document with five coworkers. The way most people would do it is to e-mail the file to the others and get someone in the group to coordinate the doc's trail. That means one poor schlemiel will be stuck tracking who last worked on the doc and getting the doc sent back to everyone. (This same schmendrick will also probably spend hours trying to figure out how to use colors in Word's Revisions and Tracking feature, but that's another story.)

Here's where a collaboration program does a much better job: The file and all the support documents reside in a central location. Coworkers can access the files, but the collaboration tool manages the chore of coordination. For instance, only one person at a time can check out--actually work on--the file; others are locked out.

But that's only a small portion of the thrill (really!) of using one of these programs.

BTW, some of these products run over the Web: for instance, Intranets.com and Microsoft SharePoint. But Groove is a program that you download and install. And no, you won't need a network administrator to help you set it up or use it.

Dig This: I can't get enough of these satellite photos. I found one from the Landstat satellite, a 2TB file. Right, that's terabyte--it's big, so even broadband users need to give the image a few seconds to come into focus. And note that the site installs a small Internet Explorer plug-in (it's benign). I didn't test it with other browsers, so I don't know if it'll work without IE. Helpful hint: Click the mouse image in the frame on the left; the caption is "Active Zoom." A pop-up window provides instructions for using the page.

The site presents a view of Earth comprised of more than 600 satellite images that were mosaicked together (geekspeak: geometrically rectified and calibrated to a common coordinate framework) and compressed so you can view it without it taking three days to download. More stats and info are at the World Mosaic page.

Groovy Ways to Share

Groove has many talents.

For instance, I can review and edit a Word document with other people, in real time. This isn't unique to Groove, nor is it a new idea. But when you see it in action, it's ultra cool. Live discussions go beyond simple chats--the dialogue is captured, maintained, and time-stamped, all within a hierarchical structure. There's a powerful calendar, a project manager, and a meeting management feature. If I have, say, a half dozen Web sites I want everyone to visit, I just add them to the Web Links feature, which has a mini-browser built in.

There are tons more features; I created an annotated screen capture to show them to you. And BTW, Groove lets you do all these things concurrently, so you can be chatting via the instant messaging feature while uploading files and filling in the calendar.

I don't want Groove to get short shrift, so I encourage you to read two articles that go into even more detail: "Groove Gets Into File-Sharing" and "Groove Updates Its Virtual Office."

One other advantage of Groove over the other collaboration tools I tried is the cost: It's $70. That may sound high when you're used to the tremendous number of free products available. But Groove is a seasoned, robust product that does everything right. I know I'm risking my curmudgeonly reputation, but I haven't found any shortcomings in Groove.

Quick Groove Invitation: If you haven't read my print column, you're missing a way to join me at a special workspace I set up. First you have to download and install Groove. Grab the full-featured trial version, which is good for 60 days. Once Groove is up and running, download your invitation (it's a small file) and click on it to automatically add yourself to "Steve's Spot," a Groove workspace. You'll be able to enter the workspace; check out the files; and, if I'm online at the time, chat with me.

Dig This: You know how much I love trippy Flash sites. Well, this one from Canadian band The Arcade Fire is one of the trippiest I've seen in a while. Chances are good you'll be able to fritter away at least an hour of your workday. [With thanks to Kim.]

Other Tools for Collaboration

I like Groove, sure--but I also talked about InterComm in my column. It's free; and while it's not nearly as powerful as Groove, it's fine for simple file and document sharing, and for chatting. Our top-notch reviewer, Laura Blackwell, who introduced me to the product, talks about it in more detail in "InterComm Fuses Messaging, Collaboration."

Want more collaboration tools to choose from? Sure enough. Browse KMunity Tools and SVPAL: Collaborative Groupware Software. Both sites have what seem like endless listings of free, low-cost, and commercial collaboration and sharing tools.

In addition to writing PC World's Home Office column, Steve Bass is the author of "PC Annoyances." Sign up to have Steve Bass's Home Office Newsletter e-mailed to you each week. Comments or questions? You can reach him by collaborating with him on Groove, or through old-fashioned e-mail on his still spyware-free PC.