Christopher Saunders

In the wake of Microsoft’s efforts to block unauthorized instant messaging clients from its .NET Messenger network, rival Yahoo! is following suit — while also considering ways to provide access to competitors’ networks. Last week, a Yahoo! user survey asked visitors to its Web portal whether they’d consider purchasing a multi-network IM client — similar […]

Microsoft today unveiled its new Web conferencing service, Office Live Meeting, while also outlining plans for combining the service with instant messaging. Live Meeting, a service built on Microsoft’s acquisition of PlaceWare, enables users to show presentations and share applications online. Microsoft envisions the service being used in enterprises alongside instant messaging to make it […]

With established successes like Lotus Instant Messaging (formerly known as Sametime) and Lotus Notes in its product portfolio, IBM’s position in the enterprise messaging and communications realm seems secure. But Armonk, New York-based Big Blue isn’t content to rest on its laurels, and like many of the leading players in business software, the company is […]

In a move that paves the way for America Online to launch videoconferencing and other next-generation applications of its instant messaging network, sources close to the Federal Communications Commission say the regulator intends to drop a two-year-old restriction on AOL Time Warner’s development of advanced, broadband-based IM services. The news was first reported by the […]

ActiveBuddy’s instant messaging bots are finding their way out of the Buddy List and into the corporate portal. Bots, or interactive agents, are applications with which users interact through text-based, natural language interfaces. So far, most of the company’s bots have been accessible via instant messaging. The key to bringing those bots to another medium […]

Continuing efforts to make money from its instant messaging network, AOL Time Warner’s America Online unit is taking the wraps off improvements to its IM enterprise gateway software and client. Most importantly, the new edition of the free AOL Instant Messenger client — Version 5.2 — adds support for Public Key Infrastructure-based encrypted instant messaging […]

Microsoft is taking the wraps off the new version of its public IM client, MSN Messenger, with an eye to topping features offered in competitors’ services. Officially, the release is a preview version of MSN Messenger 6, and will be made available for download later today. But it’s likely that little will be changed in […]

Instant messaging in the workplace: it’s here, it’s now, and it’s growing by leaps and bounds and will touch virtually every business and numerous business processes in coming years. That’s the conclusion of a number of leading industry researchers — but exactly how big the space becomes, and how large the opportunity will remain for […]

The convergence of office productivity software and new forms of messaging continues with Microsoft co-opting a small Swedish start-up’s mobile messaging solution. Three-year-old Stockholm-based General Wireless’s SMS Executive add-on to Microsoft Outlook enables office workers to send SMS messages from the desktop. An enhanced version, released earlier this week, also enables them to receive SMS […]

United Airlines is adding instant messaging to its automated flight notification systems, underscoring the budding demand for the services. The addition is to the Chicago-based air carrier’s EasyUpdate service, which enables users to register to receive updates on or information about changes in flight schedules, departures, delays, cancellations, rebooking and seat upgrades, by phone, e-mail […]