NYTimes: Bill Gates Presents the One (Really Big) Ringy Dingy

I am looking forward to Tuesday …

… For Cisco, Nortel, Avaya and the other companies that make telecommunications equipment, this Tuesday is a sort of D-Day.

That day, Bill Gates plans to introduce Microsoft’s invasion into their business, with a new line of software for what the company calls “unified communications.” That means it is meant to integrate all the ways that people talk to each other: voice, video, instant messaging and more elaborate forms of online collaboration.

If it is successful, this software will accelerate the shift of communications from specialized devices and networks onto Internet-based networks, desktop PCs and microprocessor-based servers. And that, in turn, could challenge the economics of the remarkably profitable telecommunications industry.

There is a great deal of brave talk from existing players about being both a partner and competitor to Microsoft, but in fact they should be about as glad to see Microsoft as the minicomputer industry was to see the upstart three decades ago.

In fact, Microsoft is opening a new front in its software strategy that mimics its Windows and Office approach to desktop and corporate computing.

On Tuesday Mr. Gates and his lieutenant Jeff Raikes will focus on marketing three software packages: Microsoft Communications Server 2007; a client software application dubbed Microsoft Office Communicator 2007; as well as a collaboration program, Microsoft Office Live Meeting.

Now, he argues, the economics of the microprocessor and the Internet will alter the way we communicate.

“As more and more of our communications and entertainment is transmitted over the Internet thanks to e-mail, instant messaging, video conferencing, and the emergence of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Internet Protocol Television (IPTV), and other protocols, a new wave of software-driven innovations will eliminate the boundaries between the various modes of communications we use throughout the day,” he writes in a memo that will be distributed as part of his presentation to be given in San Francisco on Tuesday. …

Source; New York Times

Peter de Haas
Peter de Haas

Peter wordt gedreven door de grenzeloze mogelijkheden van technologische vooruitgang en heeft meer dan 35 jaar ervaring op het snijvlak van business en IT. Gedurende zijn carrière heeft hij talloze ontwikkelingen zien opkomen en de impact ervan op organisaties en mensen van dichtbij meegemaakt. Met een scherp oog voor het vinden van oplossingen waar anderen obstakels zien, heeft hij zich ontwikkeld tot een vertrouwde expert in digitale transformaties.

Met Designing a Better Workday. als zijn missie helpt Peter individuen, teams en organisaties nieuwe vaardigheden te ontwikkelen en baanbrekende oplossingen te implementeren die werk slimmer, efficiënter en betekenisvoller maken. Zijn inzichten en ervaring maken hem een gewaardeerde bron voor iedereen die technologische trends wil begrijpen en benutten.

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