Perforce Software has released a free cloud-based document collaboration solution called Commons Cloud, which aims to combine modern social applications with the version management capabilities of advanced software development tools.

Commons Cloud enables organization to create a hosted team of up to 20 participants to iterate on and evolve any type of file, without limitation on the number of teams a user can join. The software allows users to maintain a complete, permanent and accessible record of every edit, version and comment about every file.

Perforce CEO Christopher Seiwald said in a prepared statement that its fairly difficult for teams to keep up to date on evolving documents.

"Knowledge workers lose time everyday searching for the right file, manually resolving conflicting versions and trying to piece together the contributions from colleagues," he said. "We created Commons Cloud to extend the power of enterprise version management to teams that are working on things like PowerPoint files, artwork and Microsoft Word documents."

Businesses interested in the solution can download it for free at commons.perforce.net.