Using handheld devices in synchronous collaborative scenarios

In this paper we present a platform specially designed for groupware applications running on handheld devices. Common groupware platforms request desktop computers as underlying hardware platforms. The fundamental different nature of handheld devices has a great impact on the platform, e.g. resource limitations have to be considered, the network is slow and unstable. Often, personal data are stored on handheld devices, thus mechanisms have to ensure privacy. These considerations lead to the QuickStep platform. Sample applications developed with QuickStep demonstrate the strengths of the QuickStep environment.