“Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday said it is launching a desktop application that aims to seamlessly integrate e-mail, instant messaging, video conferencing, traditional phone service and Internet-based calling,” Mark Jewell reports for The Associated Press. “Microsoft plans to debut the product, code-named ‘Istanbul,’ sometime in the first half of 2005 to compete with efforts by rivals like IBM Corp. to link different channels of communications onto a single platform accessible from a computer.”
“Microsoft is testing Istanbul with corporate clients, and expects to run similar tests with consumers in the next few months before bringing the product to market, said Anoop Gupta, vice president of Microsoft’s real-time collaboration efforts,” Jewell reports. “Istanbul will enable users to communicate with others regardless of which brand of instant messaging either party is using, said Gupta, who announced the plans at the VON Fall 2004 conference on voice-over-Internet phone technology.”
“Istanbul will feature so-called ‘rich presence’ technology, using ‘buddy’ lists to indicate which colleagues or friends are available for a range of communications rather than merely through the IM service itself,” Jewell reports. “Then, users could choose to immediately respond to an e-mail via instant messenger or another method such as voice-over-Internet within the same application, rather than switching back and forth between applications.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: We wouldn’t mind having something like this on our Mac OS X machines. Blend equal parts of Mail, iChat, Skype, and Vonage and call it iCommunicate
Why doesn’t microsoft try to fix the software they have now?
Why not just iComm?
Wow, Now they can fsck up 5 applications in 1. Way to go Red!
I can already smell the billions of dollars in damage clean up and third party products required to tape over the plethora of vulnerabilities that this product will no doubt introduce.
Haven’t the last few updates for Macs involved fixing Microsoft programs? Just wondering.
Mike
Applications such as this, especially coming from Microslop, will approach each function with signature mediocrity. I personally would rather have best of breed in each category.
Istanbul = InstantBull
And remember that Istanbul is in Turkey, which is what the people in Redmond are .. turkeys.
And boy was that nicer than what I planned on writing.
Istanbul? why didn’t M$ go the whole hog and just call it “Turkey”
Jack of all trades, master of none — the Microsoft philosophy
I can just see it now. A Windows virus or spyware that gets a hold of not only your email address, but you IM handle and your phone number. Great.
One of the main problems with apps such as Lotus Notes and Microsoft’s own Outlook is that they have combined everything into one app, making it unwieldy and bulky. Yes, Outlook mail integrates with the calendar and notes and journals and such, but it is slower than hell and a real B*tch to find something intuitively.
Also, the last thing I need is for my IM to fire up when I go to check mail. That allows everyone to see that you are “available” when you really aren’t.
I agree with Jimbo. Sometimes combining multiple apps into one is good, like making a multi-service IM app. However, force-fitting things together is not necessarily innovative. I’ve got friends who like to carry a sackful of accessories for their PDA, like plug-on keyboards and such. And they look at ME like I’m some kind of weirdo for suggesting they simply get a laptop — an all-in-one design with more features than they could accessorize, and in a more robust package.
wow cool…
its a m$ version of iChat, 3 years after the fact…
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Instanbul not Constantinople Instanbul not Constantinople Instanbul not Constantinople Instanbul not Constantinople Instanbul not Constantinople Instanbul not Constantinople
There is no need or point for a similar program on OSX as all the sparate apps alreaady integrate well together – with iChat and Mail open for example i can see which of my buddies is online in both apps. If I receive an email from a buddy who is online a green dot indicates this in Mail and I can video or voice chat immeiately if I wish.
As usual M$ opts for the closed all in one solution wheras Apple’s hub approach, with separate but interconected apps is much better.
Istanbul is the new name for Byzantium, a rebrand for something built using ancient architecture.
Kind of appropriate, isn’t it….
What’s the bet this ‘software’ (and I use the term VERY loosley!!) will not have a mac version and will not be compatible with ichatav or AOL!!
I bet $100 itunes gift certificate that this is what’s gonna happen!
Wait a minute! Did MDN just agree with the Vole?
If Apple develops it, it should be called Constantinople. “So if you’ve a date in Constantinople, she’ll be waiting in Istanbul.”
Let’s get this out of the way first: I’m a Mac user and I love the platform….
You people are ridiculous! Listen to your bitter illogical selves. The technology that M$ is proposing is very cool… instead of thinking different and appreciating innovative ideas, you trash it because it’s from a company you don’t like. If Steve Jobs presented this during a Mac Expo, everyone here would be humbled and speechless by the awesome innovative powers from Apple.
Don’t let you fanatism cloud your judgment
suede-
I don’t think people are bitching about the concept- it does sound kinda neat. But come on, think about it, this is Microsoft. They are notorious for holes, backdoors, open ports, etc, etc, that are the root of just about all their problems and the reason why they are exploited so easily. This is a train wreck waiting to happen. They are trying to combine so many communication-type services into one that if one of them is breeched (which it will be), kiss all your personal info good-bye. I personally do not trust Microsoft with ANY data. They do too much sneaky shit without you knowing it. It’s like their “call home” feature in the new Office for Mac. Report a bug? yeah, right, I’m sure that’s all they are collecting.
suedejacket:
Honestly, can you name the last time microsoft made something “Cool”? The concept is neat, but I really don’t think that MS will pull something together that will make me want to run out and buy it (or wish they would port it to Mac).
On the other hand, if Steve did say he was doing the same thing, I propably would be intrigued for the simple fact that I know it would be a well thought out app.
This is scary, Microsoft truly is the BEAST as described in the Bible, requiring a mark on everyone’s head or hand in order to buy or sell.
Look at COX, they got the cable, the high speed internet, voice over IP for phone, even their own news and weather channel.
They pale in the face of Microsoft.
EVIL! THEY ARE!!!
Yeah.. we at MDN were talking about this a long time ago.. essentially Apple could bundle its software.. ProductionSuite, iLife and some iComm communications package.
But this isn’t a bundle.. this is MS taking Entourage/Outlook to a new level.
Oops.. i think i just let the cat out of the bag. Outlook IS the swiss army knife..
I find it hilarious that MS thinks WMP was a good idea. ‘Yeah lets take the beauty and elegance of WMP and apply it to email and IM’ Pfffft..
I love the way Apple can build simple powerful individual apps that work with each other nearly always flawlessly. Where MS builds huge software suites that have plethora of problems. I thought that MS MBU had built a stable office for Mac but they managed to totally muck it up with the service pack. Please Apple give us a kick ass Office suite and make it cross platform for mac, win, and linux.
Where do they dig up these whacky names that have nothing to do with anything? They started to go somewhere with the X theme, at least that is a somewhat cool. They could have called it xCommunicate or xCrement or something like that.
Asterisk is available for MacOSX and there are various assistants that aid in setting it up. It would be a good idea for Apple to include that in the server software allowing it to act as a telephony server with an Aqua gui taked on to add the same simplicity that they’ve given to other server side tools. As for the client side, I think there already are moves on Apple’s part to further expand on the interoperability between iChat, Mail and AddressBook. Perhaps we will see an innovative dialer for bluetooth (not to take away from the greatness of BluePhoneElite) and VOIP in Dashboard.
Microsh@t has part of the name right…Swiss as in Swiss Cheese. As with all Microsh@t products, it will be full of holes and put a rotten taste in your mouth!
Great,
Now I can get a BSOD jut by talking on the phone, brought to you by Micro$oftopoly.
If MS is true to form, by announcing an application that will “integrate e-mail, instant messaging, video conferencing, traditional phone service and Internet-based calling” in the first half of 2005, what they really mean is that it will be ready in late 2007 and they will only be integrating IM and vid conferencing.
Longhorn is now Shorthorn and Istanbul will be Constantin-NO, pal.
I already have this on my mac. It is called Vonage, iChat, and mail. It even offers video conferencing … Why would I want to load a huge honking app when I already have all the functionality without the bloat?
When Apple bundled the iLife suite of programs they did not require you to load Garage band and iDvd when you simply wanted to listen to an iTune.
The all in one approach to programing is a thing of the past. Especially when you have a seamless OS like X that allows everything to just sit in the dock till you need it.
won’t be available for Mac anyway, judging by most MS crap… kind of a non-issue.
actually; there is WAY too much Microsoft news on this supposedly “Mac” site WTF!
poo: Microsoft make Mac products too.
I think that M$ go for the all in one app rather than separate apps like apple has, because they do not want to leave open the possibility that a separate 3rd party developer could write any single app better than theirs. Basically, it is a gimmick to divert your attenntion away from the fact that its indivual apps suck.
I agree John, another Microsoft walled garden within a walled garden that is Windows.
iStanbul…
They just can’t get away from the cow thing…had to incorporate some bull into this along with longhorn(note lower case).
john: you say that as if you don’t know what I’m talking about… look around you, if it was only a few articles, fine; it’s not just a few it is a majority here.
IMO, a more fitting name would be “Byzantine”.
Whatever happened to “Do one thing and do it well”? We don’t need cobbleware like this. If I want email I’ll run a email app, if I want chat I’ll run a chat app, etc etc. Well-built, purpose-specific applications make all-in-one cobbleware obsolete, especially under Mac OS X’s superior multitasking.
What part of simple doesn’t MS understand?? Then again, any company with products named like “Microsoft Windows Media Player for Macintosh” is as blind to good design & simplicity as they get.
-sip
Simple things are for simple people