Word: immed
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...proprietary software like Sametime is just one reason why IM chimes are suddenly ringing throughout the workplace. Far more messages probably come from employees who have downloaded such programs as America Online's Instant Messenger (AIM) or the rival Yahoo Messenger, both of which are available free on the Internet. Workers aren't even waiting for information-technology departments to install a corporate system. "This is all spreading by word of mouth," says Neil MacDonald, a vice president of the Gartner Group research firm. "Companies weren't planning on instant messaging, but it's become a critical part of business...
Workers love IM for the same reason that kids do: it lets them hold virtual meetings anytime and anyplace. No more playing telephone tag or pulling down an e-mail screen. Instead, IM users can spot who is online at a glance and start chatting right away. And they can do so across time zones, oceans and continents. At the stroke of midnight last New Year's Eve, 80 IBM experts from around the world huddled online to monitor the company's defenses against the Y2K bug. "If there had been a crisis," Patrick says, "all the knowledgeable people would...
Such seamless communication is fast winning over everyone from toy retailer FAO Schwarz--which has put a downloadable IM link to customer service on its website--to the U.S. Navy, which uses the Sametime system to connect a 16-ship battle group in the Atlantic Fleet. Closer to home, long-distance provider Sprint uses software designed by Bantu Inc. to enable employees to chat while watching online PowerPoint displays. Messages can also be sent and received by a variety of wireless devices, including cellular phones...
...popularity, the IM world remains frustratingly balkanized. At least a dozen systems are in service in the U.S. alone, many of them incompatible. This confusion adds to the pressure on AOL--which popularized instant messaging and commands a 90% share of the market--to allow rivals like Yahoo and Microsoft access to its IM systems. These cover some 80 million users under the AOL brand and a similar number under ICQ, an Israeli company that AOL bought two years ago. Says MacDonald: "AOL's installed base is the crown jewels of instant messaging...
...National Public Radio site (at npr.org) I had never bothered sifting through the thousands of stations that broadcast online. Now a start-up called Sonicbox is making it easy for lazybones like me to tune in to the rest of the world from the comfort of home. Its new iM Remote Tuner is a handheld remote control for Internet radio that not only lets you switch stations from up to 100 ft. away from your PC--even if you're in another room--but also lets you play the music through your home stereo speakers. You can get it online...