Basic Internal Instant Messaging Solution?

sk8dork asks: "I am pretty much _the_ internal IT person at the company I work for and I am recognizing the need for internal Instant Messaging more and more each day. While email is quick and easy to send, it's not always the quickest way to get your message to someone when they're not monitoring their inbox every second of the day. Having come from a position in Dell tech support I've experienced the MS communications solution but was put off by the instability of it and, now that I've looked into purchasing it, the steep price as well. For more stability we often used an internal IRC channel, but most people would either not login or they'd just be put off by its complexity. In this new company, where close to no one is 'computer savvy', I am in need of an Instant Messaging solution that is easy to use, secure, limited to our network, and inexpensive. I'd like to stay away from the mainstream IM clients such as Yahoo!, AIM, ICQ and others. We're running Windows Server 2003 for Small Business (sorry) and will be soon upgrading out of the SBE to regular Windows Server 2003. Any helpful information will be greatly appreciated."

Comments

The classic paradox.

[billcopc]

Work, money, time.. you need at least two. Either pay up for internal Windows Messenger, whose client is already on all your desktops, or develop your own simple IM server and client putting in your own sweat and blood.. or pay someone to develop a non-MS solution. You have to weigh the potential benefits of an IM solution. For most people, just keeping their email open and minimized is good enough. If they don't reply to you quickly enough, well that's not email's fault, they can ignore IM windows just as easily.

Before IM came to the office...

[Slashdot Junky]

Before IM came to the office, people did actually use the phone and their feet. Both are still well suited. Implement both will cost nothing more assuming an existing phone system is in place. Another reader noted that phones don't show who's "online". My response to this is that even if the other party is "online", this doesn't mean they will respond to the IM sent.

My advice to you is keep it simple and more secure by not implement IM at all. Tell you user base to let their fingers and/feet do the walking. The exercise is good for people sitting for most of the day anyway.

Later,
-Slashdot Junkly