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Associated Press
October 29, 2001
By JUSTIN POPE, AP Business Writer
BOSTON (AP) – Users of the instant messaging software built into MicrosoftŒs newest operating system will be able to collaborate seamlessly over the Internet with each other through a partnership with a company whose founder created Lotus Notes.
In its new version, the Groove software can piggyback on Windows XPŒs Windows Messenger to allow people to work together, Microsoft and Groove Networks were announcing Monday.
Groove currently includes its own instant messaging and chat features, but the Windows XP connection aims to greatly extend its potential user base in bypassing complicated setup routines.
And because instant messaging programs donŒt all talk to each other, the deal gives users of Windows Messenger far easier access to Groove than those of competing services such as AOLŒs dominant AIM product.
More than 63 million people use instant messaging products from AOL, Microsoft and Yahoo Messenger, according to Jupiter Media Metrix.
Groove NetworksΠsoftware implements what is known as peer-to-peer networking to allow people to collaborate over a secure Internet connection with co-workers and colleagues independent of location or time zone.
In a strategic alliance announced earlier this month, Groove received $51 million in backing from Microsoft.
“You do have to pick somebody or the other, and Microsoft was likely the one that is most likely to work with them,” said Rob Enderle, an analyst with Giga Information Group in Santa Clara, Calif., of potential partners.
Besides making Groove more appealing, Microsoft moves a step toward greater connectivity among its products, said Enderle, adding that Groove is also hopes to benefit from the publicity surrounding last weekŒs Windows XP launch.
Groove Networks chief executive Ray Ozzie, who founded Lotus Notes, said MondayŒs announcement represents the first fruits of collaboration between the companies.
Groove users can edit a Microsoft Word document simultaneously from different locations, for example. Users of XPŒs would be able to automatically jump from a Windows Messenger chat session into Groove collaboration.
Groove Networks also planned on Monday to announce the sale of 10,000 licenses to Dell Computers to communicate internally and with customers. Other customers of the Beverly, Mass.-based company include GlaxoSmithKline and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
Ozzie said customers have grown so accustomed to contacting each other through e-mail and instant messaging that it makes sense to integrate more sophisticated types of collaboration into those basic services.
“You start to get to know how to contact people, whether itŒs by e-mail or by messenger,” he said. “Because of this integration, you donŒt have to learn anything new to start collaborating with one another.”
Ozzie said the initiative was one of a dozen being developed with Microsoft.
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