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AOL-Yahoo-MSN Messaging Unified... in the Workplace Only
bakreule writes "Microsoft, AOL and Yahoo! are teaming up to link their separate instant messaging services for use in the workplace, 'the first major step by the industry leaders to enable computer users to communicate with one another no matter which of the three systems they use.' Sound to good to be true? It is. 'What this does not do,' Root said (yes, that's his name), 'is the holy grail of instant messaging, which is to allow anybody on any network to send a message to anybody on any other network.' It seems that the system, which is aimed for corporations, involves some MS software which acts as an intermediary between the different systems. Sounds like a fancy version of all the open source IM clients out there."
gaim doesn't log all my conversations from all networks and store that information in one spot so that my boss can watch what I am sending across the networks.
oh yeah? check ~/.gaim/logs
It sounds like a centralized control center for tighter watching over employee's IM conversations
And who will do the watching? ECHELON-like servers with software to crunch through every conversation for specific words and phrases?
E-mail is already being "monitored" and you rarely hear about anyone being caught, disciplined or otherwise fired for their inappropriate use of the system...
Ok, now back to work in my Faraday cage...
- active/inactive lets you know if someone is at the computer pushing the mouse around. A big step towards knowing what is going on in the company.
A big step towards nothing except petty micromanagement. Just because I'm in my office and moving my mouse doesn't mean that I want to talk to you or that I'm available.
IM replaces the "walk around" part of a lot of tasks, scheduling meetings, discussing lunch, etc. That saves a LOT of time.
In my world we have something that lets us schedule meetings for a whole bunch of people and a conference room all at the same time. Using IM for scheduling means IMing the whole group of people, and Murphy's law indicates that the last one will break the schedule the N previous agreed to. As for "walking around", gee, it's nice to get a little human contact now and again.
- Is much easier to use than "paste illegible postit on monitor" so people stop doing that.
Another killer business problem solved. I think Harvard Business School is calling, they'd like you to lecture on the business hazards of monitors and post-its.
- Many users have the same account at home, so people can be reached (mostly just IT) for various resons at home.
It's called a cell phone, and it even works when you're not at home.
- Allows employees to deal with their friends/family without spending money on long distance phone calls.
It's called "personal business." Usually a good idea to do it on your own time. But we are a small shop and can tell when someone is not doing their job... not like they can hide in amongst 100 other workers doing the same thing.
If IM status is your idea of performance management, you've got to be kidding.
So for some workplaces, there are good uses for IM.
I'm still waiting for the first one.