Other controls particular to this room are along the left. A number of special purpose groupware tools called applets can be embedded into the room. These applets allow a room to be customized according to the specific needs of the group using it. As with a real-life shared space, any objects placed in a room remain there, and are available the next time the room is entered. TeamRooms goes one better than this and keeps a detailed history of the changes in the room over time.
Users can retrieve earlier versions of either individual applets or the complete room.
Activities in a room are preserved as part of the group's memory, which can provide valuable information about the evolution of an idea or artifact. We have found the shared spaces metaphor very effective for supporting collaborations. Most of the interactions we have seen have been asynchronous, typically people commenting on others' work. However, TeamRooms afforded many casual real-time interactions, when people connected to the server at the same time, saw each other and initiated conversation. It works over either dedicated networks or modem connections, and requires no special hardware.