Quote
"I can’t think of anything that demonstrates the sovereign nature of the self better than a blog.” - Doc Searls
About the Author
Stowe Boyd is a well-known media subversive,
and an internationally recognized authority on real-time, collaborative
and social technologies. His new blog is Message.
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Monthly Archives
November 25, 2003
Posted by Stowe Boyd
The November column is up at Darwin.
[from The Promise and Pitfalls of Social Networking]
In an editorially schizophrenic show of ambivalence, Business 2.0's November issue lauds social networking — with mentions of offerings from companies like Linkedin, Ryze, Friendster, Spoke and VisiblePath — as the best technology of 2003, while the magazine's lead article warns that the tech bubble is about to blow again. This juxtaposition of tech rise and fall has sparked a strange turn in the media discussion regarding social networking, specifically: Is the bubble around social networking about to burst?
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Culture | Technology
Posted by Stowe Boyd
Large enterprises have realized enormous productivity gains and hard cost savings in recent years by investing in sophisticated web conferencing solutions. Some have reliably claimed to be saving millions of dollars per quarter, in hard costs, based on reduction in travel and long distance phone charges. This is a compelling arugument in today's cost conscious environment.
An explosion of solutions are appearing -- all sharing the basic metaphor of web conferencing -- but the spectrum of offerings is becoming very broad. In the past few weeks I have looked into some exciting alternatives -- including solutions from eDial, Viack, Lightsocket and WiredRed -- defining the state of this very hot and crowded market.
...continue reading.
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November 21, 2003
Posted by Stowe Boyd
Instant Messaging Planet today broke the news that Oracle has licensed Jabber Inc. technology for integration into the Collaboration suite product. Apparently, Chris Saunders, the article's author, dug this information from Webb Interactive's quarterly SEC filings, or 10-Q, where $4.5M of licensing receipts were reported. Webb Interactive owns a 43% stake in Jabber, Inc.
Neither Jabber Inc. nor Oracle have made formal press releases, but I will dig around to find out what's going on.
Clearly, this is a big opportunity for Jabber Inc., which is one of the few pure-play instant messaging vendors to gain significan share-of-mind. Oracle's inclusion of Jabber XCP in the Collaboration Suite -- along with Oracle's highly aggressive marketing plans -- could lead to explosive growth for Jabber, and perhaps market acceptance for the technology and the protocol.
In August, I interviewed Sunir Kapoor and Steve Levine ("Oracle's Angle"), VP of Engineering and VP of Marketing for Collaboration Suite, respectively, and I was struck with the company's vision for real-time enabling the enterprise. Something that I did not mention in the article, but which struck me at the time, was the level of interest Oracle seemed to have about XMPP, the Jabber protocol. A clue, and one that I did not turn over at the time.
As a sidenote -- email directed to several Oracle marketing folks bounced, including an email to Steve Levine. I have it on good authority that Levine has left the company.
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November 20, 2003
Posted by Stowe Boyd
AOL has revised their longstanding policy re: AIM multiple login. Formerly, attempting a second login to the system, for example, from a PDA while already logged in on a PC, would lead to the first client being disconnected.
The capability to login on multiple devices offers benefits, such as concurrent support of mobile and stationary devices. Note that when you login multiple locations, all messages will be sent to all clients unless you set the 'Away' flag, as described at an AOL web page.
Multiple login is supported by other IM systems -- like Jabber -- that have a long history with telephony and related mobility solutions. This policy changes demonstrates that AOL has finally accepted the new world of mobility.
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Technology
Posted by Stowe Boyd
My complaints about Verizon Wireless cell pix led to the following clueless response: Hello Stowe,
Thank you for taking the time to send us your feedback. Verizon Wireless takes great pride in the products and services that we offer our customers. We strive to offer our customers the best value in both cost and functionality. Customer feedback, such as yours, enables Verizon Wireless to continually improve the products available to our customers to better meet your needs. We will ensure
that your feedback is sent to the correct department to allow us to make future improvements and enhancements to the products and services that we offer. We look forward to meeting your needs now and in the future.
If you have further questions or concerns, please contact us anytime through e-mail using the address of wirelessdata@verizonwireless.com. We appreciate your business and thank you for choosing
Verizon Wireless.
{name deleted}
Verizon Wireless
Wireless Data Technical Support
"We never stop working for you!" I love the fact that they take great pride in their services, but completely avoid dealing with the issue. I just want them to take the ads (and other unwanted junk) out of the cell pix emails I am sending from my phone. It is not some free service, where I might be willing to accept the ads. I am paying for this service, and they provide no means to turn off the ads. Saying "Sorry, there is no way to disable the ads," is not adequate.
I look forward to seeing the president of Verizon Wireless's response, which is promised within two days.
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November 17, 2003
Posted by Stowe Boyd
Communicator Inc. has announced the newest evolution of its real-time messaging technology: Hub Connex. This product incorporates the company's Hub IM, a secure enterprise IM solution that has been marketed since 2001, but Hub Connex is a significant advance over the baseline enterprise instant messaging platform, providing a variety of capabilities to support real-time secure communities.
...continue reading.
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| Category: Telecommunications
November 13, 2003
Posted by Stowe Boyd
I have received press releases from both IMlogic and FaceTime that their respective CEOs, Francis DeSouza and Glen Vondrick, have been asked to participate in a Comdex session touching on instant messaging.
The session, however, is a strange chimera, entitled "Instantaneous Online Communications: Instant Messaging, Presence and Blogging." As far as I know, there are only a few blogging technologies that support any sort of instant messaging (see Mo'time: IM-enabled Blogging as one example), so I suppose the session is a catch-all of new and emerging technologies.
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| Category: Events
November 12, 2003
Posted by Stowe Boyd
Cisco has agreed to acquire Latitude Communications for $80M. Latitude's MeetingPlace is a competitor for the increasingly crowded and maturing market for real-time web conferencing, squaring off with solutions from IBM, Microsoft, and WebEx.
Latitude announced a relationship with FaceTime in August 2003 to support integration with the leading instant messaging solutions, moving toward a form of parity with Microsoft and IBM solutions.
Cisco has had a long relationship with Latitude, whose MeetingPlace technology was integrated with Cisco's CallManager as early as 2000. Cisco is aggressively working to add software capabilities to its offerings, particularly those that support advanced application of audio and video in enterprise networks.
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| Category: Technology
November 11, 2003
Posted by Stowe Boyd
My November The Medium is the Message column for Knowledge Management magazine has been posted: Real-Time Collaboration in Context.
I discuss the idea of in-context versus out-of-context collaboration, a theme that I have touched on in this forum, and that I plan to expand into a longer report, available later this month.
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| Category: Technology
Posted by Stowe Boyd
United Airlines has announced completion of the Verizon Airfone JetConnect rollout across their entire fleet, supporting inflight email and instant messaging.
Connectivity is supported by plugging into the Airfone handsets. Pricing:
JetConnect with Email
$15.98 per flight
Send and receive an unlimited number of e-mail messages per flight. Data
in excess of 5kB (kilobyte) per message and attachments incur a cost of
ten cents per kB. Includes all JetConnect features.
JetConnect:
$5.99 per flight
Instant Messaging, one-way text messaging, updated weather, national,
international and business news, sports, and stock listings, games, over
100 city guides and airline information.
AOL, MSN, Yahoo or ICQ instant messaging clients are supported, and must be already installed on the PC. I am awaiting word on whether all IM client functionality is supported -- like file transfer: more to follow.
Note that it costs ten bucks less to just communicate by IM: a good deal.
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| Category: Telecommunications
Posted by Stowe Boyd
I advance an argument about the value of collaboration in context over at November's The Message is the Medium: "I have long advanced the view that real-time technology will be the motive force behind the next wave of collaboration, replacing the first generation of real-time communication tools -- principally instant messaging and web conferencing -- that have been structured as standalone applications. This structure has forced an out-of-context form of collaboration which has limited the productivity benefits that real-time collaboration offers.
Go read it!
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November 10, 2003
Posted by Stowe Boyd
File this one under "You've Got To Be Kidding."
Headline in The Herald News Online reads "The latest fad -- Instant Messaging." The article starts: " Forget e-mail. The latest trend for teen talk is Instant Messaging, also called IMing.
It is like a quick form of e-mail where the sender clicks on the person's name, types in the message and hits send.
The message instantly pops up in a box on the receiver's screen." Thanks for the primer.
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| Category: Technology
Posted by Stowe Boyd
I read in the Wall Street Journal that a new "plague of inattention" is taking over. I was shocked, shocked to learn that people are actually doing more than one thing at once, like talking on the phone and scanning email, or watching TV while IMing.
I am amazed by articles like this one, that report on what I know is a well-established shift in everyday business reality. The ax grinding that goes on is annoying since I don't believe that adopting modern communication media and accepting their impacts on the conduct of business should trigger anxiety and concern. But apparently that is exactly what is happening, at least among those suffering from "infostress."
...continue reading.
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| Category: Technology
November 05, 2003
Posted by Stowe Boyd
InternetMLS has announced the inclusion of instant messaging to the company's multiple listing service. The announcement includes a few very interesting scenarios regarding brokers using the service to negotiate and close deals: "InternetMLS' new Instant Messaging capabilities empower associations to provide member brokerages with the ability to initiate powerful, instant communications to speed the closing of deals in multiple situations:
- InternetMLS' new Instant Messaging capabilities enable brokers researching MLS information to determine the online presence of listing agents in real time -- and, if so, initiate instant communications.
For instance, a broker can send an IM to instantly initiate a dialog with a listing agent, introduce him or herself, inquire about details of the listing or sellers, or schedule a showing on behalf of a client.
- The new IM capabilities also extend benefits to public websites created by brokerages utilizing InternetMLS' Enhanced Website Wizard. Visitors browsing information on such websites can, while viewing available properties, contact the appropriate listing agent -- instantly -- to express interest in a listing, make an inquiry about a property, or request to schedule an appointment for a viewing."
Another example of the accelerative impact of instant messaging, although I wonder about the technology being used. Doesn't appear to interoperate with any of the major public networks, which will limit its usefulness to interact with consumers. I will track down company reps, and try to learn some more.
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| Category: Technology
Posted by Stowe Boyd
Seeking to monetize its business model, Monster is reportedly planning to launch new social networking features. Sounds like a plan to roll out Spoke or LinkedIn forms of social relationships. (Thanks to a mention by Patti Anklam).
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Posted by Stowe Boyd
An interesting piece by Valdis Krebs on the use of Google as an indicator of how widely known someone is. The Google number is the number of hits that a person's name yeilds on Google.
Being somewhat vain on this topic, I discover that i have a Google number of 5910, which -- according to Krebs -- makes me a thought leader in my field. Geez... I hope so.
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November 03, 2003
Posted by Stowe Boyd
Yahoo has moved to consolidate all its enterprise-facing services into their consumer counterparts, and in particular, the instant messaging services that Yahoo has been marketing to enteprrise clients will be managed in a single organization that includes the consumer IM service.
Recent articles on this reorganization, such as Hu's C/NET article, are spinning this as a sweeping reorganization, and that the management that has been pushing for enterprise IM at Yahoo have been pushed aside. The reality is somewhat diffeent. Steve Boom and Ken Hickman, to name just two managers at Yahoo, are still very much in the mix for enterprise IM and related activities at Yahoo.
Like the flurry of news from AOL -- rethinking its direct attack on the enterprise IM market, and partnering with Reuters -- Yahoo's got to take a new tack on the enteprise IM market. However, there is a real market opportunity for the public IM networks, although I think that value proposition has not been perfectly articulated, and the vendors may have to reconfigure their offerings and channels to take that messsage to market.
At the same time, the tone of this wave of news stories is drawing attention to the wrong part of the story. The companies are regrouping to better attack the market, a market exploding in size and complexity. Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, and dozens of smaller enterprise IM vendors are lining up for a long and serious battle for the enterprise IM market. Yahoo has to play to its strengths, and the power of the public network it has built will be a key element of any winning strategy that Yahoo rolls out.
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| Category: Technology
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