Instant Messaging

Will Cisco, Google and Microsoft be the Big 3 for collaboration?

Microsoft Subnet — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 11:59:50 -0400

So Cisco has identified online collaboration as a $34 billion market – would that include tools like instant messaging that are free to use and advertising sponsored – which is not a business model that Cisco currently engages in?It seems as if the deeper meaning of its newly minted collaboration product portfolio is two-fold. One, Cisco wants to be seen as an application delivery platform – not just a network gear provider. That gives it a whole 'nother level of stuff to sell to its users in its attempt to become all things to all networks. Two, it is duking it out with Microsoft over unified communications.

Collaboration tools start to make more sense in this second context as do offerings that compete with Microsoft (and Google) for instant messaging, online conferencing and the like. Of particular interest to Microsoft will be how Cisco integrates its UC software with Windows such as Windows Mobile, while supporting popular competing platforms such as BlackBerry. Microsoft does a poor job of "co-opetition" preferring to squash competitors, rather than work with them (although it does have some partnership agreements with BlackBerry.) This allows a "third-party" like Cisco to walk in, make agreements with multiple mobile OS competitors and become instantly attractive to the enterprise.

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Why search technologies are going to recombine

CurtMonash — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 02:26:19 -0400

I gave a talk Monday starting from the premise that there are at least 8 separate text technology markets. But one of the concluding points was that many of these distinct markets are poised to recombine. Here are some examples of what I mean.

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Learning about language from IMers

Alpha Doggs — Sat, 17 May 2008 06:49:08 -0400

The linguistic ramifications of the way people, especially young people, chatter via IM has become a popular topic among researchers.

One new examination suggests that instant messaging represents “an expansive new linguistic renaissance” and is not necessarily a dumbing down of language as some parents and educators fear, according to a report in New Scientist .

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party

Thu, 15 May 2008 13:38:22 -0400

anty 1 wana partay

Researchers study the language of IM. Next up: Facebook

Alpha Doggs — Thu, 01 May 2008 18:21:09 -0400

Not that we really needed university researchers to tell us this, but instant messaging qualifies as its own language according to Kent State University researchers.

“Instant messaging, or IM, is not just bad grammar or a bunch of mistakes,” says Dr. Pamela Takayoshi, Kent State University associate professor of English, in a statement. “IM is a separate language form from formal English and has a common set of language features and standards.”

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Messaging: Cellular or Internet Protocols?

Craig Mathias — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:19:50 -0400

The subject of instant messaging came up this week (and the week is just getting started) via a call from an editor who wanted to talk quite broadly about this topic, particularly with respect to how IM is being used in business. In general, I am not personally a fan of IM, and rarely recommend it beyond purely personal use, for two reasons: it's not secure, and, even more importantly, it's not auditable. This is why many enterprises ban the use of IM at work - there's no trail of what was communicated as there is with e-mail.

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OFFLINE MESSAGING IS NOT A NEW THING...

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 16:19:56 -0400

OFFLINE MESSAGING IS NOT A NEW THING. ICQ HAD IT LIKE 10 YEARS AGO. Seriously. I hate AIM so much.

Microsoft Messenger and 6.6 degrees of separation

Alpha Doggs — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 11:08:09 -0400

The journal Nature is reporting that Microsoft researchers have found that the theory of everyone in the world being separated by just six other people pretty much holds true based on an analysis of 255 billion messages sent by 240 million people in June 2006.

The researchers actually published their work this past June and plan to present it ithe World Wide Web Conference set for April in Beijing.

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RE: Office Communication Server 2007 deployment might be easier than you think

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 10:06:39 -0500

The real issue to any presence offering is how easy/hard is it for the end user to manage the business rules of who has direct voice or IM access and who gets shunted to email. Constantly having to manage your "status" in a presence system, even one that tries to be intuitive can be disruptive if you're in the middle of a project and multi-tasking.

RE: The impact of mobile messaging on IT

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 11:51:52 -0500

It really isn't that much of a burden; it's a natural progression of IT. We are always changing and adapting in IT. Where it does become a challenge is where a) insufficient resources for training and b) insufficient funds for implementation. These are not specific to advancements in mobile computing, though. >>"As the number of mobile users increases, the problems associated with mobile device management will become significantly more pronounced"

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RE: Is e-mail really dying?

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 09:20:40 -0500

Would like to see IM for near-real-time business communication instead of email: but would need to keep a history of IM conversations. For personal comms, prefer email or Skype.

RE: Top 5 IM security risks

Sun, 11 Nov 2007 22:48:54 -0500

My son and I just purchasd webcams. When we tried to initiate a video call, my system allowed me to access his system but he could not see us. Zone Alarm notified me that his computer did not have IM security. Is this the reason he could not open our web cam?

RE: Meebo aims to transform Web-based IM into 'platform'

Tue, 30 Oct 2007 13:28:42 -0400

TalkShoe is one of four meebo Partners in their latest announcement. I's under the meebo "Rocket Ship" applications. With TalkShoe, you can instantly create a group voice call with up to 250 of your meebo and IM friends. The host can mute/unmute and manage the call. If you want to record the call have it converted to a podcast for later listening, link to TalkShoe directly and become a member. http://www.talkshoe.com

MSN Messenger users forced to move to Windows Live Messenger 8.1

Microsoft Subnet — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 12:41:26 -0400

Microsoft will force users of its aged MSN Messenger instant messaging software to upgrade to Windows Live Messenger 8.1 in response to a vulnerability in the older program that was made public Tuesday. According to a blog post by a Microsoft security program manager who identified himself only as "Anand," the instant messaging service will require users to update to the safe Live Messenger 8.1. Read the full story in Computerworld.

Anybody have a legitimate use for P2P in an office environment?

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 10:04:50 -0400

What company needs to allow programs like Limewire, Kazaa, ShareBear, or any of the other P2P programs? Why not just block all P2P traffic and let people infect their systems at home if they want illegal music or file downloads? Anybody have a legitimate use for P2P in an office environment? Re: IM attacks up nearly 80%, Akonix says. Anybody?

Presence apps won't become as ubiquitous as e-mail

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 12:36:52 -0400

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Ready to produce IMs in court?

Thu, 18 Jan 2007 15:28:36 -0500

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AIM 6.0 touts "offline messages"

Jason Meserve — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 10:42:47 -0500

AOL today shipped AIM 6.0 to the masses. One new feature struck me as odd: The ability to send messages to offline buddies. Um, isn't that called e-mail?

Making IM conversations off the record

Adam Gaffin — Thu, 13 Oct 2005 09:43:44 -0400

Possibly good for Joe User, possibly bad for Joe IT Admin who has to worry about things like compliance: How to keep instant messaging off the record describes a plug-in for Gaim (an open-source IM client) that can supposedly ensure nobody can ever see the contents of any IM conversations:

Sometimes encryption isn't enough to keep your conversations private. With standard encryption, it's theoretically possible for someone to steal your secret encryption keys and decipher the conversation. For conversations that need to be kept confidential, the Off-the-Record (OTR) plugin for Gaim saves the day. It leaves no trace of a conversation ever having taken place.

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Pushing for IM interoperability

Adam Gaffin — Wed, 12 Oct 2005 10:06:32 -0400

That's what the new IM Federation plans to do. Meanwhile, Yahoo and MSN plan some IM inter-lovin'.