BBC NEWS | Technology | Microsoft offers e-mail controls
So Office 2003 launches today. Normally, I’d yawn and move on, but I think there’s some interesting development by MS regarding Outlook, probably the most annoying and dreadful piece of software I’m forced to use (warning link is expletive-ridden user tirade ;-).
Anyway, before I launch into another tirade – Outlook/Office will now feature “Information Rights Management” (hey ,*catchy*, non-intimidating strapline!) which gives a number of controls (over viewing, printing, time to live, etc) over documents and email.
I think this approach is dead, dead wrong. Firstly it fails to address the the fact that email is dying as a productive tool – will email and document ‘protection’ stop pointless cc’ing and start to nurture expertise based publishing and easy sharing? Doubtful, in fact, this ‘sense of security’ will probably add to the burden of unneccessary distribution,
It’s also a great insight into how IT depts and BIG companies (or at least the way MS percieves) treat communication as something to control not feed and support. And also that its easier to try to control/repair than fix the misuse of email – whihc would require cultural change.
However, faced with product/feature maturity (I suppose ease of use is the only innovation they could offer) Office 2003 also focuses on increased collaboration. Bit of a schizophrenic control/nurture feature set, but let’s not complain.
PC mag has a good write up of the latest collaboration focus – better SharePoint integration, (of course) Webcasting via LiveMeeting etc. I think this is a really interesting and important development. Problem is for these ‘lightweight’ portals and sharing environments, the costs are quite high (Office 2003 licence + $4k per server + $70 per seat).
$40 copy of Radio anyone? And where’s the expertise location and integration with Messenger?