 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | May 30, 2005 |
| Headquarters | San Mateo, California, U.S. |
Key people | David Weekly, Founder Jim Groff, CEO[1] |
| Products | A free/premium hosted workspace service which allows collaborative editing of pages and files |
Number of employees | 30 |
| Website | www |
PBworks (formerlyPBwiki[2]) is a commercialreal-time collaborative editing (RTCE) system created byDavid Weekly, withRamit Sethi[citation needed] and Nathan Schmidt, who joined shortly thereafter as co-founders. Based inSan Mateo, California,[1]United States, the company operates on afreemium basis, offering basic features free of charge and more advanced features for a fee.[3]
PBworks' investors include Mohr Davidow Ventures[4] and the Seraph Group, as well asangel investors Ron Conway and Chris Yeh.[5]
In 2005, David Weekly began developing software to build privately hostedwikis through a website, which he named "PeanutButterWiki".[6] The company's original name stems from the concept that "making awiki is as easy as making apeanut butter sandwich".[7] The originalbeta test of PBworks was released for public comment on May 31, 2005.[8]
The site was formally launched in June 2005. In early 2008, the company launched PBworks 2.0, an improved version with a new layout, more granular security, and a more easily customizable color scheme. PBworks also launched a Mobile Edition in early 2009.
In June 2008, the company hired Jim Groff, a former employee ofOracle Corporation andApple Inc., as its newCEO. David Weekly, the former CEO, remains its Chief Product Officer and Chairman.[1]
As of 2008, PBworks contains over 6.91 million pages of user content.[9]
In 2014, the team behind PBworks began development of its next-generation product, Dokkio.[10]
PBworks is hosted on an all-Linux cluster[9] and uses its own proprietarysoftware. In early 2007, it addedWYSIWYG editing, and in 2008, limitedHTML source editing. Since 2009, the wiki is entirely HTML based, and original wiki markup language is no longer supported.[11]
Users can create free basic wiki workspaces or upgrade to a premium plan to access additional features, such as enhanced security features, customization throughCSS, and more storage space. Workspaces can be configured as either public or private (only viewable by those who have been invited to join the workspace).[citation needed]
The software is only available in English.[citation needed]
A number of businesses and corporations use PBworks to create private wikis for employees; one case study described a legal firm which had transitioned to PBworks as adocument management system in order to cut theirIT costs.[12] Major companies using PBworks to host internal documents includeCafePress.com,Capgemini,Deloitte,Financial Times,Kiva, andWideload Games.[13] Many educational groups and educators use PBworks, too, includingDePaul University, theNational Opinion Research Center at theUniversity of Chicago, theUniversity of Toronto, theUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison, andWayne State University.[citation needed]
On April 28, 2009, PBwiki changed its name to PBworks (and at the same time launched a new Legal Edition).[2]