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The Business of Instant Messaging
willll writes "The Washington Post is running a story about how AOL plans to make money from Instant Messaging, one of the few successes in recent times for AOL. This article includes plans for corporate versions of AIM as well as discussion on some of the state on instant messaging."
Hooray!
Is that I get a Second Post fux00rs
first post. yeah baby
Mark my words on this. If instant messaging is adopted by U.S. businesses, the economy will suffer like it has never suffered before. Productivity will come to a halt, and innovation will be stagnant for 10-15 years as a result.
Instant Messaging seems good at first. Always connected, always available -- I mean wow, what could possibly be bad about that?
But those of you who've chatted know what I'm talking about. We know the trap that's there.
Please stay away from enterprise IM applications. You and your boss will be glad you were able to resist the latest business fad.
Let's get back to the old bottom line and red/black calculations. Nothing -- not War, not Instant Messaging, nothing else -- will get us out of this depression that we're experiencing.
We'll have to wait it out. But when we finally escape, we'll be glad we didn't embrace IM. What a waste of time/money that'd have been.
Background: 28/M/Bi-Sexual; Owner of a Linux company; MBA Harvard 2003; B.S. Comp Sci MIT 2000
First post! AOL sucks cock!
Ha, they can charge all they want and I'll keep using Trillian. If they cut that off, we still have IRC!
Brought to you by the Artificial Idea Factory.
I hate it when they say... this @$#@ thing has an untapped audience, when aol pushes so much spam...
sounds like IM will likely contain instant URLs for adertersing soon..
Crap
More than 1.1 billion Instant Messages are sent out worldwide every day. For no reason.
IMs are an attention-grabbing and nonsensical, not to mention unproductive, means of communication. Most people who use IMs to talk or share information also have access to other, non-IM technologies that pollute the Internet less and are cheaper.
IMs are some of the most wasteful products, in terms of resources used, that continue to be marketed on our planet. Why do we send them out by the billions? Just to enjoy the transient pleasure of saying LOL time and time again?
Background: 28/M/Bi-Sexual; Owner of a Linux company; MBA Harvard 2003; B.S. Comp Sci MIT 2000
Speaking of AOL Instant Messager... I found a list of some RIAA and/or MPAA representatives' screen names... do whatever you want with them, but be careful not to offend anyone. Remember, we want to reason with these folks, not get arrested!
Breadfan33 AzNnes AlwyzBrandons sexykonichiwa Buddyonchilhowie jzthababydoll JeniferTheAngel divaPOP61 hugmonger127 romanianboy56 RedRaiderator AnGulovDeFlectin TheGloriousMeept PrncsPurpl Alict19 SweetLove53101 JrcattiRehaCk redwoodgirl3 noodlez30066 CamelDecimator Nesoholic flwrpwer900 donotIMmethx capricious406 ParanoidAndroid ChadXBSS GETitKrunk! darkcolors AnGeLsHaNn9744 c0v3rgirl01 vaalyver jrtluvsme4eva587 julyerin HORK13BAJIR5 SpaceDyeJess CasaActor16 CnFuzEdMind14 refusedpackage Cafegarcon loopdog7 misterbadwpf vangeestguy UTbsbll7 Tickita xxFALCON02xx SechsKies krazievue Shsumatrix bink1919 Songco579 xXkimaraXx antifungalcereal TaurusChic5487 SilverSerpent5 HRunner77 stratseast BH1082 Star41789 jeaneric2001 ClassyBay AlChicken MustangStacey Litlpaps32385 WalkingOnCeiling sweetbaby4209729 dodsworth2000 Trickster1881 TweeKerBabe69 DestroyMojoJojo. teardroplet ILoVeToChEeR1234 aDoRaLiTiCaL RoBErTwAdLInGTon Mayhemers ioates arcticgull61 Myveryraincoat CarlyleJC mynameisdeleted RVDFan500 ShamRock05Babe MiD19NitE Shanti42 GreenPearl8 PiercedRachel17 iamlvd69 TengokuBlues robertwadlinGton TheLoanMedic404 BrkOrng lizbeth336 TXElmoACU BackStabbinIdiot photobyJeremy dwbone930 Drift82 prshtr4653 Triple2k2 roxyqt268 myRageAtrophied femACTivist SpIdErMaN12458 Silverwolflucky7 xoKeeKeexo HFAbsorber YtseJaMaJestY TaikiDangerKou xVieTbOix209x DarthTater flutes02 DXDogg78 icontroldave CogniceuticalFix Zdaddy23 Lmpepitone ascelinde MillerTime8806 JuggaloHacker Cabbages69 ILuvJustin04 mc68040 BennyJ07 MariaHsTrULovE ApRiL5528 Nadidia99 Boom spacefury sk8terbaby180 tweetie90 BuDdHa6194 Skarteez oOCharlizardOo SlinkyDink474 WalkOnTheCeiling FaithMaith kawaiichibinek0 hOtKeLsEa2005 o0sweet0heart0o Spooks781 jenfer910 xBABYxJAPx GhettOPriNcesZ97 dragonshome14 morrowzgirl45 MissCyco GeraldShanley SarahGrrrly Diana12387 Patcher12 IMissCovina r0x0rj00rb0x iNFeRNoBoMB leefurie jeddybohr FrodosHope CorpusDawg MnM1279 Eeveerin133 IversonBabe03 DigitalInfuxion secretvocabulary spycegirlg NewDealSkater420 XtremeAssassin Sweetcurlz16 slickmonkey35 seabreezes7949 Ferris0125 ashleynmaggiebff ButterflyP19 JABR0NER akunasarunoko JongHKim83 AbByAnDmAgGiEbFf nepentheani XxJustinCrediblexX GordonShanley Spider3k1 vmsblondie daveslave36 lilsmileygrl24 TJWiLLiaMs2004 SunnyE85 constantspark DiSpNoI5255 citruslike Poots200 Zektor ShOrT411sTuFf05 sweetums404 Briana83 Sschuresko deathofafrog Lisa964 ScHrAdAwG86 ItAliAn18CuTie AvrilFanatic123 sweetangel0923 Seven7T7 Iluvme2mch grandtheftautumn xXDMIncXx Pinkstrawberriz ana7577 Smallguy99 DrkAngelWgs ArtistGirl01 denisse20cumplay rach3217 equine137 CaagGymnast578 StBernardLuvva00 ptown715 OoHeErO92oO PsycicMew1020 rachelpacexo catzjess21 HSB208 rockinit4God WiLLyFromWestPhiLLy captainkinger22 MonteOnDubs2003 MGTMpunk15 KatAttack009 bKrazy32 askaboutp furfur1982 SkaberrySpaticus catchingstatic capflyer1 AngelInna96 ssschuresko3 ballrgurl26 Silver2OOO Amanda847 GolfPunkSPC2001 bradygdogg venedict11 TheHDiggityDawg lilchristina530 LilMisSarcasm PiciesLefty MeshelleLizA JenX101 SwtxAznxDreamer1 CarIWINSL0W SylentWulf OliverCromwellII Gabe9C Bengalisious AlMoNdJoY214 SoNkisT183 slynneb dingo8maibaby CaetSith7 strawberryicee17 sassyshell iluvbobby069 LoU7585 iidxvincent Buapo004 Custommade0069 oHmYGoditsAlex Kaylabuddy04 zee4every1 jare2003 AaronCeriss AndreaML SnowOwl991 Q101whore ChewyGump BratGoddess86 LOSERjuggalo kutipatutie2005 xxFxAxBxx SocrIndian DEFikon3 xpehbamxyu Gabblyn rj2 Redbandit189 jtg02a happifoundu petitelafleur cornflakes Bortery StarBound678 Chitownsccergyrl imhomer3 AlainaCassadine tark352 crazy4bspears15 CactusKid74 VideoGameBible NG2K2
why, oh why, do I read this stupid site?
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No, the most trivial application of the Internet is arguably the most used and most useful. It isn't the most profitable--that's what the whole article is about: How to milk money out of something that virtually no-one is willing to pay for.
At least it seems they're aimed right--they want to try to sell different IM versions to corporations. Whether or not that will be successful remains to be seen; many companies already use IM as-is for free and about the only significant "add-on" could be security; and some independent IM clients already offer SSL encryption anyway. So I'm hard pressed to see where there's any motivation for a company to pay for it. Anything so important or sensitive so as to require SSL probably won't be discussed with a few instant messages anyway.
But it appears they're not stupid enough to want to charge users for what they already have for free. That'd kill IM in a heartbeat I bet.