FORTUNE On IM
Speaking of Instant Messaging (IM), FORTUNE magazine technology writer Christine Chen has weighed in with an overview of the medium:
According to market research firm Osterman, 18% of the working population uses IM today, vs. a mere 8% two years ago. AOL, which boasts the largest number of registered user names--195 million--estimates that 1.6 billion IM messages are sent on its network each day. By 2006, consulting firm Gartner estimates, more people will be using IM than e-mail as their primary communication tool at work. And over the past seven months all three major commercial providers--Yahoo, Microsoft, and AOL (owned by the parent of FORTUNE's publisher)--rolled out campaigns to target the enterprise market. Their challenge: to convince companies that embracing IM is worth it.She also discusses security, pricing, and other issues ... click here to read the rest.