Just another story that makes me really see things from years ago being rehashed.
Unified communications was all the rage at the turn of the century. Mixing Web, PC, and telecomms was supposed to be the next big thing in communications. I co-authored a book that revolved around this (oh, second mention this week). Heck, I wrote a ton of articles and product reviews back then.
Alas, nothing really took hold, a bunch of folks went belly-up, and my interest turned to other things.
Now, Microsoft is at it again. I wish them luck. I totally believe that we need to integrate our communications channels. The problem is the complexity and the way to make the experience work for the user.
My naïve take on this is that it’s not about the technology, we’ve had all that in place for years, and robustness and price have improved amazingly; I think it’s really about usability and clear benefits. It failed the first time for various reasons, especially usability and clear benefits. Let’s not tread down that same path.
Will Microsoft cause another wave of comms integration services to sprout up? Will things like Asterisk form the core of the alternative to the Microsoft behemoth?
Let’s see.
What do you think?
Link to press release [via Peter B]: Microsoft Unveils Unified Communications Product Road Map and Partner Ecosystem.
New 2007 Office system products to deliver enterprise communications solution that unifies voice, conferencing, IM and collaboration.
