Google gears up to take on Microsoft

Unified Communications This newsletter is sponsored by Microsoft E-Mail Security: All facts, no PR Download this exclusive Gartner Magic Quadrant report now and get an in-depth look at 18 enterprise e-mail security vendors and their offerings. Discover whose products are going to get more popular and whose popularity will decline, which companies are leading the pack and which are ripe for acquisition. Network World's Unified Communications Newsletter, 06/07/07 Google gears up to take on Microsoft By Michael Osterman In many ways, desktop productivity applications are a key component for the future of unified communications, since the integration of these applications with e-mail, instant messaging and collaboration tools can increase end user productivity significantly. For example, being able to integrate presence data into a word processing document’s comment or edit fields can speed document editing and decision-making in a variety of ways. Those who are pushing a Web 2.0 model for unified messaging, collaboration and productivity applications in which all of these services are delivered via a Web browser face the quite serious problem of working offline. If these services are delivered via an online model only, then lack of connectivity for whatever reason means that these tools cannot be used. Last week, Google announced Gears, a browser extension designed to allow the development of a standard method for providing offline access to applications that are hosted on the Web. At present, Adobe, Mozilla and Opera Software are all supporting Gears, although several other vendors are expected to follow in support of the initiative. VoIP: Lessons from Early Adopters Experts say VoIP isn't a magic wand that will solve all of an organization's communications challenges right out of the box. Learn why VoIP may not produce expected savings and productivity gains, and other lessons from early adopters. Click Here to Watch Will Google Gears be successful in chipping away at Microsoft’s 90+% market share in the desktop productivity applications market? Will the integration of Google’s messaging technologies with hosted applications that possess offline capabilities be able to make a serious dent in the use of Exchange and Microsoft’s other communications technologies? Will midsized and large enterprises – the more lucrative market for Microsoft and Google – be willing to abandon desktop-based applications and messaging systems in favor of having users do everything via a Web browser? The answers to these questions will define the way the unified messaging and productivity applications develop and integrate over the next five years, and so will have enormous ramifications on organizations of all sizes. I’d like to get your thoughts on this issue and your answers to the questions posed above – please drop me a note.   What do you think? Post a comment on this newsletter

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Contact the author: For webinars or research on messaging, or to join the Osterman Research market research survey panel, go here. Osterman Research helps organizations understand the markets for messaging and directory related offerings. To e-mail Michael, click here. This newsletter is sponsored by Microsoft E-Mail Security: All facts, no PR Download this exclusive Gartner Magic Quadrant report now and get an in-depth look at 18 enterprise e-mail security vendors and their offerings. Discover whose products are going to get more popular and whose popularity will decline, which companies are leading the pack and which are ripe for acquisition. ARCHIVE Archive of the Unified Communications Newsletter. BONUS FEATURE IT PRODUCT RESEARCH AT YOUR FINGERTIPS Get detailed information on thousands of products, conduct side-by-side comparisons and read product test and review results with Network World’s IT Buyer’s Guides. Find the best solution faster than ever with over 100 distinct categories across the security, storage, management, wireless, infrastructure and convergence markets. Click here for details. PRINT SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE You've got the technology snapshot of your choice delivered to your inbox each day. Extend your knowledge with a print subscription to the Network World newsweekly, Apply here today. International subscribers, click here. SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES To subscribe or unsubscribe to any Network World newsletter, change your e-mail address or contact us, click here. This message was sent to: networking.world@gmail.com. Please use this address when modifying your subscription. Advertising information: Write to Associate Publisher Online Susan Cardoza Network World, Inc., 118 Turnpike Road, Southborough, MA 01772 Copyright Network World, Inc., 2007