Google buys JotSpot, dips into wiki world

Google has bought JotSpot, a 3-year-old company with a system for building collaborative Web pages called wikis.

JotSpot co-founder and CEO Joe Kraus announced the acquisition on a blog Tuesday morning, saying that being part of search giant Google will give JotSpot access to “world-class” data centers and engineers.

Details of the transaction were not disclosed.

Earlier this month, Google shook up the online landscape with its $1.65 billion purchase of video-sharing phenomenon YouTube.

Google’s efforts to offer hosted applications, such as word processors and spreadsheets, mesh with JotSpot’s strategy to build online productivity applications, Kraus wrote.

“We watched them acquire Writely, and launch Google Groups, Google Spreadsheets and Google Apps for Your Domain. It was pretty apparent that Google shared our vision for how groups of people can create, manage and share information online,” he wrote.

JotSpot’s product is a platform for building wiki-based applications. For example, the company has an online spreadsheet and calendar that multiple people can edit.

Full article: CNET News.com