Session: What are Microsoft's Plans in the Collaboration Space?

Nick Shelness

It is common in the community to deride Microsoft, and to believe that, like IBM in the 1980s, they are a dinosaur on the brink of extinction. But Microsoft, today, is very different from the IBM of the 1980s. Yes, they are/were both monopolies, and yes, revenues from their cash cows are/were levelling off, but that is where the similarity ends. IBM's management team possessed little technical insight, which left them unable to judge the viability of their technical strategies -- remember SAA! Microsoft's management team, on the other hand are rich with technical insight. This doesn't mean that they can hold back the tide -- there is little new end-user functionality to be added to the Windows client or Office -- but it does mean that they are better positioned to tackle emerging and growth markets. In this session, I will present a taxonomy for evaluating Microsoft's offerings in the broad collaboration (inter-personal communication,coordination & control) space, focussing on its breadth. and the threat it poses to other participants, primarily the telecommunications vendors.

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