Social Collaboration Platform For Students Kolab Opens Public Beta To First 15K Users

If you whipped Google Docs, Facebook Messenger, and OneNote around in a blender, the resulting concoction would look something like Kolab, a new Canadian startup that is vying to become the ultimate social collaboration platform for students. Kolab offers a solution for any student that has become sick and tired of switching between Microsoft Word, Facebook, OneNote, and email. It offers real-time collaborative document editing, Facebook chat integration, video chat, and audio recording for lectures amongst its laundry list of features. Of course, there are plenty of other players in the land of education startups. Wiggio and Edmodo are two startups that we?ve covered here on TechCrunch that boast similar features, and are tailored specifically for student use. So what differentiates Kolab from the rest of the pack? Kolab granted me access to their beta last week, and I?ve been diligently putting it through the paces. There are a lot of interesting ideas there, but it?s safe to say that there are a few bugs Kolab will have to iron out before it?s fully ready for primetime. While Wiggio?s interface isn?t cluttered by any means, Kolab?s interface is a true exercise in minimalism. Once you sign in by granting Kolab access to your Facebook account (that?s the only way you can for now), you?re greeted with a stark homepage with nothing but a few graphics that display Kolab?s flat design aesthetic. Instead of files and folders, Kolab organizes things into lockers, binders, and squares. Your ?locker? basically serves as your Kolab homepage, and it?s where you have access to all of your classes and documents. Each class is represented by a big square called a ?binder?, while each of your documents within that binder is represented by a smaller square called… a ?square?. You?re also forced to assign each binder a distinct color, as to help differentiate between classes. In the bottom corner you can pop open a Facebook chat window, which lets you message any of your friends regardless of whether they?re Kolab users or not. You can also instant message and video chat with Kolab users as well. Kolab seems to take a lot of cues from Microsoft?s ?Metro? interface, which isn?t a bad thing at all. It?s certainly pretty to look at, but sometimes it falls through the same shortcomings Windows 8 has where a simple function like turning your computer off is buried under an unintuitive

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