[jdev] [ANN] Spark IM client

[Matt Tucker]

Hello all,

We're pleased to announce the release of Spark 1.0, a free,
cross-platform IM client. Windows and Mac releases are available now; a
Linux version will be available in the near future. More information and
downloads at:

http://www.jivesoftware.org/spark/

Spark is optimized for use by organizations and businesses with a simple
but powerful UI and matching features:

 * File transfer
 * Tabbed conversations
 * In-line spell-checking
 * Telephony integration through Asterisk-IM

We've also released Spark Manager, a free server plugin that lets the
Spark clients in a network be centrally managed. The initial feature in
Spark Manager is to control which Spark updates are automatically rolled
out to users. Spark Manager can be found at:

http://www.jivesoftware.com/products/messenger/sparkmanager.jsp

We're quite proud of the first release. However, we know there's still a
lot of work to do and we're looking forward to feedback that we can roll
into the next releases.

So, where is Jive Software heading with EIM? The combination of Spark,
Jive Messenger, and Asterisk-IM delivers what we think is a compelling
alternative to any proprietary EIM solution currently available. Why go
with LCS or Sametime when you can have something better, with an open
protocol, and that's free? :) From that base, we'll be building
commercial extensions to make IM smarter. The queuing and routing
features in Jive Live Assistant are a great example of this, but we'll
have more to announce in the near future.

Regards,
Matt