Google Sites - what JotSpot's "application wiki" has become

Updated 4/3/2008

We've used JotSpot internally in ALT to good effect for our "Operations Manual" for several years; and during 2005-2006 I was involved in using it for producing the TUC's online course development and management manual. Last year Google bought JotSpot, and JotSpot went into a sort of benign limbo - we ceased having to pay for the service, no new features were added to it, and no new JotSpot sites could be created. After six months of rumour that the Google version of JotSpot was imminent, Google finally relaunched JotSpot today as Google Sites. I've not had a chance to look at it properly; but at first glance it appears simpler than JotSpot - not necessarily a bad thing, but not necessarily a good thing either. Our existing JotSpot site remains unchanged, and the question within ALT will be whether we can start to create new user accounts on the site, which we've not been able to do since last year's take-over. I have a nasty feeling that we'll not be able to, though I hope I'll be proved wrong. with its functionality apparently intact. So far so good, but I had (naively) been hoping that  existing JotSpot sites would miraculously transform themselves into the new "sites" system without any action by subscribers. According to this 29 February report in InfoWorld by Juan Carlos Perez, Google intends to provide a "one click" conversion process. If readers have insights or practical experience on this issue please comment below.