Contextual collaboration is where we are going with this. It is about how you can embed an IM module in a Seibel workflow application, for example. If you have IM and presence awareness embedded in the user interface, your world is looking a whole lot better. You don't have to swap between interfaces, everything syncs up, and you have a smart, archived message store.

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The chances are good for AOL to succeed here because its definition of success won't be the same as it is for Microsoft or even Yahoo. What AOL wants is wide use of business clients connected to its worldwide user base, and to make money off that.

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Microsoft products have not heretofore had much in the way of services. He can help bring coherence for customers who want to look at Microsoft products in a way they can pay?for example, on a per-user basis.

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Real-time collaboration is the hot button of the future. It's being built into sales force automation tools, (customer relationship management and) accounting.

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They are saying we have this network that works very well and we should add more to it.

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I think what's really pushing this is Microsoft's ability to see that it's long been playing cat and mouse with AIM and ICQ (another AOL instant messaging service). Microsoft needs to stake its presence in a big way.

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