Microsoft displays real-time ambitions
eWeek | at | by Mike
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates trumpeted Office's role in integrating communications as he unveiled further plans for the company's "Istanbul" client and other real-time communications products during a launch event here on Tuesday.
Microsoft brought its combined instant-messaging and telephony client under the Office umbrella, renaming it Office Communicator 2005 and announcing plans to release it to manufacturing in the next 90 days.
On the server end, Microsoft's Live Communications Server 2005 also is undergoing a revamp, Gates said. Microsoft in April plans to make a service pack available to the enterprise IM and presence server, which will support the new client and provide management features for federation and for controlling IM spam.