[citation needed] Collaborative software is a broad concept that overlaps considerably with computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW).
The authors claim that CSCW, and thereby groupware, addresses "how collaborative activities and their coordination can be supported by means of computer systems."
[4][5] Douglas Engelbart first envisioned collaborative computing in 1951 and documented his vision in 1962,[6] with working prototypes in full operational use by his research team by the mid-1960s.
[8] The following year, Engelbart's lab was hooked into the ARPANET, the first computer network, enabling them to extend services to a broader userbase.
[11] In 1996, Pavel Curtis, who had built MUDs at PARC, created PlaceWare, a server that simulated a one-to-many auditorium, with side chat between "seat-mates", and the ability to invite a limited number of audience members to speak.
[13] Collaborative software was originally designated as groupware and this term can be traced as far back as the late 1980s, when Richman and Slovak (1987)[14] wrote: "Like an electronic sinew that binds teams together, the new groupware aims to place the computer squarely in the middle of communications among managers, technicians, and anyone else who interacts in groups, revolutionizing the way they work."
[15] In the early 1990s the first commercial groupware products were delivered, and big companies such as Boeing and IBM started using electronic meeting systems for key internal projects.
Lotus Notes appeared as a major example of that product category, allowing remote group collaboration when the internet was still in its infancy.
Kirkpatrick and Losee (1992)[16] wrote then: "If GROUPWARE really makes a difference in productivity long term, the very definition of an office may change.
There is no central entity around which the interaction revolves but is a free exchange of information with no defined constraints, generally focused on personal experiences.