[JDEV] Microsoft adds IM functionality to Office :\
Bart van Bragt
jabber at vanbragt.com
Wed May 28 10:52:49 CDT 2003
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 :\
------------------------------
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.
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