[JDEV] Microsoft adds IM functionality to Office :\

[Bart van Bragt]

Found this on ZDNet UK:

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2135279,00.html

Wasn't very pleased with it :\ Also don't like the fact that this editor 
doesn't seem to be aware of the existence of Jabber/XMPP :\

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Microsoft adds IM software to Office
16:53 Tuesday 27th May 2003
Jim Hu, CNET News.com

Microsoft has added a corporate IM product to its Office suite. The 
company hopes the software will be used as a 'bridge' between the PC and 
telephone

Microsoft on Tuesday added the "Office" moniker to its upcoming 
enterprise instant messaging software in a branding move intended to 
heighten the product's appeal to potential business buyers.

The software giant said the application will now be called Microsoft 
Office Real-Time Communications Server 2003. The branding change comes 
nearly two months after the company said the product would be called 
Real-Time Communications Server 2003. The software was developed under 
the code-name Greenwich.

Office RTC Server 2003 will have one principal function when it's 
released in summer: convince businesses about the merits of enterprise 
instant messaging. Microsoft is trying to sell a secure IM client to 
companies already using its server software. Enterprise instant 
messaging has become a new market that technology heavyweights such as 
IBM, Sun, AOL and Yahoo are all scrambling to dominate.

The interest stems from instant messaging's grassroots proliferation 
into the workplace. Since IM allows real-time exchange of text messages 
between users, the technology has become a popular way for employees to 
communicate with business contacts. This has posed a conundrum for 
industries that embrace IM's effectiveness while fearing the difficulty 
of managing the security of its communications flow.

Leaders in consumer instant messaging like AOL, MSN and Yahoo, which 
have amassed hundreds of millions of nonpaying users, all have launched 
enterprise IM products. Established software vendors -- including 
Microsoft, IBM and Sun -- are using their inroads into corporate 
technology departments to sell their own products.

While Microsoft hopes companies will use RTC Server to set up their own 
corporate IM networks, the company has loftier ambitions for the 
software. Company executives including chairman Bill Gates are touting 
RTC Server as a platform for communications features such as Net phone 
calls and videoconferencing. The company is hoping it RTC Server will be 
the bridge between the PC and the telephone.